Day 11
“T’is the season” ~ No, not the celebratory season of Christmas with the giving and receiving of gifts, but the season of staffing, with the giving and receiving of resumes.

I must admit, that I truly enjoy the opportunity to meet so many educators who are willing to put themselves through the process of interviewing for a new position. A colleague, who was doing a wonderful job of putting a candidate at ease said it well, when she said, “In our jobs, we are not used to interviewing, we are used to interacting”.  How very true!   And I believe that it is incumbent upon us as a learning organization to expand our strategies for selecting candidates for teaching positions.  Within some of our portfolios, we have explored the effectiveness of group interviews ~ especially if the job description involves working closely with other educators (such as an Instructional Coach).  It is challenging to see how potential candidates interact with others when they are placed at a table and asked to answer questions.

I also believe strongly that creating the conditions for candidates to feel comfortable and confident allows us (as the interview team) to truly see them shine.  To that end, we are now incorporating a new aspect of the process wherein candidates are asked to select an artifact that represents their work with students and take the first few minutes of their interview time to explain why they chose it, what did they learn about their students and about themselves as educators.  This process allows the candidate time to prepare and to own the first part of the interview.  In some cases we have pushed the envelope even further and had the candidates create an electronic artifact to share.  Feedback so far has been positive.

The other aspect of staffing season that I love is that it provides leaders with the opportunity to purposefully make positive changes in their departments and in their schools.  One of our Director’s favourite phrases comes from Jim Collins’ book Good to Great where he says “Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.”  It is through our staffing process that we get to make those intentional, purposeful decisions as to who sits where on our bus.  We need to know the direction that our team is going and know which potential candidates will help us get there.  And sometimes it’s not the candidate with the greatest depth of knowledge on the content area.  Sometimes it is the candidate who will be able to inspire others, who understands vision and who is willing to learn the content.

Staffing is complex, time consuming, exciting, exhausting, frustrating (as we work within the confines of contracts) and worth every minute of it.   I guess in that way, it does resemble the Christmas season.

All the best to those educators who are taking on the challenge of interviewing for another position.

To leaders who have the opportunity to interview candidates, this is our time to get our bus chugging in the right direction!

Day 10…. About a Boy and A Fox ~ and so much more!

When one has the privilege of working in the world of System Literacy support, it is inevitable that book titles abound on a regular basis.  A couple of weeks ago, one of our Coordinators was recommending a book about a fox to friends on Facebook and then just days later, the same book was part of a  selection of texts used by another Learning Coordinator at the STEAM conference.  So, when the opportunity presented itself, I downloaded the story and selected it as my next audiobook (keeping me company as I walk and as I drive).  This past Sunday turned out to be one of those days where a long drive and then time alone in the kitchen allowed me long periods of uninterrupted listening time and I found myself whisked away in the world of Pax. This morning, I timed my morning walk and drive to work to coincide with finishing the book.  Little did I know that as the final words in the final chapter were read, my tears would begin to flow ~ slowly at first and then uncontrollably.

What starts out as a simple story about a boy and his pet fox, turns into one of the most richly written, multi-layered books that I’ve read in a long time. Within minutes, Pennypacker is pulling at the reader’s heart strings as the separation of Peter and Pax immediately begins journeys of a desired reunion for both characters.  Eventful and at times heart-stopping journeys that on the surface seem so different and yet their parallels become evident on so many levels.  As Peter and Pax try desperately to find their way back to each other, they encounter colourful, tormented and ultimately redeeming characters who both hinder and then help their respective journeys.

Woven within descriptive, melodically rhythmic words, readers witness toy soldiers evolve from a pet’s throw toy to representing the “war sick” and destruction.  The psyche of a baseball player evolving from a nasty sneer of a competing team to a shared symbol of peace and a book found in the pocket of a dead soldier evolving from retelling a story as a means of redemption to a catalyst for a phoenix to rise from the ashes and experience rebirth.

To say that I highly recommend this book, seems bland and vanilla compared to the rich vocabulary, incredible imagery and heart pounding scenes which Pennypacker brings to life so eloquently.

IF you are looking for a book to highlight for your grade 7-12 students, I can promise that as soon as you read one or two purposefully selected passages, you’ll have a hard time keeping this one of the shelf.

What have you read lately that you can’t wait to share with your students or with your friends?  What made that book so powerful for you?

