6 Words About Administrators as Counsellors

In my January 15th post, I promised to be back to discuss my thesis statement for my research about 'Administrators as Counsellors.' After my post yesterday, where I referred to the blog about writing just six words as a way to spur creativity, I decided that I should try to write six words about administrators and their counselling role and work it into my thesis statement.

To begin, I want to engage in a bit of a brainstorm about why I think this is a crucial role for school administrators:

• Front Line: The principal is often the first person to hear the story. That means that there is often an intensity to the interactions that is not always experienced by the second and third people to hear the story. It also means that the principal's reaction often frames the way that the remainder of the individual's experience plays out. For example, if the principal is reassuring, the individual is probably more likely to go forward and feel more confident in retelling the story. Whereas if the principal is shocked or angry or disapproving, the individual's reaction might be very different. Furthermore, if the principal is able to help an individual to reframe the story more accurately, to understand and accept personal responsibility, or to relate to someone else's perspective, the individual may be more prepared to find resolution.
• Many Perspectives: I have often thought that the best metaphor to describe the school principal would be the hub of the wheel. He or she is the liaison between many, often competing, perspectives. The principal is often an individual who knows the whole story. This knowledge gives the principal tremendous potential when it comes to resolving issues. I believe that the knowledge coupled with the skills to counsel people through their own resolutions is an incredibly powerful asset to the individual and to the organization.
• The Big Story: The school principal often hears the 'big' story. I think back in my career to the grade nine boy, who found out that he had a baseball size tumor; to the grade eight boy, who had been beaten by his father; or to the grade ten girl, who considered suicide to be an acceptable option. Although in our society those might be quite common experiences, for that one person at that particular time that story feels like the biggest moment in life. As a school principal listening to those stories, I hope I said the right thing. I am pretty sure that I did the best that I could given the knowledge and experience that I had, but I know that better preparation as a counsellor would have been a powerful tool for me at the time.
• Rural Schools Lack Counsellors: Most of my career has been spent in rural schools or private schools. That means that most of the time, we did not have the luxury of having a school counsellor. In Vancouver, when I worked in a school that did have a counsellor, the principal often referred cases directly to her. So, after the initial contact, she took over. In the rural school where I was a principal, we had counsellors in the school division. They visited our school on a rotation - Tuesday morning. We also had an option of referring students to provincial counsellors, who worked in the larger neighboring community. If there was a crisis, they could usually work a child into their schedule within a day or two. However, it usually meant that the student needed to miss a full half day of school to attend a one hour counselling slot and the counsellor rarely had the opportunity to see the student in crisis. As a principal, I was available every day and I often was responsible for smoothing out and settling down issues that erupted during the day to day life of a student who needed counselling.
• All Kinds of Issues: School principals engage in counselling situations with students, with parents, and with teachers. Each one of these groups in some situations sees and understands the school principal as the 'go to' person, when in crisis. The school principal is required to use counselling skills in many different relationships.

OK, so how can I possibly sum all of that up in six words? Good question. Let's see:

#1 - Principals hear many peoples' stories first.
#2 - All issues lead people to principal.
#3 - First contact has important impact later.
#4 - First response to big stories critical.

It's hard to boil it down to six words but the bottom line is...

The school principal is often faced with hearing and responding to 'big stories' from students, parents, and teachers. To build the potential for successful resolution to these issues the principal needs to be a good counsellor.

Just 6 Words, Eh?

I am in the early stages of my career as a university professor. Needless to say, I am in a constant struggle to find time to write. Writing for at least 15 minutes every day was my New Year's Resolution! I blew it during the first week! However, rather than giving up, I modified. Writing regularly is my new New Year's Resolution and I submitted it retroactively to December 31st. I accepted a writing buddy to help me stay accountable. She shared a great post with me about how to become a regular writer. It was post #661 from Tomorrow's Professor. I was totally excited about getting started. Then, I got sick. So, I blew the next two weeks being sick and trying to recover but I haven't given up, yet.

Last weekend, I went thoroughly through my schedule and planned that I would be better off writing in the morning. I am NOT a morning person and I AM an extrovert. So, I reasoned that I would be more likely to get 'into' my writing in the morning because I am less extroverted in the morning. It seemed reasonable. On Monday morning last week, I arranged my new schedule at work and asked for my appointments to be moved to the afternoons so that my mornings would be open. On Tuesday, the Dean asked me to help with a few "other duties as determined by the Dean." Well, so much for last week.

