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Tuesday 12 February 2013


Understanding and Responding to the Larger Societal Context

Dr. Garry McKinnon

It has been a very challenging and invigorating experience for me to prepare this series of blogs on the Alberta Education Professional Practice Competencies for School Leaders. I have enjoyed the opportunity to share my thoughts on school leadership with the school administrators involved in the Alberta Association of Public Charter schools project on school leadership during this current school year which was funded by Alberta Education. The challenge was to explore school leadership using the Professional Practice Competencies for School Leaders as a framework through a series of workshops, administrator exchanges, personal reflections, and the exchanging of ideas through blogs and informal dialogue.
The goal was to develop a deeper understanding of school leadership in the context of realities encountered on a day-to-day basis by school leaders and to identify insights which could be shared with other school leaders in regard to making the Alberta Education framework for school leadership a living document. From my perspective it has been a very good process and I have gained some valuable insights through the dialogue and feedback I have received on my blogs. I must emphasize that in writing the blogs my goal was to reflect on my experiences in school leadership over the past 44 years and to generate ongoing dialogue. My blogs on the seven competencies for school leadership have been posted on the Calgary Science School website Connect! Blog and the blogger website which was created for the participants in the Alberta Charter School leadership project. All of these blogs as well as some others I have written on school leadership are available at http://calgaryscienceschool.blogspot.ca/search/label/garry.mckinnon . In this blog I will make reference to the seventh of the school leadership competencies. I welcome your feedback as I continue my journey of developing a deeper understanding of school leadership.

Thursday 7 February 2013

Take a Chance: Meditations on Being an Instructional Leader from an Admitted Educational Oddball

"When one is uncomfortable, one will learn,"  - Buddha

I don't usually like to open a piece of writing with someone else's words because, honestly, I am pretty fond of my own.  Given that it's Buddha I am referencing, though, I think it's fair to give him the floor.  While the above quote is almost certainly apocryphally attributed to the enlightened one, the sentiment is one that we will all recognize and will have struggled with in our practices.

Anything I (or, likely, you) have ever learned came to me as the result of discomfort.  Something was wrong with the status quo at the time and I had to learn new skills or information to move past it.  Theory lovers will recognize this as cognitive dissonance and about finding the zone of proximal development.  That's good and I appreciate the place of learning theory in this discussion.  When faced with the realities of being an instructional leader in school, though, you are likely to agree that neither Vygotsky or Buddha are the first things that pop to mind.  For the purpose of this discussion, something far more practical than lofty quotes is required.

Being an instructional leader can (and, in my opinion, should) be taken literally if it is to be realized.  The word "leader" denotes going first, taking point, being in front.  This is inherently risky and takes courage.  It requires the willingness to declare that the status quo is not enough to get to the vision and to try out new things, even if it doesn't work.  It requires guts, perseverance, and heart.  It does not, however, require you to have a specific title, position, rank, or age.  Anyone in a school can be an instructional leader if they are willing to take the risks that follow the choice to become one.

So, with that fluffy stuff behind us, how best to go about realizing this position?  It's easy: surround yourself with instructors, and good ones at that.  Another aphorism that I won't even attempt to reference tells us that, if you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.  Treat instructional leadership in the same way: take classes, in anything, and look at instruction that inspires you.  Surround yourself with people that make you want to be better than you are and watch what they do when they make you feel that way.  The more you see, the more you will be able to implement in your practice.

Don't have time to take a class?  Read a book full of ideas that get you fired up.  Teach yourself yoga from Youtube videos.  Do what you must to unbalance yourself; when you adjust, you will have learned something new.  You will also be in a better position to empathize with (and, therefore, lead) those in your charge who, because they are at different places along their paths, may more regularly be experiencing cognitive dissonance that you are.

To be a lifelong learner, one must be in the headspace of a student all their lives.  To be an instructional leader follows from this inherently unbalanced position.  How?  The leader is always going ahead, taking the risk, trying new things and showing others the way.  At it's very core (again, literally), this is precisely the essence of education: leading out of the darkness.


Tuesday 22 January 2013


Managing School Operations and Resources


by Garry McKinnon, Superintendent

Several months ago, I made a commitment to share some insights on school leadership based on my experiences in various roles in education through the years, using the Alberta Education Professional Practice Competencies for School Leaders document as a framework. Specifically I made reference to the seven leadership competencies in the document and I continue with some thoughts on the sixth leadership dimension which makes reference to the school leader’s role in managing school operations and resources to ensure a safe, caring and effective learning environment. The descriptors related to this dimension highlight the importance of good planning and organization and the effective management of the physical and financial resources of the school and ensuring the school operations align with legal frameworks such as provincial legislation and policy and jurisdictional policy directives and initiatives. It is emphasized in the document that principles of teaching, learning and student development should guide all management decisions.