Come write with me….

Today I had the pleasure of once again indulging myself by getting consumed into the world of another incredible audiobook.   I have one more CD to finish and then I have no doubt that my reflections will be highlighted in one of my upcoming posts (or as a result of the richness of this book ~ it may spill into two entries).  So, today’s post isn’t about the book, but about a famous quote that the author uses to support the story line.  At one point in the story, the supporting character recites the famous Michelangelo quote, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free” to the lead character as a challenge for him to create a likeness of his pet from a piece of wood. The multi-layer meaning of this quote goes well beyond physical carving and reaches deep into the heart of inspiration and believing in those things we cannot see yet.

As educators, we believe that every child can succeed, although the results may not be immediate. We see the greatness that every child possesses and knows that there are no limitations to what they can achieve, given the right set of circumstances.  It becomes our job, as the artists, to know which tools to use as we illuminate a child’s talent for the rest of the world to see.  It may be teaching a child to read ~ as we know that all children must be able to access print that is meaningful to them.

It may be supporting a child’s dream of playing an instrument, dancing or following in Michelangelo’s footsteps and becoming an artist.

But in order to truly “set the angel free”, we as educators need to know our students. We need to know what inspires them, what frustrates them, what will motivate them to reach their goals.   Only then, will we, as the artists, know which tools to pull from our toolkit as we begin to uncover the masterpiece that lies within each child.

What are some of the “tools” in your artist’s toolkit that you use to release the talents of your students?

Come write with me….

Not only has May meant a return to daily blogging, it has also meant a return to daily walks.  And along with the obvious health benefits of this daily ritual comes the added bonus of daily doses of losing myself within various audiobooks.  My current book, “Envy,” written by Sandra Brown is actually a story within a story.  As one story unfolds, the reader (or in my case the listener) becomes transported back in time as a parallel storyline is revealed in the form of a novel that one of the characters is writing.  And to add one more literary layer, Brown’s main character own a publishing company……so authors, editors, English professors and writers abound.

At one point in the story, as the English professor provides feedback to one of his students, he describes the writing of a fellow student as mechanical.

I couldn’t help but wonder that when we support our students as writers, do we spent too much time on ensuring that the mechanics of their writing is in place.  Form, format, spacing, spelling, grammar and the list goes on and on.

What do we need to do to help our students take their writing from mechanical to magnificent and meaningful?

I’ve started a list….

• We need to model how to write stories that are impactful and full of emotion
• We need to ensure that our students are provided with opportunities to build their background knowledge, so they have real experiences to draw upon
• We need to expose our students to good quality “meaningful” stories and ensure that we are highlighting what moves a story beyond mechanical.

What would you add to the list?

Come write with me….

Spring elicits an abundance of pleasing visuals.  Magnolia trees come to life with blossoms that gradually transition from white to pink.  Forsythia bushes explode with bright yellow flowers that add instant colour to a world that is just beginning to green.  Front lawns quickly coming alive with both the rich green of new grass and the bright yellow of dandelions. Gardens, not yet awakened by inaugural hoeing and weeding or enveloped with richly scented mulch, are speckled with purple hyacinths, red tulips, white crocuses and yellow daffodils.

But today it wasn’t the sights of spring that caused me to reflect, it was the sounds, as I drove through the city running various errands. Children playing at recess at a nearby school yard. I hoped that their entire instructional day had been filled with such opportunities to talk and share.  But if not, then at least recess provided that much needed environment for laughter.  Two blocks away, there was a large group of secondary students making their way around their outdoor track, some engrossed in their smartphones and some engaged in conversations.  Music was playing as they walked.

As I waited at a set of traffic lights and continued to listen, I became fascinated with the various and diverse sounds made by the cargo train travelling down the tracks.  Steel on steel…at times sounding smooth and at times sounding full of resistance and screeching. At that same set of lights, the familiar beep, beep, beep of the crosswalk indicator was clearly audible.    As I continued along my way, the traffic became more congested and I found myself driving alongside of a gentleman who was enjoying the sounds of Prince singing “Raspberry Beret”, and I couldn’t help but let out a smile as the driver was happily singing along. The next set of traffic lights was busy with pedestrians.  There was the rolling of a wheelchair with the gravel embedded tires making their way along the sidewalk and then there was the sound of the summer flip flops, rhythmically coming in contact with the bare feet, with a familiar slapping sound ~ a sound synonymous with warm weather.

