Category: School Culture

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School Culture

Every Person at School Matters.

Everyone matters.

Every person at the school, no matter what their role, matters.

The principal, teachers, office staff, para-educators, custodians, and kitchen staff matter.  And anyone associated with the school that is in the building.  No one should be left out of this list.

Every single person that a student could come across in a school building on a daily basis is important an matters in the life of a school.  You never know when an interaction between a staff member and a student or community member could color the entire view of the school.  It can happen in a few moments and give an impression of a school that you don’t want.

I remember vividly, to this day, walking into the office of the school.  I was a substitute teacher for one of the physical educators who was out that day.  I showed up, checked in with the office, but was told by a secretarial staff that the teachers were in a meeting and I needed to sit and wait. So, wait I did.

As the morning drew on, I realized I did not have a timetable or lesson plans.  So, being responsible, I asked the same person.  She said they had something and gave me a generic set of teaching materials.  Frankly, it was nothing more than basic school and district information and far short of a full timetable or lesson plans.  I was told that the teachers would come and get me when the staff meeting was over.  So, I sat back down.

I kept an eye on the time and realized it was getting close to the start of school.  So, again, being responsible, I went up to the same staff member and asked about going to the class, getting a key, or what I should do.  I said it appeared that I had a first period class that I was covering.  The staff member responded, “I told you someone would come and get you when the meeting was over.  Sit down and wait for them.”  Now, I was younger in my career and liked the district, but I was annoyed by being treated this way. So, I my oppositional defiant nature got the better of me and I sat down.

I watched the staff meeting get out, right before school started.  All the teachers left the meeting and went presumably to their classes.  I did the only thing I had been told to do.  I sat down and waited.

Warning bells for class rang.  The class bell rang.  Students arrived in the office to get their tardy slips as they were late.  A solid 10 minutes into the first class period, I strolled up to the class and asked if anyone was going to come and get me.  The secretary looked shocked and asked why I was still there.  Well, no one came to get me.  She was visibly annoyed with me when she told me to go to my class.  I told her I didn’t know where I needed to go.  She was even more annoyed giving me directions. 

When I finally arrived at the lockerroom for my class, I learned that the teacher I was covering was a female, not a male teacher.  Information that would have been helpful some time before.  When I told the male teachers what had happened, they just shook their heads and apologized saying this was not the first time this had happened.

Now, imagine a front facing staff member acting that way to your parents or community members.  Being annoyed that they had the audacity to ask questions or try to do the right thing.  Then, responding as though it was your fault.  What kind of a message does that send to the community?  Is that the kind of message you want students or families getting?  These are the first people the community meets when they enter the school.  It does beg the question about how the rest of the school community acts.

I did have the opportunity to sub at the school again.  I turned it down.  The lady who organized the substitutes for the district was lovely.  She asked me why and I relayed how I had been treated by the front office staff.  Sadly, she said she understood and I was not the first person to say this.

It begs the question, why do we accept this?  This was a staff member who dealt with the public regularly.  Other staff members do not face the public, but they do face the students.  They interact with the teachers and families on a regular basis. They are also sharing in the reputation of the school.

Now, I should say that I have met many front offices staff as well as other support staff in schools.  In most cases, they are nothing short of amazing.  They not only care for the facility, but they also look out for the kids.  In fact, they often know more about some kids than the educators.  They build amazing relationships with these students that we would never expect.  They are valued members of the community.  I make it a point to try and get to know these staff members and let them know how much I value them. 

Do you know your staff members?  Do you now their strengths and what they bring to the table?  Do you support them and allow them to teach or work with students?  Some of them bring amazing gifts to the table.  For example, at one school, the school custodian built his own telescope would give star talks in the parking lot some evenings.  Another example, a facilities supervisor taught students how to make paper from recycled school paper.  These folks have gifts and skills to share.  Let’s make use of them.

Every person in your organization is a gift.  My current principal said this year that we are all called to the school for a reason.  We may not know the reason yet, but we are all gifts and an answer to prayer.  Those were powerful words for us.  It was an acknowledgement that we are there for a reason.  That we bring our gifts to the table and we will help the community thrive this year.

Imagine if every member of the school community felt that way.  That connected to the school community as a whole.  What a place to work that would be!

I enter the gates of my school this year and the security are smiling and saying hello to staff and students.  Teachers and administrators greet each other.  Students are smiling and laughing and helping each other out.  Other staff support teachers and students with a smile.  The community is an amazing place to be.  Kids are cared for and known.  Teachers are making a positive impact.

