In this hangout instructional leaders Jason Markey, Melissa Emler, Tony Sinanis, & Zach Snow discuss the importance of student voice and how to harness the power that passionate students are willing to share…if we listen.
In this hangout instructional leaders Miguel Guhlin, Shannon Fuller, Ben Gilpen and Gerald Hudson discuss how they would handle three critical conversations with their staff.
In the conversation below, Daisy Dyer Duerr, Justin Tarte, Tom Whitford & Sam LeDeaux discuss what it means to balance being an effective administrator as well as staying connected.
In the conversation below, Jimmy Casas, Jason Markey, and Amber Teamann share their thoughts on “Developing Leadership”.
Welcome back to Year 4 of SAVMP! Some of you have been here from the beginning, some are in their first year now. No matter where you are in the process, you will love this program! Thank you to all who have signed up for this amazing process. So many of the mentors in this group have either been mentors or mentees in this program and believe it what it can be. We are so happy to be continuing George Couros’ work and vision through this program. We will use his first email from the first year for this week.
I have just started a new position as a public high school AP (from a K-8 Catholic School Principal) and things have been crazy and wonderful here all at the same time! I thank you for your patience waiting for this initial email.
Please read below and let me know if you have any questions. I will be sharing your mentor/mentee pairings by Thursday of this week. I wish you an amazing week and look forward to all this year holds for us!
Theresa 🙂
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I want to thank everyone for signing up and participating in the #SAVMP program and I am looking forward to seeing how this program unfolds. There are definitely going to be some bumps during the year but the most important part of this is the connection that you make with one another over the upcoming year.
Just to clarify, this is NOT about leaders using social media. It is, however, the vehicle that we will use to connect and share our learning which will hopefully influence some of the things that are happening in schools that are connected during this process.
As the year progresses, we are going to have some Google Hangouts with people on various topics to spark conversation. I will also be sending out emails to participants to hopefully help out with some ideas as the year goes. The focus is on your conversations and connections that you create in your pairings. The other element is openly sharing what we learn with others so that many people can benefit from this program.
As we go into the first week, here are some things that are suggested you do (#4 is a MUST):
Make sure you have a Twitter account with an updated profile.
Start a blog if you haven’t. (To make it a “blog/portfolio”, watch this video). I suggest reading this article from Dean Shareski on blogging and the impact it has on teaching.
Obviously, none of this is mandatory, but the more you put into the process, the more you will get out of it.
I hope that you all enjoy connecting with one another and that you learn a great deal about this process. I will not be sending emails out once a week but will share from time to time. This is meant to be an informal process and the real work will be done between the mentors and mentees.
Thanks again for taking part in this program 
Thank you to all who have signed up for this amazing process. So many of the mentors in this group have either been mentors or mentees in this program and believe it what it can be. We are so happy to be continuing George Couros’ work and vision through this program. We will use his first email from the first year for this week.
I have had a few more mentees interested in being paired up with a mentor. If you are interested in taking on a second mentee, please let me know and I will pair you accordingly.
Happy Thanksgiving to our US participants, and have a wonderful week!
Theresa 🙂
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I want to thank everyone for signing up and participating in the #SAVMP program and I am looking forward to seeing how this program unfolds. There are definitely going to be some bumps during the year but the most important part of this is the connection that you make with one another over the upcoming year.
Just to clarify, this is NOT about leaders using social media. It is however the vehicle that we will use to connect and share our learning which will hopefully influence some of the things that are happening in schools that are connected during this process.
As the year progresses, we are going to have some Google Hangouts with people on various topics to spark conversation. I will also be sending out emails to participants to hopefully help out with some ideas as the year goes. The focus is on your conversations and connections that you create in your pairings. The other element is openly sharing what we learn with others so that many people can benefit from this program.
As we go into the first week, here are some things that are suggested you do (#4 is a MUST):
Make sure you have a Twitter account with an updated profile.
Start a blog if you haven’t. (To make it a “blog/portfolio”, watch this video). I suggest reading this article from Dean Shareski on blogging and the impact it has on teaching.
Mentors…please send an introductory email to your “mentees”. Share a little bit about yourself and connect with them.
Mentors and mentees please share your blogs with one another.
I encourage you in the next two weeks to write a blog post on the topic of, “Why do I lead?”, or “Why I am an educator?”. The focus here is that you look at yourself as a leader before you look at who you are leading. In the title of your blog post, I encourage you to throw the hashtag #SAVMP at the end of your title so that when others share it on Twitter they will see the hashtag.