As I neared my final destination my thoughts drifted back to the first sound that I noticed ~ children on a playground at recess and I couldn’t help but wonder how much time do we spend giving our students opportunities to really “listen” to sounds other than the sound of our voice as an educator.

Something to think about ~ or should I say something to listen to.

What sound are there in your classroom for your students to listen?  Do you take them outside the four walls of your classroom and provide them with opportunities to listen?

Come write with me….

Today I had the absolute pleasure of spending the afternoon with a group of our team members who are considering formal school principal leadership, at some point in their future. It was extremely evident from the beginning of the afternoon that their eyes have been opened to the qualities and actions of effective leaders with whom they have come in contact with as a result of their work. Our team members have no misconceptions about what it takes to create a culture of trust, respect and accountability in a school setting.

The presentation team effectively set the stage by sharing
the Rita Pierson video, Every Kid Needs a Champion.

When considering taking the leap into formal leadership, the question about work and home balance always garners great conversation and like most complex questions, there is not one answer which is right for everyone considering this role.
One’s own personal definition of balance and those factors which may or may not be in one’s control will all play a part in a teacher’s decision to take on a vice principalship. The other interesting conversation in which we engaged in was about professional learning beyond the minimum expectation. Our board is one
of the few boards that has an expectation that our administrators will get their Masters at some point in their administrative career. Does one take a Masters to meet an organizational requirement or does one take a Masters as a natural next step on a continued educational journey? The Great Debate!
In order to allow a “teachers only” conversation, administrators transitioned to another room where we looked at Chapter 7 from The Multiplier Effect. After reading a blog written by a colleague, Lisa Munroe I had tagged this book for my summer reading list. But after today’s discussion I may not wait until the balmy days of summer to crack open the spine on this book. Without giving away too much of the book,  the information shared
about a leader’s ability to become an “Accidental Diminisher” was very enlightening. The chapter provides the reader with some descriptors of well-intentioned actions on a ‘part, which may in fact be more harmful than helpful when it comes to supporting the leadership development of others.

Kudos to our system staff development team who offered this afternoon’s session, as an opportunity for us as a board to begin to have important conversations with educators who may be thinking about the role of Vice Principal.
And as all effective professional learning opportunities include, not only did the intended audience of aspiring Administrators walk away with new learning, but a seasoned, mature administrator like myself, was inspired to check out a new resource and to reflect on whether or not I’m “accidentally diminishing” the leadership ability of those whom I’m supporting.

Thinking about formal leadership?

Come write with me….

When others are helping to hoist the torch, it’s amazing how much higher it can be raised and how more evenly distributed the weight becomes.

Silos is one of those words that has continued to plague us in our work at the Board Office.  Three years ago, when I transitioned into this role, a colleague shared that the best thing I could do was to break down the silos.  With everyone working in isolation and focusing only on their own work within their own portfolios it was easy to see how we could be accused of being disconnected and therefore not overly effective or responsive to what schools were dealing with on a daily basis.

So…bit by bit, conversation by conversation, I’m pleased to share that we are chiseling away at the bricks within our silos and purposefully inserting ourselves in each other’s work and the outcomes have been extremely positive.

Two recent examples that come to mind:  Our work at GENTLE was an intentional partnership with our colleagues in Social Work and Special Education.  The culmination of that partnership resulted in a multi-portfolio professional learning session where school teams were supported with wrap around learning from each department ~ thus replicating the type of support that schools provide for students and their families at the school level.  That day, there were many hands on the torch leading the charge of how best to support our Syrian newcomer students and their families.

The second example occurred this week when our Literacy team was approached by our colleagues in Research and Assessment.  They initiated a conversation about rebranding an assessment tool that is integral to our work.  There was such a sense of excitement in knowing that others (who are not directly connected to our portfolio) recognized the importance of our work and wanted to partner with us in a quest to make a significant improvement. Once again, knowing that others were willing to help us hoist the torch of “what’s right for kids” gave our team a renewed sense of purpose.

May the torch be with you…..

