Why do we need digital coaches?

   

Why do we need digital learning coaches?   

    I have been teaching for 22 years. In that time, I have ALWAYS had a classroom. However, this summer, I find out that I will NOT have a classroom of my own this year. This caused me to rethink lesson delivery and design, as well as what to do with all of my STUFF! As I was preparing for this school year, I made the decision to go completely digital. Our  students grew accustomed to working out of Google Classroom during the spring when the pandemic chased us all into the comfort of our own homes, and I could simply digitize all of my handouts. To go digital, I knew I needed to spend some time learning how to use the different apps Google had to offer (we are a Google district), so I spent the second half of my summer becoming a Level Two Google Certified Educator. I did not mind doing this, since I embrace technology and enjoy using various programs and apps to learning for my more engaging. This is already paying off, because we are having to post all of our lessons in Google Classroom for our virtual and face-to-face students, in preparation for any micro closures or quarantines that may occur because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

    Not all teachers are comfortable with technology.

    In fact, I have been helping several of the teachers with digitizing their lessons and coaching them on how to use the different Google apps. I enjoy helping them, but this takes time away from my own curriculum planning time, and quite often I am up late making sure that I have prepared lessons for my own students. This made me think about our district professional learning model and how it really has not prepared our teachers for the level of digital competency needed to thrive in a blended learning environment. The professional learning is offered, but one has to go looking for it. Because they are intimidated by technology, technophobes will not see the value in taking advantage of digital learning courses. This has caused me to really think about our current PL model and what our district can do to help teachers on all levels of digital competency. I have come to the conclusion that teachers would greatly benefit from having a Digital Learning Coach assigned to each campus. This would ensure that teachers would receive the type of personalized, ongoing digital professional learning that they are so desperately in need of. 

Watch my Call-to-Action video below:

You can't talk the talk; you must walk the walk!

 One of the best things our district has done is create Content focus sessions (CFS) that allow content teachers to gather together and receive  professional  learning that applies to their subject area. However, I do know that not all CFS's are created equal...For example, when I was a writing teacher, the PL I attended was more "sit and get," and I rarely walked out of a PL with strategies that I ended up using. However, when I moved into AVID, the CFS's tended to be much more engaging. Our district leaders model teaching strategies and activities that are part of our curriculum; therefore, I am much more likely to "go and show" those strategies  to my students.

  As with anything, collaboration without purpose is pretty much useless, and it usually ends with people being frustrated, wishing they could be doing something more specific to their content area.  It is interesting that when we talk about teaching our students to collaborate, we emphasize the need to make it meaningful, yet we forget that adults need a common goal as well.  

One theme that has been developing on our campus, is the need to help our students socially and emotionally... We have heard a LOT of talk about it, and there has  been some PL established to really help our teachers; however, I am not sure how many of our teachers are aware of it. I feel that if we had an SEL coach on our campus on a regular basis to model for teachers , this would be a major game changer. Not quite sure if this is what I will do my Call-to-Action on, but I am definitely leaning in this direction...

Professional Learning: What works?

     In my experience, most PL is ineffective because of the "one size fits all" approach to teacher inservices. Up until the last 5 years, our district PD has been geared toward core teachers, and EVERYONE had to sit through it, even if it did not pertain to their subject. WE were required to attend a certain number of PD workshops throughout the year, which meant we had to secure a sub and leave our students. IF we could not get a sub, then we were stuck with not getting to go and having to figure out how we were going to make up the learning.  

    Over the last few years, however, our district has embedded Content Focus Sessions into our academic calendar at least once a six weeks.on these days, our students get the day off, eliminating the need for subs (a HUGE savings for the district), and giving teachers time to collaborate with other content teachers across the district (i.e., all secondary ELAR meet together,all math, etc. ) This model allows us to address content specific needs and make sure that we are aligning vertically as well as horizontally across the district. As an elective teacher, this PL model has been much more engaging and prescriptive. Furthermore, we have technology specialists who attend our PLCs once a month to help us with digital learning tools that we can use in our lessons. 

