If we want to improve the cultures of our schools, we’d be smart to look not just at the way we lead, but also the way we meet. Whether meeting one-on-one or as a whole district, informally or formally, as a PLC or as a grade-level team, meetings create culture. Today, I want to look […]
How to Improve School Cultures, Part 2: Collins' Level 5 Leadership
When school cultures get toxic, everyone suffers: kids, staffs, communities. Long-term flourishing falls from view, obscured by angst and turmoil and distraction. One method for improving school cultures is to develop Dan Coyle’s three essential skills of great cultures: psychological safety, mutual vulnerability, and shared purpose. (See this blog post, or see Coyle’s book The Culture Code.) These […]
How to Improve School Cultures, Part 2: Collins’ Level 5 Leadership
When school cultures get toxic, everyone suffers: kids, staffs, communities. Long-term flourishing falls from view, obscured by angst and turmoil and distraction. One method for improving school cultures is to develop Dan Coyle’s three essential skills of great cultures: psychological safety, mutual vulnerability, and shared purpose. (See this blog post, or see Coyle’s book The Culture Code.) These […]
How to Improve School Cultures, Part 1: Coyle’s Three Skills
Lately, my professional reading keeps bumping into the themes of school culture and leadership. At first, it can seem like school culture is far removed from the work of classroom teachers like me. After all, I don’t lead PLC or staff meetings, and I’m not giving speeches or writing emails to the district. I also […]
Neomania is Making Us Crazier (and Less Effective) Teachers
I’m sorry to be all alarmist with the title here, but seriously: neomania is a problem, and if you’re alive with access to the Internet, you might have it. Let me back up: neomania — an obsession with what’s new — wasn’t in my vocabulary until I recently heard Mike Schmoker riff on it during a recent […]