Leadership Dimension - Providing Instructional Leadership

"The Principal ensures that all students have ongoing access to quality teaching and learning opportunities to meet the provincial goals of education."

This is my second weakest dimension of the PQPS. Managing School operations and resources being my weakest. The latter is much easier to remedy with direct mentoring and knowledge. The former is more complex. Given that there is some circular logic within the goal" ensure teachers meet the Alberta TQS, to me this reads like too many bullets underneath bullets.

My approach to teacher motivation and instructional leadership has always fallen under Daniel Pink's version of motivation ie) autonomy, mastery, purpose (AMP). After a discussion last Friday with a teacher about this, however, it is clear that this model is lacking in what I can now recognize as acknowledgement.

Pink's AMP is by far more important than acknowledgement, but acknowledgement is where administration gets to signal what is the preferred approach. Autonomy, but this is what will be celebrated. Mastery and when achieved, this is what can be expected. Purpose, well we are teaching students to love learning, so that one is easy, but is excellence in meeting and caring for purpose ever acknowledged.

While studying the motivation and management of people the idea of incentive's often comes up, but there are no meaningful carrots and sticks within education. This is good from an AMP perspective, but how does one lead without incentives. The incentives signal what is valued. So how can that signalling take place? Public acknowledgement I suppose.

I always received lots of public acknowledgement, and it usually made me cringe to hear about it at a staff meeting, but I suppose that it is necessary. There still is something cringe worthy about just saying someones name at a staff meeting. I wonder how other leaders have handled this in the past? It can't be forced, and it can't be watered down.

The PQPS points to assessment, "appropriate and effective pedagogy that honours student diversity," "programming that meets individual student learning needs," new and emerging practices being integrated, communication with families, use of community resources, and of course AB. TQS adherence.

Thinking about this now, I suppose it is beholden upon me to find opportunities to acknowledge excellence in these fields.

Here are my big take-aways from this reflection on leadership dimension #5:

1. Instructional Leadership - supporting, promoting, and being present for PLC work. This means showing up to team meetings, finding out what they are doing, and actively celebrating the good work being done here. 
2. Communicate that non-involvement in the classroom is due to my adherence to AMP for motivation and my deep faith in teacher ability. 
3. Using every public address to acknowledge one of the Leadership dimensions foci. 

Personal Vision

What is my personal vision for the work that I do? At this point I have only pieces of understanding. I do not have a clear understanding of my own purpose.

• Improving educational attainment for First Nations, Metis and Inuit students
• Leading schools to more equitable treatment of students
• Connecting students to real world change projects
• Creating a world that is kinder and more self-aware for my children.

Now how do I turn this into a personal vision?


The above was written as a final reflection for an MBA class on strategy. I left out some of my ideas on capitalism and environmentalism because I thought that the last two points captured my philosophical ground that the world is changing and that change ought to be good. I always thought that it was in Chinese philosophy, but the google (more specifically the Internet encyclopedia of philosophy), tells me that it was Heraclitus who talked about the nature of existence always changing and used the metaphor of the river.

According to both Plato and Aristotle, Heraclitus held extreme views that led to logical incoherence. For he held that (1) everything is constantly changing and (2) opposite things are identical, so that (3) everything is and is not at the same time. In other words, Universal Flux and the Identity of Opposites entail a denial of the Law of Non-Contradiction. Plato indicates the source of the flux doctrine: "Heraclitus, I believe, says that all things go and nothing stays, and comparing existents to the flow of a river, he says you could not step twice into the same river"

"On those stepping into rivers staying the same other and other waters flow." Heraclitus

My personal application of this idea follows that every student is always different and how to reach them will continually change (the water), but the endeavour of teaching the love of learning (the river) will still remain the same. In this way, as I understand it, the river is always changing, and it is in awareness of this change that I am able to achieve unity of purpose.

So the world is changing, and my personal vision embraces this idea of change because it allows for the possibility of improvement. The horrors of the world and the cruelty that we all know is out there can be debilitating. Raising my family into this world I have to believe that improvements are not only possible, but inevitable. This foundation also suits the first two aspects of my personal vision from that reflection paper.

The EPSB vision is "Transforming the learners of today into the leaders of tomorrow."

I like that word transforming, but for now I am going to start crafting my own personal vision with the word change.

So far my personal vision is this: "Change ..."

