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collaboration-feature

There is POWER in being CONNECTED

Posted on March 29, 2018 by admin

collaboration

Mā te tokomaha, ka kā te ahi.

By the many will the fires be kept burning.

As an educator, I was alone, isolated, insular, and needing to connect. Though well supported within my school environment, I craved more. I wanted to test my theories, share my study journey, access support for our learners. I wanted to inquire. I wanted choice. I wanted to be able to self-direct and engage how and when it suited my busy lifestyle. I wanted to connect. I needed more.

At 3.18pm on 20 February 2010, I joined Twitter, which launched me into the world of a connected educator, moving from local isolation to global connection.
anne's tweetReading through the first six months of tweets, I am in awe of the support I received personally and professionally. I moved from being an educator who was alone to one rich in a connected environment learning with a like-minded tribe. I also moved from being an educator with a class, to be an educator willing to be vulnerable, willingly share, receive and grow.

I now have the privilege of leading Connected Educator in its drive to support and promote networked approaches to educational professional learning.

“What tribes are, is a very simple concept that goes back 50 million years. It’s about leading and connecting people and ideas. And it’s something that people have wanted forever.”
— Seth Godin

Let me take you through how Connected Educator works and how it can help you….

What Connected Educator New Zealand offers YOU:

  • Do you want to connect with other like-minded educators?
  • Are you looking for choice in your professional learning?
  • Do you want to find free professional learning opportunities?
  • Are you searching for something to ignite or rekindle a passion in an area of education for you?
  • Are you after a variety of formats to engage you?
  • Do you want learning that is short because your day is time deficit? Or, are you keen to get your teeth into a meaty book to provoke your next piece of learning?

Kia ora koutou, talofa lava, malo e lelei and welcome to Connected Educator New Zealand, a global professional learning event — all online, all for free! #CENZ18

Connected Educator New Zealand (CENZ) supports and promotes networked approaches to educational professional learning. It celebrates how we can support each other’s professional learning in a connected world.

A collaborative calendar connects thousands of educators so we can engage in free (and freely given) online professional learning: workshops, keynotes, panels, discussions, webinars, educamps, edu-ignites, teach meets, field trips, and more. It can be your one-stop shop for free, online professional development.

This year we are offering a smorgasbord of opportunities for you, for your teams, for your centre, school, kura, Kahui Ako.

1. Connected Educator Calendar of Events

CENZ calendarThe Connected Educator Calendar brings you: events, forums, webinars, educamps, edu-ignites, teachmeets, field trips and more. Alongside this there is a daily smorgasbord of connected professional learning opportunities:

Media Monday: Recently released EDtalks connect you to videos of interviews, discussions, and presentations from thought leaders, innovative educators, and inspirational learners. These could support your staff meetings, inquiry group discussion, or individual professional learning journey.
Tips and Tricks Tuesday: In our busy working week, it is easy to miss new resources. We share new and recent resources here on a regular basis for you to use and share.
Wordy Wednesday: We share book reviews to support you in your professional reading. Do you have a book review to share with other Connected Educators? Please email your book review to anne.kenneally@core-ed.org or pledge directly to our calendar.
Thinking Thursday: Each Thursday we share recent blog posts, connecting you to the thoughts, ideas, and reflections of others. We welcome your blog posts — please submit an event on a Thursday to increase the readership of your blog.
Feedforward Friday: previewing upcoming events for the following week

CENZ kete

2. Starter Kete

Our Starter Kete is six ‘bite-sized chunks’ of professional development to support you as a connected educator. Maybe this is for your own professional learning, or, for you as a school leader to support staff, or even for a Kāhui Ako.

Please download and work your way through the kete and give us some feedback. (Please comment below, or email me directly at anne.kenneally@core-ed.org) What do you enjoy? What do you want to see more of, less of? What ideas do you have that we could include in our kete?

3. Digital Badging:

CENZ badgesEarn while you learn with the Connected Educator 2018 badges.