    Because of COVID, our district (like many others) has had to adapt our teaching methods to accommodate virtual, face-to-face, and blended learning students. This has forced our teachers to be more open to learning technology than ever before. Because I consider myself to be a "high flier," I have had an easier time with this transition. I consider myself to be a digital leader on my campus; however, most of the teachers on our campus are low-tech and average tech users.  As I think about our approach to digital learning PL, our district still teaches to the low tech teacher, which leaves the high fliers a bit frustrated.  I am hoping that I will be able to come up with a plan that will differentiate PL for teachers, just as we are expected to differentiate for our students. If teachers can personalize their PL, then they will be more apt to own their learning... and isn't that what we want for our students as well?

My thoughts on having a shared vision

 Why have a shared vision on your campus? What are some components of a shared vision? 

    A shared vision is incredibly important for conveying the principal’s direction for the school. A strong vision statement that has been collaboratively composed in tandem with community members, staff, and administration can be a powerful tool that unifies all stakeholders and drives them to accomplishing the most important goal: Furthering the education of the students on our campus, and doing what is best for them educationally, socially, and emotionally. Having a shared vision that parents and teachers truly believe helps in these ways: It attracts commitment and motivates the school community, it creates meaning in workers’ lives, establishes a high standard of excellence, bridges the present to the future, and it puts the students’ needs first.

How do we implement that vision?

       It is imperative that a school have a clear vision for the future of the school. It is difficult to move forward with any sort of improvement if the teachers, staff, and administrators all have different ideas of what that future should look like. Therefore, as the principal, I would first have a stakeholders meeting to form a vision committee. During this meeting I will be asking everyone to identify their core values and one or two goals they have for their students. We can then take that information and place those values and goals into groups and narrow down the focus. Once we do that, all stakeholders at the meeting will be able to look at those values and goals and determine which should be the focus for the vision statement. I will then ask for volunteers and/or invite some of the teachers and community members who are present at the meeting to be part of the vision development committee. From there, the committee will take the information from the stakeholders meeting and draft a new vision statement. Once we have the vision statement, I will then have the committee present the statement to the faculty in a meeting and allow staff members to read it, critique it, and offer suggestions for improvement. The committee will meet one more time if needed to review any suggestions and comments before drafting a final statement. Once the committee comes to a consensus on the new visions statement, we will add it to the school website, make signs to post all over the school, and put it in all of our handbooks. I will be sending out a letter to all of our parents, as well as appropriate community members, to share our new vision statement with them. Finally, within our PLCs, we will be discussing how well our current teaching practices are aligned with the vision, so we can make adjustments accordingly. I want everyone involved with our school to know the vision so well, that they can recall it at any time, and can think to themselves, “Does what I am teaching/doing help our kids and align with the vision of my school?” 

How do we remain good stewards of our shared vision?

    Keeping a group of people focused on a common goal can be difficult. My plan for making sure the vision is accomplished is simply to make it part of every PLC, professional development training, and budget conversation. Asking questions like, “ Does this align with our vision statement?” “How will purchasing this help us accomplish our vision for the school?” “Is what we are teaching align with the vision and is it good for our kids?”  Keeping our focus on the vision statement by including it in our daily conversations about instruction and planning, as well as what we spend our money on will help tremendously. Every committee meeting we have should include some discussion about the vision statement and how the meeting agenda aligns with it. Furthermore, when teachers are doing something in their classrooms that strongly align with the vision statement or help our school to move toward accomplishing our vision, I want to celebrate that in some way. Teachers who go above and beyond need to be recognized for their efforts. Even teachers who are consistently doing little things to keep the vision in clear focus should be recognized as well. Communicating openly about the direction of the school with teachers, students, parents and community members is also something we need to do on a daily basis.

My core beliefs:

Schools should teach students how to be moral, responsible citizens with a strong work ethic and a desire to continuously improve themselves and the communities in which they live.

A good school is one that helps students receive a well-rounded, 21st century education by providing a rich learning environment via project-based learning projects through Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) programs that prepares them for success in a global economy.

An effective classroom is one in which teachers and students work collaboratively toward achieving high academic goals that will help students be college-ready, as well as be successful, productive leaders in our community and in our world.

