When No One is Minding the Shop
Call it benign neglect (or, arguably, dysfunctional politeness, in a way), but should it be a surprise when students take advantage of the non-presence of top administrators--especially the head--to make poor choices? In particular, the head needs to be a visible presence (what Tom Peters, among others, calls MBWA -- management by walking around) so that students have a sense of the moral guidance that s/he offers to the community. When that kind of day-to-day leadership is not seen, students do suffer, and, sooner or later, there will be multiple disciplinary incidents that are a direct result of having no one mind the shop.
If you've ever taken the Underground (the tube) in London, you're familiar with the slogan, "Mind the gap." For schools, I proffer "Mind the shop."
Posted at 09:00 PM in Governance, Leadership | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The Pink Version of ADHD
An excess of "boy" data has skewed how we think about ADHD. In her presentation atÂ the recentÂ Learning and the Brain Conference, developmental pediatrician Patricia Quinn said that the model we use to describe and assess for ADHD doesnât really apply to girls.
Did you ever stop to think that ADHD data might be boy-dominated? How might girls differ?
Writing for Live Audiences
That’s the estimate, (give or take a few hundred) of how many Expository Composition essays I read during my tenure as an English teacher not so too long ago. I was a process writing teacher, bought into Nancie Atwell’s workshop approach and Donald Murray’s revision voice from the very start. I actually loved teaching the revision process, the reflective part of reading what you wrote, testing it out in voice, scribbling in the margins and really trying to hear what the reader heard. The “final” copies always kinda bummed me out, because they were only final for the grade.
Well, should we be? Where is your faculty on this matter?
NCGS Environmental Think Tank Brings Sustainability Ideas to Campus « All Girls
The all-girls Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, CT, hosted educators from independent, public, elementary, secondary and higher education institutions from Connecticut and as far away as New Orleans and Washington state for a groundbreaking NCGS Think Tank on taking sustainability education to the next level: beyond lightbulbs and recycled paper. The Think Tank model was originated by the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools to encourage an exchange of ideas among participants that will benefit their educational missions and of course, their students. Walker’s has placed significant focus on sustainability both on campus and off, offering classes in environmental science specifically, and co-operative learning where an economics class, for instance, addresses the impact of the environment on our economy.
via allgirls.ncgs.org
What is your school doing for sustainability education?
Good at talking vs. good at doing
This is the chasm of the new marketing.The marketing department used to be in charge of talking. Ads are talking. Flyers are talking. Billboards are talking. Trade shows are talking.Now, of course, marketing can't talk so much, because people can't be easily forced to listen.So the only option is to be in charge of doing. Which means the product, the service, the interaction, the effluent and other detritus left behind when you're done.If you're in marketing and you're not in charge of the doing, you're not going to be able to do your job.
Those of us in independent schools are in marketing, every last one of us. With all the choice available to consumers (our families) today, perhaps our advertising, etc, is not as effective as we think. We should be about the business of our schools, and, if we're doing things right, everyone will notice and word of mouth will sell us. In other words, back to basics!
Who plans your school's professional development days? Is it one person? Why?
Why not organize an instructional leadership team with representatives from each division (if your school has two or three divisions), plus the division head(s), director of studies, etc. Given all that teachers need to have at their disposal these days, a tremendous amount of guidance is needed. That's where the team approach comes in.
Be sure to keep this team focused on one thing only: professional development of the faculty. Don't throw things at them that will derail them, such as starting a discussion about "never having enough time" within the current schedule (as one example).
There is, however, one other area in which this team might be of inestimable service: instructional coaching and feedback. If your team includes members from each division, why not have the division head use them to assist with observations and instructional coaching, if needed? The peer-to-peer relationship is not as threatening as having the division head observe alone, and suggestions for growth that come from a peer are not taken as such a negative blow.
Posted at 01:17 PM in Leadership, Learning, Professional Development, Teaching, Teamwork | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)