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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Sprache: Englisch
LISTENING . . . THE KEY TO BECOMING A TRANSFORMATIVE SCHOOL LEADER The Listening Leader is a practical guide that will inspire school, district, and teacher leaders to make substantive change and increase equitable student outcomes. Rooted in the values of equity, relationships, and listening, this luminous book helps reimagine what is possible in education today. Drawing from more than twenty years of experience in public schools, Shane Safir incorporates hands-on strategies and powerful stories to show us how to leverage one of the most vital tools of leadership: listening. As a Listening Leader you'll feel more confident in these core competencies: * Cultivating relationships with stakeholders * Addressing equity challenges in your organization * Gathering student, staff, and parent perspectives as rich data on improvement * Fostering a thriving culture of collaboration and innovation The Listening Leader offers a much-needed leadership model to transform every facet of school life, and most importantly, to shape our schools into equitable places of learning. As Michael Fullan writes in the Foreword, "Read it, act on it, and reap the benefits for all." "This book is a 'must have' for any leader trying to move the needle on equity. Drawing from her lived experience as a principal and leadership coach, Safir offers stories that give insight and practical strategies that get results. It's one you'll keep coming back to." --Zaretta Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain " The Listening Leader immediately changed the way I interact with students, teachers, families and community members." --Tamara Friedman, assistant principal, Berkeley High School "Shane Safir has written a brilliant book. As engaging as it is informative and as revelatory as it is relevant. It is a must-read for school leaders and those who aspire to lead." --Chris Emdin, associate professor of science education, Teachers College, Columbia University; author of For White Folks Who Teach In the Hood and the Rest of Ya'll too
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Seitenzahl: 595
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
List of Figures, Tables, and Exhibits
Foreword
Note
Preface
Notes
Introduction
Equitable School Transformation Is Possible
Leader-ful Schools, Not Leader-thin
Primary Audiences for This Book
The Listening Leader Map
How to Read This Book
Anonymity and Pseudonyms
Notes
Chapter 1: The Transformative Power of Listening
Learning to Listen
What We've Inherited
A Few Core Beliefs
Key Challenge 1: The Persistence of Inequity
Key Challenge 2: Integrity in the Face of Pressure
Key Challenge 3: Dealing With Trauma
Key Challenge 4: Disconnected Data
Becoming a Listening Leader
A Word on Mindfulness
The Arts Academy Revisited
Key Takeaways
Notes
Part 1: Awareness
Chapter 2: The Core Tenets of Listening Leadership
The Leader Who Wanted to Write People Up
Listening Is Brain-Savvy
The Neighborhoods of the Brain
Tenet 1: Our Brains Are Wired for Survival First
Tenet 2: Our Brains React to Survival Threats Through Fight, Flight, or “Tend-and-Befriend”
Tenet 3: Social Threats Signal Survival Threats to Our Brains
Tenet 4: Every Brain Grows in the Right Conditions
Tenet 5: Organizations Have Core Memories
An Epilogue on Estella and Jason
Key Takeaways
Notes
Chapter 3: Listening for Equity
The Fragility of Trust Across Difference
Tuning in to Structural Racism
Tuning in to Unconscious Bias
Tuning in to Cultural Difference
Lessons Learned: Joy and Wendy
Key Takeaways
Notes
Chapter 4: Getting Ready to Listen
Listening Below the Green Line
No Shortcut to Trust
Bids and Betrayals
Understand Your Living System
Mindful Listening
The Problem of Rumination
A Seamless Transition
Key Takeaways
Notes
Part 2: Relational Capital
Chapter 5: Practicing Deep Listening
The Fallout of Failing to Listen
Relational Capital
Two Types of Listening: Deep and Strategic
Principles of Deep Listening
