I wrote this blog today because it had my name on the Chair and prayer again. when I checked the roster i noticed it says Jenny W. I have now changed it but I was worried that it may have caused some confusion so I did a blog entry in case.
I found that these pages contained so many reflective questions but in a way I feel a need to read the book before answering them as I am unsure about some of the terminology. I still had a go and will look back with interest if my assumptions were accurate. I look forward to suggestions on how these can be achieved and how I can improve my practice in these areas.
I agree that clarity and coherence in a school is critical followed by capacity and crafting. I get the gist of the definitions but not to the level that I am satisfied with. When rating the scores I felt that most of them fell under '0' ie criteria are being discussed by routine implementation is non existent. I felt that 'non existent' was not totally accurate either as I think that there are elements developing eg the school has implementation and action plans but the understanding and focus on these across staff lacks coherence. This I believe is due to the lack of time to collaboratively design these goals, especially at the time it needs to get done. I also think that there are shared practices that are developing well eg the use of data however not in a way that reflects rating +1. They may be routine but are they effective eg the use of EYA data to impact learning. As I said I feel that the school is definitely using more data that it once was and that we are becoming more efficient at doing this however it is probably fair to say that there is room for capacity building in this area.
As an example one just needs to see how much resourcing it is taking to develop consistency with the PPs to build consistency. This thought brought me to the very interesting guideposts; the first being Stay small, stay focussed. Looking at developing Capacity by investing resourcing in a more narrow focussed way leads me to ask, what should we be focussing on and what should we limit?
I am interested in learning more about Guidepost 3 Avoid Solution Fixation - What is the difference between solutions and success is what I found myself asking and how does reversing this look.
I made a link between Guidepost 4 and our work on Theory of Action. I still think that we can explore this concept further with staff in so many ways and this may lead to the suggested processes to inspect impact on learning. Guidepost 5 Model Learning is developing well especially in our PL sessions. I am challenged however in how to present CEDP designed presentations such as ROSH in a more effective way. Perhaps this is an example of essential content rather than 21st Century skills.
Looking forward to our discussions
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My thoughts mirrored yours in many ways. I feel my understanding of clarity has developed over the past few years but still need to develop my understanding of coherence in a school. I hope that as we continue to read and discuss the book my understanding will improve. Like you I also found most of my responses were at he zero - I feel like we have made some in roads in many of the areas however could not say we are all on the same point of using them. Maybe this is the connection between stay small, stay focussed. I know when I write from the pit I try to stay small and focussed in a way that enables all staff to develop their understanding. I think the importance of discussion as a whole staff is a vital way to ensure we all have a voice and are all expected (not sure if this is the correct word) to be drivers of our learning and implement the new learning as we would expect the students.
ReplyDeleteIt is so much easier to reflect on your own learning than it is to reflect on how we are going as a school, hence the challenge of being a lead learner continues to invigorate me and make me want to rise to the challenge and improve all aspects of my leadership.
The activity of The Lead Learner Success Criteria was interesting. I too had responses of 0 across the Clarity and Coherence fields, but was ay -1 in the Capacity and crafting domains. Lots of questions of practicality of time and time constraints arose in the domain for me, especially where professional learning is centered on student progress and proficiency >90% of the time. Although sharing our professional learning is a worthy endeavour? How do we make time for this in the school professional learning schedule? How can we establish CFT Norms? What can we drop that does not have substantial impact on student learning?
ReplyDeleteStay small, stay focused requires in depth analysis of data and collaboration. A simple catch phrase but wth weighty implications.