Now, it's Monday again. I had big plans for this morning. I had a great sleep - a full 8 hours. I got ready and came to work. All morning, person after person flowed through my office. And, you guessed it, I didn't do any writing! At lunch when I was reading through my email, I noticed an email from a colleague who had sent it for "late January inspiration!" Inspiration was just what I needed so I followed the link to a blog post by Margaret Andrews that was entitled "Six Words to Boost Your Creativity." In the post, the author explains that to think creatively you just need to think differently and then goes on to suggest that one way to think differently is by putting your thoughts into six words. Of course, I seized the moment! Six words! I CAN write six words.

So, it is STILL Monday at lunch and I am keeping my writing resolution by writing six words. I have 10 minutes left until my lunch break is over and I'm going to try to squeeze out six words to describe my January experience:

Ahhh! January's frustration: many writer's blocks.

I'm going to consider that my daily 15. I have big plans for February!

Educational Administrators as Counsellors

Hello, Friends!

It has been a long time since I published a blog entry - September 25th, 2011. I have to admit that I was in a bit of a bad funk all throughout 2012. Now, it is January 2013 and I am ready to start fresh...once again. I considered whether or not it was appropriate to go back to this almost forgotten blog. I decided that it was and, that furthermore, "Springing Forward to a Brand New Me" was still an appropriate title for my work. This time, rather than being a record of my daily activity, I hope that my new blog posts will be more focused on my professional writing. Tonight, I want to start on a completely new topic - Administrators as Counsellors.

I have thought about the counselling skills that are required for someone to be a good administrator but I have NEVER considered that it would be an excellent research topic for me. It is one of the parts of the job that I truly enjoyed AND part of the job in which I felt highly successful. This fall, I had a student in my Introduction to Educational Administration class that wanted to write her essay about the administrator as counsellor. She had been observing the administrators in her school and noticed that they were dealing with a teacher whose marriage was ending, a student whose mother had passed away, and a parent who was troubled by the behaviour of her teenage son. As an Ed. Admin. student she was shocked by this observation that the administrators were actually called upon to do some fairly intense counselling sessions on a quite a regular basis. When she started to do a literature review for her paper, she was stumped. She couldn't find the literature. She called for my help and I agreed to try a library search in hopes that I could offer her some assistance with keywords or authors. Nope. The literature it seems revolves mainly around the development of good working relationships between administrators and counsellors. Although those are important, the counsellor in the school does not eliminate the need for administrators to have counselling skills. In fact, I would contend that counselling skills are not just a sideline virtue but actually an essential skill for success in administration!

I'm going to leave you with that thought tonight and I will be back tomorrow to explore my first thesis statement for my first paper about the administrator as counsellor.

Until then, I hope your world is one big classroom!
Jackie

An Assessment Rant!

The school year is well underway. Our new Dean has asked us to reconsider our assessment practices. As always, I am torn. Assessment, in my opinion, has two competing purposes - 1) Feedback for students to help encourage deeper learning, and 2) Reporting out to the public (the university and the field, specifically) to tell them who is the best. Many people maintain that the two go hand in hand. I can't get my head around that. Either, in case 1) I am asking students to take risks, to believe in success, to accept feedback, to let go of past practices of focusing on marks in favor of focusing on learning, and to trust that it will all work out. Or, in case 2) I need to warn students that grading is competitive, only one student can be the best, most can expect to be average, and a few should prepare themselves for failure. I'm not sure how I can expect students to buy in to the first set of requests once I have created the second environment. Furthermore, it is simply not right to be working within framework 2) while telling students that they are participating in a case 1) class.

I believe that I developed my philosophy of assessment from my own perspective as a student. I do not handle criticism well. It has never been helpful to me. It makes me feel like quitting. It makes me dislike and distrust the teacher. I am good at critiquing my own work. I am not easy on myself. I like gentle prodding. I like suggestions. I like mentoring. I like praise. I have never been someone who focuses on marks.

I can think of two examples to illustrate how this has played out in my life. First, my friend's mom was our home room teacher in grade 9. In the fall, after we had returned to school in grade 10, I remember my friend telling me that her mom had shared with her that I had the highest average in our grade nine class. It wasn't something that I expected. It wasn't anything that I had worked to achieve. There were many bright and capable people in my class and although we were all somewhat competitive about marks, I didn't really keep track. My friend's news was a surprise to me. It created within me a picture of myself that I had never had before - the picture of a competent academic.

