Skip to main content

What Does it Mean To Be A Change Leader In Education?


This is a terrific question, Eric. I'm shootin' from the hip with my answer. It's tough to answer in 140 characters or less, so here's my long-form answer. I will start by breaking this concept into bite-size pieces. 

  • Change - Not just for change sake, change leaders in education acknowledge there's always room for improvement. Advances in science and technology have driven change in many professions, just ask any dentist, doctor, journalist, farmer, or automobile mechanic. Change leaders see things for what they can be, not just what they are. This vision comes from reading, writing, discussing, and most importantly, learning.
  • Leader - The leader gets others to see and act upon this vision of change. They lead by example, taking risks, and sharing their learning transparently. Leadership is seldom a smooth path. Resistance, doubt, and jealously can derail good intention. A "growth mindset" can help turn negativity into fuel for change.
Instead of describing change leaders in education, I would do better to share a few examples of people from my personal learning network who are widely considered change leaders in education.

 Will Richardson, Alan November, Tom Whitby, Dr. Jackie Gerstein, Eric Sheninger, Todd Whitaker, George Couros, Steve Wheeler, Alice Keeler, Silvia Tolisano, Aaron Davis, Stewart Hase, A. J. Juliani, Audrey Watters, Alfie Kohn, and so many others that I will think of after sharing this post. 

Thank you, Eric, for sparking this conversation. I am interested in reading what people have to say about this. BTW, I also consider you a change leader in education! Enough said, for now.

 How would you answer this interesting question - "What does it mean to be a change leader in education?"

Related Reading



photo credit: Round Rainbow via photopin (license)
Labels:
Location: Chicago, IL, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Teachers Can Learn From Effective Coaches

In my educational world teaching and coaching involve the same processes. The people that impacted my own learning most significantly were coaches. Could it be that great coaches were ahead of their time with respects to instructional best practices? Let's take a look at ten coaching practices that thankfully have found their way into the classroom. http://www.coachwooden.com/files/PyramidThinkingSuccess.jpg Standards-based Grading - coaches aren't concerned with arbitrary measures of success such as letter grades. Great coaches identify a requisite set of skills that are necessary for advancement and success. Promotion and achievement are based upon clearly identified levels of skill mastery.  Authentic assessment - coaches are looking for their athletes to demonstrate their skill mastery under game-like situations. The best coaches incorporate game simulations and competitive, game-like drills into their practices. Winning coaches will use the contests as assess
Post a Comment
Read more

Board Games in the School Library: 3 Reasons Why It's a Winning Play

"Play is the highest form of research."  - Albert Einstein “Play is the work of the child.”  – Maria Montessori In our recently remodeled school media center, we have a space dedicated to active engagement in fun learning activities. Part maker space, part literacy lounge, board games are being incorporated to promote a culture of joyful learning. Whether it's a game of Rummy , Yahtzee , or Scrabble , family game night serves as a communication elixir and solidifies our domestic climate of togetherness. Shouldn't similar opportunities for interaction, challenge, and fun exist somewhere in our schools? Broken families, cultural fragmentation, and poverty are impacting opportunities for children to play. As we unpacked and tagged our new media center games, I was more disappointed than shocked by the number of students who had never played Monopoly , Boggle , or Sorry . One skeptical teacher commented, "Oh great, now we're letting students pl
2 comments
Read more

Self-Directed vs. Self-Determined Learning; What's the Difference?

"We need to move beyond the idea that an education is something that is provided for us, and toward the idea that an education is something that we create for ourselves." - Stephen Downes In this age of abundance of information, shifting classroom pedagogy isn't nearly enough to make learning in school more relevant and authentic for the learner. Self-directed learning ( andragogy ), and self-determined learning ( heutagogy ) are the ideals necessary in making students " future ready " to live and learn in a web-connected world. While original research applied these concepts to mature learners, it has become apparent that even young children have an abundant capacity for recognizing and directing their learning. Anyone who has observed toddlers learning how to walk and talk understand the motivation and skill development that quickly develops during these processes. Considered by some to be on a learning continuum, self-directed learning, and self-determined
Post a Comment
Read more