In a previous post I created an animation to share some key takeouts from a keynote Brendan Spillane presented at the NZPF Conference. In that post I shared some general leadership concepts that relate to vision and taking stock. Whilst I found those messages important and of great interest, what really struck a chord with…
Category: leadership
Change – To Be Embraced Not Feared
This is part three in a series inspired by Richard Gerver who presented at the NZPF Conference. Todays post are key takeouts from the keynote ‘Change belongs to those who prepare for it’. You can read part one on “What our students need’ here, and part two on ‘Finding the passion in education’ here. Leading change…
Leadership Loneliness
Leadership Loneliness I met with a colleague today. Call it a critical friend session, sharing of ideas, solving of all things to do with writing in classrooms and senseless data collection and of course, an opportunity to share and offload. Speaking of senseless data collection, anyone else find the weeks at school issue here in…
Leading In Complex Times
Todays post was inspired by a keynote at the NZPF Conference by Brendan Spillane. Brendan is an ex teacher, principal and is well known for his work as an executive coach. He was our final keynote, and they choose him well. I have read some of his work and although I had heard of him,…
Visual Goal Setting
This is my fourth post inspired by the NZPF conference in Invercargill. The previous posts are; “Fifty Shades of Green‘, ‘Finding the Passion in Education‘, and ‘What do our Students Need?‘. Todays post was inspired by Patti Dobrowolski, TedEx speaker and presenter extraordinarie (well, in my eyes). Patti led delegates through the Visual Goal…
Imagine If…
I have been wandering through a variety of social media sites in the last few days. You can tell it’s term break because I rarely have the luxury of time to randomly float around in social media sites aimlessly, usually I am researching or looking for something specific. It is however, aimless rambling that more…
Like Lambs To The Slaughter..
She stood on top of her ivory tower, skilfully blowing into the intricately carved Matai Koauau. It’s haunting sounds carried across the Nation, reaching all the way to the Far North, across the water, and into the nooks and crannies of the Mainland. It’s hypnotic melodies luring the flock of Poleworth Principals forward with promises…
The Truth As It Relates to Cattle
The wisdom of the universe has an interesting habit of turning up in the strangest of places. When I look at the above joke (cheers to whomever it was that emailed it to me originally – I am sure at the time it served as a wee pick me up – given the trials and…
The Power Of the Team
Teams need to have certain ingredients in order to be able to achieve their goals. What I love about this cartoon is that it shows that a team can achieve an outcome, but without certain key ingredients, and in this case, I would have to say, communication is the main missing ingredient, the outcome they…
The Flawed Sausage Making Process – an Educational Tale
What does Dr Yong Zhao, sausages and a flawed education standards system have in common?More than you would think.Several weeks ago I was invited to a breakfast meeting, hosted by NZEI (teachers Union). The quest speaker was Dr Yong Zhao. He is an international speaker well known for his educational work. His main area of focus is…