True, my school is a private school with many benefits.  However, it is still a school community that is working together to lift students up.  Not every private school does that.  Some public schools do it better.  How is your school doing?

I hope as you enter this year that you lift each other up.  That you rally around your school community and recognize that everyone needs to lift and build the community.  This year, more than many in the past, we need to lift our students up.  Build positive, healthy communities to best teach and support our students in the coming year.

Reach out and tell me how you are doing it this year.

Categories
General Leadership School Culture

Administrators: Do You Ask Your Teachers to Review Your School Online?

It is that time of the school year.  August.  A time when schools are starting to ask their teachers if they plan on returning for the following school year.  Yes, schools are starting to ask now because the first job fairs are in mid-October.  Some schools have already asked their teachers and administrators if they are returning and decisions are being made.

What happens next?

Teachers start to explore options for their next job.  They set up their international job search files, get their references, and start to check out what jobs are popping up.  Then, they go to read the reviews that teachers from those schools have posted online.  I have been doing this myself. 

Administrators, some of your schools do not look that great online.

In this COVID influenced school year, many schools are simply struggling to get by.  There are an inordinate amount of challenges facing schools and administrations as they simply try to survive the myriad of struggles that they are facing.  Some schools do not even have enough staff in the country to open their doors in the coming weeks much less thrive in this environment.  These are all legitimate challenges.

Trust me, the job reviews sites are full of examples of international schools handling this pandemic exceedingly well, and very poorly.  There is always a significant uptick in reports at the end of a school year from departing staff.  If we are honest, those people who are most likely to report on their experience at schools are first, those who had a poor experience, second, those who had an amazing experience, and finally, the smallest group, those who want others to know what is happening there.

I always take job reviews with a grain of salt.  One has too.  The school is never as bad, nor as amazing as the review makes it sound.  Much of one’s experience at a school is a result of the individual experience with those who work in the school.  That can be high subjective in the long run.

However, one also finds commonalities in experiences with educators in schools.  For example, I have been reading about several schools that now have multiple new reports following COVID.  These schools are not receiving high marks for the quality and performance during this pandemic.  These individuals want to tell others about how bad the school has treated them as a warning to not consider this school.  A few have spoken very highly of their schools during this pandemic.  They have been very positive about their experiences.  These reviews are few and far between though.

As an administrator, how should you manage these reviews?

An administrator once told me that he wants all his teachers to review the school online.  To that end, he tells his staff at the end of the year to go online to any of the sites that review schools and review him and the program.  He said he wanted teachers to give a fair review of the school and have multiple pieces of information online about the place he led.  His reason?  The more information that was online, the more objective the picture of the school, and his leadership, would be.

Of course, this was in addition to internal monitoring of the school and end of year reflections.  As you may imagine, this was an administrator who ran a good school.  He did not worry about a large number of bad reviews.  He was comfortable reading about the school in online reviews and acting on any concerns that arose that he was not aware of.  As you may imagine, there were not many poor reviews of him or the school.

Administrators need to be comfortable in their own skin.  They need to be comfortable seeing their name online in public view as they are public figures.  The reality being, if an administrator is doing their job well, the reviews will generally be positive.  We must be comfortable knowing that not everyone likes everything we do.  If we don’t ask for feedback, it will be given in other ways that could be more harmful.

I like the idea that we ask teachers to complete online reviews of the school in public forums.  First, it gives credibility to the school.  The school gets its name out there in the public forum and other teachers can make decisions about the school based on the feedback provided.  Second, it updates what it truly happening in the school.  Many of the reviews are from years past and the school has changed significantly.  The leadership has changed, and the reviews have not been updated.  Current information allows teachers to make educated choices about their next school.  Finally, administrators gain another place for feedback about the school and their work which allows them to improve.

If you have not asked educators to provide feedback for the school in online reviews, I highly suggest that you do.  Yes, it will be scary the first time when you ask, but you will be surprised at the response.  I guarantee it will not be all bad.  The simple fact that you are willing to ask for feedback says something about your quality as an administrator of an international school.

