Creating Vision, Mission, Values and Ethics Presentation: Session 1 Principal’s Leadership Strand #1 Tuesday, September 6, 2005 Melissa Oakley

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Rex Elementary Mission Statement K-ids will use and staff will model the character traits respect, responsibility, caring, and trustworthiness. I—ndividual services will be provided to support all needs and abilities and to D—evelop Kids to become life-long learners and tomorrow’s leaders in a S—afe, Nurturing, and Resource-rich environment.

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Sail Away From the Safe Harbor… “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” --Mark Twain 3 Keys Quotation Support Structures

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan KEYS to Charting a Course… …Toward a Community of Leaders and Learners Building Community Relationships, Relationships, Relationships Decision Time: “It’s Time to Decide”

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Building Community (Key #1) “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson “The miracle is this—the more we share, the more we learn.” –Lenoard Nimoy “We are so much less without each other.” —Lee Buscaglia

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Building Community Structures: –Corners –Take Off, Touch Down –All Around the Clock –Line Ups

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Corners Purpose: Gauge comfort levels or emotions around change initiatives. Steps: 1. The leader announces corners. 2. Participants think and record their selections. 3. Participants go to their corners. 4. Pairs discuss.

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan CORNERS Fact: U.S.D. 261 is currently on a “District Plan of Improvement” because of poor reading performance. We need to determine what we need to do to improve reading performance. Action Plan Needed: What we need to move forward with this effort is more: –Information, Trust, Options, Time to Think

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan 4 Corners: Information Trust Options Time to Think

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Think Time Give participants time to think about their choice and write down their response to share, before moving to their corner. This provides accountability and avoids people grouping by friendship rather than by opinion. To equalize participation, indicate a time-frame for the length of each person’s talking time with a Timed-Pair- Share. Make sure that the arrangement of furniture in the room allows people to physically move to the areas that are indicated. If someone ends up alone in a corner have him/her move to a second choice so that he/she has a partner for sharing, or move to that corner yourself to provide a partner.

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Relationships, Relationships, Relationships (Key #2) “It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.” –John Andrew Holmes “This is the team. We’re trying to go to the moon. If you can’t put someone up, please don’t put them down.” –NASA Motto “People must believe in each other, and feel that it can be done and must be done; in that way they are enormously strong. We must keep up each other’s courage.” –Vincent Van Gogh

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan The 5 Aims of Relationships: 1. Getting Acquainted 2. Creating Identity 3. Providing Mutual Support 4. Celebrating Diversity 5. Developing Synergy

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Relationships, Relationships, Relationships Paraphrase Passport: To build empathy and listening skills. Talking Chips: To develop turn- taking.

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Paraphrase Passport STEPS: 1.Administrator assigns a discussion topic. 2.One person in the pair or team shares an idea. 3.Any person can go next to share their idea, but first he/she must paraphrase the person who spoke immediately before, checking for accuracy before sharing his/her own idea. NOTE: Paraphrase Gambits, Disagree Gambits are helpful as staff members begin to get used to this process.

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Paraphrase Passport Discussion Topic(s): How can parents and teachers work together to support students? OR How are we working to fulfill the school mission?

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Paraphrase Gambits In other words… So what you’re saying is… All in all… So you mean that… If I understand you correctly… In a nutshell…

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Decision Time: “It’s Time to Decide” (Key #3) “It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide on what to do.” –Elbert Hubbard “There are two primary choices to life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” –Dr. Dennis Waitley

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Decision Time: “It’s Time to Decide” How are informed decisions made? –Authority –Authority with Consultation –Expert –Voting –Bargaining –Consensus Seeking

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Decision Time: “It’s Time to Decide” Fist to Five Jot Thoughts Placemat Consensus Spend-A-Buck

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Decision Time: “It’s Time to Decide” Fist to Five (Helpful in moving toward consensus.) We need to have uninterrupted reading and math instruction to exceed AYP mandates. Five: I agree with the proposal and could help lead the implementation. Four: I agree with the proposal and could provide support. Three: I am not sure, but I am willing to trust the group opinion. Two: I’m not sure. I need more discussion. One: I need the alternative modified before I can support it. Fist: I cannot support this proposal.

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Decision Time: “It’s Time to Decide” How are decisions made within our school? Who is involved in making decisions? Does everyone understand the decision making framework? Do you trust one another enough to share decision making power? Is there widespread ownership when important decisions are made?

Cooperative Meetings: Kagan Go…Set Sail… …Become A Community of Leaders and Learners… “A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for. Sail out to sea and do new things.” –Grace Hopper