Be on higher ground

Leaders' Lounge. 

The position of leadership is one which demands commitment, dedication and service amongst other things. In fact, leadership makes all manner of demands on the ones who have chosen or have been pushed to tread its path, constantly and ceaselessly. 

Leaders must therefore learn to dig deep within and be brutally honest with themselves in what they believe and what they stand for. It requires humility and transparency to acknowledge one’s strengths, as well as one’s weaknesses. 

Armed with this introspection, leaders must endeavour to lead with positive practices for the right reasons of which includes virtuousness or an abundance culture.

Be informed.
Build yourself up.
Find replenishment for when you suffer burn outs.
Stack up a wall of knowledge and applicable wisdom.

As a leader, you can only bring people up if you are standing on higher ground first.

Leaders And Teachers: Same Boat.

Once you get involved in education, you are directly connected to leadership. Making decisions that will affect learners, raising leaders, supporting leaders and providing a leeway for them.

Then, once you become a leader, you will be again directed back to education. Making decision that will affect others, working to build both brand and your team, assisting both peers and subordinates.

The challenges might sometimes differ, but, no matter what anybody says, teachers are leaders and leaders are teachers.

How I Got Into Coaching And Why I Love It.

Teaching is a job I stumbled into. I grew to love it for many reasons, which I will not get into now. And, as with everything I do, I gave it my all. Subsequently, I became a teacher leader. I was named pedagogic coordinator and supervisor. Both students and teachers became my responsibility. A responsibility I took very seriously. And, I watched them grow and get better. The pride I felt and still do feel is another story.

Several years after, I moved from the classroom to the corporate world.  I made the transition from working with young learners and started working with professionals in management positions. It was both exciting and challenging.

My students were mostly looking to improve their communication skills using English As A Foreign Language.
My classes were typically held in the client's office and we mostly talked about whatever they wanted to talk about and my job involved helping them acquire fluency and accuracy in expressing themselves in English. I was generally expected to clarify formal and informal communication skills amongst other things. It was common for clients to request "classes" just before an important meeting or conference call and sometimes, they would call me after the meeting to tell me how things went.
Sometimes, they would discuss situations they were facing. They discussed their frustrations and achievements. I am a good listener, so I listened. I am also very inquisitive, so sometimes I asked questions. And, I found that as they responded to my questions, they seemed to find certain answers for themselves. Sometimes, I shared experiences or something that I had read or learnt somewhere.
I never told any of them what to do, but in the 6 years I have worked in that field, I did not have one unhappy "student".  As a matter of fact, to this day, I still get referrals.

It is a job I enjoyed tremendously and whenever I find the time, I always find myself signing up one or two clients.  That experience provided me with untold insights into the lives and needs of executives. I learnt a lot about management and leadership.
Some people have told me that I have a natural flair for this awesome job as a coach, but I very humbly admit that I didn't realise it until I found myself in a place where it was brought out of me. I am sure that there are people who discovered very early on that they were gifted in that department. I am not one of those people. I know that there are coaches who knew it was a "calling" they had from the very start. I can not claim that. But I do know that, since my attention was drawn to this innate capability, I do not want to stop.
With all that I learnt, and all that I am still learning, I have made yet another transition. This time from teacher to coach, which, when I think about it, is almost exactly the same thing.
Now, I am better positioned to help every executive and leader of industry that chooses to work with me to ask themselves the questions that will aid them in finding the answers they might not  even know they have. I do not have all the answers, but I do have a lot of the questions.
There are many challenges involved. The setbacks are innumerable. But, who wants to count setbacks? I am a Coach and I absolutely love this job!

It would be great to read about how you got into coaching.

Fighting For "The Kids"

Several days ago, a blog post by Valeria Strauss published in The Washington Post went viral, at least among educators. If you didn't see it, read it here.
I read it and loved it. There were so many things she said that needed to be said.
But, I believe that not much is going to change. Parents are going to continue to fight for their "kid" and teachers are going to continue to defend their "kids".
There was a time when I was a teacher working with young learners and I was privy to the many intricacies involved in the relationship between teacher and parents and how kids are most often caught in the middle.
I've heard parents blame teachers for anything perceived as undesired results in their kids and I've seen teachers do the same. I am pretty sure I might have done the same on a number of occasion.
But the truth is that in most cases, both teachers and parents have their kids best interests at heart. Both parties would do their best to get the best possible results for their kids. They will defend their kids by all means necessary. The will fight to death anyone that questions their authority and good will towards their kids.
Nevertheless, parents usually fight for the interest of one/two/three/four children or whatever the number of children they have and teachers will have to fight for a larger number of children.

