Enabling e-learning forum: Look how far we've come | NAPP Kōrero 14 2016
As we enter into the last phases of the NAPP programme for 2016, we invite you to reflect on the impact on your learning so far. Many of us are engaged in reflective cycles of inquiry and have been able to support our professional learning by engaging online. We’d love for you to share your inquiry goals and progress made towards achieving these so far, as well as the impact of engaging with each other online.
Please note: We invite all community members to share, not just NAPP participants.
Your challenge:
Complete this sentence: As a result of engaging in NAPP/EEL conversations online, I can now apply leadership thinking and strategies that … [insert own ideas here] ...
You might like to consider implications:
• new ways of thinking
• new ways of working
• new leadership dispositions
• opportunities to have some influence your own school and the schools around you
You might also like to elaborate on:
A) coaching beyond yourself
B) influence of/from others as you have engaged online
C) learning about and establishing e-learning priorities
Look how far others have come... http://tetoitupu.org/national-aspiring-principals-lead-pedagogical-change
Replies
Katrina (View all users posts) 07 Sep 2016 9:09am ()As a result of engaging in NAPP/EEL conversations online, I can now apply leadership thinking and strategies that are more effective than they have ever been before. The online sharing of first hand experiences, research citing’s and varied opinions coupled with questioning to understand and to prompt deeper thinking have all been forms of communication for effect. Being a part of the NAPP online learning process has contributed to my growth as a leader and has encouraged me to be courageous. Prior to engaging with NAPP, I was a ‘kanohi ki te kanohi’ communicator but my view has shifted immensely to one that acknowledges that online engagement is also a powerful networking and collaborative tool that enables engagement with colleagues far and wide.
- Geoff Childs (View all users posts) 08 Sep 2016 1:35pm ()
This is great to read. Can't beat kanohi ki te kanohi but if we only communicate with people we are with, as you point out, it's very limiting. What are some strategies that might get more people over the aversion of using technology to communicate and collaborate?
- Kate Morgan (View all users posts) 08 Sep 2016 2:25pm ()
Kia ora Koutou
NAPP has been the best professional development that I have ever had. The digital korowai was an important tool in identifying my own moral purpose and for exploring influences in depth. Due to the thinking around this, I decided that I needed to learn more deeply about my own cultures and beliefs. Following the NAPP hui I began to learn about my Maori heritage. NAPP was the push I needed to explore my whakapapa and also to share my bi-cultural heritage with students.
Although I thought I was a good listener, I discovered through practising coaching skills that I was certainly not! I have endeavoured to use Jan Robertson's advice for peer coaching and group coaching as much as I can and have discovered the strongest team I have ever led. Without the skills in coaching, I doubt that I would have made such amazing discoveries about team strengths. Coaching is such a reciprocal process.
The coaching model also helped to develop Tuakana Teina relationships in our ILE and trust is so high that if anyone has a problem now, they will share. This means that goals are laid out on the table and six people share that goal and ensure that it is achieved. High trust is definitely a result of coaching relationships.
The readings have been invaluable documents for sharing with my team and I now hear everyone speaking off the same page due to the deep discussions we have around BES. Moving into an ILE of six teachers has been much easier with this research to back all decisions that we come to as team.
Having Nick as a kaiarahi and to tautoko me has also been awesome. I have found that the coaching conversations with him have given me the confidence to ask more questions and fight for what I believe in. My coaching buddy Glenys has also been a fantastic listener and I have enjoyed this reciprocal relationship.
It's been great to read everyone's ideas online. An example of this is the person who posted about hui story (sorry, I can't remember who it was). My team has been trying this out for the last month and we love the way that it personalises our data and gives everyone in the collaborative space a deep understanding of each child.
Kia ora to everybody involved in NAPP. It's been an incredible experience and I look forward to keeping up the relationships made.
Kate
- Larissa Hogan (View all users posts) 29 Sep 2016 10:21am ()
Hi Kate and everyone
Kaye, firstly thank you for encapsulating my thoughts so finely! As I was reading this question and started to complie my response to it, I read your statements and it completely sums up my thoughts, feelings and experiences.
