Hope Centered Leadership

We all have that one child, that one teacher, that one book that we can say made a difference in  how we perceived ourselves or see the world.  The challenge as a hope centered leader is to do what is necessary to be that one teacher who can change the world for someone else. 

Guiding Questions:

• What book that had an impact on your own views of education can you share with a colleague? What will you do to follow-up with them to talk about it together?
• What is your passion as a teacher? Who might share that passion? How will you connect with that educator? What can you accomplish by connecting and working together?
• How would your instructional plan change if you thought of your class one child at at time? What is the just right next step for learning for your children?  What can you do to help them see their path to change the world? 
• What can you do to share your voice with other educators to encourage them to let their light shine through?

To be entrusted with the children of a community is a perhaps the highest compliment that can be given to an educator. Making instructional choices that will help children build the skills and knowledge that they will need to carry the community into the future is an essential part of all educator's jobs.   The challenge as a hope centered leader is to create a culture within a school or district that is based on collaboration and respect and encourages all involved to act on their hopes and not make decisions based on fear.

Guiding Questions:

• What is one thing you can do this week to strengthen your professional learning community?
• What evidence of learning will you look for to make decisions about how effective an instructional practice has been and what actions to take to continue moving learning forward?
• How are the community's goals reflected in the instructional decisions made in the schools? 
• What small step can you take to continue to build a collaborative environment?

Words can be barriers to learning.  The challenge we face as educators is to select the right words that act as doors, bridges and paths to learning.  Carol Dweck's work on growth mindset, Carol Ann Tomlinson's focus on differentiated instruction, and the work of the Stephen and Jan Chappuis, Susan Brookhart and Rick Stiggins around effective feedback and assessment for learning all point to the positive impact the right words can have on a student's ability to take charge of their own learning.  The challenge as a hope centered leader is to search out and amplify voices that are providing effective, specific feedback to students, and creating learning spaces where all students feel safe to explore their thinking. 

Guiding Questions:

• What do classrooms centered on formative instructional practices look like and sound like?
• What next step will you take to reflect on the research being done by Dweck, Tomlinson, Brookhart, Stiggins or the Chappuis?
• What words will be at the center of the instructional mission of your school or classroom? How will you communicate those words to all stakeholders? 
• What strategies do students need to develop in order to find and select high quality instructional materials that can help them answer questions or explore ideas? 

High expectations for everyone. Holding the bar high. Cliches that are easy to say but difficult to implement.  A hope centered leader needs to be a good listener and a good observer. Identify what supports, resources, encouragement, materials and time students and teachers need to reach higher. Then, be the ladder.  The foundation of hope is in the ability to see not only that there is a step forward, but that you have the ability to take the step.  The challenge as a hope centered leader is to do what is necessary to support a learning culture where hope is at the core of all decision making.