Leader-to-Leader Lee Meadows Director, Alabama LASER.
Transcript of Leader-to-Leader Lee Meadows Director, Alabama LASER.
Leader-to-LeaderLeader-to-LeaderLee MeadowsLee Meadows
Director, Alabama LASERDirector, Alabama LASER
Leader-to-LeaderLeader-to-Leader
Changing Their Minds without Changing Their Minds without Losing Yours!Losing Yours!
The Challenge In the face of Florida’s adoption, what
are your most strategic leadership moves for the next 3 months?
Example ideas (to stir our thinking)?
Science Teacher Educator
UT Masters (& reform)
UGA Ph.D. (& reform)
UAB School of Education (& reform)
Classroom Teacher Sabbatical as 9th grade regular teacher Do-it-yourself inquiry during first
semester Active Physics & Chem during second
semester
Advocate Inquiry Thinking Skills
“My kids can’t think” Teamwork
“Kids today have zero social skills” Info Management
“Students can’t read” Problem Solving
“Kids today aren’t ready for the real world”
Inquiry & the NSES
www.nap.edu/bookstore, then Search All Titles for “Inquiry” (or later master web site)
Best resource for inquiry theory
Open book
Lead to Exemplary Curriculum Has it been through an R&D process?
NSF-label Is it guided inquiry?
Open-ended is scary! Other key features
PBL Cooperative learning Relevance/Science Literacy
Resources
http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~lmeadows/rescutting.html Links to exemplary curriculum (elementary,
middle, and high) Links to elementary inquiry assessments 5 Essential Features book
Alternative Pathway: Google search “Lee Meadows UAB”
Attend to the Obvious Materials
purchase, storage, management, & replenishment
Professional Development Support Teacher Change
Assessment Changes Aligning assessment with instruction
Avoid an Inquiry Ghetto Tech-prep only Gifted only Special needs students only Average students only Not for ESOL
The Human Factor Take care of yourself
What good is a burned out (or dead!) leader?
Listen to your teachers Except for the resistors
Think long term, but communicate crisis Workforce development AND literacy
through science Use CBAM’s Stages of Concern
CBAM’s Stages of Concern Awareness
What’s inquiry? Why should I use it? Information
How do I prep to use inquiry? I don’t know enough science? What’s exemplary curriculum?
Management All my time is going to studying the teacher
guide and managing stuff! Routine Use & Refocusing
Nurture Leaders Innovators
The ed fad of the week Leaders
Trusted & trustworthy Early Majority
Follow the leader Late Majority
Looks like a resistor Resistors
The black holes of reform
Don’t Solve Their Dilemmas High-stakes tests vs. inquiry Students lack of process skills vs. prep
for life & work Lack of material funding vs. our poor
workforce
The Challenge In the face of Florida’s adoption, what
are your most strategic leadership moves for the next 3 months?
The Bottom Line Leadership is tough Leadership is the missing link in
educational reform Leaders need a support network, and
that may not be possible from the people you lead
Leadership is deeply rewarding