The Goals of this Blog

There are three main goals that I wish to pursue in writing this. When I decided to get back into blog writing I thought this would be strictly to help me understand the PQP Standard. This would be an exercise in preparation and professional development, I thought. Since that time, however, I think that this could serve a bigger purpose than helping prepare me to be a principal. The last lecture I received from Dr. Marvin Washington challenged me to develop my own personal vision. One must be clear on what they want to lead and that takes consciousness. The EPSB vision: "Transforming the learners of today into the leaders of tomorrow" seems simple to understand at first, but there is much more behind this vision than a simple, build leadership skills kind of interpretation. Which leads me to the reasons I have for writing (these are not rank ordered),

• Deepen my understanding of the Principal Quality Practice Standard
• Application
• Examples
• Building up a PQPS segment in my brain
• Develop and refine my own personal Vision
• Clarity
• Not confined to my career only
• Reconciled with EPSB vision
• Deepen my understanding and application of this vision
• Explore career pathways for my future 
• Based on clarity of vision 
• Experimenting with what is possible

Now that I have started writing I can tell that this is often going to be a personal journal that is written only for me, but in the spirit of the millennial generation that I am not really a member of, I am going to put the whole thing out there online. 

Vision determines Action

PQPS Reflect Page 1

Here are the Principal Quality Practice Standards and my Individual Reflections on their application and interpretation.

Here we go ....

The most difficult thing I do

The hardest part of this job is, without a doubt, improving attendance rates for students that, for whatever reason, are not attending school.

There are certain demographic realities about the students that do not attend regularly, but more important than ethnic or economic pre-dispositions is the ineffectiveness of approach.

I was able to refine attendance monitoring this year. This enabled me to share up to date and accurate attendance figures with involved staff members and the students in question. At first talking to students about their attendance rates did have an impact. There was usually a temporary increase in attendance after meeting with a student. There was not, however, long-term improvements.

I don't think a Truancy bot would fix the problem. 

I know that the solution is to create meaningful connections with students that motivate them to attend. To reach an internal mechanism that proves the value of the relationship with the school to the student, but that task is so hard to do well.

The attendance board is sometimes effective, but usually in select cases. For something this complex there needs to be some kind of action research or best practices approach. I have a feeling that someone somewhere has a better solution. I just haven't heard from that person.

Just learning

The learning curve is steep, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. There is something exciting about knowing so little. It is akin to being lost while travelling: a little scary, done almost on purpose, and sure to provide lots of stories to tell for later.

time x.

There is a great deal to learn about the role that I must play now. There are certain tasks that an assistant principal is just expected to take care of, such as OHS, managing assessment requests, connecting students with district supports. The learning curve on those tasks is steep, but I do not feel a great deal of anxiety about being able to accomplish them. I take my job seriously, and I work hard. I have a supportive principal that is already picking up any pieces that I miss (and there are several), and the district that I work in understands that I am new to the role and bound to miss a little bit here and there. For the formal "task learning," therefore, there is a great deal of support, so I know I will get there.

The organization is supportive of learning

The more interesting, and far more challenging, learning goal that I must now aspire to is how to lead in a school from a formal leadership position. One of the key items that I know staff are looking to me for in the school setting is on the nature of discipline. My approach to discipline and support of teachers in the classroom must be transparent and fair of course, but it should also take into account the teachers needs. What is it that a teacher needs to be able to teach more effectively in the classroom? This is such a difficult decision to make, but the best approach that I have seen modelled is one that is calm, decisive and honest. Calm and decisive are easy to interpret, but the honest part is a little unclear. By honest I mean the honesty to admit when I don't have the answer, to ask the teacher that is involved what their suggestions are and to listen to what the teachers are saying and not saying. There are many avenues that this exploration of learning about leadership can take, and I do hope to address more of them in future posts, but for now I want to stay focused on my commitment to respect staff when it comes to discipline.  Fair, transparent and honest, that is the key to disciplinary leadership.

The final challenge that I want to reflect on here today is how to apply my current learning in my MBA program to my new role as AP. The class I am in right now is titled The Strategic Management of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. I had originally planned on writing about the challenge of finding the place for process innovation in a school, but it has just now dawned on me that rather than talk about how to do it I need to just do it. Starting after Spring Break our school will be preparing for the iCubed invention convention. This is a fantastic entry point for an innovative approach to instruction, timetabling and school organization. It is also the perfect place to leave this reflection, my first under the newly branded learn lead lead learn blog of mine that no one is really reading....

Next blog post: On the invention convention.

No Post November Apparently

On Leadership and Role Modelling

There are two powerful ideas that stand out from my MBA studies so far.

1. If you are serious about starting a business you need partners. This idea of real life collaboration can be applied in all sectors. For any project there are far too many things to accomplish alone. Success comes from finding and working with people that can share a vision, apply their myriad skills and make a project come to life. 
2. Transformational Leadership is the most effective style of leadership for any organization. This method of leadership shapes both how I conduct myself as a leader and the lens with which I view the other leaders in my organization. 

Today I saw an example of Transformational Leadership, so that is what I am going to write about. 

Transformational Leadership.

While reading my news feed this morning I came across an opinion piece by Paula Simons called

Dentyne and Cheezies: Edmonton Public Schools’ boring expense reports are actually pretty exciting. At essence this is a story about transformational leadership. 

