The purpose of supervision (as it applies to the relationship between a school leader and school teachers) is:

To assist in creating a tone

• A tone of respect
• A tone of inclusion
• A tone of caring
• A tone of professionalism
• A tone of reflection
• A tone of “doing it better”
• A tone of celebration

To assist in crafting a vision

• Where are we versus where do we want to be

To assist in collaboration on goals leading to the vision

To assist in assessing improvement—movement towards the vision—and help in changing, adjusting, reformulating goals for continued improvement

To assist in caring for teachers—not only professionally but personally

To assist in the self-actualization of teachers

• Here I’m alluding to Aristotle’s view that life’s goal is to attain a state loosely translated as happiness but upon inspection refers to fulfilling the measure of our creation—i.e. to be excellent human beings, to live excellently. This comes about as a result of reflecting on our present state and constantly striving for oneness with our ideals. Bringing it back down to earth in the teaching realm, the supervisor can help teachers become “self-actualized” by providing opportunities for constant reflection, reinforcing a common vision of what it is to be an “excellent” teacher, and working together to make that vision a reality. In the process, the supervisor also moves towards self-actualization.

All of these with the goal of educating learners (understanding that defining “educating learners” is the preeminent precursor to all else) and helping them become fulfilled human beings.

Note that with all of these “purposes” I have used words such as assist, help, and collaborate. This speaks to my view that supervision is most effective when it is collaborative. Yes, the school leader sets the tone and gets the ball rolling, but from there I prefer that mission, vision, aims, improvement, policy-making, etc. is collaborative. The problem I have run into with teachers new to my style is that they sometimes find it unsettling initially, that Kevin is not a strong leader because he isn’t dictating to me from on high. My hope is that in time they realize that it takes considerably more leadership and effort to pull people together on a common task than to tell them what to do.

In regards to the reading, in chapters 4 and 5 Glickman spent considerable time on numbers 3, 4, 5, and 6 in my echelon. I was first given pause by the considerable time devoted to knowing my teachers, though it is patently clear that the better I know them, the better I can supervise them. The corollary to this is I cannot expect to treat all of my faculty the same way, as they are sometimes far separated in age, experience, and expertise. The need for tailoring my approach based on these and other factors hit me right between the eyes. The research points out something that is intuitively true but which I hadn’t internalized into my practice.

A further insight I gained was the importance of ensuring that teachers feel secure and of providing proper pastoral care for them. As with students, so with teachers: If a student is having non-academic problems in or out of school, it’s going to affect her performance. Likewise with teachers. Glickman cites Merriam and Clark’s study:

One of Merriam and Clark’s most significant findings was the predominance of work-related learning for both men and women and the evidence that more learning occurs when things are going well in both arenas (work and family life). However, learning that led to a real perspective transformation most often was associated with coping with the difficult times in either work (e.g., being fired) or family life (e.g., losing a parent). Since much of the most significant adult learning appears to be from life experience, the role of the supervisor may be critical in helping teachers to experience growth as an outcome of unsettling life experiences in the professional, personal, or family domains. Although the supervisor need not and should not assume the role of therapist, one implication of the social roles models of adult development is that a teacher’s personal, family, and professional roles interact with and affect each other and need to be addressed holistically by supervision (Glickman 75).

I’m currently enrolled in a master’s class from Lehigh University labeled “Supervision and Professional Development.” As part of the class we were asked to contribute a “best learning experience.” Given my enthusiasm for classroom tech, I offered the following submission:

“The best learning experience I’ve had in the last couple of years is one that not only affected me deeply but has grown to influence and, I believe, improve learning for my faculty and students is the integration of 21st century technology in the classroom and in the school generally.

As a teaching principal, I’ve used online resources over the years to great affect in the classroom. And while useful, the resources I was using were often discrete and disjointed–i.e. I would find a rubric I like here, a worksheet I like there, a study guide hither, and a classroom activity yon. The recent evolution in web 2.0 utilities, however, has changed everything.

I began immersing myself in utilities such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, wikis, NewsReaders, etc. about a year and a half or two years ago. Immediately it was apparent to me how these utilities might be useful not only in the classroom but in the school as a whole. While I had had my students dabble in these technologies previously, they quickly became central to our skills-based learning outcomes as I realized that this is the direction in which learning was moving.

In order to make sense of the exponentially increasing information out there, collaboration via these media has become essential so that I can work together to collate and process the information. And not only that–how I can communicate more effectively with students and colleagues is being revolutionized in new tools such as Google Wave. (I’m kevinblissett@googlewave.com, by the way, if you’d like to join my wave. I have plenty of invites if you need them.)