If you have not used online review sites, I suggest the following three sites as a starting point:

International Schools Review:  https://www.internationalschoolsreview.com/

International School Advisor:  https://www.ischooladvisor.com/

International School Community:  https://www.internationalschoolcommunity.com/home

Categories
General Leadership School Culture

A Father’s Wisdom

At the end of 2019, I have had the opportunity to reflect back on some of my father’s wisdom as an educator.  He was a career Physical and Health Educator and a wrestling coach.  My dad had a very successful career in teaching, but he also warned me about how difficult it could be once you entered the profession.  In fact, he was the first person to tell me that, if there was anything other than education that I wanted to do as a career, to do it.  Since I am my fathers son, I didn’t listen.

However, over the years, my father did give me a great deal of advice about teaching and coaching.  Much of it is stored somewhere locked away in my memory and it comes out on occasion.  At the end of 2019, there is one piece of advice that has come to the forefront of my memory as wisdom from my father.

As a new teacher trying to get my first full time job, I was lucky enough to land an assistant wrestling coach position at a local high school.  My father, being a successful coach, was a storehouse of information.  I knew that he would be willing to give me coaching advice if I asked so, sitting down over coffee, I asked him what I needed to know to be a good wrestling coach.  It was a conversation that has stuck with me and parts have come become very important in my life.

Keep it simple.  That was his first piece of advice.  People like to complicate things and get to fancy.  Wrestling can get complicated, but you are coaching kids.  Keep it simple until they understand it and can do those well, then teach them more complicated skills.  And not everyone will get the complicated skills, and that is okay.

Read the rule book front to back so you know it as well as the referees.  Know the rules you are working with so you can use them to your advantage if necessary.

Teach every wrestler a few basic moves and train them to be better than anyone else at them.  You can win state championships with a good takedown, move from the top, move from the bottom, and pinning combination if you are better than anyone else.

Now, these first three pieces of advice were practical and translate into education very easily.  Keep things simple so all students and teachers understand what you are doing.  Know the rules you are playing by so you are familiar with the system.  And do a few basic things better than anyone else and you will find success in that.  But it was his final piece of advice that has stuck with me the most in my career as of late.

If you end your career as a coach with a record better than 50% wins, you have had a successful career as a coach.

This piece of advice was the one that I have wrestled with in my career, and most importantly, this year.  He talked about win / loss records in athletics.  But it is so much more than that.  It is the question of what is a win?  What do you consider a win?  Is it only the big things and victories?  If that is the case, you will be sadly disappointed.  If that is your metric for success, you will be unhappy in your career as an educator.

What if we looked at wins as any success we had.  Anything that was a positive went in the win column.  In my career, this was driven home these season after my dad told this advice.  We had a perfect record as a coaching team.  We didn’t win a single dual meet.  We were zero and about twenty.  If we measured success by our wins, we failed horribly.  However, what if we looked at successes in other ways?  The kids who had never tried wrestling but came out, stuck with it, then came out the next year?  That is success.  What about the lifelong friendships that were made?  That is a success.  What about the kid whose life was headed down a dark path who turned himself around?  Yep, that is a success. 

As educators our metric is often big wins.  The flashy successes that everyone can see.  What if we looked at success as smaller but just as tangible.  How would our view on the year be different?

As you end 2019, I would encourage you to do two things in reflection.  First, look at all of your successes this year, no matter how small and add them as wins.  Second, think back on the advice and wisdom of your parents and elders.  See what they taught you that is still valuable today.

May you find success in the small things this year.  You never know how those small successes may blossom in the coming years.

Categories
Classroom Management School Culture

Student Motivation = Better Classroom Management

There are many ways to improve classroom management.  In this article we will look at one way that classroom management can be improved: increasing student motivation.  The implication is that if students are motivated they will be less likely to engage in disruptive classroom behaviors.  The following are ten ways that teachers can increase motivation with their students.  School leaders can use these tips to coach teachers on how to motivate students to improve teaching, learning and classroom management.