Deep Listening Stance 1: Attention to Nonverbal Cues
Deep Listening Stance 2: Mature Empathy
Deep Listening Stance 3: Affirmation
Key Takeaways
Notes
Chapter 6: Practicing Strategic Listening
The Impact of the Right Question
Building Capacity Through Listening
Principles of Strategic Listening
Strategic Listening Stance 1: An Orientation to Vision
Strategic Listening Stance 2: Reflective Inquiry
Strategic Listening Stance 3: A Bias Toward Action
Integrating The Six Stances
Seeds of Transformation
Key Takeaways
Notes
Chapter 7: Listening to Parents
When Things Fall Apart
Navigating Difference With Parents
Flipping the Script Between Parents and Educators
Five Ways to Listen to Parents
Jackie's Reflections
Key Takeaways
Notes
Chapter 8: Listening to Students
Listening to Students Tell the Real Story—Even When It's Hard to Hear
Discarding Well-Worn Scripts
Five Ways to Listen to Students
Listening and Democracy
Key Takeaways
Notes
Part 3: Complex Change
Chapter 9: Influencing Complex Change
The Listening Leader's Landscape
Leadership in a Living System
Diagnose Your Problems and Challenges
Six Steps to Influence Complex Change
Shaping the Path
Key Takeaways
Notes
Chapter 10: Leveraging Listening Routines
A Staff Meeting with 100% Engagement
Grown-Ups Need Routines Too
First, Take Your Team's Temperature
Next, Design Humanizing Routines
Revisiting the Engaged Staff Meeting
Key Takeaways
Notes
Chapter 11: Growing a Listening Culture
A High School Network in Transition
From Hero to Host
The Four Seasons of a Listening Culture
“Set The Table” with Annual Retreats
Listening Campaigns
Learning Leader Chats
Team One-on-Ones
Safe-to-Learn Inquiry
Transforming a Culture
Key Takeaways
Notes
Chapter 12: Listening for Liberation
Conversation by Conversation
Building a Movement
The Courage to Listen
Notes
Appendix A: Listening Leadership Rubric
Appendix B: The Six Stances of a Listening Leader
Deep Listening Stances
Strategic Listening Stances
Appendix C: The Instructional Conversation Planning Tool
Appendix D: Additional Resources for Listening to Parents
Resources for Conducting home Visits
Tips for Implementing Focus Groups
A Primer on Community Walks
Appendix E: Additional Resources for Listening to Students
Student Feedback Interview Tool
Essential Elements of a Talking Circle
Talking Circle Planning Tool
Appendix F: Telling the Current-State Story Tool
Appendix G: Tools and Facilitation Steps for Listening Routines
Quick Design Tips for Meetings
Ways to Facilitate Constructivist Listening
Ways to Facilitate Agreements
Ways to Facilitate a Kiva Process
Top Ten TED Talks and Corresponding Prompts
Guidelines for Data-Based Inquiry
Helping Trios Protocol
Agenda Template (Aligned with the Experiential Learning Cycle)
Applying the Six Stances in a Challenging Meeting
Appendix H: Tools for Growing a Listening Culture
Seasonal Rubric of Group Behaviors
Tips for creating simple rules
Listening Campaign Tool
Facilitation and Design Tips for Safe-to-Learn Inquiry
The Listening Leader Year At a Glance (Sample Calendar)
Glossary
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index
End User License Agreement
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Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
PRAISE FOR THE LISTENING LEADER
“This luminous book guides school leaders in developing a school culture of trust, empowerment, and excellence. With compassion and clarity, Safir coaches the hard work of leading and sustaining change—while keeping our focus squarely on equity for every learner.”
—Kathleen Cushmanco-author of Belonging and Becoming: The Power of Social and Emotional Learning in High Schools
“If only I had read this fifty years ago. It took me time to learn that listening is teaching; and then, that being a leader is being a teacher! Shane's wise and practical book is what I didn't have then, and it's fantastic that we all have it now.”
—Deborah Meiersenior scholar at New York University's Steinhardt School of Education, author of The Power of Their Ideas, Lessons to America from a Small School in Harlem, and In Schools We Trust.
