Now that Christmas has come and gone and you are recovering from New Year celebrations, it is time to start think about the year ahead. Many leaders opt for reading a professional book to start to get their own head back into the school space.
My top 5 favourite reads for the summer break are as follows…..
Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School
– Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan
“Where students are concerned, the teacher will always be more powerful than the principal, the president, or the prime minister. Successful and sustainable improvement can therefore never be done to or even for teachers. It can only ever be achieved by and with them…..We must develop more professional capital among the vast majority of teachers…..There are 5 Cs of professional capital that enable the teaching force to become highly effective:
1) capability (or expertise), 2) commitment, 3) career, 4) culture and 5) contexts or conditions of teaching. When these conditions are right – that’s when you teach like a pro.”
Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation
– Kim Marshall
“Every principal’s most important job is getting good teaching in every classroom…Removing ineffective teachers is critically important, as is hiring talented and hard-working teachers….This book presents four closely linked strategies centred on specific actions principals can take:
a) making short, unannounced classroom visits followed by one-on-one feedback conversations
b) participating much more actively in the curriculum unit planning process
c) working with teacher teams to analyse and follow up on interim assessment results
d) using rubrics for end-of-year teacher evaluation
I believe these are the most effective ways for a principal to exercise instructional leadership and make a real difference at the classroom level”
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
– Daniel H Pink
“Intrinsic motivation is of great importance for all economic activities. It is inconceivable that people are motivated solely or even mainly by external incentives…. People use rewards expecting to gain benefit of increasing another person’s motivation and behavior, but in so doing, they often incur the unintentional and hidden cost of undermining that person’s intrinsic motivation toward the activity…..By neglecting the ingredients of genuine motivation – autonomy, mastery and purpose – they limit what each of us can achieve.”
Long Walk to Freedom
– Nelson Mandela
“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
The Speed of Trust
– Stephen MR Covey
Trust impacts us 24/7, 365 days a year. It underpins and affects the quality of every relationship, every communication, every work project, every effort in which we are engaged…..by learning how to establish, grow, extend and restore trust, you can positively and significantly alter the trajectory of this and every future moment of your life.
Professional Development
We are all aware that PEOPLE make the difference in schools. Therefore investing in your people needs brings the best returns. Professional development sessions for your staff are available on a range of topics. These are ideal for student free days or twilight sessions. Email to check availability of your preferred date and book now.
Which topic does your team need most?
– Increasing WORK-LIFE Satisfaction
– Building Trust – Essential Skills
– Thriving in Times of Change
– Gr8 People are Part of Gr8 Teams
– Feedback – Helping Teachers Be the Best They Can Be
– 7 Secrets to Motivating and Engaging Students
Survey My School
The fastest way to improve your school and boost staff, parent and student satisfaction is to identify and address the problems that annoy and frustrate people. Ensure that your plans for 2014 are informed with useful, accurate information. SurveyMySchool has been specifically designed to support the leadership team to IMPROVE schools. The interactive format of the surveys identifies specific issues and potential solutions.
SurveyMySchool is far more useful than school opinion surveys that only provide data. Whilst having data is a good start, data alone can be misinterpreted and isn’t helpful in addressing people’s specific concerns.
SurveyMySchool is interactive. Respondents who express dissatisfaction with an aspect of the school are asked clarifying questions to provide further detail about their specific concern and potential solutions. The survey report provides useful information to inform school planning, improve the school and increase the satisfaction of staff, parents and students.
Contact us to set up a survey of staff, parents and/or students.
Conferences and Work With Schools
Whilst 2014 is already looking like it’s going to be a very busy year, I’d be happy to talk with you about the professional development needs of your leadership team or whole staff.
This month I’m looking forward to working with…
- St Rita’s leadership team
- Shalom College – Bundaberg and feeded Catholic primary schools
- St Joseph’s – Toowoomba staff
- Milton SS staff
- Royal Chn Hospital School staff
- Aviation High staff
- Leadership team at Woodridge North SS
- Mudgeeraba Creek SS staff
- Teaching staff at Richardson PS, Harrison PS and Monash PS – Canberra
If you’d like me to present at your conference or work with your staff, email me steve@stevefrancis.net.au