Educational leaders long to serve their communities. However, when things move into crisis and are changing quickly, it can be challenging to determine how to spend your time and what the priorities should be.

Here are several solid approaches supporting my work during this leadership challenge.

Use Source Documents Exclusively

Early on, our team decided we would follow only the best sources for pandemic information. At the time, my scientific daughter was ONLY reading the WHO briefing each day. We followed suit: WHO, BC-CDC, PHO, and Ministry of Education.

Once again last week, when designing solutions according to our Restart plan, I had to stop allowing the media to direct my school system’s direction. The media is often making it more confusing and so going to the source documents, for that example, was really helpful!

Check-In Often

We are using as many channels and communication platforms as we can to check-in with our teachers, team, parents, and students.

Our School Board Chair really sets the stage with this strategy. She naturally and generously checks in often with the leadership of the school. I always appreciate those check-ins.

So, we are trying to do the same. We are using:

• phone,
• surveys,
• slack,
• email,
• virtual drop-ins,
• semi-structured interviews,
• coaching and more!

Additionally, it was MOST valuable to me during the earliest phases of our eLearning program, to meet with parents for 1:1 coaching calls. I opened up sign-ups for 15min spaces via calendly and sat with dozens of parents in the earliest weeks of learning at home. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear their hearts and it shaped my thinking about what matters most.

I modified this weekly check-in for teachers from my Coach, Danny Bauer, of Better Leaders, Better Schools. Looking forward to having another avenue for building healthy relationships with teachers on my team!

Listen Carefully

Early on I was studying afresh the Reggio approach to teaching and learning. I read this…

“…listening is an attitude that requires the courage to abandon yourself to the conviction that our being is just a small part of a broader knowledge; listening is a metaphor for openness to others, sensitivity to listen and be listened to, with all your senses. It is a a word that should not be aimed only at children but also toward others.”

In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia, pg 114

I hope I hone my listening skills throughout this season. Please don’t get me wrong, I still have chaired meetings where I did the bulk of the talking. I have to constantly focus on asking powerful questions in order to get that right. But, learning to listen even more effectively, now, is worth my effort.

I keep practicing opening my heart wide…

Keep Things Light

One of the best things our team has done is have a GIF/Meme competition in Slack. Teachers, new to Slack, along with our Admin Team all posted their favourite funnies in the form of GIF or Memes. Then, I noted the ones that made me laugh the most and the team chose the winners by popular vote. All I can tell you is, Slack became a place people wanted to be and there was hilarity had by all.

Consult the Experts

Being an island never served anyone, particularly not children. I am constantly consulting experts, reading professionally, collaborating with peers, mentors, and colleagues.

Throughout our recent challenges, consulting experts has been a life preserver. Often, we leave out our expert teachers. Rose points out in this Washington Post article that in medical journals nearly two-thirds of articles he studied were authored by practitioners, whereas during the same period, none that he read were written by a teacher. Educational practitioners have wisdom and expertise! I want to hear their voices at every turn. Currently, we are getting ready to tackle end-of-term assessment and reporting, together.

What are you doing to help lead your home, classroom, or community through crisis?

For the sake of the children,

Karine