How Leaders Learn: Cultivating Capacities for School Improvement / Edition 1

by Gordon A. Donaldson

Overview

How Leaders Learn portrays the developmental experiences of educators seeking to become accomplished leaders in their schools. The author presents a new model of leadership knowledge: the Interpersonal-Cognitive-Intrapersonal (I-C-I) model. Through the stories of teacher leaders and administrators in several leadership development programs, the book depicts the evolution of understanding, skill, and self-confidence. These learners grapple with questions essential to all effective leadership: Does my leadership generate improved learning for the students in my school? What are my greatest assets as a leader? What are my greatest liabilities, and what do I do about them? Can I find a leadership role that is both productive and sustainable for me and for the school I serve?

This dynamic professional development tool:

• Introduces a framework for thinking about how school leaders cultivate and support their own learning.
• Richly describes in leaders’ own words the deepening of interpersonal, cognitive, and intrapersonal leadership knowledge and action.
• Describes how to structure the Performance Learning cycle to support leadership that benefits students.
• Links recent literature and research to support new insights into the role of emotion, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills in leader learning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807748541
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	04/12/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

Gordon A. Donaldson, Jr. is a professor of education at the University of Maine.

Table of Contents

Foreword   Roland S. Barth     ix
Acknowledgments     xiii
Introduction     1
A Language for Leader Learning     4
A Leader in the Midst of Leadership     5
Leadership on the Line     7
Shirley's Challenges: Through the I-C-I Lens     9
The Domains of Leadership Knowledge: A Synopsis     11
Three Learning Leaders     15
Kate Tests the Leadership Waters     16
Ted Changes His Working Relationships     19
Lori Gains a Foothold as a Teacher Leader     22
Four Themes in Leader Learning     25
The Lessons Are in the Leading     28
The Power of Practice     29
Hey, This Is About Me!     32
Knowing That I Am Leading     34
A Pebble in Your Shoe: Where Learning Starts     40
Finding a Pebble     41
The Nature of Pebbles     44
Common Leadership Challenges Through the I-C-I Lens     45
Planful Learning     47
Cultivating Relationships That Mobilize: Interpersonal Learning     53
Can I-Should I-Push?     55
Mobilization Skills     57
Relationship-Building Skills     62
Interpersonal Learning Happens Interpersonally     66
In the Heart of the Learner: Intrapersonal Learning     70
Where There's a Will-Is There a Way?     72
Can I Lead? A Matter of Values and Capability     74
Finding the "Values" Fit     78
Finding the "Capability" Fit     80
Can I Manage the Personal Challenges of Leadership?     83
The Essence of Intrapersonal Learning     87
Coming to Know I Can Lead     89
Do My Actions Create Something I'd Call Leadership?     90
Am I Making a Difference for Children?     93
Do Those I Seek to Lead See Me as a Leader?     97
Making Sense of the Evidence: The Powers of Reflection     100
The Learning Environment for Leader Growth     104
Make Leandership Practice the Source for Learning     105
Have a Plan to Lead, a Plan to Learn, and a Plan to Reflect     107
Tap a Rich Array of Cognitive Knowledge About Learning and Leadership     113
Partners-in-Learning: The Learning Team     115
Partners-in-Learning: The Facilitator as Coach     120
The Condition of Learning Conditions     125
Performance Learning     127
Cognitive Learning: Building Blocks for Educational Design      128
Interpersonal Learning: In and from Performance     131
Intrapersonal Learning: The Heart of the Journey     135
The Landscape of Leader Learning     141
What We Need to Do     144
Cast the Leadership Net Wide     145
Honor the I and I     146
Consciously Cultivate Leadership     148
Champion Learning-Including Your Own     151
A Framework for Assessing Leadership Learning     157
References     161
List of Resources for Cultivating Leadership Knowledge     167
Index     171
About the Author     178

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A gem of a book.”
—Michael Fullan, University of Toronto

“Would make an excellent book study for your administrative team.”
—Thomas J. Sergiovanni, Trinity University

“Readers will discover here the kind of reflection, guidance, and support they are looking for.”
—Susan Moore Johnson, Harvard Graduate School of Education

“In short, we learn from experience, but only if we REFLECT on our experience….The gift of this book is the fine and rich detail it offers about intentional, rigorous, fruitful reflection.”
—From the Foreword by Roland S. Barth, Founder, Harvard Principals’ Center

"Educational leadership has the most profound impact on the development of our children and future leaders. Donaldson's book is a marvelous integration of research and development programs to enhance our cognitive, emotional, and social intelligence.”
—Richard Boyatzis, Case Western Reserve University, co-author of Primal Leadership and Resonant Leadership

“An indispensable resource….Donaldson eloquently applies his I-C-I model to real-life stories of courageous school leaders to inspire and illuminate the landscape of personal and professional learning as a developmental process.” —Ellie Drago-Severson, Teachers College, Columbia University