Mentors…I encourage you to comment on your “mentee” blogs.
Obviously none of this is mandatory, but the more you put into the process, the more you will get out of it.
I hope that you all enjoy connecting with one another and that you learn a great deal for this process. I will not be sending emails out once a week but will share from time to time. This is meant to be an informal process and the real work will be done between the mentors and mentees.
Thanks again for taking part in this program
“We succeed or fail one conversation at a time.”
Hard conversations are never easy. Regardless of how “right” they may be, it doesn’t make it any easier on the person giving it, or the person receiving it. It can be one of the most difficult parts of an administrators job, and can easily turn into a disaster. When problems arise, in the worst companies people will withdraw into silence. In the best companies, people will hold a crucial confrontation, face to face and in the moment. And they’ll hold it well.
Dialogue example – Steps to Mastering a Crucial Conversation
Before embarking on a critical, or crucial, conversation…ask yourself these three questions:
Other tips to keep in mind:
There will be a google hangout this week on “Critical Conversations”, stay tuned! (I will update this post when time and guests are decided!)
For your prompt for this week, blog about how you handle crucial conversations and at what point you step in to have them. What advice would you give to a new administrator in having to have a crucial, or fierce, conversation?
Have a great week, and where ever you are, stay warm!
Amber
Resources used and for more information:
Crucial Conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time
Susan Scott
Critical Conversations for Dummies
Dr. Christina Schlachter
Schools play an important role in determining how involved parents are within our schools. What does your school do to solicit your parents? How much and in what different ways is information communicated through your teachers about the happenings throughout the building?
A New Wave of Evidence, a report from Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (2002) found that regardless of family income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to:
*Earn higher grades and test scores, and enroll in higher-level programs
*Be promoted, pass their classes, and earn credits
*Have better social skills, show improved behavior, and adapt well to school
*Graduate and go on to postsecondary education (Henderson & Mapp, 2002)
Given that many parents only interpretation of school comes from their own past, it is important as a leader to communicate just how different education is today. The headlines certainly aren’t helping them understand our reality. There are amazing, life changing, DIFFERENT things that are happening within your walls…it’s up to you to make that understanding happen!
No longer is sending home a flyer in a brown envelope enough to solicit and encourage our families to be involved. There’s a variety of tools available that involve technology, social media, student creations all designed to communicate to our families. One of the first comments that is always shared when I talk about this is that “all of our parents don’t have computers”. In 2011, 75.6 percent of homes reported having a computer, with 71.7 percent accessed the internet. Statistics still vary across ethnicity, but the bottom line is that we are still making strides. By combining the technology resources we have available today and some of our “traditional practices” there’s no family we can’t reach.
We’re going to discuss several of them with two leaders who are on the forefront of connecting and involving parents, Joe Mazza and Tony Sinanis. Keep an eye out for that #SAVMP hangout to happen soon!
This week, I encourage you to blog or comment on the following:
What are you doing to encourage parent involvement?
How are you thinking out of the box to involve ALL of your families?
Have you encountered resistance to breaking away from the traditional strategies that parents may be used too?
Hope you have a GREAT week!
Amber
I want to thank everyone for signing up and participating in the #SAVMP program and I am looking forward to seeing how this program unfolds. There are definitely going to be some bumps during the year but the most important part of this is the connection that you make with one another over the upcoming year. To anyone that is reading this post that signed up and has not been contacted, you probably missed out on the deadline (July 22) and unfortunately will not be paired up with a mentor at this stage due to the high number of people that have already signed up.
Just to clarify, this is NOT about leaders using social media. It is however the vehicle that we will use to connect and share our learning which will hopefully influence some of the things that are happening in schools that are connected during this process.
As the year progresses, we are going to have some Google Hangouts with people on various topics to spark conversation. I will also be sending out emails to participants to hopefully help out with some ideas as the year goes. The focus is on your conversations and connections that you create in your pairings. The other element is openly sharing what we learn with others so that many people can benefit from this program.
As we go into the first week, here are some things that are suggested you do (#3 is a MUST)
Make sure you have a Twitter account with an updated profile.
Start a blog if you haven’t. (To make it a “blog/portfolio”, watch this video). I suggest reading this article from Dean Shareski on blogging and the impact it has on teaching.
