Category: 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel

Nothing Feels All the Way Right in the Beginning

On By LaurenMKaufmanIn 2. Ethics and Professional Norms, 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel, 7. Professional Community for Teachers and Staff2 Comments

Last year, I stepped into a journey I wasn’t sure, at one time, was in my future. I became a doctoral student. It’s the first time I’m writing about it, not because it hasn’t mattered, but because I hadn’t yet given myself permission to name it. That first semester was filled with internal questions. How …

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Inside the Student Work

On By LaurenMKaufmanIn 1. Mission, Vision, and Core Values, 4. Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, 5. Community of Care and Support for Students, 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel, 7. Professional Community for Teachers and Staff

We were sitting together, teachers gathered around student work from a newly designed performance assessment. The task asked students to engage in a deep study of character in literature. Instead of a single written response, students were given multiple pathways to show their thinking through a multimedia performance assessment. Students could write, speak, design, create, …

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10 Podcasts Outside of Education That Are Elevating My Thinking

On By LaurenMKaufmanIn 2. Ethics and Professional Norms, 4. Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel, Professional Standards For Educational Leaders

I love learning. If you’re here reading, that probably isn’t a secret and I’m guessing you love it too. I write every week about my thinking and learning, and it rarely lives in just one place. It doesn’t matter which medium it comes from. I take it all in and layer it. Books. Articles. Conversations. …

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The Questions That Move Us Forward

On By LaurenMKaufmanIn 1. Mission, Vision, and Core Values, 10. School Improvement, 2. Ethics and Professional Norms, 3. Equity and Cultural Responsiveness, 4. Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel, 7. Professional Community for Teachers and Staff, 9. Operations and Management1 Comment

When leadership and learning feel heavy, what helps us decide how to move people forward with care and intention? This is a question that continuously rests on the shoulders of those leading complex work in schools. And if you are reading this post, perhaps this resonates with your own thinking. In his new book, Forward, …

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Where Pocket Presence Lives

On By LaurenMKaufmanIn 1. Mission, Vision, and Core Values, 10. School Improvement, 2. Ethics and Professional Norms, 4. Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel, 7. Professional Community for Teachers and Staff, Professional Standards For Educational Leaders1 Comment

I still remember the first time I stepped into a classroom as an instructional coach. I had my notebook, my questions, and my curiosity, but I also had something I did not yet have language for: the sense that I was entering magical space. At the time, coaching was a role many didn’t fully understand. …

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It Starts With Listening

On By LaurenMKaufmanIn 1. Mission, Vision, and Core Values, 2. Ethics and Professional Norms, 5. Community of Care and Support for Students, 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel, 7. Professional Community for Teachers and Staff, Uncategorized

This week, as I sat in meetings and one-on-one conversations, I noticed something. There were moments where it felt like educators and leaders didn’t need another initiative or plan. They needed space…space to talk, to process, and to be heard. In my book The Leader Inside, I share that “the people who cross your path …

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Staying Close to the Classroom

On By LaurenMKaufmanIn 1. Mission, Vision, and Core Values, 10. School Improvement, 2. Ethics and Professional Norms, 4. Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, 5. Community of Care and Support for Students, 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel, 7. Professional Community for Teachers and Staff, Professional Standards For Educational Leaders2 Comments

One of the most unsettling thoughts I continue to have as a leader is that I might drift too far from the classroom, too far from what’s real, what’s possible, and what’s happening in the moments that matter most. Sure, I can do my classroom visits and walk-throughs, and I do, intentionally. I can conduct …

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Paying It Forward Through the Observation Process: Mentoring New Leaders with a Coaching Mindset

On By LaurenMKaufmanIn 1. Mission, Vision, and Core Values, 10. School Improvement, 2. Ethics and Professional Norms, 4. Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel, 7. Professional Community for Teachers and Staff, Professional Standards For Educational Leaders

Note to readers: I often write about leading with a coaching mindset. This post focuses on one part of the observation process, the pre-observation. Each part of the process matters, but here I’m honing in on how the pre-observation conversation can set the stage for growth, reflection, and connection as I mentor a new administrator …

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