A good principal is one who has a clear vision of his/her school, works with faculty, staff, parents and community members to move the school toward achieving the campus vision, and provides professional development opportunities that will empower teachers and staff to work collaboratively with one another to tackle challenging, enriching project-based and digital learning projects for their students through STEAM and AVID programs, as well as current 21st century technology

An effective school faculty is one that knows their students well enough to address their individual learning styles and works together to help them be successful.

A quality instructional program includes 21st century technology and teaching tools that will empower students to take ownership of their learning by working collaboratively with their teachers, parents and community members to ensure their success beyond high school. 

My personal vision

Create a culture of continuous improvement by cultivating a growth mindset in my faculty, staff, and students and by fostering a rich, collaborative, professional learning environment that will prepare students be college-ready, as well as be successful, productive leaders in our community and in our world.

Why is this important?

Having a personal vision of leadership is important, because if you don’t know what you want for your school or how you plan to guide your people, then it is extremely difficult to lead them in any sort of direction. Strong leaders with a specific goal and singular, narrow vision that they are passionate about can do just about anything. When a leader is excited about the vision, others tend to follow suit and want to help see the vision come to fruition.  

What Does Leadership Mean to Me?

 My Leadership Profile

A good leader can adequately accomplish many tasks and direct her team to accomplish the goals needed to make her school successful. A great leader will work collaboratively with her team to not only complete the necessary tasks and reach the campus/district goals, but will inevitably make her team members better by empowering them to push beyond what they thought they could. Great leaders facilitate growth and learning while keeping her team positively motivated to reach within themselves and pull out more creative ways of improving their own instruction, while learning new tools from others that they can use in their classrooms. 

I have studied the various leadership styles and taken the personal assessments, and I have reached the conclusion that facilitative/ servant leadership best suits my personality. According to the conflict style assessment, I am an integrator. I want the best possible outcome for all parties involved in the conflict, and I am very good at helping others see issues from various perspectives. What is fascinating to me, is that a lot of arguments happen when people process information differently. Two people who have reached the same conclusion will argue over verbiage. For example, Joe will say that the barn is bright red, and Mary will argue that the building is NOT red; it is crimson. They are both saying essentially the same thing, but they will argue with each other for several minutes about the words the other one uses to describe the barn. They may even come to blows if someone does not step in and mediate. The crazy thing is, they are drawing the same conclusion, just using different words. While I realize this example is very simplistic, I see arguments like this almost every day, and sometimes it is a real challenge to get both parties to see that they actually are in agreement. Using an integrative approach to solving these types of arguments is great because I can usually help both parties to reach an accord. 

Furthermore, I tend to look for ways to involve others in the decision-making process, which is imperative to getting your constituents to own the outcomes. If the leader makes a policy change that her subordinates do not agree with, they can blame the leader when it fails. However, if the leader involves her subordinates in changing the policy and incorporates input and suggestions into the new policy, the team now has a vested interest in making sure the changes are successful. They can no longer simply place all the blame on the leader for its failure, because they essentially helped write it into existence. It is hard to be wrong, and when others take ownership of the outcome, they tend to go above and beyond to make sure it is a successful outcome. 

Similarly, my idealist temperament lends itself very well to a facilitative leadership style. Idealists love collaborating with and empowering others, and tend hold themselves to a high ethical standard. They are masters at building relationships with others, and tend to look for ways to be of service to others. In fact, the characteristics of an idealist are almost identical to those of a leader who utilizes a facilitative/servant leadership style. 

Leadership Views

When an administrator is attuned to the feelings and communications styles of his faculty, he is opening the door for suggestions and constructive feedback from everyone involved. This kind of dialog creates a sense of co-ownership of the campus values and vision, and this level of shared responsibility leads to exponential growth (www.leadership-central.com, 2016).  Steve Reilly (1996) believes that good facilitative leaders hold themselves accountable for project outcomes and decisions as much as, if not more so, than his employees. Guiding others through the decision-making process empowers them to take ownership of the organization.  

