Congratulations on successfully completing another term.
As we look ahead to term 4 (no-doubt you have a foot in the camp of 2025 also), you will have some of the pieces of your jigsaw in place (staffing, funding, roll etc).
We are suggesting that another piece of the puzzle may be to take a planned approach to review in term 4. In the words of Benjamin Franklin “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.
Here are some practical provocations to support your action plan:
Get off the dance floor and get up on the balcony.
Who might you need to take with you?
When you’re there, notice and ask:
-What’s happening? How do we know?
-What are the patterns?
-What does this mean?
-What do we want?
-What’s next?
As you engage in 1-1s with your team, here are some possible check-ins.
This year, I learned that...
I challenged myself by...
I took care of myself by...
I connected with…
I’ll always remember...
I am most proud of...
One thing I’ll carry over to next year is...
One thing I’ll leave behind is…
If I could sum up the year in one word it would be...
Finitude; noun-‘the state of having limits or bounds‘
From the article; Reducing Teacher Workloads, ASCD, September 2023.
‘One strategy for embracing teachers' finitude is to establish a zero-sum rule: Before implementing a new idea, do a realistic assessment of (1) how much time it will take to learn or enact, (2) where this time is going to be freed up from existing tasks, and (3) how this shift will be clearly communicated to staff.
School leaders might ask staff questions like:
● What is one initiative that, if it were off your plate, would help you do your job better?
● What elements of [the proposed initiative] should we keep that allow us to [goal of the initiative]?
● Are there elements of [the proposed initiative] that we should scrap while still being able to achieve [goal of the initiative]?
● Are there things we're doing now that already contribute to [goal of the initiative]?
The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you are the pilot.
Have a refreshing break and all the best for term 4.
Ngā mihi
Carol Lynch and Nadia Ballantine
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