  1. Provide students with choice.  Choice leads to feelings of autonomy and self-efficacy which increase motivation according to Daniel Pink’s work in his seminal work ‘Drive’.  Total choice is rarely an option, however teachers can provide students with choice within parameters.  
  2. Be excited.  If the teacher isn’t excited about content, why would the students get excited? When students are excited about learning, motivation goes up. 
  3. Get students intrinsically motivated.  Find ways to help students see the value of the content of your course by relating your course to their lives, their aspirations and their passions.  
  4. Use extrinsic motivators.  Positive reward systems such as earned positive praise can motivate students.  Keep the golden ratio in mind for positive feedback: 3-5 positive interactions for every corrective feedback.  
  5. Set realistic expectations.  Individual learning rates and goals can help keep students motivated to try their personal best and not get discouraged by standardized goals that may not relate to their zone of proximal development.  
  6. Reduce students’ fear of trying and anxiety.  Failure is an option, and a less critical approach can reduce students anxiety. Keep your classroom positive by focusing on a growth mindset.  If students do not succeed the first time, be supportive and understanding and teach resilience.  
  7. Be empathetic.  Attempt to see things from your students’ point of view when possible.  This doesn’t mean you need to be completely relativistic, but putting yourself in your students’ shoes will help your students feel supported and safe which according to Maslow can lead to students realizing their full potential.  
  8. Make things fun.  School should be enjoyable, students should look forward to coming to school and all the exciting activities you have planned.  Not everything has to be fun, however sprinkling enjoyable activities into your routine can keep students motivated. 
  9. Harness student interests.  What are your students interests, do they love sports, dancing, theater?  Find out their interests and work these interests into your content, increasing relevance and student-centeredness. 
  10. Allow students to work together.  Social interaction may increase levels of motivation for some students.  A common group goal can increase levels of accountability. Group norms and roles are recommended to keep students accountable for group work and reduce free-loading. 

While there are many other ways to motivate students, hopefully you now have a working list of ways to keep students interested in your content via motivation.    As educational leaders, we can work to coach teachers on how to motivate students. If students are motivated, you may very likely see classroom management improve and behavioral concerns reduce.

Works Cited: 
21 Simple Ideas to Improve Student Motivation. Teachthought.com. 2017. 

The Ideal Praise to Criticism Ratio. Harvard Business Review. 2013.
Motivating Kids in Physical Activity. Weiss, Maureen.  2000.

Categories
General Leadership School Culture

Check the Culture of the School: Intent or Internet?

Do you regularly complete a school culture or school climate survey?  If you do, is it used to improve the school culture and climate?  Do you take the responses to heart, evaluate them, then move forward with pressing issues?  If you have generally answered yes to these questions, then your school is likely in a good place and on track.

However, do you find that there are those who do not believe a school climate or culture survey is necessary?  Perhaps you have heard comments such as “our school is in a good place” or “We don’t need another survey to tell us what we know”.  These comments are well intentioned, but perhaps made by overconfident individuals who might not have a full picture of the school climate. 

Checking the culture of the school is a valuable use of the administrations time.  Some might consider the time required to check the culture and climate of the school to be a waste of time.  Time that could be better spent on other more important tasks or pursuits.  Perhaps the belief is that everything in the school and community are just fine simply because there is not uproar and turmoil.  However, just because things are moving along well on the surface does not mean that the school climate and culture is healthy.  The only real options are to review our school climate and culture ourselves or, read about issues on any number of the school review sites on the internet.

As administration, we need to be intentional about the school culture we are trying to build or maintain.  If we do not actively build a positive, healthy school culture, then we are maintain a status quo that may not be healthy.  Worse, with the many school review sites online, and of course teacher word of mouth, if the school culture is not positive, then the word will be spread to others.

The internet and word of mouth is fickle.  Far too often, the message that spreads is only partly true.  Misinformation is always spread based on one persons opinion or word of mouth.  There is often truth in the information shared, but it is often skewed to one persons point of view.  With this in mind, we have a choice to move forward with intent or allow the internet to do its work.

It is recommended that we review our school climate and culture.  Ask questions about your goals, beliefs and values.  Review the responses for consistencies and concerns.  Then, make adjustments as necessary to address the concerns and move in the direction the school intends.  As educators, we are expected to reflect on our practice and adjust for improvement.  If we expect that educators should do this, the school should set the example.  This sets a positive tone for the school and for educators.

Some administrators set a positive tone for internet reviews simply by recommending that all teachers review the school each year.  This may seem strange, to request that teachers are asked to add new reviews each year, but it is a wise decision.  Most schools, and administrators, simply do not have many reviews online, unless there are issues that are not addressed.    Every school wants to read or hear positive comments made by their teachers.  The school that encourages their educators to write reviews also stands strong enough in their belief that they are doing the best by their educators and community.

Consider how your school reviews the culture and climate regularly.  Build in steps to address challenges the school faces, no matter how small.  And remember, if the school is not strong or confident enough to ask the staff how the school is doing, the staff will communicate that somewhere else.  Decide if you wish to operate with intent or allow the internet to do its work for you.

