Daily Action

3 September, 2023

Developing Common Purpose

As a Grade Level Leader I usually categorize decision making according to current needs. For example, selection of baseline assessments will be prioritized at the beginning of the year. I would like to shift this into starting each year developing yearly goals for my team to achieve. This would ideally be the foundation of all decision making as it would serve as a common purpose. For example: Developing readers and writers within a play-based curriculum as a yearly goal, would influence baseline assessments at the beginning of the year, where the Kindergarten team would gather data on student's readiness to start reading and writing. This would ensure that at least most decisions regarding teaching and learning would have a starting point of a clear vision and purpose. 

4 September, 2023

Interrogating Information Prior to Making Decisions

Often as a school leader, when I face any challenges or a solution needs to be found, I blindly trust the information I am given without interrogating and digging deeper. Sometimes, due to time constraints or other variables it is "easier" to find the quickest solution that meets current needs, but this rarely translates into a sustainable change - we are basically slapping a band-aid on problems in order to tackle the next. I would like to challenge myself to slow down and dig deeper into information or data that I am presented with and rather adopt a trial solution model, where all solutions are able to be tested and from various perspectives. This can be achieved by seeking alternative perspectives from all stakeholders or even seeking advice from an objective party. 

5 September, 2023

The Eisenhower Matrix

There is nothing I thrive off more than making a good list. I find that organizing my thoughts on paper frees up my mental load and calms me down in order to complete tasks that seem overwhelming. Through my research on the Eisenhower Matrix I came across a quote that encompasses my understanding of the theory - Brian Tracy, a motivational speaker once said "when you make a to-do-list, you should also make a not-to-do list (...) some of those little tasks won't matter as long as you get the big tasks done."

One of the biggest challenges I have is being able to delegate. I think this stems from being a control-freak and also not having control over the team that I work with. I really want to try to challenge myself to delegate more often and put more effort into supporting my team in order to delegate tasks, as I do usually end up working after hours or on weekends in order to complete tasks before deadlines in order to reduce the stress of working under pressure.

6 September, 2023

Decision Making

After learning about different decision making frameworks, I realized that they all had one common thread. Making decisions are not solely focused on finding the best solution, but rather identification of the context in which the problem lies. Once context has been identified, one can dig deeper and reflect on perspectives and systematic problems that give rise to the problem at hand. 

Often as a teacher and Grade Level Leader I am faced with symptoms of systemic issues. I would like to change my approach when dealing with problems, which has been very surface level. For example, this week, after running diagnostics and baseline assessments with my Kindergarten class, collecting grade level data I realized 

7 September, 2023

Kidder's Ethical Checkpoints

Understanding Kidder's Ethical Checkpoints, I have been able to identify a personal area for growth. Kidder's Ethical Checkpoints outlines Step 5 as testing for right vs. wrong as well as right vs. right. In this model, context and specifics of a situation need to be separated from the ethical dilemma itself. By separating these specifics it avoids a conflict between finding the right in the wrong (e.g. yes he stole money, but he stole it to feed his family). I would definitely consider myself as being compassionate and generally a "sucker for a sob story". I am easily emotionally influenced, and trust that people always have good intentions. Although this can be a beneficial trait as a leader (being able to humanize the decision making process), I do believe that it hinders my ability to see right and wrong as clear as black and white. 

An area that I would like to start developing in myself is being able to stop at any decision/dilemma and first separate the contextual specifics in order to determine whether the dilemma is right vs. wrong, if it is, then I would stop there and not allow justifications to cloud my judgement. Once I have determined if something is right/wrong, I would then dig deeper to understand specifics, this would solely be for the purpose of determining considerations of the outcome of the dilemma.