Getting Risky

by | Nov 29, 2013 | Blog, Education

If you’re a football fan you know that in most cases if your on offense and it’s 4th and 9 it’s time to punt.  Or is it?  The other day I came across this video about the benefits and drawbacks of punting.  Take a look: To be honest, I’ve always preferred going for it on 4th down versus punting it away, which probably says something about my appetite for risk or my tendency toward optimism.  However, the story behind the story in the case of this coaching technique is that the school allowed the coach the freedom to take a risk in an otherwise written chapter in most football play books. Of course it’s helpful that the technique has worked out, but imagine the phone calls and emails that flooded the administrator’s office the first time they tried this and didn’t convert on 4th and 9 with their backs against the goal line…or in a playoff game.  Would you be so confident in your coaching staff to let them continue with their plan?  I’d like to think yes, but I have a tendency to lean towards risk. As a school leader this is a great look into a school’s willingness to accept and value risk taking.  Whether on the field or in the classroom do you promote or punish your community for taking risks?  At my school we’ve been moving our curriculum towards a style based on inquiry and student generated questions and interests.  Of course, this has been challenging in someways because like any change it causes us to move out of our comfort zone.  I think we’re...

Building Schools For 2030

by | Mar 19, 2012 | Blog, Education, Teacher's Corner

Last week during my interview with Dr. Dick Krajczar he stated that school leaders need to envision what classrooms and schools will be like in 2030.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, but still have few answers about what my 8 month old daughter’s classes should look like in 18 years.  As I think about it from the perspective of a teacher I think how depressing it would be if 18 years from now I was doing the same things in my classes. This is not to say that innovation requires us to throw out everything we’re doing now for some flashy new techno-classroom of the future.  In fact I often hear a lot being said about schools integrating technology into the classroom.  Often evidence of this is that the school has LCD projectors in every classroom.  How is this much different from the modern day equivalent of the overhead projector?  I know what you’re going to say, “overhead projectors can’t show clips from youtube.”  Valid point, but an iPhone in the hands of my 83 year old grandma is pretty much just a phone and although we talk-up the use of technology at our campuses, its frequency of use is often generational. So toss out the old teachers, right?  The other day I pulled out much of my hair trying to explain to some “older” teachers how to use googledocs and was amazed to find out that one of  our teachers was unaware that if you double-click on a file it will open automatically, which she remarked is much faster than highlighting and selecting open from...

Your Questions For Dr. Krajczar

by | Mar 6, 2012 | Education, Leadership News

As I mentioned in previous posts the goal of this blog is to learn more about great leadership in international education and where it’s happening.  Since I’m just about out of ideas, I’ve been lucky enough to connect with someone who should have some good thoughts on the topic. I’m excited to announce that Dr. Richard Krajczar has agreed to meet with me to share his thoughts on leadership and international education.  Dr. Krajczar is the current Executive Director of the East Asia Regional Council of Schools, or more commonly referred to as EARCOS.  For any of you who are teaching in East Asia it’s likely you’re familiar with the organization and have maybe even attended one of their annual teacher or leadership conferences. Before overseeing EARCOS Dr. Krajczar was the Headmaster at the International School of Kuala Lumpur and has worked in international education for over thirty years. So instead of only relying on myself to come up with questions, I thought I’d open it up to any readers out there who have something they’d like the to ask Dr. Krajczar.  I can’t promise I’ll ask every question, but don’t miss out on this opportunity and post your questions...

5 Ways to Deal with a Red Light/Green Light Leader

by | Mar 3, 2012 | Blog, Education, Teacher's Corner

For most educators it’s hard to not have at least one working experience with a typical Red Light/Green Light administrator.  It usually starts with a stroke of inspiration while relaxing with coworkers on Friday night or if you work in Asia in the middle of a foot massage.  You’ve just discovered the solution to a nagging school problem.  On Monday, after the morning rush has passed, you walk into the “gate keepers” office (principal, headmaster, department head, etc) to lay out your sweeping vision for the school.  Oddly enough, they don’t seem as excited about it as you were when you first thought about it. So what’s wrong?  Well it could be a number of things.  Maybe your idea just isn’t that good.  Or maybe something else needs to take priority right now.  Or maybe you’re working with a Red Light/Green Light leader; a leader who instead of encouraging colleagues to be creative, take risks and solve problems, demands “veto power” on all potential projects.** Don’t be discouraged. Here are 5 ways to deal with a Red Light/Green Light Leader: 1.  Experiment Within Your Sphere of Influence If you’re like me you feel surrounded by problems that are begging for a solution.  Here in the Philippines I see intense poverty, pollution and wasted resources outside of school, and in school there’s a whole different set of of problems. Whether working with Red Light/Green Light leaders or not one should first ask whether the issue is within my sphere of influence.  aAsking this question will focus your time and energy on projects that you hold some sway or authority over.  It’s...

Bridging The ESL Divide

by | Feb 16, 2012 | Blog, Education, Teacher's Corner

Like many international schools in Asia the classroom’s in my school seem to be swarming with English language learners.  We have an ESL department that works hard to bring students up to mainstream requirements, yet I find myself constantly battling a divide in my classes between strong English speakers and English language learners… By the way, what’s the deal with all the different terminology, ESL, ELL TEFL, LEP, etc.  It seems like every school has their own phraseology for this population.  Maybe I should create my own new term and see if anyone can tell the difference.  How about IPLLSP for In-Progress-Language-Learning-Student-Population?  Sounds good to me. Here are list of strategies I recommend to improve your IPLLSPs? Divide and Conquer–Avoid placing similar level IPLLSPs in the same grouping.  Hopefully they’ll be challenged to work with others who can raise their language ability. Keep Talking–Too often we allow these students to fall back on their written ability.  We need to ask questions and expect responses. Discussion-Based Teaching–This year I’ve started a discussion-based model in many of my classes from Philips Exeter Academy in the US.  Known as the Harkness Method it emphasizes community-learning and the Socratic Method.  Everyone is expected to speak and if done correctly it creates an environment were all levels of IPLLSPs can participate.  Philips Exeter does a training seminar over the summer for teachers who are interested in learning more. Translation–Allow for monitored translation time in discussions so everyone can catch up and reset. Slow Down–I know this sound a little contradictory to the idea that the students should be mainstream.  But sometimes we speak too...

Leadership Myth #5: CEOs Need To Be Great Leaders

by | Jan 30, 2012 | Blog, Education

I came across an interesting article this week that lists 5 common myths of leadership.  Number 5 reads: The Position Myth- “This is truly the greatest misunderstanding of what leadership is. Think about it, if you are a top CEO, a president of a company or a manager, are you really a great leader? Some people might naturally be great leaders at these positions and that is how they earned them but NO, just being at a top position does not all of a sudden make you a leader.” [Read The Rest Here] Can this be true?  When I think about the “people at the top” I’ve always assumed they must be “highly effective” leaders that have gone from “good to great.”  Too heavy on the leadership puns? So is it really necessary for the leadership in a school to be highly effective?  It makes sense that you’d expect leaders at the top to be the best at leading an organization.  Before I began pursuing leadership in schools I would have thought the same thing, but recently my opinion is beginning to change.  Instead of great leadership at the top maybe all that’s needed is a manger who can pick leaders. Obviously it might seem like a sensitive topic to talk about our superintendents and I’m not going to be the first to throw mine under any buses, but when you look at your school’s superintendent, headmaster or CEO do you see a great leader?  If so, in what ways?  If not, what’s wrong?  Be anonymous if you prefer or offer public...