The upshot of all of this is that I’ve gotten most of my faculty and students on the technology train as well–not because I’m forcing my own interests on them, but rather because they quickly come to realize that we can learn and collaborate better via these media. I’m still learning these techologies; something new comes out every week. But I’m genuinely excited about the tools, and I’ve grown more efficient and connected as I’ve used them. I believe my faculty and students have as well.

Wow! I just came across a great resource via Free Technology for Teachers Blog: Google Advanced Books Search. Up to this point, if I’d wanted to find an online book, I’d just do a normal search for the book. Using Google’s Book Search is a much more powerful option.

Instructions:

1. Go to <books.google.com>.
2. Click Advanced Search to the right of the search bar.
3. Put in whatever title or information is pertinent.
4. In the search field, click Public Domain if you wish to download and print the book.
5. Click Google Search at the top right.
6. Choose your title.

Another benefit is that after you’ve chosen the title, you’re able to read it in the excellent Google Books Reader. This is a fantastic resource, particularly if you don’t have specific or enough selections in your library. Give it a try.

Principals and other leaders of various stripes discover early on that everyone in their school or organization (or family) is not always going to agree with them. Within any group of humans presumably moving toward a common goal, there will be Resisters. As with leaders, Resisters can come in many flavors.

In my experience, there are basically two ends of the Resister spectrum. You have, for example, folks who do not actively resist, instead they thrive upon a passive non-participation in change or progress. They don’t make waves, but they don’t help either. At the other end are the active saboteurs, who not only do not agree with the current direction, but will vigorously recruit others to their point of view and even work to displace the leader if possible. Obviously there are other shades in between.

So, how does one overcome resistance? I believe it all starts with providing a clear map and expectations about the current direction and the reasons for the direction. Before beginning the process of setting out this vision, however, the leader must identify the power players, allies, and open-minded people within the school and first bring them on board with the vision. This would be done individually or in small group meetings. Once the leader knows that he or she has ample support, the slow process of bringing in the middling folks begins. If the leader has laid the proper groundwork and done the proper footwork, those who may be sitting on the fence tend to come along simply to be known as team players if nothing else. Hopefully, I’ve been persuasive enough that they are converts rather than mere cooperators.

Finally, Resisters have a choice of whether they will join the team or not. If they choose the latter, in rare cases (at least in my experience), they will need to be dismissed. In equally rare cases (at least in my experience), they will become converts. Regardless, if the leader has been clear, careful, and conscientious, the groundswell within the school is going to move the change or vision forward.

Caveat: Many times those who I might think are the main Resisters become the strongest allies. It’s very important not to judge too hastily, lest one create a Resister out of an ally.

How do you deal with Resisters within your organizations?

Photo by Evil Erin

(Incidentally, one of my main digs on Chrome has been the lack of extensions. That has now changed; if you download the beta browser, you have access to hundreds of newly developed plug-ins.)

Mnemonics are memory devices we use to make facts or processes stick in our long term mental storage.  They can be quite useful, and yes, sometimes fun. (One of my favorites is one I created myself: The formal Korean greeting is “ahnyong hashumnika.” I was able to memorize the expression with the silly English phrase “onions on your sneakers.” Silly, but effective.) I found a great site full of mnemonic devices for many areas of knowledge. Check out the site here. I think you’ll find it useful.

Hat tip: Lifehacker

Photo by: runran

Mashable today published results of a Google survey asking Wave users (of which I am one), “What do you like and dislike about Google Wave?” I have to agree with the consensus that while I love the concept, I cannot currently do anything with it because there are not enough of my friends connected. My guess is that it won’t be fully useful to me for a year or two. In the meantime, I’m “waving” with my wife only, which is kind of silly when we’re in proximity to each other much of the day.

All of that said, I think the Wave approach could be revolutionary and change the way we communicate and collaborate online. It will require a bit of a worldview shift for most netizens, however.

I do have some invitations if you’d like to get in on the Beta phase of Google Wave; if you’re interested, email me. Below is a short video explaining how the Wave works.

Right now, my school is using webmail hosted by the same company as our website. Apart from that, admin and teachers are collaborating on documents and policies via a wiki hosted by Wikispaces. We store most documents on the wiki (as well as hard drives), but some are stored in other places. Our need for a communicative and collaborative platform which integrates calendar, online storage, student work, etc. is immense. And Google Apps seems to have everything we could need. The major challenge will be implementation.

Folks tend to have an aversion to change, even when it’s warranted and needed, but that’s where a leader needs to come in and clearly communicate the benefits of the change and ensure stakeholders of proper training while in the process. And that’s my job. There’s no doubt that there will be resistance, but I’m confident that as teachers, staff and administrators give change a chance, they will see the benefits our school will accrue by transitioning to Google Apps. I’ll report back about how that’s going.

Below, I’ve included two videos illustrating the benefits of Google App for schools. Let me know what you think.