“Great Leaders move us.  They ignite our passion and inspire the best in us.  When we try to explain why they are so effective, we speak strategy, vision, or powerful ideas.  But the reality is much more primal: Great leadership works through the emotions.  No matter what leaders set out to do – whether it’s creating strategy or mobilizing teams to action – their success depends on how they do it.  Even if leaders fail in this primal task of driving emotions in the right direction, nothing they do will work as well as it could or should”                                                              Primal Leadership – Goleman, Boyatizis, McKee 2013
 
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Daniel Goleman defines six leadership styles for effective team performance: commanding, visionary, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting , and coaching, .  Through research he found that leaders used one of these at any one time and that styles come from the use of Emotional Intelligence.  It involves being aware of the environment, his/her emotional needs and feelings, and adjusting the style to suit the more appropriate setting.  Because situations vary, different leadership styles are important for different circumstances.

Commanding/Coercive – is a dictatorship style of “Do what I say”.  This style of leadership is used in urgency, when time is scarce, and in crisis.  A mother seeing her child dash into oncoming traffic would probably use a commanding leadership style to keep the child from harm.  The weakness of this style is that members could feel stifled like their opinions are not being asked for.

Visionary/Authoritative –  moves people towards a vision.  This style is best when a new direction is needed. The weakness of this style is that it doesn’t tell members how they can go about to get to a new vision or goal.

Affiliative – focuses on emotional needs.  This style is needed for getting members through stressful situations or when healing is needed.  The weakness of this style is that it typically just focuses on the emotional needs.

Democratic – listens to both the good and the bad and focuses on participation.  This style can be used to gain input and buy-in.  The weakness of this style is that it could spend too much time on listening rather than effective action.

Pacesetting – focuses on building goals that are challenging and exciting.  This style is useful when working with members who are already performing well.  The weakness of this style, if done wrong, it can have a negative impact on the climate.

Coaching – helps people find strengths and weakness and links those to large goals and actions.  This style is useful to develop long term strengths of individuals.  This style if not done properly can come across as micromanaging. 

When I think of leading through change I think of my role as a parent.  My children are growing and changing and I am trying to lead then down the path of success but it requires all 6 leaderships styles.  The style of leadership depends on the situation. 

​We have probably all had leaders in our lives that basically use one or two styles of leadership.  Of course we know from experiences that leaders who have a limited number of leadership styles run into problems.  For example think about a parent or teacher whose idea of leading is primarily through “commanding” style.  What about the parent whose only leadership style is “democratic”.  Those with limited leadership styles are going to run into issues.    We know that emotional intelligence plays an important role.  The most effective leaders are those that can assess a situation and identify and use the most effective style of leadership for that particular circumstance. 
 
Resources:
Comindwork Weekly / Work Productivity Tricks The Six Leadership Styles (Goleman). (2015). Retrieved October 30, from http://www.comindwork.com/weekly/2015-07-13/productivity/the-six-leadership-styles-goleman
Fullan, M. (2014). Leading in a Culture of Change. Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press
"Six Emotional Leadership Styles." Six Emotional Leadership Styles. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015. http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/six_emotional_styles.htm