Fast forward several years to the second example, I was cleaning and sorting trying to pare down my-two-bedroom-bungalow-with-full-basement worth of belongings so that they would fit in a one-bedroom student apartment where I planned to live while I completed my PhD. In one box that I sorted that was full of university assignments and memorabilia, I found a statement of grades from my undergraduate degree (a time before I could check online) unopened. I sort of laughed at myself and my lackadaisical attitude. Why would I neglect to open the envelope? I guess, I knew I had passed. I was uninterested in knowing anymore. My marks were unimportant.

When I opened the transcript more than 10 years and a Master's Degree later, I smiled to think that in that one semester my marks had varied from a perfect score in one class to a low average in at least two more. The difference? Really, it came down to how much I liked the teacher. So, even though at that time the marking would have been comparative with the intent of sorting students, I'm not sure it was accurate. The fact that I was 'outstanding' in Language Arts Methods and 'low average' in Social Studies Methods had little to do with my aptitude and much more to do with my attitude! I have no way to judge how similar or different my experiences are from everyone else's, however, I feel confident that if I am going to err (which no doubt both of my professors at the time did) I would prefer to be the professor who won me over with her charms and received my best work on every assignment. I worked hard to get that perfect mark because she was kind, because I trusted her, and because I could tell that she saw that I was worthy. I want to be kind enough and trust worthy enough and positive enough that my students will work really hard to do well in my class. When they work really hard, and when they succeed, I want to encourage them with positive feedback!

What can you learn from my marks when all of the marks in the class are relatively high? You probably can't tell who was the best student. You probably can tell whether or not I judged the student to have met all of the criteria that I had set for the class. I would say that an A+ indicates that a student met all of my criteria. Students who received As or A minuses met most of the criteria. Students who received Bs needed to do more. It probably meant that I gave them feedback saying that they needed to improve and then I did not see the corresponding improvement. If my students are like me, a high mark probably means that they worked hard to do well in my class, they asked for feedback, they made improvements, they met my criteria! That is still lots of information to be learned from a transcript. How could lower grades with greater divergence be any more informative?

Ahhh, August Long!

Well, it's Monday of the August long weekend. Unable to make better plans, I decided to stay in Brandon and dig into my housework. Actually, I decided that I needed to carve out an office space from the storage room that currently houses my desk!! I think I succeeded. Here are a few pictures of my reorganization. I will let you be the judge.

The Reading Corner - My main intent was to reorganize the current furniture to make room for this incredible wing back chair that my family once bought as a birthday gift for my maternal grandmother. As you can see, it works. I still need to add a lamp which I plan to put behind the chair. I have hung the picture (my old elevator that I painted in 1989) a bit offside to leave room for the lamp which I plan to purchase sometime this week.  Since putting the chair in place earlier in the weekend, I have managed to read one and a half novels in it. So, I guess it works as a reading space. However, that might indicate that there is an issue with how I managed my time during my 'working' weekend...LOL! (If you're interested, I read Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda and I am more than 1/2 way through Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Both of the authors are Canadian and both of the stories are quite amazing!)

The Office Space - It's not perfect but it provides everything that I need and it is a comfortable space. Someday soon, I would like to purchase a real desk with space for my laptop (Currently, I move the wireless keyboard off the table and place it on the computer underneath.), papers, and notes. I would also like to add some wall organizers that would allow me to lift some of the things off the desk and give me a space to tack notes, pictures, memorabilia and other things that collect in an office. For now, I am happy to have a new printer/copier/scanner and a somewhat larger space than I had before!

The Deep Freeze - I know, I know, you want to know why my deep freeze is in my office! The simple answer is that I have placed it in the office for convenience. Not so that I can get an ice-cream sandwich while I'm working but because I wanted a space on the main floor to put the freezer. You have to admit that it looks better than you imagined when you first realized that I had a deep freeze in the office! (Hahaha, the joke is on me. I didn't realize that I had placed my camera case in the photo. Ooops!)

The Extra Chair - If by chance I need to meet with someone or if I am working with a partner/colleague on a project, I have an extra chair that can easily be pulled to a position where the person has a view of the computer screen.

My Make-up Centre - Ok, this room is really so much more than an office! In one corner, I have my make-up centre. This is an essential element in my home. I spend a great deal of time each day at this station. I want it to be a place that is organized and inviting. Skipping this part of my morning routine (although I don't really have a routine) is one of the reasons that I LOVE to work at home! To the side of the make-up centre is the bookshelf. I didn't think it deserved it's own picture because really wasn't part of the weekend overhaul. Sometime next week, as I am dispersing the other things that I moved out of the office area, I will need to work on the bookshelf in order to make room for a few more titles.

