Friday, July 13, 2018

Some Good Reads for Self Made Creative School Leaders



3 Ways to Develop a Shared Path Toward One Vision

By George on Jun 28, 2018 03:51 pm
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality!

There was an interesting conversation between two participants in a workshop that I was facilitating that I have been thinking about a lot over the last 24 hours.  One participant asked the following question (paraphrased):
“What do you do if you have someone in your organization that has great leadership skills, but they are leading people away from your vision of what you are trying to achieve?”

By George on Jun 17, 2018 06:26 am
Instagram is one of the biggest social networks in the world, and it’s visual component make it a platform that many people are interested in using.  As I have used it for most personal reasons, I wanted to see if it would be an excellent place to further my own learning and network with others.  This gave me the idea of doing a book study on my book, “The Innovator’s Mindset,” starting July 2 and going until July 18.
The goal is to go through a chapter a day and share learning through some visual medium.  Each day I will try to post at least a one minute video on a critical thought or reading from each chapter in order and will pose a question that you can either answer in the comments on my post, or on your post.
How to Inspire Students Who Dislike School
Students must be willing participants in their education, and we have a few ideas on how to help them feel motivated.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-inspire-students-who-dislike-school

By George on Jun 14, 2018 04:23 pm
I loved this post by Becky Schnekser, titled, “Instead of thinking of ways it won’t work — try thinking of ways it could.” This part stuck out to me:
So here’s my challenge to you.
The next idea thrown at you, before you quickly begin listing reasons it’s not a good idea or how it will not work, take a moment to think of how to use that idea as a foundation and suggest ways to tweak it in order to make it successful instead. This in no way means you have to carry out the plan, if you absolutely do not want to participate, that is fine. Can we make a deal though? Can you encourage others to participate by contributing positive and constructive feedback? Can you find at least two alternatives to the idea that will make it viable? Again, you are not at all obligated to participate, but you can contribute positively rather than negatively. I think you will be surprised how this small change will make you and others feel. Negativity weighs a lot. With all of the advertisements and supplements for losing weight — I think you will agree, no one wants extra weight hanging around…


5 Crucial Quotes on Leadership and Why They are Important

By George on May 29, 2018 04:37 pm
I am very passionate about leadership in education because a great leader saved my career.  She showed me the importance of tapping into someone’s strengths and bringing out more in someone that they believed they could bring out in themselves.  I am forever grateful for her guidance and think about her leadership often and hope that I provide just a portion for others through my work, in what she did for me.
Going over some of my favorite leadership quotes, I wanted to pick out five and share why they are so important.
https://us12.campaignarchive.com/?e=7e04c20860&u=9381017234135a9c6d5f7419a&id=f1cb6ea83a

I encourage you to read the whole post, but here is an excellent little summary:
Here’s how Amor Fati can make you happy:
  • Amor Fati: Merely “accepting” life is not enough. You need the Platinum Pro package. Love every bit of life, good, bad, and ugly. (Yes, that includes traffic.)
  • Denial And Complaining Are The Enemy: Whatever it is, you will accept it eventually. So sooner is better. And whining is wasted energy. The universe doesn’t check its Complaint Box.
  • Flash Forward To The Future: Will this still bother you in a month? A year? Then don’t let it bother you now.
  • Treat Life As A Game: It’s no fun if it’s easy. If your personal story has no conflict, please do me a favor: don’t tell me your story. It’s boring. Do you want a boring life?
  • Feel Gratitude. For The Good And The Bad: You don’t know what, in the end, will be good or bad. So be grateful for it all. And then work to make the short term bad turn into long term good.
This line; “And then work to make the short-term bad turn into long-term good.”


When students enter the schoolhouse without a sense of positive purpose, it is difficult for them to connect their varied learning experiences and other opportunities into a coherent whole that shapes their lives. Without a purpose, they may lack a strong reason to learn, to take on challenges, or to behave well. An enduring sense of purpose typically emerges in adulthood, but having a ...
Edutopia

Design Thinking for School Leaders:
Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change
Design Thinking for School Leaders explores the changing landscape of leadership and offers practical ways to reframe the role of school leader using Design Thinking, one step at a time. Leaders can shift from “accidental designers” to “design-inspired leaders,” acting with greater intention and achieving greater impact. You’ll learn how viewing the world through a more empathetic lens—a critical first step on the path to becoming a design-inspired leader—can raise your awareness of the uniqueness of your teachers and students and prompt you to question the ways in which they experience your school.
Browse the Table of Contents.
Read Chapter 1 for free
Unstuck: How Curiosity, Peer Coaching,
And Teaming Can Change Your School
Good ideas, the best intentions, and a stirring vision aren't enough to effect change in schools. Unstuck: How Curiosity, Peer Coaching, and Teaming Can Change Your School offers a road map to help schools change from the inside out instead of the top down. Inside-out approaches are designed to encourage schools to become more innovative and entrepreneurial, finding better ways to help students learn and pursue their own intellectual passions and talents—while also maintaining a healthy skepticism and reliance on data to make sure new approaches and ideas are working.
Browse the Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction and Chapter 1 for free.
Newly Announced Webinar!