According to Fullan every effective leader has a moral purpose (2014).  My mighty purpose as a teacher is to create the spark for further knowledge.  My drive originated from my past experiences both as a student and teacher.  In my life I been blessed to have had leaders and teachers who have motivated and pushed me to grow.  I’ve seen my students come alive with curiosity and imagination.  I’ve seen students fall in love with learning and it gives me strength.
In my constructionist, learner centered classroom you can see my moral purpose through various themes such as maker movement, game-based learning, project/problems based learning projects, etc.  I also use a variety of strategies to support my moral purpose such as: instilling a growth mindset, coaching/facilitating learning, modeling & fostering curiosity and imagination.  Authors Martinez & Stager, reminds educators that “one of the responsibilities of being a teacher is to translate the mandates of the educational system to something that helps children understand their world” (2013).  My moral aspect is not limited to walls of the classroom.
21st Century learning requires students to think for themselves.  They need to take control over their learning. Students need to be the center of their education experience to prepare themselves for their future.   In today’s digital age the teacher is no longer the keeper of knowledge.   Their role has shifted to the encourager and facilitator of learning.  Likewise the role of the student has also changed.  Traditional passive learning has been replaced by active learners making informed decisions and thinking for themselves.  
In my classroom learning is fueled by curiosity.  Amanda Lang, author of the book “The Power of Why” states, “Curious kids learn how to learn, and how to enjoy it – and that, more than any specific body of knowledge, is what they will need to have in the future”  (Wright 2013).  Educational activist Alfie Kohn notes “great teaching isn’t just about content but motivation and empowerment: Real learning gives you the mental habits, practice, and confidence to know that, in a crisis, you can count on yourself to learn something new.” (Davidison 2012)
I don’t want my students to leave my classroom just being good at “school” or being good at jumping through hoops.  My classroom environment must engage learning.  I foster creativity and curiosity. They learn how to fail and succeed.  They learn how to collaborated and communicate in this global world.  These strategies and overarching themes supports my moral purpose as an educator.
 
Mentor Project –
I am loving my mentor project but it is challenging.  My mentor and I laid out a schedule but we ran into a schedule conflict on the 15th so we tried to double up and simplify a lesson and we ran into some issues.   As a result students had some difficulty using the coordinate system in the Klondike World.  My mentee said that she will go back and present a little lesson on how the coordinates work in Minecraft.  The students are enjoying their time in Minecraft.  They are really having difficulty understanding team work, which is kind of surprising.  I guess the big overall issue is time. 
As part of my mentor project I created a website www.MinecraftIntheClassroom.com  I created the website for my mentee and others who might want to learn more about Minecraft in the classroom.  On my site I have link to guides & lessons, my gamer quiz and ideas about how I have used MinecraftEdu in my class. 
This week I presented about using Minecraft in the classroom at the State Math and Science Conference.  It was standing room only.  I was blessed to have Chris Bryner’s help during the presentation – thank you Chris.  I created a Sway presentation on the overview of MinecraftEdu and game-based learning.  My mentee attended as well. 
 

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References:
Davidson, Cathy. "Why Flip The Classroom When We Can Make It Do Cartwheels?" Co.Exist. N.p., 09 May 2012. <http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679807/why-flip-the-classroom-when-we-can-make-it-do-cartwheels>.
Fullan, M. (2014). Leading in a Culture of Change. Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com

Martinez, S., & Stager, G. (2013). Invent to learn: Making, tinkering, and engineering in the classroom. Constructing Modern Knowledge Press.

Park, Hyu-Yong. "Tensions between Teacher's and Students' Discourses in the Classroom." The Journal of Classroom Interaction 43.1 (2008): n. page. Eric.Ed.Gov. <http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ829005.pdf>.

Wright, Shelly. "Academic Teaching Doesn’t Prepare Students for Life." Powerful Learning Practice. N.p., 07 Nov. 2013. Web. <http://plpnetwork.com/2013/11/07/obsession-academic-teaching-preparing-kids-life/>.

There are five components of leadership that author Michael Fullan said are necessary for success in leading through change.  These components are interwoven and together create a framework for leadership.  If you remove any of the components you will have a less stable structure for positive change.  In my life I can clearly see how all 5 components of leadership work together.

According to Fullan every effective leader has a moral purpose (2014).  My mighty purpose as a teacher is to create the spark for further knowledge.  As a technology leader my moral purpose is the same.  I want to get teachers excited about new possibilities for their students. When I am sharing with others about new technology it is my moral purpose that drives me.

The other four components of leadership are also necessary for successful leadership.  I understand change and I am flexible to change. I use relationships to foster collaborative learning.  I realize that as a tech leader its not enough to just share information technology, I have to create the context for sharing and creating knowledge. I also know that I need to encourage change but with a clear sense of direction diminishing stress that often accompanies change.  In addition to the five key components I also understand the importance of commitment and the 3 personality characteristics: enthusiasm, hope and energy.