Mentors…please send an introductory email to your “mentees”. Share a little bit about yourself and connect with them.
Mentors and mentees please share your blogs with one another.
I encourage you in the next two weeks to write a blog post on the topic of, “Why do I lead?”, or “Why I am an educator?”. The focus here is that you look at yourself as a leader before you look at who you are leading. In the title of your blog post, I encourage you to throw the hashtag #SAVMP at the end of your title so that when others share it on Twitter they will see the hashtag.
Mentors…I encourage you to comment on your “mentee” blogs.
Obviously none of this is mandatory, but the more you put into the process, the more you will get out of it.
I hope that you all enjoy connecting with one another and that you learn a great deal for this process. I will not be sending emails out once a week but will share from time to time. This is meant to be an informal process and the real work will be done between the mentors and mentees.
Thanks again for taking part in this program 🙂
Looking to help develop administrators to lead innovative school environments that meet the needs of students today, we have decided to start the “School Administrator Virtual Mentor Program” (#SAVMP). This program is to pair a new administrator with one that has more experience. This is not meant to be the typical “mentor-mentee” relationship, but the hope is that through active sharing, each administrator will be help to learn from each other, and others can learn from all of the shared experiences.
Program Design
This program is meant to last for the 2016-2017 school year (typically September to May). Each person that is a “mentor” will be paired with three (maximum but preferably two) “mentees” that they will be able to connect through virtual means (email, twitter, videochat, voxer, etc.) to help them develop their leadership. There will also be an online sessions (once a month) that will help to share ideas for learning and leading with guest speakers. All of these talks will be archived and shared if they do not fit into your regular schedule. This is more than likely to be done through the use of Google Hangout.
All of the standards that we will be focusing on will be based on the Alberta Principal Quality Standard. They are as follows:
1. Fostering Effective Relationships
2. Embodying Visionary Leadership
3. Leading a Learning Community
4. Providing Instructional Leadership
5. Developing and Facilitating Leadership
6. Managing School Operations and Resources
7. Understanding and Responding to the Larger Societal Context
Although these “standards” were created within the province of Alberta, Canada, they are not unique to other areas of the world. The focus will be to continuously look at these standards and how they look in schools currently. The hope, through open group forums and mentoring, is to look at all facets of leadership that take place within schools.
This should NOT replace mentorship within your own organization, but is to give you an outsider perspective to leadership that you may not be receiving. It would be beneficial as a new leader to have mentorship within your own school/district.
Program Requirements
Each “mentee” will be required to keep an open blog to share their learning openly with the world, while also helping to create a digital portfolio of their work. Each “mentor” that takes part in the program should already have a blog to model what we are expecting from the people that they are mentoring. It will also be required that participants have a Twitter account that they will use to actively engage and share their learning with others in the program through the #SAVMP Twitter hashtag.
Since the program is free, the expectation to share through a blog and Twitter is crucial. Each participant must have a Twitter account, blog, and hopefully a Voxer account. If you do not have a Twitter account or blog, you will need to sign up for one before you can be accepted to the program. This is our main way of sharing through this process and it is important that it is developed through this process.
Mentors should have a minimum of three years in administration. This is not limited to Principals, but we encourage Assistant Principals (Vice, Associate, etc.) to apply as well.
Application Process
To apply for this program, you will need to simply fill out the form below and indicate whether you want to be a “mentor” or “mentee”. Although there is a lot of interest to do both, you will have to choose one role.
Once applications are received, we will be looking to pair people with one another that are in the same continent. The hope is to get an outsider perspective on education and learn from a variety of people and viewpoints. We are hoping to accept all of those that apply, but it is crucial that we keep the “mentor-mentee” ratio no higher than 1:3.
Applications will be considered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Location will also be considered to try to pair up applicants to someone in a relatively close time zone. There are no set limits to the program for numbers, only to honour the 1:3 ratio.
Program Focus
To clarify, this is not focused on the development of leaders to use social media, but to help leaders openly learn and share with others so that we can all improve practice and do what is best for kids. This is also focused on helping to build relationships with a few people that you are able to bounce questions and ideas off of that you have known over time. It is imperative that we promote the use of social media to create strong relationships to enhance leadership.
If you have any questions specifically about the program, please do not hesitate to contact principalstager@gmail.com.
(To sign up, please go to this page.)