So, what do you think?? I'm pretty pleased with the overall progress. I know, that there is so much more that could be done to enhance this space but the change is significant and so far my budget has been $0.00. Maybe this fall, I will contemplate paint, or wall paper, and a new desk. Anything is possible! Tomorrow, work will begin right here in my new home office!!

23 Days Later...A quick update!

Well, I've taken a break from blogging. I'm not sure why. To begin with, work has taken me away from home and away from the routine that I had developed using Bev's non-negotiables. As a result, I haven't been stopping each night by 8:30 to write my blog. I have continued to think about it though and I will have to go back through my pictures to see what interesting photos I have taken over the last 23 days with blogging on my mind.

June 3, was my last post. That was the day before convocation. Convocation was good. It's always fun to see my students crossing that imaginary threshold and moving into a new life. It is SO exciting for them and therefore vicariously exciting for me, too.

Sandy and I at BU Convocation on June 4th! Photo compliments of Mike Nantais' Photo of the Day page.

@ home after the ceremony - need to redo my hair!!

Wa-la! A bit of hair technology magic and I'm ready for the banquet!!

The morning after convocation, I was off to Norway House, MB to begin work on a new research project. It was my first time in northern MB - So beautiful! Our meetings went smoothly and we left feeling like it was going to be the beginning of a great partnership between Brandon University and the northern community/school.

Here we are aboard Perimeter Airlines.

York Boats ready for the races!

For the rest of that week, I was back in Brandon preparing presentations for the following week - an afternoon session on classroom management for mini-university at BU, a presentation/discussion about social media in higher education with Mike via Skype in Saskatoon, and a Fish Philosophy workshop for Cypress Hills Eco Adventure Tours at Cypress Hills Provincial Park in Saskatchewan.

Additionally, I have attended the Manitoba Summer Fair, planted over 100 annuals and several perrenials into my yard, spent a weekend with my Mom, and played a round of golf with Sandy at Taurus Pines Golf Course in Brandon!

Wild Flowers from The Whitemud River Valley

This weekend, June 24-26, I went to Grenfell. As I was getting close to town, I saw a definite funnel cloud. The first picture was taken from my car and you can see the funnel at the bottom of the clouds along the left hand side. The second picture is taken from Deb's driveway and the funnel is higher in the cloud formation. I don't think I have ever seen a funnel cloud before. It was amazing because it was so active. It would get long and skinny like it is in picture number two and then it would gain width or it would get shorter. It was continually changing shape and size. I was fascinated.

Does Innovation Require Some Blindness?

Here is another thought that is directly connected to yesterday's post about decision making and whether or not you can have too many voices. As I was working on a reply to Mike's comments from yesterday, I started to think about the criteria that you would need to consider to build an environment for innovation within your organization. If indeed there is a tipping point when you have considered too many perspectives, does that mean that in order to take the risk and try something new that one needs to be at least partially blind to the possible consequences of the action?

Often when we try new approaches, we find that although our actions might have resolved a previous problem that new problems arise as a result of the new initiative. On the other hand, learning is a direct result of trying new things, inquiry. If rather than trying something out, we ask around enough, someone or many people will give us an extensive list of all of the reasons that we shouldn't experiment. I think a good example is the Toronto family who has made the news recently for not revealing the gender of their baby. In short, they caused public outrage. The critics are telling them all of the negative impacts that the action will have on the baby. Yet, we continue to accept a variety of discipline practices within our society that run a fine line between discipline and abuse because we are familiar with the outcomes. I, for one, support the family. I am interested in what they will learn. Although there might be some negative impact, I feel pretty confident that it won't be the only negative impact that this child or any other child will experience in life.

So perhaps, it does require a certain level of blindness to the possibilities to be truly innovative. And perhaps, the process that is utilized by universities of passing each and every decision through many layers of decision making not only serves to infuse wisdom but limits the possibility of having cutting edge innovations emerge from the institution. Maybe, if you truly want to be an innovator, you need to work independently or at least within a small group of like-minded people so that you can take risks without considering all of the possible pitfalls. 

As for me, for now, I plan to continue to support the practice of collaborative consensus building because I still believe that it helps us to make better decisions, to develop a greater sense of ownership, and to increase commitment to the organization. But, I will probably have to resign myself to not doing anything that is particularly innovative, eh?