Leading for Clarity & Coherence

3/11/2020

I'm sometimes puzzled during school visits about what I observe in classrooms. I've talked with the school leaders about priorities and what we might hope to see, but during the observations a different type of teaching altogether emerges.

On other occasions, I know that a school has been engaged in a significant initiative and great changes to teaching and learning have occurred. But just prior to the observations a new initiative has begun, and the previously observed practices seem to be occurring far less frequently or even drop off altogether.

Sometimes a new political agenda emerges, despite the best arguments of educators at the highest levels. Currently imposed targets with the threats of consequences for those who don't meet them is an example of a change that might disrupt the clarity you have.

So my big questions are: how do we ensure clarity and coherence in the eyes of the leaders? and most importantly, how do we ensure that this is shared clarity and coherence between leaders and teachers? Do your readings shed any light on these questions?

11 Comments

Leonie link

3/16/2020 06:43:34 pm

Five considerations to foster coherence and clarity:
1) seek to understand underlying teacher and leader beliefs and motivations - both individual and collective and use this as a starting point
2) focus on one or two key directions which have high impact
3) use quality and relevant data (eg instructional rounds, formative walkthroughs, analysis of student work samples) to move us from I think to I know. We want a shared and transparent appraisal of where we are at any point in the process and we want to be prepared to amend what we are doing based on the evidence
4) continually building, reviewing and articulating shared understandings and a clear purpose - opportunities for leaders and teachers to unpack, explore, describe, discuss, share and articulate the purpose, the why and what it looks like eg GEPS and TWPS pictorial representations
5) reflection opportunities for us to consider the extent to which our practices align with our beliefs. This could include seeking 360 degree feedback.

Barbara

3/19/2020 08:11:33 am

Thanks Leonie. I like your five steps and I can see many of them in place as you lead focused change in your school.

I want to comment on point one - because I think think that's a point we don't often start at. And maybe it's the reason why what we observe in classrooms is often so different to what leaders imagine it will be - particularly when initiatives are in their early stages. Here's the comment from one principal after a recent round where the focus was student talk to deepen learning:

"The thing I'm grappling with is ..... Why is this so HARD?!? I feel the basic level of getting students to talk (by sharing, or explaining, or arguing) should be easy - and the deeper talk should be hard - but I'm sensing teachers are struggling with the lower-order talk!!

I like this quote from the the Viviane Robinson book, " But change does not happen by focusing only on the future. For change to succeed, leaders need to focus as much, if not more, on understanding the practices they wish to change as on designing the alternatives they seek to introduce ...... she then gives an example of changing practice in a classroom from short quizzes and direct instruction to using rich texts and extended discussions ........ "adopting such pedagogy requires a shift not only in their behaviour but also in their associated beliefs and values" (pp13 & 14).

Have you been involved in a change process that didn't result in sustained change in practice?

And, how do we examine current practice so that the teachers' underlying beliefs and values become clear to us, and then use that information to guide our change process?

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Leading for Clarity & Coherence

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