I enjoyed reading chapter two of Leading with Passion and Knowledge by Nancy Dana. I was surprised that two of the real life examples in research matched identically to the questions that I had formed myself while reflecting on our needs as a campus. The first was a question about curriculum leadership and facilitating a learning community around the writing curriculum. My action research project was an extension of a school-community partnership committee I had proposed during my School Community Relations class. Our teachers were going to be researching best practices in teaching writing, and implementing a student portfolio with a built in-home connection to improve two-way communication. It is exciting that others have researched this and I have the added benefit of their findings before conducting my inquiry this fall. Another question that I posed last week before getting to read the chapter was the success of supports for new teachers especially ones who had gone through alternative certification. One of the individual teacher passions was for new and mid-career teachers and the supports that are most successful. I had not thought of mid-career mentoring and development but it definitely needs to be addressed. I am excited to look into what other administrators have discovered about the topic that I can use on my own campus.
On a side note, I really liked the Passion 6 exercise on page 55, designing a principal coat of arms. I think it is a creative and intentional way to form a vision of personal leadership.
Source:
Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
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