LEADERSHIP

As educators, every so often we get stuck. It is easy to lose perspective when we meet an obstacle. The daily grind can put limitations on our ability to make the connections necessary to make a leap forward towards success. Instead of getting frustrated, bored or irritated, you can use the skills you already obtain to develop, with a little confidence, brilliant and practical innovations for everyday living.

Ideas can be built from scratch. In this video Debra Kaye, the author of Red Thread Thinking and the Red Thread, can show us how just by solving an everyday problem, we can innovate. The things we don’t like, and the things that bug us, are a great place to start. Chances are if it bothers us, then other people may find it irritating too. These unhappy people are our market, and the red thread can begin to show us a solution that is an innovation waiting to be carried out.

Students are curious.

Without this curiosity, I don’t believe a Digital Leader programme would be so successful. Show them something they are interested in and they want to know more. If they come up against a barrier, they want to overcome it. If they can find out something no-one else knows, they want to share it. Successful Digital Leaders are the epitome of the curious student with more to offer schools than perhaps any other student body at this time. The classroom environment is changing and students and teachers need their help.

Digital Leader Responsibility

  • A guide when using technology to support learning
  • Exponent of new and existing applications
  • Trainer and supporter of school members including parental, teacher and student bodies

The example below is taken from our 1:1 iPad initiative which serves to illustrate how crucial Digital Leaders will be to the success of the rollout. It must be emphasised that the roles and responsibilities are transferable to any technology in schools. I would suggest that the process is a little easier if all students have the same device.

The internet is awash with steps to success and these cover every field: professional, cultural, social and some I would not dare to mention. Often these generic codes are ideas that we could easily think of ourselves, but as the self-help industry has always been popular, perhaps we don't do this as well as we could.

I wanted to look at one example of self-help thinking, Terry Starbucker's reminders for first time leaders, to explore how they would translate into successful practice for the new teacher, department head, member of SLT (we all lead in our own way, after all). Starbucker describes his appointment as VP of Operations at a cable television channel in America, at the age of twenty-seven. What were his thoughts and how can they reflect a successful start to leadership in a school?

One of the things I love most about being around young children is their passionate and fierce sense of curiosity. It defines their genius. Why is the sky blue? Who discovered the world? How did the sun get so hot? Where did toothpaste come from? And my favorite: Are we there yet?

I’m not sure exactly when it happens, but somewhere between grade school and grad school we stop relishing in the question and start celebrating answers. I never want children (or adults) to underestimate the power questions hold, especially when asked of the right people at the right time.

One of my favorite lessons to teach is: ”The Art of Asking Genius Questions”; taken right from the playbook of my curiosity mentor and coach, Albert Einstein.

Page 7 of 7

In order to make our website better for you, we use cookies!

Some firefox users may experience missing content, to fix this, click the shield in the top left and "disable tracking protection"