Research and Surveys:

Chris Wagner writes in Principal Leadership in the article School Leader’s Tool (2006), that utilizing a tool, such as the one recommended in the article, showed that schools with higher, positive school culture scores also scored higher on academic assessments.  Those with lower school cultures scores, also scored lower on academic assessments.

John Jennings provides an example of a school cultures survey and recommendations for how to score it at the site Advancing K12.  The advantage is that the scoring and recommendations are already provided for you are able to access a copy of it online

The John Hopkins School of Education provides a professional option for school culture surveys.  As they compile information, your school can be compared to other similar schools.  Contact John Hopkins School of Education for more information on this process.

Recommendations:

Once the results have been gathered and scored the school needs to evaluate them.  If the school finds that there are many things they are doing well, then celebrate them.  These are the ideals and beliefs you hoped to instill and are demonstrating them.  Areas where the data shows mixed results should be dug into more.  Delve into the questions and possibly follow up with additional questions specific to the topic.  Ask why and seek to learn what is underneath the mixed results.  Perhaps it was just poor questioning, or mixed views on the same topic.

 

However, if the data shows areas of concern, these should be the primary focus.  If mistakes were made, acknowledge them, apologize, and move forward.  Work to correct these mistakes and not make them again.  For other data that is negative, triage it.  Evaluate what is of highest concern and what are issues that are addressed easily.  In those issues that can be resolved quickly and easily, do that immediately to show your staff movement forward.  Areas where there are high concerns and may be more complicated, gather people together to support the process to address the issue.  

Categories
General Leadership School Culture

Reflecting on the Culture of Your School

“School culture refers to the way teachers and other staff members work together and the set of beliefs, values, and assumptions they share. A positive school climate and school culture promote students’ ability to learn.”

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Are you happy when you walk into school on a Monday morning?  How would you describe your feelings about the place you enter?   Is there a sense of expectancy?  Are you excited about the week ahead?  Does the space feel positive and healthy to you?  What about to your staff?  Or the students?  Or the parents?  Or visitors who are entering your space for the very first time?

All schools have a culture and a reputation that precedes them.  As an educator or administrator, that reputation is tied to us as well.  Too often, we are so focused on the work of the school day that we fail to check in with our staff, students, and parents and ask how we are doing.  Are we meeting our stated purpose and goals?  This reflective feedback will tell us if we are on the right track or not.  It will tell us a lot about our educational space and if we have developed a positive school culture based on our belief system.

If we take a look at the Hattie Ranking from the Global Research Database, we will find that Collective Teacher Efficacy has an effect size of 1.39.  The only factor with a higher ranking is Teacher Estimates of Achievement at 1.44.  Hattie states that the average effect size was 0.4 and anything higher will have a positive impact on the student.  Can you imagine a group of committed teachers who all believe that they can have a positive influence on students?  Many administrators are willing to say that they do work with such a group.  But is this an accurate report about our school culture?

The author “Anonymous” at the Guardian asks parents a simple question, “can you spot a toxic school?”  As parents, we would never want to send our children to a school with a toxic culture.  It is not healthy.  Instead, we want to send our children to a school that is healthy, thriving, and one where our children will grow and succeed.  Yet, in this article, parents are now being told what to ask teachers to determine the culture of the school. As an administrator, this should at the very least, make us think.   The article is below:

“Parents, can you spot a ‘toxic’ school?  A headteacher writes…” 

As an educator, you are partly responsible for the climate and culture within your classroom.  I say partly because your classroom is impacted by factors outside the classroom that affect what happens within the four walls of your room.  For example, if we take Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, do our students come to school fed, rested and feeling safe from the night before or for the day ahead?  If not, then their ability to positively interact in the education of the classroom is hindered.  Your role as an administrator can have significant positive, or negative, impacts on the school culture and how the parents, students, and teacher view the school community.

The cited article from The Guardian provides parents with questions to ask the school administration and teachers.  If we are wise as administers, these are questions we should ask in advance and consider the impacts on school culture.  How many staff do we turnover each year?  How much marking do we require of teachers?  What is the required response time to emails?  When are emails sent and expected to be read?  What is the vision for the school and is it shared by all educators in the building?

If we believe that Collective Teacher Efficacy is an important part of our collective school culture, we must work to ensure that it is.  Articles such as “Parents, can you spot a ‘toxic’ school?  A headteacher writes…” are written as a warning light to good schools.  Toxic schools exist and often, the administration does not recognize the culture they have created.  As administrators, we need to ensure that we are practicing what we preach and reflecting on our best practice in the school and classroom. 

