The PowerPoint is finished but collaboration is ongoing. The collaborative effort may have finished for the first part of the assignment, but seeing that we have worked so well together, we have decided to work together on the second part by discussing, supporting and lending a hand wherever we can.
Article by Henri (1994)
I like the quote where he says “Leadership is a process not an event. Leadership is for those who can enjoy the journey and who are comfortable through the knowledge that there is no final destination.”
The one thing that I have noticed when reading all the articles related to leadership is that the idea of leadership is changing from someone who is totally in charge and making all the decisions to one who is leading by identifying the problem, seeking out solutions, sharing knowledge and observing what others are capable of doing and encouraging them to do it.
Making teams work
Beck, J.D. & Yeager, N.M. (1994). Making teams work: an underused window of opportunity. In The leader’s window: mastering the four styles of leadership to build high-performing teams (pp. 183-206). New York: Wiley.
Beck and Yeager describe the differences between a group and a team is like being on a bus. People riding a bus fit the definition of a group because they are all in one place at the same time, going the same direction at the same speed with one leader driving them. But each of them have an indiidual goal and purpose to be there. They all get off the bus at different stops. Whereas, a team gets on and off the bus at the same time and have an interelated goal.
Law & Glover article
Law, S. & Glover, D. (2000). Leading effective teams. In Educational leadership and learning: practice, policy and research (pp. 71-86). Buckingham, England: Open University Press
Quotes I really like:
“leadership is essentially a description of a particular form of relationship between people sharing common aims which they seek to achieve by different objectives”
“Communication between individuals, teams and the organizational environment does not, however, simply happen.”
“Without effective communication, team cohesion has little chance.”
Core steps in decision making – Harvey, Bearley & Corkrum article
I never thought about turning a problem into a opportunity before. Usually I would just try to solve the problem before it got too big. I am going to try to do this and see how it works. There is no use just reading about it.
Phrases to turn problems into opportunities: opportunities to innovate, situation that needs attention. These phrases turn negatives into positives and focuses the attention on the outcome and the action needed to achieve the outcome.
Streeton Primary School article – 12 quality principles
The following 12 principles were taken from an article written by the Streeton Primary School (2000). These similar steps can also be found on the Quality Learning Australia website. The 12 are easy to follow and are a basis on how to have a quality learning environment.
Principle 1 – Clear direction allows organisational alignment and a focus on the achievement of goals – what is organisational alignment? Organisational alignment occurs when everyone and everything is working together for one purpose and goal. Leadership is required to identify goals and make sure that the systems and processes are always aligned with that goal.
Principle 2 – Mutually agreed plans translate organisational direction into actions. Instead of having to comply with all directions and orders of an authority figure, teams are more successful when they plan through mutual agreement.
Principle 3 – Quality and value are defined by the client. Who is the client? The primary clients in schools are the students and their parents or caregivers. They all have needs that need to be met and it is the schools responsibility to meet those needs in relation to the school organisation.
Principle 4 – To improve the outcome, improve the system and its associated processes. What is the process? A good process is a process that is repeated over and over again until it is perfected and is able to reach a common aim or goal. It is able to strengthen the relationships of those involved.
Principle 5 – The potential of an organisation is realised through its people’s enthusiasm, resourcefulness and participation. Like Eeyore, the doleful donkey of Winnie the Pooh, those who lack enthusiasm have little motivation to keep improving.
Principle 6 – Continual improvement and innovation depend on continual learning. Learning never stops. Those who look for a learning situation will find it and those who grasp onto the knowledge acquired from those learning situations will achieve more than they ever thought they would.
Principle 7 – All people work in a system, outcomes are improved when people work on the system. We work in a school system and we work on it the make improvements that help us reach our goals.
Principle 8 – Effective use of facts, data and knowledge leads to improved decisions. Without data we can never be sure whether the activity is of use, whether the students enjoy it or if is reaching the learning outcomes of the school.
Principle 9 – All systems and processes exhibit variability, which impacts on predictability and performance. There are always variations in processes because people who are involved are different. The process will be less effective is there is more variation. It makes it harder to identify opportunities for improvement.
Principle 10 – Organisations provide value to the community through their actions to ensure a clen, safe, fair and prosperous society. We need to look beyond our immediate environment to see how our actions impacts on others and the environment.
Principle 11 – Sustainability is determined by an organisation’s ability to create and deliver value for all stakeholders.
Principle 12 – Senior leadership’s constant role modelling of these principles and creation of a supportive environment in which to live these principles, will help the organisation and its people to reach their potential. Leaders must constantly revisit the twelve principles, reflecting on their meaning and the way they are observed in action.
Quality Learning
What is Quality Learning?
http://www.qla.com.au/index.html
The Principles of Quality Learning has a range of steps that improve learning and school quality. They are:
- Systems – systems, purpose, processes, clients and stakeholders
Systems determine how the organisaiton and its people perform. The purpose is a clear vision of excellence. The Processes are activities – improved systems and processes that improve performance, relationships and behaviour. Clients define quality and stakeholders manage relationships.
- Knowledge (Take time to think, learn and improve) – Planning appropriate strategy and methods and Learning requires observation and reflection.
- Variation (measuring progress) – Data that measures progress and improve decision making – variation affects predictability and performance.
- People (remove barriers to motivation and improvement) – motivation by removing barriers will improve performance – change is a process not an event – Leadership: it is everybody’s job to improve the systems and processes for which they are responsible and role modelling these principles.
An organisational view of school effectiveness and school improvement – Bennett article
Although I did not understand most of what I read of this article, it did confirm to me that every organisation is different in relation to how it is set out and how the members of the organisation work together. I also learnt that school improvement generates staff committment to actions and staff committment will generate school improvement.
Donham article
Leadership – what really stood out to me in this article is that we need to lead from the middle. As a teacher librarian we lead more through influence, not by being superior. We need to establish our own expertise, working collegially with other and articulating out ideas. We are always looking for learning opportunities that will lead to a higher expertise in what we do. The only way we can improve on our skills is to reflect on what we have achieved and how we can continuously improve ourselves and our position. So that we can lead from the middle we need to be at the forefront on all committees that are in part of the library. Technology committees, Curriculum committees etc. We need to show that we care about the school as a whole and not just the library.
Another chat session
Another chat session and we have worked well together. Everyone has been very cooperative in any changes that had to take place. Tonight we had put together our 15 slides plus a few extra to move around and swap. We are meeting again on Wednesday night at 8.30pm and should have it all finished.
"The Road to Becoming a Teacher Librarian" 