Elementary Principals Statewide Mentoring MeetingThursday, September 12, 2013

Outcomes: Grow your professional network; Process start of the year; Explore goal-setting strategies and tools; Consider strategies for dealing with

difficult staff; Increase awareness regarding legal

issues; Reflect on how to engage staff in effective

professional learning; and Identify strategies for improving individual

leadership-life fit.

Grounding our work today…What items on your entry plan (or beginning of the year plan) have you successfully completed and where is your next area for focus? What barriers have you encountered? How might your colleagues at the table support you?

Developing our Learning CommunitySetting Goals and Supporting Professional Learning

Success Analysis Protocol1. Groups of 6.2. First person shares his/her goal-setting

tool/strategy/article/etc., how it is used, why it’s successful, and/or what might need tweaked (4 minutes)

3. Group processes by asking questions and offering insights (4 minutes).

4. Repeat steps two and three until all six colleagues have shared.

Group Processing After everyone has shared, discuss what

was learned by the analysis and the implications for your work as leaders. (5 minutes)

Debrief the protocol How did the process work for your group? How could it be improved? How might you use this with your

teachers and or other groups?

Break!Grow your professional network—choose a new

table!

Working Productively with Difficult StaffLaura Medberry, College Community

Working Productively with Difficult Staff

SAI Elementary Statewide Mentoring MeetingSeptember 12, 2013

First things first...

Learning Outcomes for this session:● Distinguish between two categories of improvement

conversations● Generate one situation in your school to use a

“observation-fix-rationale” conversation● Identify three techniques for effective conversations

about instructional improvements● Generate one situation in your school to use a “Six

Thinking Hats” protocol● Reflect upon your disposition toward improvement

conversations with staff

Learning Outcomes

Short Term Managerial and

professional conduct

Related to Iowa Teaching Standard 8 and various

criteria from 1-7.

Two Categories of Improvement Conversations

Long TermInstructional practices

including classroom management, lesson

planning, assessment, and collaborative

practices.

Related to Iowa Teaching Standards 1 - 7.

Short-Term Managerial

A parent has a difficult time arriving on time for school. She has one child with severe anxiety who, when tardy, has a meltdown. When this happens, the child displays significant aggression toward adults and property destruction when anxious. requires several adults and about 30 - 45 minutes to calm him.

When entering the office a little later you hear the tail end of a secretary’s comment to another employee which was “if she would just get here on time, then this wouldn’t happen! Poor kid!”

What did you observe?What is the remedy?What is the rationale?

Scenario 1

The building principal has made a point of reiterating the importance of “working the crowd” when at recess and in the lunchroom. When observing one day, she notices that one lunchroom supervisor is standing in one location and directing students to their seats.

What did you observe?What is the remedy?What is the rationale?

Scenario 2

A paraprofessional is having difficulty arriving on time to work. When reviewing the time reports, the building principal notes that the para arrived late two times in the last two weeks. It is only 2 or 3 minutes, but she is tardy nonetheless. The principal has spoken with the para on two other occasions last year about timeliness.

What did you observe?What is the remedy?What is the rationale?

Scenario 3

The feeling you feel when you see something and don’t respond is a sign of a disconnect between your values and your actions. If they pile up, you will feel stress that could have been avoided.

Avoidable stress is worse than regular stress.

Avoidable Stress

Is there a situation in your school in which you could address a managerial issue through a quick, observation-remedy-rationale conversation?

What are you observing?What is the remedy?What is the rationale?

Reflection Action

• Tier III plans that involve a high level of communication and documentation...getting deep into the Intensive Assistance Cycle.

• Tough conversations with teachers that led to resignations, two of which were mid-year.

• Discrimination case brought against me (personal and professional liability) via the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.

• Several conversations with ISEA directors from associated districts.• Local union president and vice-president meetings• Extensive contact with district attorneys• Threats from family members of marginal teachers in the Tier III process• Countless improvement conversations around instructional strategies,

classroom management, and professional conduct such as verbal abuse of students, falsifying absence reports, etc.

It’s a tough job

...but we have to do it.

1. Prepare an agenda and plan language to refocus the conversation. Play defense, but don’t get defensive.

2. Frame arguments as inquiry and conflict as healthy, using internal and external expertise wisely.

3. Build relationships through expressions of gratitude, acknowledgement of growth and of excellence, and genuine care for all staff members.

Disciplined Practice

Prepare an agenda and plan language to refocus the conversation. Play defense, but don’t get defensive.

Frame arguments as inquiry and conflict as healthy, using internal and external expertise wisely.

Use protocols and structured conversations to frame argument as inquiry and model healthy conflict.

Observers: During the Six Thinking Hats conversation, do you see opportunities for us to use internal and external expertise?

A group of teachers recently attended a training where the presenter advocated for a small group literacy structure where the goals are exclusively related to phonics and fluency. One teacher is convinced that this is the right approach and shared her strong opinions during a recent team meeting. Two others quickly chimed in in support of the phonics-based instruction.

Protocols

Is there a situation in your school in which a “Six Thinking Hats” process may help to frame argument as inquiry and model healthy conflict?

Reflection Action

Build relationships through expressions of gratitude, acknowledgement of growth and of excellence, and genuine care for all staff members.

I am developing “thick skin” so

having conversations with difficult

staff members doesn’t bother

me.

Reflection

I am developing objectivity toward the

change process and

having conversations with difficult

staff members isn’t about me.

LUNCH & Relocate!

Reminders from the Legal VortexMatt Carver, SAI

Discussion Panel: Engaging Staff in Professional LearningAmy May, Aplington-ParkersburgAl Neppl, Ankeny

Discussion PanelHow do you determine a focus for

professional learning?How do you organize your staff to

engage in professional learning?What does your schedule to support

professional learning look like?

Discussion PanelWhat role do you play in planning

for and/or providing/facilitating professional learning in your building?

How do your district and building professional learning plans complement each other?

How do you monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your professional learning?

Break! Grow your professional network--choose a new

table!

Leadership-life FitDana Schon, SAI

By the end of this segment, participants will have… Revisited the concept of balance as

compared to fit Identified strategies for reducing stress

and creating an ebb and flow that works for you

Challenging the Notion of Work-life Balance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3mohM05yxs

The Notion of Balance… Is discussed most frequently discussed in the negative Keeps us focused on the problem rather than the

solution Assumes we are all the same Infers there is a “right” answer Leads us to judge Results in unproductive guilt Suggests the goal is a 50-50 split between work and

life Leaves no room for periods where there is more work

and less life and vice versa; and Ignores the constantly changing reality of work and life

You are one person, so there is no need to try to separate your personal life from your work life.

Why a work-life fit? Honors our unique situations throughout

various points in our lives Leads us to inspire Recognizes multiple options based upon

each person’s current circumstance Acknowledges the ebb and flow of life’s

events Values flexibility

Reframe Your Thinking and Change the ScriptNegative/Powerless Thinking I don’t have

enough time… I have to… I need to… I should…

Positive/Empowered Thinking I didn’t take time

to… I choose/want to… I choose/want to… I could…

Strategies for a Better Fit Schedule Your Life – both work and free time Create Lists – Know what needs to be done

and put it on your schedule Set priorities – Complete the most important

things first Create Systems for anything you do more

than twice Know when to say No – Delegate and stop

trying to do it all.

Keep working to find your leadership-life fit!!

Final Thoughts & Evaluationhttp://bit.ly/StatewideElem

Next Meeting: January 28, 2014