Sometimes, it is not a fair fight.
Sometimes, sentiments will be hurt.
Sometimes, somebody will be offended.
Sometimes, they might not have all the information, but they will fight anyway.
I understood that all of it is part of the rules of the trade and I told myself that as an educator who is passionate about the positive development of "my kids", I will only concern myself with doing that which I am convinced is the best for them, based on all information at my disposal.
As long as "the kids" are not negatively affected, as long as "the kids" continue to benefit and develop positively, then it's ok for both parents and teachers to do whatever it takes to make that happen.

The Many Joys Of Being A Teacher.

There are many challenges facing educators, 

often including and not limited to government policies, fundings, salaries, over-populated classes, disruptive students, unhelpful and criticising parents and a lack of supplies. But for any teacher worth his or her salt, dealing with these and other stressors is totally worth it. 

Teaching is one of the few professions that truly offers innumerable opportunities to experience joy and fulfilment -- both in the everyday work environment and internally. Teaching is regarded as the noblest of all professions and very rightly so, I dare say. It is considered as a calling with a special mission in life demanding commitment, integrity, and dedication. It is a calling that brings with it a big challenge to deal with young and delicate minds of different needs, moods, upbringings, exposures, environment and varied types of personalities. 

A teacher job is not solely to teach or to merely impart knowledge, rather they generally help learners form a lens through which to view the world and they position to provide you with the tools to change that same world. The teacher's job to guide students in their academic, social, and emotional development.

I do not intend to portray teaching through rose-coloured glasses, but it is absolutely tested and true that educators who love the work they do mostly have the honor of knowing that they touch lives each day of their lives. Invariably, both these kind of teachers and the students they teach will experience a very high level of job satisfaction.

When you become an educator, your life changes completely. Your priorities change. You are continually provided with opportunities to maintain a spirit of youthfulness, exuberance and a flexible attitude...

The teacher will realise that to effectively educate, you will be pushed to continually be on the look out for personal growth and development. You become a life long learner.

And, as you, the teacher continue to learn and grow higher, you will find yourself doing the following:

Making a Difference
Rewriting histories and changing destinies.
Doing a lot more than simply transmitting information.
Driving students to realise their dreams.
Lighting fires in their hearts and eyes.
Fostering excellence.
They witness learning, comprehension, and awareness.
They see and diffuse confusions.
They calm frustration.
And they, undoubtedly, kindle passion.
Educators make you want to learn more and they help you learn more. 

Educators are agents of change.

And it was Mark Van Doren who said, "The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery".
And, Anatole France also said that, the whole art of teaching is the only art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards; and curiosity itself can be vivid and wholesome only in proportion as the mind is contented and happy.

What greater joy could there be?

Teaching And Relationships

I have always thought that teaching, learning and relationships are very deeply intertwined and after I watching the Ted Talk by Rita Pierson,  where she said the same thing, I felt more than validated.
I have also heard teachers who think that their job is only to teach. They insist that they are not paid to put up with certain behaviours from learners or in the words of some people, "to spoon feed or babysit students".
Over the last few years as I got more involved with adult learners, I have learned that my job includes and goes beyond teaching and classroom practices.
I have seen teachers take on different roles; psychologists, counsellor, listener, advisor, cheer leader, confidante. I have myself sometimes taken up the role of a parent, a sibling and more often than not, a friend.
And although, technically, these does not fall into our official job description, this is what being an educator entails.
As a teacher, you are all of that and more.
You are a facilitator.
You are a mentor.
You are a coach.
You are a role model.
You build and foster relationships and you teach them how to do the same.
Remember that it doesn't matter if you're teaching 5 year olds or middle aged executives. This is what we do.
And, the truth of the matter is that nobody will explain all this to you, not in full details anyways.  And nobody will pay you for it. Well, at least not materially.
But, be consoled, you will be told that the rewards and satisfaction of getting it right far outweighs any financial renumeration. And, maybe it does.

I would like to read your opinions.

Why We Still Have Bad Teachers.

In every profession, there is a very real possibility of losing your job if you're not good at it.
Doctors, lawyers and almost all other professionals could lose their license to practice, if they are involved in any form of malpractice or if there exists evidence of unethical behaviours..
CEOs are fired if they fail to deliver or to live up to expectations.However, in the education sector, firing a bad teacher is sometimes, all but impossible.