Connected Educator badges let you credential your participation. Whether you are learning to:

  • use online networks and technologies for the first time
  • champion connected professional learning in your school, kura, early childhood service or Kahui Ako
  • offer events in the CENZ calendar.

We want to recognise your contribution to Connected Educator New Zealand.

Find out more about Digital badging

What YOU can do for Connected Educator New Zealand:

Without you CENZ is nothing.

We need you to:

  • View and share the calendar of events;
  • Pledge your events — Do you have an educamp, eduignite, meetup, Twitter chat coming up? Whatever it is, please remember, ordinary to you can be amazing to others. We can then expose your event to a wider audience and benefit all.
  • Join our Connected Educator group in edspace and engage with our discussions.

Connected Educator New Zealand has grown from a month-long event in 2014, through to a year-round event, connecting educators around New Zealand and the globe. We exist because of you and together our learning grows for the benefit of all learners.

A word from a recent member:

“The opportunities provided in the CENZ calendar make you step outside what you define PD as, and gives you a chance to be led to a myriad of new learning steps and processes.”

Come step outside your current reality and join us!

Looking forward to connecting, networking, sharing with you ‘glocally’!

Finally…

I moved from isolation to connection and the same is possible for you. Come and join us, starting today by signing up and spreading the word!

The Connected Educator team will be at uLearn18, 10-12 October in Auckland. Check out one of last year’s Connected Conversations: Student learners at the centre, and register to attend before 31 May to make the most of the early-bird rate!

Register now!

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stand out

What’s your point of difference?

Posted on March 15, 2018 by James Hopkins

stand out

With Auckland’s ever-expanding population, marketing for roll growth is not something a large number of schools have as a priority at the moment. But, what of those schools with a declining roll? Or those that have a hanging legacy to try and cast aside? Getting students through the door and growing a school can, in some cases, be a real challenge. And it’s not just students, what about attracting high-quality teaching staff? Auckland is a prime example of an area that is crying out for teachers. The media is constantly full of articles sharing the stories of teachers who have left the metropolis for the regions. Whether it’s cost of living or simply trying to get onto the property ladder, some of New Zealand’s larger cities are losing teachers at an alarming rate.

As someone who visits a lot of schools, I often find myself wondering what each school’s point of difference is. With my ‘parent-of-a-child-who-is-just-about-to-start-school’ hat on, what is it that would make me send my son to your school? What I’m talking about is a school’s value proposition. In marketing terms, it is defined as ‘an innovation, service, or feature intended to make a company or product attractive to customers.’ In real-world terms, I’m asking to see not just what the school does very well, but also how it is different from other schools around it.

Now, please do not misunderstand me — I’m not looking to start a marketing war between schools with flying accusations of poaching one another’s cohorts. I’m simply wondering whether leaders who are responsible for enrolments and appointments have considered what it is that makes their school special. Of course, most of us value our teaching and learning environments. It’s what makes teaching in New Zealand such a pleasure, knowing that no two classrooms or schools are the same. We have the freedom to develop our own thinking, direction, and culture within our individual environments and at a wider school level. My question is: Has this been formatted into a ‘unique value proposition’?

“Also known as a unique selling proposition (USP), your UVP is a clear statement that describes the benefit of your offer, how you solve your customer’s needs and what distinguishes you from the competition. Your unique value proposition should appear prominently on your landing page and in every marketing campaign.” (Unbounce.com)

Whether it’s your extra-curricular options, your incredible inquiry model, and delivery plan, or sporting success, unfortunately, many prospective parents and employees start at the same place: Decile. With the upcoming system changes and transition to the MoE anonymous targeted funding initiative, or risk index, things are going to change. But, that is never going to extinguish any fires burning from previous negative associations and, until the new system is fully embedded, decile ratings (both past and present) will significantly influence people’s perceptions.

