Course Description:
This course explores the concept of educational leadership through three lenses: by role (leader, manager, change agent, learning community), as relationships (power, practices, people), and with commitments (conscious leadership, resilience). The course content and processes are intended to help learning leaders to reflect, apply, and lead intentionally while bridging theory with practice. A reflective practice perspective will provide a framework for course discussion and assignments.
Instructor: Dr. Danielle Fullan Kolton
Reflection:
This summer course was intense, action-packed and covered so many relevant topics that my head was constantly spinning. I had attended a COSL summer session in 2015 so I thought that I had somewhat of an idea of what was in store for me. However, in 2015, there was no "homework" because I wasn't taking it for a credit. This added layer of work intensified the learning because there was a very short turn around time for some assignments.
One of the highlights of this course was that it was taken with a group of colleagues who were all interested in school leadership. Having that common passion helped us form quick bonds with each other. I knew a few people from previous online courses or from professional development sessions, but the majority were new people with whom I could connect and learn.
Many of the people taking this course had either not yet taken many MEd courses, or not yet taken a course with Marion Terry because the APA formatting was challenging for many. Luckily for me, I had just finished Scholarly Writing so I was well-versed in APA and was able to provide much support to others in this area, even the instructor! ;)
The amount of material covered during these six days was overwhelming. I took tons of notes! As I look through them now, some of them I don't even recall, but they are in my handwriting so I know that I wrote them! Luckily, several times throughout the day we would meet with a partner and discuss or reflect on our recent learning. This was helpful in order to help process some of the information.
One of the articles and activities that I remember most was The Big Rocks The main idea is that we need to prioritize our time (big rocks, little rocks, sand) and always start with the big rocks. We were able to see the importance of this by filling a jar with big rocks, little rocks and sand. If you didn't start with the big rocks, not everything would fit in. At each table group one member was the lucky winner and was able to take the jar home. I keep my jar on my bookshelf as a constant reminder of needing to prioritize what needs to be done, not only as a principal, but as a mother and student.
This course also helped me see the various roles that I play in my school and gave me perspective on where I needed to grow:
Principal as a manager and a leader. I learned that I was more naturally a manager and that my skills as a leader were still developing. (Humbling, but true.)
Principal as Change Agent: I learned that there are many steps to be taken prior to implementing significant change in a building. Oops. These lessons made me wish I could have had a "redo" in some of the ways that I implemented change with staff.
Principal as Lead Learner: I felt that I was fairly well-informed in this area and was pleased that I was mostly doing what I should be doing.
As I look back at the reflection sheets I filled out, I see that relationship management was a continuous theme where I needed to develop the most. I have been working toward being more self-aware and socially-aware of my staff.
When we were learning about leading with commitment, through "15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership", I chose the commitment " generating appreciation". I have attached the Pecha Kucha that we were required to do for this book study because I the idea of showing gratitude has been important to me since I became an administrator. I work hard to show my staff my gratitude for all that they do for our students and the school. Often we only hear from people when they are unhappy with us, so it is critical for leaders to acknowledge the good work that is done by staff.
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