It is a story about the managers, executive directors and board members behaving in a way that maintains the public trust. Spending responsibly, acting with the knowledge that they are under the watchful eye of the public, while still completing the important work that has been entrusted to them.

This kind of article does not get written and this kind of behavior does not occur by accident. There is an active example that has been set by our leaders, and it is the perfect example of both idealised influence and inspirational motivation (two facets of transformational leadership). 

This is also just one example of how I have witnessed first hand the new leadership direction that possesses a tangible feeling within our board and throughout the district. 

Because there is a certain tone to this short post that sounds like pandering (really though I genuinely feel proud of my organization) I will offer one brief criticism. I would really like to see the individual consideration that is necessary for transformational leadership to be complete. My interpretation of this segment has always included getting out into the front lines of any organization. For me as an acting assistant principal it means getting into the classrooms and the student spaces. For our board, particularly the assistant superintendents, I hope it means more visits to the schools themselves. 

Reclaiming Youth at Risk, Part 1: The Seeds of Discouragement

I was given this book to read by my principal and it is lighting a fire in my thinking about the youth that we here at Westlawn so often encounter.

Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the Future by Larry Brendtro, Martin Brokenleg and Steve Van Bockern is a profoundly aware book. The empathy that is helping create in me is shaping how I think about students.

The authors accomplish this shift in thinking by changing the language that is used when discussing troubled youth. Simply by shifting the language used I am forced to change how I think about the students.

I have taken the tables from the book and recreated them. I will use this image to guide the language that we, as a staff use when discussing students. 

I have never really written a book review, and that is not what I intend to do here. I want to record some of the ideas that really resonate with me. In this process it will help me record my ideas for future use, and it will also help me to understand what they mean a little more deeply.

Understanding that the students who actively work against our best efforts to help them are "relationship-resistant" and view "even friendly helpful adults with deep distrust" is so helpful in helping us not take their resistance personally. I have so often heard people say, "the student isn't making any effort, so I am not going to keep trying to connect with him/her." We need to recognize that they are pushing us away as a defensive reaction. We should not expect them to respond with gratitude or to reciprocate our care.

The first part of this book on "the seeds of discouragement" also points out "our tendency to attribute problems to the troubled individual" and respond with coerciveness and avoidance when that individual doesn't act how we believe they should be acting. How can anyone, the authors challenge, "reject a child's behavior without implicitly rejecting the child?" Using Negative labels (like in the table above) taints the child as a person. The solution to helping reclaim youth is to shift away from a language of blame and toward a language of empathy.

I can hear all of my less empathetic family members and colleagues raising their challenges now. This is not about indulging destructive behavior or allowing youth to get away with everything because of their upbringing. It is about recognizing that the defiance and disrespect is an expression of frustration and discouragement. There is something very powerful in this linguistic shift because it impacts our fundamental perception of the behavior. Try it, it creates empathy.

Follow this logic from the text. We want the at risk youth to change and adopt positive behaviors and thoughts towards themselves, others around them and their own future right? Overindulgence of the youth's destructive behavior won't work. Authoritarian control and an insistence on complete obedience won't work in changing the youth's behavior either. "Young people seek help only from adults they see as caring and nurturing." We have to change how we talk and think about these children in order to create a mental environment that contains genuine care and concern. That comes from empathy.

First week of 2014/2015 year

The students may not be here yet, but it feels like a full week of start-up tasks and activities has been accomplished. Yes, I will still have to come in for the weekend, but I did not want to leave school on the first week having already reneged on my promise to reflect through writing every week.

My mind is already stuffed with all of the things that I want to make sure I accomplish this long-weekend, so time to get writing about the past while it is still here in my memory.

What have I learned in this, my first week as "acting for" Assistant Principal?

1. All staff need to be taken care of. Sometimes it easy to see what different team members need to feel involved and supported and sometimes it is not so clear. The key is, however, to get into each of their classrooms while they are setting up and find out how they are doing. I was able to feel which staff are excited, which are a little bit scared, and which ones need some real support. I was able to offer that help and, hopefully show all of these team members that my first priority this week is supporting and listening to them. This is probably why I will have to come in on the weekend to accomplish some of my other tasks, but I am so glad I did it. I can't catch-up on staff relations over the weekend, but I can catch-up on all of the less important items on my to do list. 
2. Stay positive and responsive. This is really an extension of the first lesson I learned, but it bears repeating. It feels good to be a part of what all these wonderful teachers and teaching assistants are up to. I like that they will joke with me and keep me as part of their little groups. 
3. Schools will run themselves. This isn't true of course, but it is amazing how many things just happen because of the people behind the scenes that just make sure they are getting done. I don't know how, but I do know that when the students arrive everything is going to smoothly. I also know who is responsible. 

This post seems a little empty for me, but I wrote it, and I will continue to take the time to reflect, no matter how much I want to get on moving out of here. 

Until next week when the students arrive and the real work begins!!!