Cheryl Lemke from The Metiri Group makes a great case for the way a school leader must embrace the warp speed changes occurring in the world's our students live in. School is no longer the only place for learning. In fact only about 18.5% of learning occurs in a formal environment for K-12 students. The Internet provides a 24/7 resource and even though school is no longer front and center in a student's learning we do need to embrace our place and tap into our student's interests. The following are 7 ways a the school's leader must adapt to lead the changes required to meet the needs of our ever changing learners.
1) Own the Innovation - Lead the change you want to see in the classrooms, don't delegate it for someone else to implement
2) Drive Change Through Creativity and Knowledge - Be creative, informed, tolerant, critical, questioning and experiment with technology
3) Shift From Rules to Shared Principles - Actively facilitate the development and adoption of the guiding principles instead of constructing rules for implementation of initiatives
4) Establish a Professional Learning System - Provide a menu of differentiated PD options for teachers including mentoring, coaching, face to face, virtual, collaborative and just in time (Research shows that 49 hours of PD a year can increase student scores by 21 percentiles)
5) Shape Culture - Create an environment of openness, collegiality, honesty and adapt the focus on standards guided by principles (Look for the positive deviance in your staff and reward it)
6) Ensure Digital Access and Infrastructure - Make sure your teachers have the appropriate hardware and access to the tools they will need to implement technology initiatives
7) Accountability - Hold yourself and your teachers accountable for implementing strategies and for gaining the student results desired.
The biggest advice given was to use good judgement when it comes to next steps, providing opportunities and access for teachers and devote the time to your own learning as you take your school into the next era of learning for students. Embrace the change without fear!
2 comments:
Susan, great post, I hope you go to ISTE in Philly next year. I want to meet you f2f. All the Seedlings will be there.
This post spoke to me on so many levels - the suggestion about looking for the positive deviance and rewarding it reminded me of Stahlman reinforcing the first teachers who volunteered for a book study group by sending them to the Book Store with a gift certificate (a woman before her time!) Providing a menu of PD reminded me of our most successful PD, like differentiated Book Studies and Speed Geeking and how successful those sessions have been. Certainly makes me want to design more of that type PD where teachers have choices. And of course, providing the infrastructure is a constant battle and one that I fear we are losing... It's hard to believe that less than 20% of learning occurs in the formality of our schools - how frightening is that! This was such a thought provoking post!
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