In the United States, Tenure is a practice that guarantees a teacher their job. Originally, this was a due process guarantee, something intended to work as a check against administrators capriciously firing teachers and replacing them with friends or family members. It was also designed to protect teachers who took political stands the community might disagree with". But, over the years, it has become a protective wall for poor performing teachers. Irrespective of how bad a teacher is, if he or she has Tenure, trying to fire him or her could result in a big court case that could cost the unimaginable in terms of time, money and other resources.

In most cases, building a case for dismissing a teacher could be so time-consuming, costly and draining for principals and administrators that many say they don't make the effort except in the most egregious cases. And, even when teachers are fired, the vast majority of firings stem from blatant misconduct, including sexual abuse, other immoral or illegal behavior, insubordination or repeated violation of rules such as showing up on time. There are hardly any known instances where a teacher was fired for the sole reason of being incompetent in the classroom.

A few years ago in the UK, the General Teaching Council’s chief executive Keith Bartley said there could be as many as 17,000 ‘substandard’ teachers among the 500,000 registered teachers in the UK. Yet, after making this affirmation, which a lot people agree is true, there was no attempt to fire any of them.

In some countries, Teachers' Union is the obstacle in firing a teacher who is, in the very least, mediocre in his or her job.

It should be pointed out that sometimes, the problem of incompetent teachers goes far deeper than a flawed regulatory structure or self-interested unions. It also involved the education sector's implacable desire to protect not just poorly performing employees but an entire way of thinking about education itself.

Looking back on my years as a student, I still remember my teachers. Both the really good ones and the really crappy ones. I bet you do too. We all tend to remember the extremes, and we all tend to be moulded by these extremes.
Our lives and career choices are usually mostly influenced by the people who directly impacted on us and inspired us in different ways.

My high school principal was an amazing woman who taught me resilience and determination and self preservation. And, when I decided to get involved in education, she was the example I remembered and the role model I wanted to impress. She still is.

My Physics teacher on the other hand, made me doubt myself on more than one occasion. She was crappy at her job and she made sure she blamed her students or the school for her ineptitude. Needless to say, I hated Physics and (even though, I was good at all the other science subjects), I chose not to pursue a career in Medicine like many people thought I would, and to this day, some people in my family still blame my Physics teacher for this.

I am proud of what I have achieved and where my life is headed, but there are times when I have wondered about all the bad teachers I have encountered and how their actions or lack of them might have affected my choices.

Working as an instructional coach, I have also come across lots of teachers, some of them great educators and some of them downright terrible at their jobs. And, I wonder why they are still teaching.
It is true that there are no fixed parameters to gauge how good or bad a teacher is. I know that there are many variables and teaching usually occurs in complex environments and most times teaching quality itself is affected by contextual factors.But, when a learner is stuck with an uninspired teacher who hates his or her job, everyone loses, especially the learner. A kid who in his most mouldable and impressionable years, encounters a really bad teacher is set on difficult course. It has been observed that about 6 percent of students of ineffective teachers actually see their abilities drop. Learners get so turned off by a particular teacher and begin hating a subject so much that they actually will score lower on tests than at the beginning of the year.

The effect of a bad teacher on a student would shock you. One expert testified in a court that a single year in a classroom with a bad teacher costs pupils $1.4 million in lifetime earnings per classroom, as could be seen in this study. And, it doesn't end there, research has found that if a student has an ineffective teacher, a learning deficit can almost always be measured four years later – even if they have had several highly effective teachers afterwards,” said June Rivers, an education researcher at the software firm SAS.

Bristol University professor Simon Burgess, who has researched the impact of bad teachers on pupil performance, says that if all the poor teachers were replaced by even just average ones achievement per pupil would rise by as much as half a grade.

Learners may not be exposed to physical threat from ineffective teachers, but their entire life chances are certainly imperilled by them.
And, in spite of all the evidences of the effects of incompetence of educators on the learner, there has been reluctance among legislators and lawmakers, school administrators and union officials to hold underperforming teachers accountable.
So, we are stuck with bad teachers.

Why do we still put up with and make excuses for them?
Why is it that instead of removing them from the profession, dud teachers are merely being recycled or being transferred to alternative schools which means that other unfortunate children will get a lousy education.
Why can't we just fire the bad teachers and give the opportunity to someone else who will do a better job.

I am an optimist and I strongly believe in the power of second chances, even third ones. I am also an ardent supporter of continuous professional and personal development, (I am a Coach after all), but when a teacher is bad at his job, it shows.

I think it is high time professional educators are left to design educational policy, measure its effectiveness, and make the necessary changes. Now, if the person fails to seek ways to do things better and does not take any definite measure to correct lapses in practice, I am of the opinion that they should go, they just might excel in another profession.


Please, join the debate. Tell us what you think and share your experiences...