This has been the most incredible learning experience, profesisonal development will never again meet this quality.
Being a better listener has been a learning curve - I thought I was pretty good but I wasnt! I still need to work on this area but at least I am now aware!
The profesisonal readings and resources are invaluable for guiding my practice and helping me lead those around me. I have also been involved in a ILE (setting up first year) and this has been a step learning curve. Having the resources, research and support to guide my practice has been very important.
Nadia, my coach, is the most incredible coach I could have. In a magical way she can untangle my ramblings and confused thougths and lead me into an action. I have learnt so much about leadership from her.
Listening and reading peoples thoughts and reflections have become a real habit which I am actually going to miss. Reading while waiting for my own kids to finish their activities has become a positive habit and a time for reflection which I am going to miss next year.
Now to the question...As a result of engaging in NAPP conversations I can now apply leadership thinking and strategies that .... have given me the confidence as myself as a leader. This has been an incredible learning curve. I even gave a Principal position a go and got through the interview stage. I was very proud of myself to this. I was confident in my leadership, I knew stuff, I was well prepared (with Nadia giving lots of support and guidence), I felt good and this is a priceless result from this professional development that I know I would never have been able to do this time last year. I did not get the position but the learning curve that I went through was invaluable. So to me the biggest aspect of the NAPP programme is the development of confidence.
Thank you so much to everyone who has been involved in this journey. I am so grateful.
- Donna Hessell (View all users posts) 30 Sep 2016 2:24pm ()
As a result of engaging in NAPP/EEL conversations online, I can now apply leadership thinking and strategies that will be effective in taking the school forward to the 21st century. I have developed skills in areas that have produced more time reflecting on what I do, how I do it and who does it affect. I am grateful for the group of NAPPERs from the Canterbury area. They have welcomed me into their folds and shared amazing stories of challenges and successes that I wish them all well in their coming adventures.
Education is changing and with it we must change, adapt and be flexible in our way forward. I enjoy the readings that have challenged my own personal views and encouraged me to step outside of the box at times. As a result of this, I have become a more open communicative, caring person to all staff in the school and encourage all teachers to develop in both their strengths and weaknesses. Thanks guys for the journey so far as it is only just begun!
- Deborah Waller (View all users posts) 07 Nov 2016 10:15pm ()
Kia ora koutou,
I totally agree with you Kate. Right from the 'get-go' NAPP has been an awesome learning journey for me, as I have discovered the value of engaging with other school leaders and people who have a desire to give children in New Zealand, the very best education they can.
I have been privileged to be led by my Kaiarahi Megan, who has been a wealth of leadership knowledge, experiences and humour. I hadn't realized, prior to NAPP that discussing serious education issues could be such fun!
The on-line ideas from everyone on ILEs and planning a whanau hui have been a great help. When planning for my school, unnecessary mistakes have been avoided and I've been able to implement suggestions from on-line responses to my reflections.
School leadership can be lonely, but having access to other leaders on-line and through my PLG has meant a lot. I also know of many 'friends' at the Ministry of Education with expertise in areas of property, personal, finance and review. This has been invaluable, as has the professional learning from Michael King, te Iwi Dunn,and others.
After NAPP 2016 my PLG is planning to continue our learning conversations both on-line and in person.
- Anita Yarwood (View all users posts) 11 Sep 2016 4:06pm ()
As a result of engaging in NAPP conversations I can now apply leadership thinking and strategies that empower me to rearrange my priorities away from a subject specific ‘status quo’ . Before NAPP my priorities as a Head of a Learning Area in a secondary school, were focused on HOW do we get students to succeed in NCEA. How can we change ākonga so they are achieving the results that we deem important, in the way that we deem as the ‘right way’ to achieve. NAPP taught me about moral purpose and the importance of knowing the WHY of educational leadership. The conversations within NAPP aren’t focused on a deficit model of ākonga – they are focussed on what we can achieve as educational leaders to ensure equity of outcome through celebrating a students’ sense of identity and culture. Success doesn’t have to be linked to a rigid academic model. NAPP conversations prioritise a sense of belonging as the foundation of educational success which reaffirms my moral purpose and makes me feel confident in the leadership decisions I am making within my kura and within my classroom. Plus, NAPP provides a network of like-minded leaders and colleagues, which is invaluable, especially when change isn’t always easy to implement and you can sometimes end up feeling isolated within your kura – but going online means you don’t have to feel isolated in your thinking.
