It was great to meet everybody. I now feel a lot more
connected to the course and my mentor group. I think knowing everybody now will
make the conversations online more fluid. The day was reaffirming that I am on
the right track with my understandings and my Big Question. I also have a
clearer vision in my head of the actions I will need to take for my ARP and it
seems manageable but a little daunting when combined with report writing term.
Stephen Heppell was OK in an engaging, scatterbrained way
but his overall message was quite powerful in that he is a rich, living example
in how all learners are different. His presentation and the view of his desktop
was amazing- not organised to my thinking but clearly to himself and a result
of his own learning and the own connections he has with ideas. He is a living
example of 21st century learning even if he is atypical of the
generation we are targeting.
The most challenging thing I am learning is as the course
states, is to consider myself a leader even if I officially am not in “leadership”.
It is up to me to take the initiative and lead from within the “pack”. Also I guess
this has challenged my view of what a leader is.
The most significant event this week was handing out the
Ipads to students as part of the 1:1 program. It really means the game is on
and the work really starts for me now. It was interesting that the kids were
excite but also able to take it in their stride and just jumped in, it was all
second nature to them. I guess this makes it clear we are heading the right
way.
Bec, So exciting having 1:1. Fantastic. It was great to meet everyone. Hope you have a good Easter break.
ReplyDeleteHi Bec,
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to read that you are now starting to consider yourself a leader. This takes some getting use to but you're in a great position because you've got dedicated time and space to really mould what sort of leader you want to be from the start. Consider other leaders around you or ones you have worked with in the past. Are there things you have seen leaders do that you would never do? Do you aspire to be like certain leaders your have worked with? I like you're thinking about leading from within the pack. I played a lot of footy when I was younger and always found the best leaders where the ones that were willing to lead by example, they were fearless, tenacious, supportive (Not like hand on your shoulder "are you going to be OK" kind of supportive but the "I'll jump in front of that massive guy running at full tilt to protect you" kind of support) and driven. I played one year at a club where Alan Richardson, the current St Kilda coach, was coaching. I tried so hard that year and worked on my kicking tirelessly throughout the season. I got to training early and did my 200 kicks and didn't miss a single target on the training track for at least 3 months. One night while streaming down the wing on the training track I sprayed one out to the left and missed the leading player. Alan yelled "NOT GOOD ENOUGH MATTY FORREST!!!" His expectations were so high and for good reason. He wanted me and everyone in the team to know that missing a kick at training was unacceptable. I often think, are we prepared to give feedback that quickly and that bluntly in our school settings? And if not, when we say we are striving for excellence... Why NOT? He didn't need to be sorry for what he said, he wasn't. I think there are a lot of parallels we could learn from the sporting world. I could go on for hours but just one last comment. I heard during the week that Alistair Clarkson, the Hawthorne coach, has not run a single drill all summer as he is working on a distributed leadership model for his club this year. This is a new thing for him. They have won 2 premierships in a row but does he keep things the same? NO... he strives to continually evolve and improve his practice and the people he influences. To quote Stephen Heppell here "Better is always going to be different"
The way they pulled Geelong apart on Monday is anything to go by... Some of the lower clubs might have some pretty horrible days out against Hawthorne this year.
I digressed massively there... The constant reflections about your leadership will put you in control of the kind of leader you want to become.
Getting the new iPads is an exciting time for your school. Of course the kids hardly batted an eyelid... That's the world we live in. When you start to communicate some of the successes you are having with the iPads with your parents and staff try not to just celebrate the iPads themselves, it's tempting to merely celebrate the lovely clean schmick and nicely designed technology.
Try to celebrate how the iPads allow you to generate rich opportunities for staff and students to connect, collaborate, contribute to the world. Like Nikki says regularly, concentrate on the verbs not the nouns.
Cheers,
Matt
Just adding to the Alastair Clarkson bit too Matt - he's been focussing on relationships...strengthening and building connections while others do the game sense, drill and kill stuff. I wonder what we can learn from that and the willingness(and empowerment) that comes from delegating like this...which also releases time for us to dow hat matters most.
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