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By: Ryan Steuer, CEO
Magnify Learning
Dallas, TX
They say a movement starts not with the leader but with the first followers. These pioneers are the ones that understand the leader’s vision and can implement it; they are proof that your vision can actually work. First, though, you, as the leader, have to cast your vision. How do you do that for the district, building, or classroom level? The people that are following you want to cast the vision. They aren’t afraid to be led; they want it. We all want to be a part of something that's bigger than ourselves. You can cast your vision by addressing four groups of stakeholders.
The first stakeholder: You
You need to know what your vision is because you can't cast something if you don't know what it is. What is your “why” for education? We ask this at every training that we do and nobody ever says, “Well, I needed a gig.” or, “I went to principal, because I thought I'd get some more money.” We lead because we garnish different types of rewards.
In order to understand your “why,” you need to ask yourself a few key questions. What do you think good education looks and feels like? What is your role in your ideal setting, and what does your role look like? If you were living out your vision, what would you be doing?
You’d probably be answering a ton of emails for two hours a day, right? Putting out fires all day? Nah. If you were living out your vision, you would have found a way to streamline those things into your vision. You’d have your building humming. Your teachers are saying, “hey, here's what I'm going to do. Can you help me out with this?” You exist to help them live out those big plans. You're not pushing them towards the vision you’ve cast; they're excited about it and they're running towards it with you.
Your Team
What if you were the district that people left their school and their district for to come to you?
What kind of teammates do you want to attract? Your leadership team should include people at different levels of the hierarchy. Get your assistant principal on board (they’re not just there to do discipline, right?) Tie in some mentor teachers and staff members. Also think beyond just the hierarchy. What kinds of people do you want? Do you need a detail-oriented person? A visionary person? You need to have a diverse leadership team that not only values the diversity within your school, but also one that embodies a well-rounded team that gets things done. You can't all just be dreamers. Having a team with diverse perspectives and skill sets, that isn’t afraid to push back and challenge practices and dogmatic beliefs, is essential. It may be occasionally uncomfortable to be challenged in your thinking but it will produce better results. When you have a great team around the table, it’s more likely you’ll be able to say, “the answer is in this room.”
Your Learners
What do you want the learner experience to be? What does the day in the life of a learner feel like? Follow one of your learners through their day. What is it like, and what should it be like? Are your learners doing important work as a learner? Do they know why they're doing what they're doing?
Some students are innately engaged and love school and learning. Others are less content to be fed information or skills without understanding the underlying reasons why the learning is important. PBL learners tend to be the latter and as such they tend to gravitate towards schools and classrooms where authentic learning experiences are the default approach. But even gifted students that do well in regular classrooms thrive in a project-based setting and given their ability to absorb content quickly, applying it in authentic contexts is rarely something they don’t embrace.
Your Community
Community members and parents are key stakeholders in your school’s success and they should be involved in your leadership process and day-to-day engagement in classrooms. They will become your community partners in projects, where they help provide the outsider perspective for the content being delivered by teachers. Ask yourself: What is your school known for? What do you want it to be known for? Are the answers to these two questions the same, or not?
One of our model schools is in Columbus, Indiana, where Cummins Engine Company is headquartered. It's a really interesting compliment that they get that when an engineer moves in from another country or another state, they want their kids to be in the PBL track. It's a different type of learning, and the engineers know that that's what their kids should be a part of. The school has a reputation for engaging in and partnering with the community and treating community partners well. When community partners talk about your school, what do you hope they will say?
Give them three bullet points. Remember, this is your vision. This is the flag that you're putting out in front of your staff and your learners and your community to say, “this is where we're going.” What do people talk about when they talk about your school? When the local newspaper comes to do a story on your school, what do they mention?
Take the time to answer these questions. Share them with your leadership team. They're going to get fired up about it. They'll get behind you, and they'll add to it. But you are the visionary leader. You need to put it out there first. You need to think through this. That's why you're put in that position.
You're taking the leadership leap. You are a visionary, lean leader and it's time for you to step up and cast that vision and then build out the steps to get your staff there. If you want more help with that, Magnify Learning is here for you. We do leadership coaching and design days. We take two days to flesh all of this out. You’ll leave with a very clear vision that you are excited to bring to your leadership team and school(s).
We are on our way to pursuing visionary, exciting goals. You need to be able to put that out there for your staff so they can start figuring out how to chase that. Your vision is important to the world. So let's make it happen.
I’m Ryan Steuer – author and thought leader who specializes in Project Based Learning training, coaching, community, and content to help educational leaders fulfill their vision of deeper learning in their schools. I’ve worked with leaders in school districts of all sizes, from 400 students to 100,000 students. These visionary leaders care about their students, but they are often stressed, overworked, and overwhelmed with the work ahead of them. That’s where I come in! I help leaders achieve their PBL vision, lead their staff, AND stop working weekends.
When I’m not guiding school leaders through Project Based Learning mindset shifts, I am outdoors with my wife and 5 kids - canoeing, hiking, biking, and traveling the US in our RV.
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