Acharya Devo Bhav: by Dr. Nilesh Gopal das Joshi (10 ebook reader .TXT) 📕

the school, faculty, students, parents, and neighboring communities.

 

 

 

3) Communicate Clearly

Nothing makes performance suffer more than unclear communication. It doesn’t matter if it’s a staff member, faculty, parent, or student, they will not be able to do what you need them to do if they don’t know what you are trying to communicate. Strong communication is one of the top foundational elements to being a successful principal.

2) Promote Your Vision

School Principal skills are unique. Make your vision clear, not only to your staff, parents, and students but also to yourself. Create and promote a clear and defined vision for where you want your school to go and have it presented to your team daily. When this is achieved, not only is everyone more motivated, but also more effective since their responsibilities stay connected with your strategic goals and vision.

1) Educator First / Administrator Second

It’s easy to focus on career goals, day to day responsibilities, school budgets, and much, much more. As a principal, you are responsible for many things but don’t forget, you are an educator first. Successful principals keep their focus on their student success. Students depend on you, their parents depend on you, and the community (both inside and outside the school) depend on you. You cannot grow into a strong principal if you do not keep your focus on your students.

When you develop these skills on a daily basis, you will not only become an effective end-user of School principal skills but more than likely, a successful one as well.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 16 Top 10 Characteristics of Awesome 21st Century School Leaders

 

Top 10 Characteristics of Awesome 21st Century School Leaders

 

Good schools are driven by teachers, Principals and Heads of School who are passionate about making a difference to the lives of the children in their care. However, the challenges of 21st Century global and technological advances have placed school leaders and teachers under more pressure than ever before.

How can you be a successful School Leader or and promote international school leadership? Here are the characteristics I believe you need to develop to thrive in the 21st Century.

 

Honesty and Integrity

As a leader you need to know yourself and your values. Find a school that aligns with your values and then model your values and the school’s values to all in your community. Make a personal commitment to be honest with yourself and your team at all times. Be transparent. Nurture honesty and integrity in your faculty and students. If you make a mistake, admit it, take responsibility for it, resolve it and learn from it. Always uphold your word and your promises.

 

 

 

Ability to Trust and Empower

Listen to your teachers and students. Learn their talents, interests and passions and then delegate accordingly. Empower them to take responsibility for tasks and projects. Be there to coach them and make sure you praise them for what they achieve.

 

Communicative, Collaborative and Connected

Openly seek and share information and knowledge. Seek to be understood and to understand others. Connect with the world via blogging and social media, and follow organisations relating to INTO international education. Collaborate with others virtually and face-to-face to ensure the best decisions are made.

 

Positive Energy

Always present a positive, pro-active and caring approach. Make the time to speak with students, teachers and parents. Get to know and value them by developing authentic relationships. Make sure you manage your health, well being and energy levels.

 

 

 

 

Confidence 

Be confident and approachable, even if this is your first principalship or international school leadership role and you are feeling overwhelmed. Be visible, ask questions, value what you see and give praise for effective teaching and learning practices. As a leader you will be faced with difficult situations. In these situations, always stay calm and confident to maintain morale and confidence in the school community. Ensure your focus always returns to your strategic goals. The key objective is to keep everyone working and moving ahead.

 

Commitment and Persistence

Displaying genuine commitment and dedication is such a motivator to your teachers and students. Make sure you create short term and long term plans based on 21st Century strategic visioning.  Be 100% committed to the achievement of the school improvement goals. Adapt when unforeseen situations occur and then persist till the important goals are achieved. Never give up!

 

Willingness to Learn, Unlearn and Relearn

Never stop learning! The opportunities and possibilities of the 21st Century are exciting and empowering for you and your school community. Be open to it and adopt a growth mindset. Seth Godin says, “If you’re not doing the things that scare you, you’re not really learning.” Attend workshops and conferences to learn from great 21st Century leaders.

 

Entrepreneurial, Creative and Innovative

The ability to think outside the box is powerful. Creativity and innovation are great ways to manage the disruptions and complexities of the 21st Century. Empower students and teachers to be resourceful, flexible, creative, to think like entrepreneurs and develop global partners and resources to succeed in our ever-changing world. Develop the school as an entrepreneurial organisation.

 

Intuitive

Learn to trust your instincts. Recent research shows that we can successfully solve problems intuitively.  Listen to the voice within you; it comes from a wise and good place.

 

Ability to Inspire

Be inspiring! Address teachers, students and parents with speeches about noble 21st century educational possibilities, highlighting the school’s vision and mission. Create an enthusiasm and optimism to work together in creating future directions for the school. Continue this focus all through your tenure. For some inspiration to motivate your team,

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 17 The 21st Century Principal

 

The 21st Century Principal

 

Recently, I wrote about what shapes my learning..  I have tied my own learning into our eportfolio vision and how it will be beneficial to students having opportunities for deep learning.  As I have thought about this, I wanted to talk about how these characteristics tie into what makes an effective, 21st century principal.

Creative – An effective administrator looks at different angles to solve problems.  Sometimes meeting the needs of all students takes different approaches that have not been used before, and we have to critically think on how we can do these things.  Things such as traditional professional development plans need to be readjusted and updated to meet the needs of staff.  Continuously doing what we have always done will  yield the same results.  We have to be innovative in our practices. Communicator – An effective administrator not only communicates by sharing information through several mediums, but also is an effective listener.  It is essential that we  work to be effective communicators with all stakeholders to do what is best for kids. Critical Thinker – Many ideas come our way that seem great at first glance, or maybe not so great.  We have to look at these ideas and evaluate the long term impact on our schools and students, and how they will ultimately benefit them.  One of my mentors said to me, “there are very few emergencies” when discussing how some feel they need answers immediately.  It is essential as administrators we take all information and really think about all decisions that are made in our schools. Creates Challenge- This is not meant to mean we provide roadblocks to our staff and community (we need to do the opposite).  This is about continuously pushing forward for the sake of our students and providing ways for our staff to be continuous learners.  Once the challenge is gone from our job, are we still actively engaged? The same “flow theory” that we can use for students, should be used for our entire community. Builds Community – How do we connect others and share their strengths?  Community is not about connecting everyone, but it is connecting those to the right people.  For example, how do we build opportunities for staff to connect with others to help further their learning?  It is essential that we not only develop leaders in our school, but we give opportunities for others to see their leadership. Visionary – An effective principal has a vision of where we want our school to go to best prepare our students for their future.  It is not only essential that we are able to develop this vision, but that we are able to effectively share it with our community. Caring – Without this, none of the others matter.  Students and staff need to know that they are cared for as people and that we will do our best to look out for their best interests.  This is the foundation our schools need to be built upon.

Through my continuous learning, I see that many of the qualities we are trying to instill in our students for their future, we must instill in ourselves now.

Chapter 18 NINE Essential 21st Century Leadership Skills

 

9 Essential  21st Century Leadership Skills

 

 

 

Educators around the world have been grappling with the concept of 21st Century Education and international school leadership for the past 20 years! Some are earnest, some are cynical and some are overwhelmed with the whole notion.

 

How are you dealing with the changes we need to make in schools to meet the needs of 21st Century Learners?  Do you have a clear vision of your way forward into an international education and collaborative mindset? Do you have the skills to get there? Are you feeling confused, frustrated or overwhelmed? Or are you just too damn busy to even think about it?

 

I understand how you feel! As a passionate educational leader for over 20 years I have recently carved out some time to research