Category: Leadership
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A Framework to reflect on Honouring All Languages
A Framework This framework provides an entry point to discussing, sharing, and reflecting on practices that honour all languages in our classrooms and communities. Click on the interactive elements below to read some examples of practices that may be relevant to your community context. What practices might you add to these? How could you use…
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You be the leader
A personal reflection ‘You be the leader.’ This is a phrase that we may have heard, and used, in equal measure over our lifetimes. From the very earliest days when playing games as children, to moving through group work experiences, to being nominated, or nominating others, in the workplace to take the ‘lead’. Translate ‘You…
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“Oh, you know what I mean….”
Photo by Colin Maynard on Unsplash Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides. Rita Mae Brown Why language choice really matters and what it means for us in our communities. Take a look at the collection of images above. What impressions do these conjure up for you? What emotions or senses are…
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Cultivating ‘calm’.
The Impact on Learning ‘Calm is a Superpower’ this has somewhat become my mantra over time, and naturally during the pandemic years became even more of something to lean into. It has led me to think more deeply about how we find calm amidst storms. How we both instil, and nurture, calm in learning spaces,…
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Learning from Learners
Elevating Student Leadership What a privilege it is to be a teacher and school leader. For me, at the heart of this is empowering and enabling students to see themselves as leaders. When I started out teaching I realised pretty quickly that I found my happy place in those moments when you observe others finding…
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Nurturing a Sustainable Culture of Active Thinking
As the school year launches, teachers prepare for their new and returning students, school leaders to welcome new and returning staff and the focus turns to designing ways in which learning communities can come together, develop and thrive. In my experience this often means that team building activities are dusted off and there is a…
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What’s in a name?
I miss the puzzle of learning names. As a School Principal I used to love greeting families, learning student names and being part of the early morning routine welcoming everyone into school. I struggled, I got names wrong, I mixed up pronunciation, put the accent in the wrong place and from time to time muddled…
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Agency, Advocacy and Multilingualism
Empowering young learners to share their voice, to take action, to advocate for themselves and others, and to engage in all aspects of learning in local and global issues is crucial. Communities hold space for this agency and are central to creating and fostering a climate in which this can thrive. It seems logical that…
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Reframe our Language – From ‘Lost’ to ‘Leverage’
In a world where information is so easily accessible and communication is immediate, it isn’t long before a phrase begins to ‘trend’ on our news feeds. A storyline of a particular issue or topic is quick to dominate the narrative. This has most definitely been the case with the current trend to refer to our…
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Openhouse – Online Learning
I had the pleasure of speaking with the Openhouse Team as part of a Webinar recently, connecting a range of global voices – we discussed the challenges and changes over the past year in regards to online/distance learning. Also on the panel were Allan Shaw, Principal of The Knox School in Melbourne, Saloni Todi, a…
Jenny O'Fee 