One could also argue that facilitative leadership and servant leadership complement each other perfectly. When leaders work collaboratively with their subordinates, there is a certain amount of service that goes along with guiding them through the decision-making process. Servant leaders are often described as good communicators and listeners, credible, competent, encouraging of others, teachers, and delegators. They have vison and people often look up to them. They are great at giving credit where credit is due, and are not worried about making sure that people know what things they have personally accomplished (Avolio, etal. 2009). Like facilitative leaders, they firmly believe that empowering others is the key to growing any business or organization, and they model that belief daily. 

One of my assistant principals truly embodies the servant leadership style. Her main advice to me as future administrator was to listen and show love and compassion to all. I see her model this advice on a daily basis. I see the way she interacts with staff, students, and faculty, and she is constantly looking for ways to support and help them. She does not ask them to anything she would not do herself, and consistently guides them through decisions, rather than making the decisions herself. I appreciate the way she leads our campus, and I hope that I can cultivate some of these traits in myself. 

Leadership Skills

The case study we dissected really helped me process the skills that I must hone in order to be an effective administrator someday.  I have discovered that most issues that need attention are rarely the result of a breakdown of one skill. It is quite the opposite, in fact. A good leader knows this, and a great leader works diligently to hone all twelve of these skills so he can use them interchangeably to achieve successful outcomes. Although I realize that all skills are necessary, developing trust stands out as one of the most important skills to perfect. If an administrator does not trust her staff and vice versa, then very few problems will be solved with good outcomes. I have seen what a distrustful and untrustworthy administrator can do to a school, and it is not pretty. This principal was a great public relations and marketing expert. She made her school look great on paper, and when she talked to the public about her school, she made it sound like her faculty and staff were blissfully happy and the students were all perfect and well-adjusted. The reality was that her staff feared losing their jobs if they disagreed with her because several faculty had already been forced to retire or simply fired on the spot for one reason or another. Her methods for handling discipline were almost grossly ineffective, and the teachers felt like they had no administrative support. The students knew this, and behaved accordingly. There was no clear vision for the campus, because this administrator changed her focus at least once a month. She would introduce a new vision or discipline strategy and expect the teachers to embrace these changes without question. As one might expect, the campus test scores dropped quite a bit. 

In conclusion, if an administrator is unsuccessful at developing trust on her campus, then how can she expect his teachers to buy into her vision? Communication breaks down because every email gets scrutinized for his underlying meaning. Every decision he makes gets called into question. Fear becomes the motivation to perform well enough to keep one’s job, and group processes cannot function properly because the leader has created a culture of distrust and fear.  

My Leadership Approach

In conclusion, every person I meet has a different definition of leadership. Most agree, however, that leadership is the ability to guide a group of people or an organization in a common direction or to achieve a common goal. Great leaders inspire those who follow them to achieve great things and take ownership of their failures as well as their successes. They allow their team members to fail, knowing that there are valuable lessons to be learned from our failures. They also allow their team members to succeed without "stealing their thunder," so to speak. Great leaders also listen more than they speak and push their teams to think creatively, especially when attempting to solve particularly difficult  problems.  The best leaders are masters at finding ways to bring out the best qualities in his subordinates. As a coach, I have learned that teams are only as strong as their weakest members. As an administrator, I plan to use this concept someday to help mold the teachers on my campus. Not only do I need to help teachers develop their strengths, but I must also motivate them to take a hard look at their weaknesses and develop them into strengths as well. I want to create a community of educators who put their students and peers first. I want create a culture of trust, cohesiveness and open communication among my teachers and staff that is embedded so deeply that collaboration becomes second nature. I want to be the kind of leader who inspires her teachers to create meaningful projects for their students to learn real world applications for their lessons. In short, I want to be the kind of leader who earns the trust and respect of her teachers and staff, as well as her peers. I strive to be the very best version of myself so I can model that for others. To me, that is what leadership is all about. 

 

References

Avolio, Bruce; Walumbwa, Fred; and Weber, Todd J., "Leadership: Current Theories, Research, 

and Future Directions" (2009). Management Department Faculty Publications. Paper 37. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/managementfacpub/37Facilitative Leadership. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.leadership-central.com/facilitative-leadership.html#axzz4Oza52VL5. 

Reilly, S. (1996). Facilitative Leadership: Managing Performance without Controlling People. 

Seattle, WA: Peanut Butter Publishing