June 21, 2018, 3:00 p.m. eastern daylight time

Join Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson, coauthors of Design Thinking for School Leaders, to learn about design thinking and explore the mindsets that will help you start your journey as a design-inspired leader. Although awareness of design thinking, a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems, is growing among teachers, less attention has been paid to how leading like a designer can influence both the rate and the types of changes being made in schools.


Why Design Thinking Isn't Just for Techies
Build empathy and creativity with this dynamic problem-solving model. Learn more



A Pennsylvania middle school has seen improvements in student academics and attendance after implementing blended learning, mindfulness and community outreach as part of a school redesign four years earlier. Educators are working to change the entire culture of the school through a holistic approach, Regina Young, community school coordinator, said.

While the call to innovate learning is strong, it isn't an easy process for the classroom teacher even if they have strong understanding, resources, and wherewithal. With all of the admonishment to drag education (kicking and screaming) into the 21st century, there is precious little support for teachers in understanding the "social graces" in doing so ...
TeachThought


As the movement to improve education grows stronger, so has talk of positive failure, failing forward, and encouraging teachers and students to see the benefits of their own failures. In simple terms, failing forward is just that–progressing even if a project or idea "fails." Educators haven't always felt safe failing, but more and more administrators have created safe ...
eSchool News

Feb 11, 2018 - George Couros tells us, if we want innovative students, we need innovative educators. Do you qualify? In his book, The Innovator's Mindset, ...
8 Elements Found in Classrooms of Innovative Educators


We are born creative geniuses and the education system dumbs us down, according to NASA scientists
Our natural creative genius is stifled from the time we are born.
At TEDxTucson, Dr. George Land dropped a bombshell when he told his audience about the shocking result of a creativity test developed for NASA but subsequently used to test school children (see the full video below).

This resource provides K-12 principals with a guide to professional development, addressing the dual role of the principal as instructional and managerial leader. Paperback - $28.00

Becoming a 21st Century Administrator

Effective leaders in 21st century schools consider instructional requirements, the expertise of teachers, and the ultimate needs of students


Learning about failure could help boost student performance, asserts Columbia University researcher Xiaodong Lin-Siegler. The university has launched the Education for Persistence and Innovation Center to learn more about the role failure plays in learning.



 

Design Thinking for School Leaders: Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change

Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson
Table of Contents

About This Book

"Design is the rendering of intent." What if education leaders approached their work with the perspective of a designer? This new perspective of seeing the world differently is desperately needed in schools and begins with school leadership.
Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson, widely recognized experts on Design Thinking, educational leadership, and innovative strategies, call this new perspective design-inspired leadership—one of the most powerful ways to ignite positive change and address education challenges using the same design and innovation principles that have been so successful in private industry.
Design Thinking for School Leaders explores the changing landscape of leadership and offers practical ways to reframe the role of school leader using Design Thinking, one step at a time. Leaders can shift from "accidental designers" to "design-inspired leaders," acting with greater intention and achieving greater impact. You'll learn how viewing the world through a more empathetic lens—a critical first step on the path to becoming a design-inspired leader—can raise your awareness of the uniqueness of your teachers and students and prompt you to question the ways in which they experience your school.
Gallagher and Thordarson detail five specific roles to help you identify opportunities for positively impacting students, teachers, districts, parents, and the community:
  • Opportunity Seeker. Shifts from problem solving to problem finding.
  • Experience Architect. Designs and curates learning experiences.
  • Rule Breaker. Challenges the way things are "always" done.
  • Producer. Gets things done and creates rapid learning cycles for teams.
  • Storyteller. Captures the hearts and minds of a community.
Full of examples of Design Thinking in action in schools across the country, Design Thinking for School Leaders can help you guide your school to the forefront of the new design + education movement, one that will move traditional education into the modern world and drive the future of learning.
See the book's table of contents and read excerpts

Creative leadership? 'It's just the norm': School Leadership ...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13632434.2016.1196173
by R Keamy - ‎2016 -
Creativity in teaching and leadership continues to be a topic of interest in education. This article focuses on comments made by a school's leadership team as ..

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