- Angela Botherway (View all users posts) 13 Sep 2016 11:33am ()
As a result of engaging in NAPP conversations, I can now apply new ways of leadership thinking and strategies that benefit myself as a future education leader and the teaching staff who I influence through my daily interactions.
I feel up to date with evolving teaching techniques, learning strategies, leadership dispositions and the opportunities that are on offer in my chosen career. Best of all, I have a network of professional colleagues who are engaged in the same leadership process.
I valued being able to seek advice and help other on-line professional educators who had posed questions about a specific need in their school. Change in any school is not easy. It is great to have a new network of professional colleagues to approach when the need arises.
When I reflect on how much I have changed since starting my journey this year. I now see myself as an important influence of New Zealand's bi-cultural setting in any school I work in, research and consultation from your learners, staff, families and community must underpin all changes made in a school, leaders must always have their moral purpose at the forefront of school decisions and building a network of people to help you lead a Kura is key to success.
The NAPP journey has been the best Professional Development I have ever had. Thank you.
- Jeanne (View all users posts) 15 Sep 2016 1:40pm ()
I think that I am a good listener in general but I realised through using the coaching model and practicing the skills more and more that I was not truly actively listening. I would often listen to come up with a solution to the coachee’s problem. I particularly enjoyed the group coaching session we practiced at the last PLG meeting and will be using this when working with my team and coaching the Literacy and Numeracy leaders together in our school. I like how coaching provides both parties the chance to collaborate together and that it is more like a partnership so mutual trust is developed.
Some of the reading and Korero’s have been an awesome resource (back up) to share with other staff members. The ERO documents like ‘Raising student achievement through targeted actions’ have been very useful in my inquiry and as evidence to support the decisions we make around student achievement and assessment for learning practices.
Nick has also helped a lot with his coaching style and often asks the questions that really gets you thinking. He helped to push me out of my comfort zone and to see that some of the things I was doing needed to be shared amongst other staff members like the coaching skills and training others up in this model rather than trying to be the only coach to everyone in the school.
- Rachel Weinberg (View all users posts) 16 Sep 2016 5:49am ()
As a result of being part of the NAPP 2016 cohort, I have met and engaged in conversations with other school leaders, who are in similar positions to my own. This has been invaluable. I have felt able to share my successes and challenges with them, especially my coaching partner. We have "chewed the fat" on all sorts of issues we face in our roles and have been able to support each other through some "speed bumps". I find that vocalising my thoughts and opinions has actually made me clarify my own thinking about school leadership and my own leadership style, on so many levels. I have given time to issues that I have barely thought about in the past.
Engaging in online conversations through My Portfolio and the VLN has also opened up a whole new world and for me, new ways of thinking. At first I felt intimidated at the sheer volume of posts popping up as notifications in my inbox each day! Then I decided I would start reading them and those that struck a chord with me, I would reply to. It has shown me how many school leaders are out there in NZ struggling with the same issues, asking the same questions, yet also with the ability to help and advise each other. What a wealth of knowledge and experience there is out there. I have viewed the online posts as a kind of "compulsory" professional reading for myself! I have, where possible, related other's comments to my own context and questioned myself as to whether what others have said or done can be applied in my school.
- LyD (View all users posts) 17 Sep 2016 4:03pm ()
As a result of engaging in NAPP/EEL conversations, I see myself as a leader ( initially I struggled with Cinderella complex and a feeling I was too big for my boots) I am more aware of how others view my leadership and their respect and trust is humbling and empowering. Participating in NAPP has helped me build a range of reflective tools that I can use to evaluate my thinking, purpose and see possibilities going forward that seemed daunting before. The guided thinking and reading we've been doing has helped me focus on what it means to lead and how my actions or inactions impact on those around me. Learning to listen and to intentionally and explicitly provide space and time to hear what is being said are taonga that have been presented from a range of people from the presenters at the NAPP Hui to our own Kaiako and learning colleagues. From a hesitant beginning ,my Inquiry has developed into something cohesive and powerful.
