LQS 3 Embodying Visionary Leadership “A leader collaborates with the school community to create and implement a shared vision for student success, engagement, learning and well-being.” (Alberta Education, 2018, p.5). It has been my vision or focus these past three years to work with teachers and educational assistant to have experiences that engage their creative and reflective skills in ways that effect deeper understanding of their work and improved teaching practices. Areas Of Impact:
Educational Assistants (EA) growth and professional learning on inclusive practices and strategies in classroom.
Fostering leadership within the EAs working with students that fosters a greater impact on student learning.
Developing TEACCH systems with EAs for our ASD students.
Fostering and developing spaces for regulation that are purposeful and routined for students.
Building and fostering a strong support staff that is cohesive, and collaborative.
EAs are involved in ISP process and student goals and learning.
Mentoring EAs as they take on teaching literacy activities as intervention practices in classroom
Working with teachers in supporting practices that boost Literacy and Numeracy Practices; Phonics programs, Math Residency.
Developing inclusive practices alongside students to support learning and regulation
PL for teachers; Laura Paiment (Regulation and Teaching during a Pandemic), Shelley Moore ( UDL planning and Designing Inclusive Supports), Math Residency Teacher (Number Talks, BFF kits), Speech Language Pathologist (Language Delay Universal Supports in Classroom).
Working alongside with the Principal to put technology tools and skills into our parent/ student community during online learning. (Computers for Schools, Dojo, Microsoft Teams platform, and online assemblies)
OHS protocols implementation with staff, community and parents to keep schools safe and in accordance with AHS.
Collaboration with school district leaders with the challenges and priorities during 2 years of a pandemic.
Working with School councils to stay connected during the pandemic, finding innovative ways to support our schools and students.
Using the MIPI, F&P and C3 and Lens data to provide targeted support to students where gaps occurred during the pandemic.
Using MIPI, F&P and C3 and Lens data to see if phonics programs implemented and numeracy kits are having positive success on growth and learning.
Reflections: At times when I come across problems or situations that are new, and I don’t have answers I feel like a failure or imposter. McDerment stated (2017),” leaders will often find themselves in situations they’ve never encountered before. Even if they have the necessary skills to arrive at a solution, they may find themselves stumped when they don’t have easy answers at the ready”(p.1). I am a roll up your sleeves person and I am quite comfortable to solve problems on my own. Sometimes to my own default, as I need to pause, articulate the problems and let others work through solutions. I know this is an area for growth for myself. It allows collaboratively having others work together, take on ownership when problems occur. Plus, it allows me to learn to lead others to solve problems.
I noticed these past three years, the staff can become overwhelmed with the social/emotional needs of the students and get so busy keeping their heads above water that efficient practice precedes effective. Teachers are great at being efficient; however, I find this practice does not have heart. Being efficient means, it is making change that has a positive impact and doing the right things. Effective takes times, is collaborative, requires listening to many voices but results in understanding the why. As stated by Sergiovanni (2005),“clear goals, aimed at a compelling target can have an enormous effect because they engage more than simply the brain. They engage the heart...” (Grenny et al., 2013, p. 18). The pandemic and all the protocols have forced effecient practices and have pushed effective thinking and practices to the side. As I see light at the end of the tunnel it is my vision to slide back to more effective practices and foster a school that is reflective of their practices. The teachers are always strong at keeping those social emotional needs met, but at the same time, it is essential as a systems leader I work with teachers to focus on professional learning that supports best practices in teaching and learning.
As stated by Deal &Paterson, "values are not simply goals or outcomes; values capture a deep sense of school priorities” (p.66). It also has to be noted that in Westminster before learning can occur, the attention to meeting Maslow before Blooms each day is key to student success. The priorities at my school are to create a safe and caring place of learning that inspires our students to learn and fosters parent/community involvement. Without these values and the why at the forefront, the students would not reach success. This means leadership requires strong partnerships and relationships with community organization such as Cargile, Rotary, and other donors. They are essential to Westminster!
We cannot let their situations be excuses and as Cliatt stated in her profound TED talk, "how to fix a broken school. Yes, it is easy to focus on the homes, and situations the students at Westminster come from, but I also know there is more and each one has a different story. I want the students at Westminster to have every opportunity to experience rich learning opportunities, so these students can walk away with a strong skill set in numeracy and literacy skills along with the ability to solve problems and be contributing members of the community.