Woohoo three MAGICAL days with our team – tick! What a powerful start to the year. It is great to welcome new team members to enable us to reflect on our ways of being as we begin induction. It was powerful to refocus and reflect on some of our processes and procedures. It is wonderful to have new voice, new questions, new ways of looking and being.
It was an incredibly powerful time as we looked at new ways of working with clusters, growing the capacity of e-leaders within schools. Our way of working this year is shaped out of evidence based practice from 2014.
As schools have been allocated, facilitation teams made, and dates set for initial face to face and scoping hui, we are well underway!
As Ray support us to focus on our inquiry for 2015 it is apparent that scoping is the scanning phase where we delve into what is going on for our schools.
What scanning is and isn’t:
Scanning involves inquiry and evidence-seeking mindsets; scanning is not about seeking evidence to reinforce the status quo.
Scanning takes a wide perspective on learning - not just a focus on aspects of academic learning that are easily measured.
Scanning is about what is happening for all learners from their perspectives and those of their families - not just the perspectives of the professionals.
From the scoping phase we will move into the Focusing Stage, looking to what’s going to give us the biggest impact. This will involve looking at the alignment between schools, to focus on cluster wide goals and individual school goals.
What focusing is and isn’t:
Focusing uses information from the scan to begin to clarify where energies need to be invested - this is not the time to introduce completely new areas.
Focusing usually requires collection of further information to clarify what is happening. Don’t assume you know. “How do we know? Why does this matter?” are especially important questions to ask in this phase.
Focusing should include strengths or positives as well as problems and challenges.
Our strength is often in our diversity. We are indeed, a diverse team and we each bring unique skills, strengths and gems to the team as a whole.
How has your year started?
What are you doing as a team to maximise the strengths and diversity of all your members?
I would love to hear how your year has started...