Fullen said that “Change is a double-edged sword.  Its relentless pace these days runs us off our feet.  Yet when things are unsettled, we find new ways to move ahead and to create breakthroughs not possible in stagnant societies” (2014).  The very nature of change means that it can be a very hard thing to lead others through. 

The component that I am probably the most comfortable with is “knowledge creation & sharing”.  However it all ties back to commitment and the other components. I need to believe I am trying to make a positive difference.  I need to be real and balance creativity with common sense. 
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The area that I need to work on the most is “Coherence Making”.  When I share with others my enthusiasm sometimes gets the best of me and I go too fast or skip a step or two.  This is where relationships help because good relationships can help make up for weaknesses in other areas. Unfortunately it goes both ways; without good relationships the whole frame work is weakened.  I am sure when we think about success leaders in our lives who have helped us navigate change we can find all 5 framework components. 
 
 

Resources

Fullan, M. (2014). Leading in a Culture of Change. Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com

McCluskey, Alan. "Leading in Complex Situations." Leadership. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015. <http://www.connected.org/learn/leadership.html>.

"Michael Fullan - Motion Leadership Author and Systems Change Expert." Michael Fullan, OC. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015. <http://www.michaelfullan.ca/>.

Webster, Martin. "Models for Leading Change." Leadership Thoughts. N.p., 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2015. <http://www.leadershipthoughts.com/models-for-leading-change/>.

​Twentieth century education was defined by the “what”, the passing of knowledge from a content expert to a novice learner.  The focus was on the content.  “When an education is content-based, the primary skill being practiced is memorization: you learn it, you repeat it, and you've shown mastery of the information” (Pahomov).  The “what” is easily assessed; you either know it or you don’t.

In the twenty-first century, learning has become more complex. With unlimited knowledge at our finger tips, knowledge is “less a question of “What is the information?” and more of a “Where is the information?”” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, Loc 1260). Shifting content from “what” to “where” and “how” changes the focus of learning.  “When students are liberated from the monotony of memorization, they have time to learn the deeper frameworks and contexts that give facts and figures meaning. Then they can apply these understandings to any content they encounter in the future. The skills that they learn become the enduring understandings of their education.” (Pahomov).

The biggest challenge in shifting content from “what” to “where” and “how” is our human resistance to change. Our schools and philosophies are stuck in the industrialized era of schooling.  Schools have been teaching and assessing the “what” for so long that it is hard to move away from it.  Traditionally, education has been defined by the passing of knowledge from a content expert (teacher) to a novice learner (student) and it is hard to change. There can often be resistance and pressure from those outside of education too because they expect education to look the same as when they were in school.

Most traditional educational instruction overlooks the constructionist approach.  Hands on, making and playing are important to the new culture of learning but that looks different then traditional education.  “When we build, we do more than create content” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, Loc 1313). Yong Zhao, author of “World Class Learners”, writes that we need to prepare our students for the globalized world and that is not something the traditional classroom is good at (Zhao 2012).   By shifting the focus of the content we can cultivate independent thinkers who think creatively and foster the engineering that is in all humans.

If we understand the power of “where” and “how” then we can help students develop a deeper understanding about the content.   “The shift to “where” alone is significant, but perhaps more vital is the fact that it also opens up the other two dimensions that emerge as cornerstones of the new culture of learning” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, Loc 1277).
 
Resources
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Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). Chapters 1-2. In A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace

Pahomov, Larissa. "Education for the Information Age”. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/115009/chapters/Education-for-the-Information-Age.aspx>.

Robinson, Sir Ken. "Changing Education Paradigms." YouTube. RSA, 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 09 Oct. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U>.

Zhao, Yong. World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin Press, a Joint Publication with the National Association of Elementary School Principals, 2012. Print.