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Gear Up to Wind Down
The end of the school year is near.
Activities surrounding the close of a school year have unmistakable rhythms and beats. Everyone hustles to finish the end-of-year procedures. Interestingly, the rituals that mark the end of the school year paradoxically signal a new beginning. The end of the school year rituals can be described as a "gear up to wind down" process. As we say goodbye to one year we prepare for the next.
Evaluation
It is likely that a school's most important "gear up to wind down" ritual involves evaluation. Continuous improvement depends on evaluation which centers on two important questions:
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How are we doing? - This is the ongoing, "gear up" question that helps us improve the product or process.
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How did we do? - This is the "wind down" question to consider when we want to know how effective we were.
Your school has a number of methods to evaluate student learning, programs, curricula, and teaching practices so there's no need to go on about those processes here. Instead, I'd like to focus your attention on evaluating your teacher leadership performance.
Learning from Experience
Evaluating performance can be a little scary. But evaluation is just a matter of learning from experience. As you wind down the school year you have an opportunity to gear up to a better next year. Consider the following questions:
- What can I learn from the leadership experiences of this past year?
- What can I learn so that next year won't be a repeat of this year?
To fully answer these questions requires conducting an evaluation beginning with collecting data.
Collecting Data
The first order of business is to collect data about your leadership performance. This process doesn't have to be burdensome. Simply think of several people who have knowledge of your leadership performance and ask for feedback. Good people to ask include:
- Administrators
- Members of your grade-level team
- Co-members of a school committee
- Support staff
- Parents
- Students
Prepare a small list of important questions you would like your colleagues to consider about your leadership performance keeping in mind school goals. The following questions are a good start:
- What are my leadership strengths? Give examples.
- What do I need to work on as a leader? Give examples.
- How do I support our school/district goals? Give examples.
Finding Patterns
The next step is to look at the feedback and consider the patterns that inform your leadership practice. The following questions will help you "gear up" for next year.
- What patterns of success do I see as I try to lead effective school change? What patterns of failure?
- What obstacles are in the way of becoming the leader I want to be?
- What contributions do I make consistently? What goals are left unmet?
- What one big change can I make next year that will be the biggest positive difference in my ability to lead effective school change?
- What support do I need to make this change?
Making a Plan
Once you've collected and analyzed your leadership performance data, you're ready to make a plan based on this information. This is an important step that will ultimately ensure you "gear up" to a better next year.
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