Date: 17th of August 2017
Venue: Selwyn College
Facilitators: Connected Learning Advisors Clive Francis and Viv Hall
Cost: Free
Focus: Introduction to theories of change leadership with practical activities to prompt thinking and share experience.
Who for: Cross-Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako, in-school teachers and other teachers who have responsibility for planning for, leading and managing the use of digital technologies for learning.
Last week I was quite excited to attend a session with Clive and Viv at Selwyn College. My main reason for attending was to make connections with other Kāhui Ako Across School Leaders and to find out more about the Connected Learning Advisory services available to us.
The facilitators created a variety of activities so that we could connect with others and get to know them and share our stories. The session began with the advisor introducing themselves via their pepeha so that immediately we can could start to make connections and build relationships. How often in schools do we get straight to business and forget this important part of learning. Find out about your learners and share who you are as a teacher.
Then we moved into a ‘know your team activity’ where we had to draw huge feet on a piece of paper, stand in them and describe a leader we admired. I found the activity allowed me to verbilise leadership qualities that I admired and why.
Then we had a group activity known as ‘the jigsaw activity’ so that we could learn about research around change leadership. We spent time in teams to find out all we could about various change leadership models and I selected to work with Tū Rangatira.
Viv and Clive gave us questions to lead our group discussion, a time frame and we could whatever tool we wanted to share our learning. In our team we used a shared google presentation. Here was what our team came up with and we added stories and photos of change from our schools.
Once shared we then returned to our original group and shared what we found out about our change leadership model. Therefore we came away with a general understanding of other models.
- Cynefin
- Kotter’s 8 Steps
- Coherence - Fullan
- Tū Rangatira
Our final activity involved researching a digital technology to support change in our school or Kāhui Ako and we were placed into pairs. We completed a PMI on a shared presentation about the technology and was able to view what others had written.
I laughed in delight because my buddy for this activity was @BridgetCasse so we had some fun in this activity and a chance to talk about our own approaches to developing change in our schools.
In summary the morning session was particularly worthwhile and I thank being a member of NZCOL Facegroup group where I had first seen the message that these free sessions were running.
Where to Next:
I have used the CLA previously for technical support and have to mention that I have found this service exceptional. However from attending this session I have a greater understanding of how the CLA can act as a critical friend via online community spaces such as the Virtual Learning Network and via Pond. In addition I would also say twitter and give them a shout out for them on twitter, Viv Hall @nzvh and Clive Francis @CliveFrancisNZ. If you are not already following them then do so.
In addition here are some links to check out.
In Summary
I came away with a reminder about
- Making connections with our team members
- Knowing our team
- Have research that frames what we do.
- Share and leave breadcrumbs of our work
- Use online spaces to continue learning and ensure ease of access
- Be open to digital ways of teams working together
Overall I really liked the session because the facilitators had us moving around and learning all the time and spaces where we could share what we had learnt. I came away with a few new connections and a chance to catch up with some others. I was super excited to see members from schools in our Kāhui Ako including a principal and members from management teams.
