As educator’s we strive to grow and improve in our practices over the course of our career. How we do this varies from one person to the next. The most important thing is that leaders recognize the importance of growth. In my last blog post we shared 10 areas leaders can focus on for growth in their position. In this blog post, we want to focus on the types of questions that leaders can use to reflect upon their work/experiences that leads to growth.
As leaders, we must continually have a vision for our growth as well as the school community and the staff we support. It is important leaders develop core principles that set a vision and a process for continual growth. For me personally, developing core beliefs allowed me to set a vision on being “A Lead Learner that is future driven on helping students, educators and administrators collectively to grow and learn from each other.” Here are the types of reflective questions that I have used to help develop core beliefs and also reflect upon experiences to see mistakes, avoid blindspots, get feedback from others that allows for revisions to my work process. These reflective questions include those to use daily, over time, to consider other points of view, if we are creating trust and if we are making meaningful change. The questions include:
Daily Reflection
- What has challenged you?
- What has been reaffirmed?
- What will you do moving forward?
Reflection over time
- What did I do well this semester?
- Where do I need to grow?
- What things will I challenge myself with next semester?
- How will all of these answers impact the learners I serve?
Reflection questions to consider a teacher’s point of view
- Would I want to be a teacher in my school?
- Do I consider “What is best for this teacher”?
- Do I know my teachers passion areas?
- What are ways we can create a learning community ?
- How did this work for our staff?
Reflective questions for leaders if you are creating trust?
- Do people often ask me for permission or guidance?
- Have I created an environment where risks are not only encouraged but expected
- Have I highlighted the great work being done by our school to others in and outside of the organization?
Questions to reflect if you are making meaningful change
- Do I know and build upon the strengths of those I serve
- What is the “clear” vision for learning in our school?
- What are the few purposeful areas that we are focused on?
- How do we share openly and regularly to further our own learning and development?
- Do our Professional Learning opportunities mirror the learning we want to create for our students?
I look forward to hearing from you about your thoughts related to how you use reflective questions to get feedback in your work. Comment below or reach out to me at leadlearnerperspectives@gmail.com
Learn
Engage
Adapt
Delegate
Empower
Reflect
Serve
Lead Learner Perspectives 