Do what you've always doneHaving recently visited a school with my parent hat firmly fixed on, I left with as many wonderings as when I stepped inside the doors. I couldn’t shake the question, ‘what else?’ Everything I was shown was fine. There were opportunities for growth and learning, steps being taken towards modern learning practice, and dabbling in the ILE world. All was absolutely… fine. So, why couldn’t I shake the question? It’s simple really. Being okay isn’t okay. Teaching and learning under the ‘That’s-What-We’ve-Always-Done’ mentality is just never going to be okay. I don’t for one second think this is the case in the school I visited. I wholeheartedly believe they had innovation and powerful opportunities for engagement and empowerment happening within the school; I just couldn’t see it. Their website touched on it, their inquiry model certainly talked about empowering learners and self-exploration, but as a visitor to the school and prospective parent, it wasn’t in front of me. No matter what question I asked or how subtly I pushed, the school’s uniqueness didn’t shine through. And it made me wonder… Is this what visitors to the school see? Is that okay? To a parent outside of education, what was shown was similar in some ways to the education they received. Surely that wasn’t the school’s unique value proposition?

Do more of what makes you awesomeIn the busy life of schools, the must-dos of governance and Ministry requirements are, at the very least, time-consuming. Little time is left for the ‘should dos’, and they are dealt with the best they can be. For example, we should be promoting teaching as inquiry and establishing strong relationships both within and across schools. We should be strengthening our repertoire of skills and letting the ‘pockets of promise’ shine through. But what about the ‘could dos?’ It’s here that schools have an opportunity to push beyond the norm and define themselves as genuine institutions of modern learning. After the charter has been submitted and the data has been analysed, many leaders have little time to engage in purposeful conversations around pushing the boundaries of education. This is by no means a criticism; just the reality of the incredibly high pressured life of a leader in education. So often I’ve seen the pendulum swing away from future-focused education towards governance and accountability. And, it’s here where facilitators and consultants like myself have an opportunity to help make a significant change. Our role is not to show schools the way. We don’t have the map. But we do have the paper with which leaders can draw their own and decide on just what it is that makes them special.

On seeking the advice of a very experienced and highly-regarded, forward-thinking principal recently, he shared his insights on the direction he felt schools were headed. So many of his colleagues and fellow leaders were so preoccupied with governance, property, and finance (their must-dos), that their ‘should-dos’ received just a fraction of their time. It left nothing for the big questions. Where were they going? Where did they see their school in 5, 10, or even 20 years time? How were they providing learners with purposeful, agentic learning and focusing on the skills sought by businesses and future employers? Were they focusing on the key competencies and values within The New Zealand Curriculum and promoting communication, organisation, and collaboration (see here for a 2016 article via Linkedin)? The list of questions was endless and all were very much in the wider, strategic direction space. I, like many of his colleagues, simply had no answer.

There are many great thinkers and edutainers out there. They enthrall us with their vision of the future and incredibly simple explanations of the most complex concepts. But, just how often does it transfer into genuine change? So, I direct my final comments to leaders who are asking the questions but simply don’t have the capacity to find the answers. Find your map. Collaboratively, creatively, and with the support of colleagues both within and outside of your organisation. Sometimes that means someone like me has the honour of coming along with you on your collective journey, and sometimes it’s just a case of finding the time to prioritise your could-dos. Whatever you choose, whatever it is that makes your school shine, sing it from every rooftop and do it with pride.

Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei, Seek the treasure you value most dearly: if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.

 


References

  • https://unbounce.com/conversion-glossary/definition/unique-value-proposition/

Images

  • Feature photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash
  • If you do what you’ve always done… By BK under CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Do more of what makes you awesome by Koka Sexton under CC BY 2.0
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grow your team

Grow your team

Posted on March 13, 2018 by Rebbecca Sweeney

grow your team
What’s going on in the place where you’re a leader? Leadership, teamwork, goal setting and planning are probably all areas that are no doubt part of your role and, in some cases, maybe where you may seek more support. The sharpest organisations are seeking out the right support, just when they need it, and that’s what I’m going to focus on in this post — where you currently ‘are’ as a leader, and the right support for you.