“As a leader in a diverse urban school, this book fills a void that I didn't realize was there. I'm sure these practical ideas on how to be a better listening leader will improve my practice immensely!”
—Audrey Amosprincipal, John Muir Elementary School
“Shane Safir has written a brilliant book. As engaging as it is informative and as revelatory as it is relevant. It is a must-read for school leaders and those who aspire to lead.”
—Chris Emdinassociate professor of science education, Teachers College, Columbia University
“This book is a ‘must have’ for any leader trying to move the needle on equity. Drawing from her lived experience as a principal and leadership coach, Safir offers stories that give insight and practical strategies that get results. It's one you'll keep coming back to.”
—Zaretta Hammondauthor of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain
“In The Listening Leader, Shane Safir eloquently describes a powerful approach to school transformation that starts with listening to the school community—including teachers, students, and families—and highlights the importance of cultivating leadership at every level. I encourage anyone interested in understanding how to improve our schools to read her book.”
—Shael Polakow-Suranskypresident, Bank Street College of Education
“Shane's book is a must-read for new leaders as it underscores the often overlooked and under-practiced power of listening in leadership. This interactive book offers an alternative and empowering path to creating humanizing spaces in schools and immediately changed the way I interacted with students, teachers, families and community members.”
—Tamara Friedmanassistant principal, Berkeley High School
“Shane Safir's The Listening Leader is a godsend to a field of thinkers, doers, and reactors. From the very first sentence, Safir draws us into her personal story of leadership as well her wisdom on how listening can be a powerful act of transformation for individuals, schools, and communities. Reading this book illustrates how infrequently listening actually happens in our schools and school systems. Thankfully, Safir invites in a way that allows us to learn how to listen and use what we hear to take action on behalf of our students. Whether you are a teacher, coach, school or central office leader, this book will provide you with a fresh perspective and the necessary tools for moving forward as a listening leader.”
—Max Silvermanassociate director, University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership
“The Listening Leader, based on solid theoretical foundations and chock-full of stories, offers a rich and extensive exploration of this vital skill. After reading this book, you'll have no doubt about the powerful role that listening plays in leadership and you'll have many tools to refine your listening.”
—Elena Aguilarauthor of The Art of Coaching and The Art of Coaching Teams
“The need for action to be informed by reflection is not an idea that is foreign to social justice educators. What is often missing, however, is how one's reflective process is shaped by their ability to listen to their community. From a space of vulnerability and introspection, Safir demonstrates a commitment to praxis and the powerful role that listening plays in our work.”
—Darrick Smithassistant professor of educational leadership, University of San Francisco
“Shane Safir recognizes that in order to build equity and excellence in our schools that we have to lead with our ears and not our mouths. She provides excellent practical suggestions on how to do just that in The Listening Leader.”
—Larry Ferlazzoeducator, teacher advice columnist, and author
“At a time when leaders are in search of different approaches to transform schools, we have a new approach. Safir offers a compelling framework on how to engage in listening as an innovative approach to leadership. Through listening in caring, empathetic, and relational ways, the ingredients for equity can become a reality. An excellent read for school leaders. Read, listen, and learn!”
—Tyrone C. Howardprofessor and associate dean, University of California Los Angeles
“For today's educational leader, The Listening Leader gives us the most precious gift—the opportunity to pause and reflect. We must take seriously Safir's call to slow down, tune into ourselves and others, and lead with the kind of integrity that is born out of a sense of collective purpose; this is the path towards meaningful school improvement."
—Young Whan Choimanager of performance assessments, Oakland Unified School District
“Equitable school transformation is what is most needed in today's schools, and The Listening Leader provides the guidance and practical tools for educators to achieve it. Shane Safir pulls on her deep knowledge of academic and professional learning communities in order to provide educators with a special resource that we can all readily use. This book is a must-have for anyone seeking to positively transform their learning community.”
—Raquel Topeteinstructional coach, East Side Union High School District
THE LISTENING LEADER
Creating the Conditions for Equitable School Transformation
Shane SafirForeword by Michael Fullan
Copyright © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Safir, Shane, 1972- author.
