Snowball connector activity

(This activity takes approximately 15 minutes)

Give everyone a piece of paper and pose one of the following questions to the group. Give time to note a response.

• What is your understanding of leadership?

• What does being a leader look like?

• What are 3-5 characteristics of a leader?

Ask everyone to bring their paper to the middle of the room, creating a circle of people. Ask everyone to scrunch up their paper and when ready to throw them into the middle! Everyone gets a paper snowball and can read out the response.

Dr. Pak Tee talks about teacher leadership; leading from the ground up and how teachers play their own crucial role in reform. This is a different kind of leadership based on role modelling and positive influence to advance learning and teaching.

Please watch: Dr. Pak Tee Ng: 22:11 – 23:45 minutes

Group discussion activity using thinking routines

(This activity takes approximately 30 minutes)

For these first questions we want to quickly gauge what people are thinking and feeling – there are lots of techniques you could use e.g. posing the questions on flipchart/boards and using post it notes to generate and visualise ideas and then grouping them to reach a consensus to using a Thinking Routine such as What Makes You Say That? | Project Zero (harvard.edu) 

• What does leading from the ground up or Teacher/Practitioner Leadership look and feel like in our setting? 

• How does practitioner and teacher leadership impact on learners? Colleagues? The school or setting community? The wider educational system? 

 Let's consider this clip in the context of the theme of our roles in leadership of change and how we work together to bring about the changes that we want to see for our learners.  

Try using the 1-2-4-All Facilitation Technique | SessionLab to support open, generative conversation that creates ideas and solutions and strategies for your setting in response to the following questions: 

• What might we need to do differently to support empowerment and leadership of all staff? 

• How do we create and support a culture of enquiry where we can critically reflect on our practice and try new ways of doing and being as an educator? 

• What opportunities can we create for sharing our learning with colleagues and with learners (role model learning about learning)? 

Anti-racism and leadership of change are intrinsically linked; anti-racism is more than a belief in equality, it is about actively changing structures and systems. An anti-racist leader creates a culture of open dialogue and accountability. This fosters a space where change can be embraced and implemented.
Professor Skerrit describes Racial Literacy Knowledge and how we can support our learners to learn about race, difference, and racism; to talk thoughtfully about race and racism; to become antiracists in a world that is racially diverse but that continues to be racially unjust.

Please watch: Professor Allison Skerrit: 31:18 – 41:18 minutes

Reflection activity

(This activity takes approximately 15 minutes)

The first questions posed here would require quiet time to reflect and to journal those reflections if desired. You may then want to pair people up to share reflections.

Race, gender, class, place, and other demographic variables impacts on how we view ourselves and other and on our interactions with individuals and with institutions.

• Who am I in terms of my racialised and cultural identities, and who am I not?

• How do these identities intersect with my professional identity as….?

• How do these identities shape my beliefs, values and practices and pedagogy in my context?

The following quote can be shared as a provocation to generate discussion:

"If teachers believe that a child belongs to a group of people who cannot achieve, they will treat that child as though they are 'at risk' and not see their promise (p.24)" Archaeology of Self (Sealy-Ruiz, 2022)

Reflecting on this statement - what resonates with you? Or otherwise? And why?

Group discussion activity using thinking routines

(This activity takes approximately 20 minutes)

Let's consider this clip in the context of the theme of our roles in leadership of change and how we work together to bring about the changes that we want to see for our learners.

Once again, we could use the 1-2-4-All Facilitation Technique | SessionLab to support open, generative conversation that creates ideas and solutions and strategies for your setting in response to the following questions or you might want to try the Fishbowl Discussion tool:

Divide the participants: Arrange chairs in two circles: an inner circle with 4-6 participants (the "fishbowl") and an outer circle where everyone else sits.

Present the topic: Clearly define the discussion topic and provide the guiding questions or prompts below:

• How have you encountered the concept of racial literacy in your professional or personal life?

• How are you thinking about racial literacy as a form of curriculum knowledge for teaching and learning?

Inner circle discussion: The inner circle participants begin the discussion, actively sharing their thoughts, ideas, and arguments related to the topic.

Outer circle observation: Participants in the outer circle actively listen to the inner circle discussion, taking notes, identifying key points, and formulating their own thoughts.

Transition and switch roles: After a set time (e.g. 15-20 minutes), pause the discussion. Participants in the inner circle move to the outer circle, and new participants from the outer circle join the inner circle.

Repeat the discussion: Resume the discussion with the new inner circle participants, allowing them to contribute their perspectives and build upon the previous discussion.

Dr. Rincón-Gallardo describes how leadership emerges when times are uncertain; how leaders help navigate this uncertainty and forge a unity of purpose. He gives examples from Scotland of leadership at all levels of our education system.

Please watch: Dr. Santiago Rincón Gallardo: 50:24 - 58:32 minutes

Reflection activity

(This activity takes approximately 10 minutes)

 "Leadership is accepting responsibility to enable others to achieve shared purpose under conditions of uncertainty." Marshall Ganz, 2010 

Reflecting on this statement - what resonates with you? Or otherwise? And why? 

Think/pair/share activity 

(This activity takes approximately 20 minutes)

Use the Think/Pair/Share tool below to consider the examples of student leadership shared in this clip and reflect on your own context. 

1. Think (Individually): Present the questions:

• How do we create and support a culture of leadership within our learners? Within our staff?

• What do you see as your role personally in supporting this in your setting; is there one action you could take going forward?

• How consistently do you recognise, and indeed celebrate, instances of strong leadership in your context? 

2. Give participants a brief time to reflect and formulate their own thoughts individually.

3. Pair (Discuss): Pair participants together. Allow them to share and discuss their individual thoughts with their partner, elaborating or refining their ideas.

4. Share (Whole Group): Have pairs share key points or insights from their discussion with the larger group. This can be done through group discussions, designated speakers, or facilitated round-robin sharing.

Group discussion activity 

(This activity takes approximately 20 minutes)

Let's consider this clip in the context of the theme of our roles in leadership of change and how we work together to bring about the changes that we want to see for our learners.  

Consider the Leading from the Middle diagram from Andy Hargreaves introduced in the clip and copied below (you may wish to print this off or put it up on a screen as a visual cue): 

• In what ways do you liberate and support those you lead (whether that is learners or colleagues)? 

• In what ways do you leverage, influence or nudge upwards?  

• In what ways do you connect and collaborate with your peers, other settings, nationally? 

Donohoo, J. 2017. Collective Efficacy: How Educators' Beliefs Impact Student Learning. California; Corwin. 

Hattie, J. 2018. John Hattie - Collective Teacher Efficacy 2018 [YouTube Video] [Accessed 3 September 2024]. 

Donohoo, J. 2019 What is Collective Efficacy  [YouTube Video] [Accessed 3 September 2024]. 

Donohoo, J. 2019 Foundations of Collective Efficacy  [YouTube Video] [Accessed 3 September 2024]. 

Donohoo, J. 2019 PD Models to Support Collective Efficacy  [YouTube Video] [Accessed 3 September 2024]. 

Grant, R 2023 Middle Leadership Glue Blog Post [Accessed 3 September 2024]. 

Being an educator today can be difficult. The pace of change, the socio-economic climate and current affairs like war can place a lot of cognitive, social and emotional demands on practitioners and the learners they work with. As such it is vital that educators do what they can to prioritise their wellbeing, the next section of learning will help you to explore ways to do this.