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Make Time To Recharge

Growth and renewal play key roles in sustaining school leaders

By Learning Forward
Categories: Leadership, Learning designs
August 2015
“All I need is a little piece of friendship bread — some support to feel renewed and rejuvenated. Even a little piece would allow me to care even more for adults in my building. I find myself giving and giving friendship bread to everyone [in my school] — all the time — to help them grow. And I realize that I need to grow myself, too. I know it’s important. I just need a little bit of time and space to care for my own renewal, too.” — A school leader Being a school leader in any role is hard, gratifying, and a gift of love. While it can be enormously satisfying to serve students, teachers, families, and school communities, leaders need to refill themselves

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Authors

Ellie Drago-Severson and Jessica Blum-DeStefano

Ellie Drago-Severson (drago-severson@tc.edu) is a professor of education leadership and adult learning & leadership and Jessica Blum-DeStefano (jesscblum@yahoo.com) is a junior co-instructor in the Summer Principals Academy at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Reflection

  • Please use these questions to reflect on your own work and leadership.
  • What are you doing to care for your renewal? How is this working for you?
  • What is one additional thing that you could do for yourself that would feel supportive and restorative?
  • What is something that you would like to grow about yourself or your leadership? How might others (e.g. a reflective partner or inquiry group) help you grow and learn in service to this goal?

What makes up your central dot?

Use these questions to consider the core elements that make up your own self (the central dot) and how they inform your leadership.

  • What values, beliefs, and influences do you think inform your central dot or self?
  • What values do you hope others see in your leadership?
  • How do you try to share/communicate what is most important to you with others?
  • What is something you would like to learn or grow about yourself to further strengthen your leadership?

References

Drago-Severson, E. (2004). Helping teachers learn: Principal leadership for adult growth and development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Drago-Severson, E. (2007). Helping teachers learn: Principals as professional development leaders. Teachers College Record, 109(1), 70-125.

Drago-Severson, E. (2009). Leading adult learning: Supporting adult development in our schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press & NSDC.

Drago-Severson, E. (2012a). Helping educators grow: Strategies and practices for leadership development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Drago-Severson, E. (2012b). The need for principal renewal: The promise of sustaining principals through principal-to-principal reflective practice. Teachers College Record, 114(12), 1-56.

Drago-Severson, E. (in press). Teaching, learning, and leading in today’s complex world: Reaching new heights with a developmental approach. International Journal of Leadership in Education.

Drago-Severson, E. & Blum-DeStefano, J. (in press). Tell me so I can hear you: A developmental approach to feedback for educators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Drago-Severson, E., Blum-DeStefano, J., & Asghar, A. (2013). Learning for leadership: Developmental strategies for building capacity in our schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Drago-Severson, E., Roy, P., & von Frank, V. (2015). Reach the highest standard in professional learning: Learning designs. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press & Learning Forward.

Guskey, T.R. (2000). Evaluating professional development (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Kegan, R. (2000). What “form” transforms? A constructive-developmental approach to transformative learning. In J. Mezirow & Associates (Eds.), Learning as transformation (pp. 35-70). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Murnane, R.J. & Willet, J.B. (2010). Methods matter: Improving causal inference in educational and social science research. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Schwartz, T. (2013, February 9). Relax! You’ll be more productive. The New York Times. Available at www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/relax-youll-be-more-productive.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.


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Learning Forward is the only professional association devoted exclusively to those who work in educator professional development. We help our members plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so they can achieve success with their systems, schools, and students.


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