Literature Review: Strengthen Collaborative Leadership

As part of my performance review with Kerry Mitchell, we have been discussing the part of my goal that pertains to helping our middle leaders (team leaders) to be more successful in their role. Part of this has been to read a professional reading called, "Middle Leadership Review and Doc Analysis - Queensland".

The review highlights the critical role middle leaders play in bridging the gap between classroom teaching and whole-school leadership, as well as their unique position in improving teaching and learning practices. Reflecting on the insights from the Middle Leadership Review, I recognise that there are FOUR key areas of growth I would like to focus on. Here are the leadership changes I will consider based on the findings:

Strengthen Collaborative Leadership

The review emphasises the importance of middle leaders leading collaboratively and influencing across various levels in the school structure. As a senior leader, I need to foster a culture where middle leaders feel empowered to lead initiatives and collaborate with both their peers and us as SMT. This could involve creating more opportunities for middle leaders to take ownership of key projects, facilitating regular cross-team collaboration, and encouraging shared decision-making.

Focus on Professional Development in Leadership Skills

The research shows that middle leaders require a combination of management and leadership skills, many of which are learned on the job. I would like to prioritise providing targeted professional development that not only focuses on pedagogical improvement but also on leadership and management skills. This could include training on data-driven decision-making, team management, and handling school-wide initiatives. Encouraging middle leaders to engage in reflective practices and leadership courses that align with their specific roles could also be beneficial...now to find some options!

Create Structures for Data-Driven Improvement

Middle leaders play a pivotal role in using data to inform pedagogical practices. I will continue to enable middle leaders have access to the necessary data as easily as possible, which I think I have been doing well for a while now. However, in our meetings I need to facilitate regular data discussions and create a culture where data is used consistently to drive teaching improvements. This should then have a flow on effect to help student outcomes and enable middle leaders to lead with greater impact.

Foster Innovation and Improvement

Middle leaders are well-positioned to lead innovation and change within schools. My leadership approach needs to encourage a forward-thinking mindset by providing the freedom and resources for middle leaders to experiment with new teaching methods, technologies, and programs. Supporting a culture of continuous improvement will inspire middle leaders to drive positive change within their teams.

Effective middle leadership is dependant on strong support from senior leadership. As an associate principal, my role is to provide the necessary scaffolding, mentorship, and professional development to ensure middle leaders thrive. By refining my leadership approach in these areas, I hope to help middle leaders become more successful in their leadership and in turn create greater impact in the life of our school and the impact that we can have on learner outcomes.

Term 3 Reflection: Using Text Sets

Term 3 has been all about the creation and use of text sets. Text sets... what are those I hear you ask? This is a group of readings - some compulsory, some not - that's sole purpose is to build student's knowledge around a topic or focus.

For example, see this text set that I setup for one of my reading groups.

I have found that this is incredibly worth while. I have never had as much fun teaching reading as I have this term. I have also seen a remarkable shift in my students understanding and focus of a topic - they have genuinely been excited about it! But more importantly it is making a difference to their two biggest needs: applying knowledge and inferring.

Term 2 Reflection

When trying to get accelerated progress with my top reading group (12 year reading age and up) this term I have realised that they are struggling to apply their knowledge across a range of texts and topics. So one way I have tried to meet this need is by integrating Reading and Writing seamlessly so that I am able to make as many connections for them (scaffolding and gifting). This is working really well and I am now seeing a vast improvement in their ability to make those connections!

Onwards and upwards!

Term 1 Reflection

Wow, this term has flown by!

I am really proud of my students who have been working incredibly hard on their reading this term.

What I have been absolutely stoked with was how they have been actively working on their learning goals. They really appreciated me sharing with them their testing results and being a part of the process when analysing the data and co-creating their next steps. This has made a huge difference to their motivation and enjoyment. Consequently 10 students from my target group have made 6 months progress while two students have made 1.5 years plus!

Onwards and upwards!

Term 4 Reflection - How did we go?

This term has been an amazing term. What I have loved has been to see the huge difference that I have been able to make in my student's learning. Since being able to analyse my student's data I have been able to find a number of interesting things:

• 23 students who made 1 year or more progress
• 12 students from my target group made more than 1 years progress
• 5 students made 1.5 years or more!
• 5 students who made no improvement at all (4 high needs kids)
• Only 1 student from my target group of 13 didn’t move
• PAT has aligned very closely to our other data and eventual OTJs
• Some huge shifts across PAT scale scores. However, these are very sporadic.

I am looking forward to the challenge that my next year's class will bring. I can't wait to continue with the things that I have learnt from this year and take it even further.

Term 3 Reflection

During term 3 I have been working on integrating a lot of what I had been working on with iPads into the netbook world. The key thing that I have continued with when creating greater scaffolded reading followup activities have been the use of audio instructions and queues.

One interesting thing that I have found out when creating audio instructions and queues is the more natural they are the more powerful they are to the students. When I had created more of a scripted instruction I found that the students weren't getting the most out of it. I realised that the true power of these instructions was when I was recreating myself - more natural and conversational. This way it is like I am answering a question that the student has asked rather than just telling them what to do.

Term 2 Presentation/ Reflection

The direction of my inquiry this term has definitely been defined by the development of templates that provide quality scaffolding. I realised through professional conversations and reflections that I was under scaffolding... by quite some way! So I decided to up my game and provide better temples and scaffolds.

Below is my presentation to the staff that outlines these changes:

Reflection Presentation

This term has been a good start to reaching my long term goal. I have enjoyed finding solutions to problems with the students. For example, how my students access their work, how they share their explain everything projects, etc. I have been impressed with their increase of confidence and self management and really looking forward to how this might develop further throughout the year.

Where I want to head next is:
- How might I make connections from my use of explain everything with my students to the use of Movenote?
- How am I going to use SOLO in my project design?
- I want to explore the use of that Fast Forward series of books for my lower kids.