Day 4:

This morning at approximately 10:01 am there will be an Urgent Message which will pop up on every computer screen and mobile device in Thames Valley, with a subject line “Administrator Assignments”. Within seconds, literally hundreds of employees will open the attachment and begin to scan the columns and rows, reminding themselves of the structure of how the document is organized with the headings of “current” and “new” and begin to generate their own list of questions.  For current administrators, they will be wondering which of their colleagues are retiring, which ones are transferring to another school (and the size of the school), who is leaving their community of schools and who will be joining their community of schools.  For brand new administrators, this will be the first time that they are seeing their name listed with their new set of colleagues.  They will be scanning the list, looking to see where their cohort mates are being placed.  They may not realize it yet, but the names on this list will undoubtedly become some of their most trusted friends as over the years they call each other for advice, for someone to listen to their woes and for someone to celebrate their successes.

For classroom teachers, custodians, secretaries, EAs and ECEs, they will all be scanning the chart and looking to see if their school is listed as one that is receiving a new leader (either principal or vice principal).  School based staff are interested in knowing who this new person is, how much experience does he/she have, what type of reputation does he/she have and then undoubtedly emails will begin to fly back and forth between current and new staff members seeking answers to the above questions.  Decisions to stay or go may be based on the names on that chart.

From a system level, we are generating our own list of questions, based on this new information,  as we know all too well that the success of school embedded professional learning and school improvement are both directly tied to school leadership.

Such curiosity based on a single chart filled with names!

For those of you who are seeing your name for the first time, how does that feel?

Congratulations!!

For experienced administrators ~ do you recall the first chart with your name?  Reflections?

Come write with me…

Day 3:

“If for any reason there is a change in the cabin pressure, an oxygen mask will be dislodged from the overhead compartment.  Please ensure that you adjust your mask first before helping others”.    In thinking about this perpetually shared safety message, I couldn’t help but make some comparisons between the need to ensure that we, as educators are taking care of our own intake of a learning diet in order to properly support the learning of our students.

This morning, as I was listening to my latest audiobook, I became enthralled with the melodic cadence that the author was using and her command of the English language as she was describing scenes which were so realistic that one could smell the dampness in the old boathouse and taste the sardines on saltines that the main character was inhaling.  It became apparent to me that by listening to other authors, my repertoire of phrases and symbolism was being expanded and stored in my memory bank ~ to be retrieved one day when communicating an idea. As educators, we want to ensure that our learning environments are rich in literacies for our students to access.  But more importantly than just providing a literacy rich environment for our students, we need to be enriching our own literacy diets.  What are we reading (both for pleasure and professionally), what are we watching, what are we listening to, who are we engaging in conversations with and what are we writing about?   When we think about our professional learning needs and how meeting those needs impacts our students, what are the essential components?   Do they change over the course of our career?  Do they change as we transition roles?

Inhale, breathe deeply and reflect on your learning diet.

Come write with me…..

Day 2:

As I backed out of my driveway this morning, I found myself mentally running through the various encounters that I was about to embark on for the day. I was excited about visiting a couple of schools, discussing a number of upcoming staffing challenges and having some dedicated time with our Literacy team.  I will admit that my first stop of the day ~ at our Facilities office ~ was one that I would never have anticipated as being the focus of today’s post.

Over the past week there had been several emails between our Superintendent, our Associate Director and our ESL/ELD Learning Coordinator ~ all looking for clarification on Secondary ESL/ELD boundaries. My role was to enter into a face to face discussion and provide that clarity. So, I arrived with a rolled up map of the city of London, which had black-marker boundaries depicting the specific areas for our Secondary ESL programs and made a joke about feeling like Mike Brady with his architect’s canister of drawings.  I was positive that my visit was to share the current boundaries and provide some much needed explanation as to why certain students attended certain schools.

But within minutes it became clear that my explanation was not the focus of the discussion, nor was any clarification on my part necessary. Instead I found myself on the receiving end of an “out of the box” plan to revamp ESL Secondary boundaries. I was blindsided, but in a positive way.  As the conversation continued and we engaged in some powerful “What if ?” scenarios and hatched a plan to share our combined thinking with various stakeholders, I found myself internally reprimanding myself for making the wrong and simplistic assumption about my first stop of the day.   What I had assumed was going to be a quick “This is the way we do it” meeting turned into an exciting, sensational conversation about the possibility of doing things differently and more effectively for our students. 

For someone who prides herself on being open to new and innovative ways, today I was reminded that one never knows when something will quickly morph from “simplistic to sensational”.

Have you ever been pleasantly blindsided?

Come write with me….