A positive school culture can be built through hard work, intentional practice, and relationship building.  It takes time to do it right.  It can also be torn down in a very short time if we do not care for the people who work for and with us.

So, as we move forward after these first months of the year I encourage you to do a check of your school.  Ask a few people you know and trust how the year is going.  As hard questions and expect a few answers that you may not like.  But be willing to listen and make changes as needed.  If you are in a school with a difficult culture, know that you can make positive changes through building positive relationships, active listening, and acting on the recommendations you are given.

Categories
Classroom Management School Culture

Building a positive classroom environment before class starts?

Whether it is a 45-minute period or a 75-minute block, I challenge you to identify teachers who take advantage of the entire period.  As part of this challenge, school leaders, I suggest you take a walk around your school’s hallways tomorrow and see how many teachers are making connections with their students even before their class starts. 

At Tsinghua Univ. High School International (THSI) in Beijing, one of our Secondary School’s year-long goals focuses on building and establishing positive classroom learning environments.  We are a young school that is still going through some growing pains, however, we are making great strides on establishing this positive classroom environment from the start of every class.  If you take a walk down our hallways before the start of each period, you will see our teachers standing by the doors of their classrooms, interacting with each student as they walk in.  We have recently integrated the Positive Greetings at the Door (PGD) classroom management strategy outlined by an article by Cook et al. (2018) titled “Positive Greetings at the Door: Evaluation of a Low-Cost, High-Yield Proactive Classroom Management Strategy”. 

The PGD approach will minimize the externalizing behaviors that cause classroom interruptions and limit student focus and attention.  Many teachers that I have seen over time handle student misbehavior using a reactive behavior management approach which, as the article states, affects student-teacher relationships and loses instructional time.  Reactive management of behavior usually comes immediately after a student misbehaves during class, interrupting the flow of learning.  Teachers using the PGD strategy, on the other hand, use proactive classroom management that can reduce misbehavior over the long run while maximizing instructional time.  The magic lies in the few seconds that teachers have at the door to positively connect with each student as they walk into class.  What teachers say verbally or non-verbally (a simple nod or smile) to each student has monumental effects on how the student will approach the class, resulting in less time off task and decreased misbehavior.  To break this strategy down further, I want to highlight 4 specific ways our school has been using the PGD strategy, as referenced in the article:

  1.  Teachers use these few seconds to privately encourage students who misbehaved last class.  “Johnny, do you remember I had to remind you to stay on task last class?  Let’s see if we can stay more focused today.”  “Erica, I noticed you were a bit chatty with Rachel last class.  I would appreciate it if you could talk to her instead at lunch next period.  Are you able to do this?” 
  2. These precious seconds are also being used to deliver pre-corrective statements and reminders on expected behaviors.  “Javier, remember to start on the warm-up problems as soon as you take your seat.” “Sam, did you bring your laptop?  We’re going to need it in class today.”
  3. The PGD approach also is used to deliver praise to reinforce positive behaviors.  “Leo, I loved how many times you raised your hand to volunteer answers last class.  I’d love to see more of that today.” “Jenny, I noticed you on task during yesterday’s group discussion.  I hope you saw how valuable your contributions were to your group.”
  4. Students are feeling a stronger sense of belonging in our classrooms.  Teachers at the door immediately are able to make and reinforce position connections with each individual student.

We are noticing reduced student misbehavior and more meaningful student-teacher connections.  Student learning is maximized when they feel valued, respected, and cared for by their teachers.  I invite you to reflect on how something similar could look like at your school.

Referenced article:

Cook, C. R., Daikos, C., Fiat, A., Holland, E.A., Larson, M., Renshaw, T., Slemrod, T., & Thayer, A.J. (2018). Positive greetings at the door: evaluation of a low-cost, high-yield proactive classroom management strategy. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 20(3), 149-159.

Categories
General Leadership School Culture Uncategorized

Reframing Organizations: applied to international schools

Have you ever wondered if there is a blueprint for how to be a successful international school leader?  Some international school leaders assume leadership positions without formal training, some study administration before becoming international school leaders.  And others are a mix of column A and B, assuming leadership roles in international school while at the same time taking graduate level classes in leadership.

Regardless of your leadership path, Bolman & Deal provide a blueprint for the four frames of organizational leadership: Structural, Human Resources, Political and Symbolic, spelling out how to incorporate all four frames into your leadership position.

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