- Sonia4321 (View all users posts) 18 Sep 2016 2:48pm ()
As a result of engaging in NAPP/EEL conversations online, I can now apply leadership thinking and strategies that have completely changed my outlook and view of my job and position at my school. I feel like I have been on the steepest learning curve of my career and have had so many opportunities to learn, lead, empower, question, coach and engage with my colleagues in a far more positive way. I have found this NAPP year to be the most comprehensive and powerful PD that I have ever engaged in. I think that the structure of the programme has meant that the learning has not been overwhelming but has been developed to best engage me as a learner.
I have found that the forums and readings have given me a direction and an incredibly useful resource going forward. I know now that if I end up as a FTP I have a vital toolbox of references and links to answer almost any question. The networking and new mentors/friends I have made on this journey have also become fantastic sounding boards and coaching partners. I have more confidence in leading my team and making suggestions for the benefit of our tamariki. One of my favourite quotes this year has been "you don't know what you don't know" and I have had the opportunity to ask the "dumb" questions and a pathway to find the answers for myself. As others have pointed out, I now listen to hear rather than to solve. I have forced myself to remain silent (even timing myself!) and really focusing on listening, not only to what is being said but also the nuances and inferences that are coming out during the discussion. This may be one of the hardest lessons I have learnt!
The highlight of the year was the Hui in April. It was with some trepidation that I left for this as I had all those feelings of "am I ready for this?". However the speakers and presentations proved to be so motivating and informative. Flying home gave me the same feeling that I get when I finish a good book... I wanted to go back to the beginning and start again!
My leadership journey has left me feeling more empowered, courageous and excited about new directions.
- Sue Rogers (View all users posts) 18 Sep 2016 5:38pm ()
As a result of engaging in NAPP conversations online, I can now apply leadership thinking and strategies that:
New ways of thinking
- Stop and think - look towards the big picture. Then process ....what will I have to do to put the 'cart before the horse'? Who is ready to climb aboard, who will need (what) support, who will stall and why?
- People! - Relationships are vital! Take time, find out professional profile/pedagogy, find out personal, be present. Look for and identify the Fixed Mindset persona's - what do people do and say when challenged and uncomfortable? Value opinions, give opportunity to discuss.
- Proactive - avoid reactive - listen, acknowledge, let them know they have been heard, Say thank you and take time to process, get back to them.
New ways of working
- Think time.
- Process
- Talk to colleagues - network more
- Digitally - google docs
- Coach a challenge.
- Don't take banana's from a monkey - professional ownership.
- Question more.
New leadership dispositions- Calmer
- Listen more
- Think before speaking
- Socially available
- Strategic about gaining colleagues interest - model curiosity.
- Pastoral care of all.
- Paper work and phone calls are because of the students in your school not inspite of them - if its important they will call again.
- Be present in all conversations and events.
- Be part of your community
Opportunities to have some influence your own school and the schools around you
Wakatipu Basin COL - writing workshops with Year 7&8 along with WHS English Department staff
Coaching beyond yourselfCoaching is a working progress - I need to make more opportunity
Influence of/from others as you have engaged onlineI am twittering, Google classrooms, developing blog/website, collaborating on line, gaining resources through on line conversations - even dabbling with coding! Greater confidence to get involved in the global educational conversation.
Learning about and establishing e-learning prioritiesLoving Google Classroom and developing digital communication within the class, school and community. Email and blogs for all students. Social media use and digital footprints are such a big consideration for all students. Being connected globally for literacy skills, collaboration and problem solving.
- Larissa Hogan (View all users posts) 13 Nov 2016 3:30pm ()
Hi Sue
I enjyed your tips about new ways of thinking, new ways of working and new leadership dispositions. I especially like the change of focus that seems to be occurring with the leadership dispositions. Are these your own thoughts and reflections or have they come from a particular source?
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