Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Question of the Day: What are the five most important qualities of a 21st century school leader?

By Shelly Blake-Plock

Question of the Day: What are the five most important qualities of a 21st century school leader?

This is a question inspired by the current principal search going on at my school. It's been interesting to watch and hear the reactions of different constituencies to different candidates. Would like to know what all of you would look for in a leader.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

12 comments:

  1. Off the top of my head, I'd say...

    1. Willingness to be a learner
    2. Adept at distributed leadership and teacher empowerment
    3. A vision for boldness despite an uncertain and unknowable future
    4. Proclivity for risk-taking
    5. A helluva persuasive communicator to students, parents, staff, community members, and policymakers

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  2. Great question...far from a deep dive into the topic, but here's where my mind is today....

    1. Passionate about empowering students with tools and time to develop as learners
    2. Visionary and model of professional/lead learner
    3. Transparent and open to dissenting voices
    4. Skilled Communicator and open door policy
    5. Have to be Googleable....where do you stand and what do you stand for?

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  3. While embracing technology, a 21st Century Teacher must:

    1. Be a continuous learner with an open mind
    2. Create a student-centered community that encourages communication and collaboration
    3. Act as a facilitator in the classroom
    4. Use project-based or performance-based assessments.
    5. Present tools to students and teach students how to use those tools in order for them to problem-solve

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  4. 1) Energy and lots of it
    2) An excellent judge of character
    3) Compassion tempered by firmness
    4) The ability to delegate to the right people at the right time
    5) Organizational Skills

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  5. 1)Transparent, open communicator
    2)Inspiring, not demanding
    3)Beliefs and words must align with actions
    4)Patience
    5)Risk-taker

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  6. 1-Be able to plant the seed of visionary wisdom and nurture that seed through gentle conversation allowing people to join at levels that are comfortable to them. Slight Change occurs in 3-5yrs in schools. Permanent change occurs 5-10 years.
    2-Walks the talk
    3-Inpsires others
    4-Helps others realise career aspirations and dreams- holds doors open, not closed
    5-Is student focused and driven

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  7. 1 - Commitment to accountability on all levels - from and to teachers and the school community.
    2 - Open to and supportive of risk and possible failure.
    3 - Lifelong learner, embracing technology and different pedagogies.
    4 - Leader/inspiring.
    5 - Ability to delegate and motivate others to take ownership of the school.

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  8. I only have three.
    1. Leader.
    2. Communicator.
    3. Innovator.

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  9. 1.Has a plan, communicates the plan, implements the plan.
    2.Contactable, open and approachable
    3.Finds time to be in a class, teaching, everyday
    4.Sense of humour
    5.Shows they care for the whole school community

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  10. 1.effective communicator (timely responses and clear statements about vison)
    2. genuine passion for seeing the school's vision become a reality
    3. understanding of current (web 2.0) teaching practices
    4. visible (travelling the halls visiting classrooms to see what's going on)
    5. organizer of meaningful/relevant profesional development opportunities

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  11. 1. Collaborate
    2. Create
    3. Lead so others will follow (Communicate)
    4. Cutting edge
    5. Connect

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  12. I like all these comments. All these qualities describe not only good leaders, but good teachers as well.

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