You’re a leader! Are you leading?

When you moved into a leadership role, it might have been because you showed some key leadership qualities. It also might have been because you were one of the best at what your organisation does (e.g., one of the most effective teachers, the best engineer, the most successful detective, or the most talented, client-focused hairdresser).

Either way, if you’re a leader, it might be worth reflecting on the following questions to see if you’re really leading:

Leadership style
  • What type of leader are you?
  • What were the qualities of your past, respected and admired, leaders?
  • What are the agreed qualities of leaders in your organisation? What is expected of you as a leader?
  • What type of leader does your team need and want? How do you know?
Developing others
  • In what ways are you empowering others around you who have the potential to become leaders?
  • How many of your staff have leadership aspirations?
  • Are you doing the work of your team, and as a result, holding them back from growing?
  • What qualities are you looking for in your staff? Do they know what you’re looking for?
Leadership accountability
  • What does your leadership role require of you?
  • Should you be on the ground sometimes doing the work? Or should you remain in strategic spaces overseeing others to do the work? Why?
  • Do others agree with you?
  • Are you clear about your organisation’s strategic plan and goals, and can you help others to understand how their work contributes to these?

You lead a team! Is it a team?

Leading teams is complex. Time, workload, personalities, and change impact on your priorities as a leader. Regardless, you are likely part of a team of leaders, and you are also leading a team — whether they are leaders or people on the ground doing the work. You may want to consider the following questions to uncover any assumptions you might have about your team(s):

  • Which team is your priority and why?
  • What expectations do you have of teams and how they work together?
  • Are some teams outperforming others? Do you know why?
  • How do you support teams to manage their time and workload?
  • Are team meetings boring with only one or two people talking most of the time? If yes, how can you change this?
  • What levels of trust exist in the team? How are you fostering trust on an ongoing basis? Are people able to disagree, and do team members enjoy a good debate?
  • How do you approach “difficult” personalities or step into “challenging” conversations?

Your team has goals! Are they ready for change?

All organisations have aspirations and goals. We are always seeking to improve what we do in any context. Aspirational goals mean ongoing change. Every leader needs to have a focus on leading change to some degree, and these questions will help you to uncover how you and others perceive change in your organisation:

  • Do people believe that change is needed?
  • Do all teams have clear goals that they had input into?
  • Do all team members know that their team goals will often require them to be in a constant state of change in order to reach those goals?
  • Which teams, or team members, appear to be stagnant and unchanging? Why?
  • How do you support people who are finding change difficult? Do you support them differently to those finding change straightforward?
  • What approaches are most effective when people are finding change difficult?
  • Are you struggling with change while also being expected to lead change? How do you manage this?

Help! What might help you as a leader?

It’s important to choose the support that is going to work best for you and the people in your organisation. Do this by involving your other leaders and teams who will be receiving the support. These people are most able to say what issues they currently face. They are also the best people to critique the range of support available. In seeking support, consider the following questions:

  • What are our issues and challenges?
  • What have we tried?
  • What worked?
  • What didn’t work?
  • What bothers us the most?
  • What hasn’t been tried yet?
  • What support can be tailored for our context? To what extent?
  • How often will we review this support to check that it is working?

 

You might not have all the answers to the questions in this post. With great leadership support you can find a range of solutions that best suit you and your organisation. That support can come in many forms, such as:

  • The Advanced Leadership programme, facilitated online over six months
  • Individual leadership mentoring/coaching
  • Leadership Team mentoring/coaching
  • Change leadership support and facilitation
  • Teamwork and collaboration facilitation or mentoring (from building trust to communication to goal setting and conflict/debate strategies)
  • Online courses combined with face-to-face, or virtual, support
  • Support for coherent planning and action
  • Online support such as Educational Leaders and NZC Online

Image Credit
Fern by Michael Gaida from Pixabay under CC 0

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