Title: The listening leader : creating the conditions for equitable school transformation / Shane Safir.
Description: San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016044749 (print) | LCCN 2016054906 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119186342 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781119186724 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119186359 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Educational leadership. | Listening.
Classification: LCC LB2806 .S323 2017 (print) | LCC LB2806 (ebook) | DDC 371.2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044749
Cover design: Wiley
Cover image: © Tetra Images/Getty Images, Inc.
FIRST EDITION
This book is dedicated to two beloved students, Alondra and Javon, and to my own babies, Mona and Maximo.
May we build schools that celebrate the light in every child.
I have never encountered any children in any group who are not geniuses. There is no mystery on how to teach them. The first thing you do is treat them like human beings and the second thing you do is love them.
—Dr. Asa Hilliard
LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES, AND EXHIBITS
Figures
1.1 Sheepish Thoughts
1.2 Leadership Archetypes
1.3 Levels of Data
1.4 The Listening Leader ARC
2.1 The Neighborhoods of the Brain
2.2 Anatomy of a Neuron
3.1 The Birdcage as a Metaphor for Structural Racism
4.1 The Six Circle Model
5.1 Listen to Build Relational Capital
5.2 Nonverbal Communication
5.3 Mature Empathy Cartoon
6.1 Strategic Listening Closes the Gap Between Stated Beliefs and Actual Practices
9.1 Author's Daughter Hiking in Central Jordan, August 2010
9.2 Seven Circle Model
9.3 The Current-State Literacy Story Behind JJSE
9.4 Sign on the Approach to Hanalei Bridge, Hanalei, Kauai
9.5 Instructional Leadership Team Models
10.1 Challenging Group Dynamic: What's the Temperature?
10.2 Productive Group Dynamic: What's the Temperature?
11.1 Sample Visual for Core Memory Maps
11.2 Fishbowl Structure and Best Practices
Tables
I.1 Anchor Frameworks for Listening Leadership
1.1 Discourse I vs. Discourse II
1.2 Examples of Shifting the Discourse
1.3 A Framework for Levels of Data
2.1 Core Tenets of Listening Leadership
2.2 The Main Regions of the Brain
2.3 Examples of Threats and Rewards in Schools
2.4 Listening Leader Brain-Friendly Moves
3.1 Equity Channels
3.2 A Tale of High-Opportunity and Low-Opportunity Structures
3.3 Recognizing Microaggressions and Their Implicit Messages
4.1 Relational Trust vs. Contractual Trust
4.2 Mindful Listening Steps
5.1 The Six Stances of a Listening Leader (a Preview)
5.2 Deep Listening Principles and Pitfalls
5.3 Interpreting Nonverbal Cues
6.1 The Six Stances of a Listening Leader
6.2 Strategic Listening Principles and Pitfalls
6.3 Sample Instructional Conversation
7.1 Two Communication Approaches for Parent Conferences
7.2 Cultural Proficiency Tool for Listening to Parents
7.3 Five Ways to Listen to Parents
8.1 Tool for Practicing Deep Listening with Students
8.2 Guidance on Shadowing a Student
8.3 Talk Moves
9.1 Diagnosing the Challenges You Face
9.2 Six Steps to Influence Complex Change
9.3 Sample Current-State Stories and Equity Imperatives
9.4 Simple Rules and Design Features for June Jordan School for Equity
9.5 A Holistic Tool for Measuring Success
10.1 Strategic Listening Stances
10.2 The Experiential Learning Cycle
10.3 Two Types of Sample Agreements
11.1 Outcomes for the Leadership Retreat
11.2 Key Routines for Growing a Listening Culture
11.3 Safe-to-Learn Inquiry vs. Traditional Planning
Exhibits
I.1 What Is a Listening Mindset?
1.1 White Allies and Discourse II
1.2 Finding Courage
2.1 Listening Connects Two Brains Together
2.2 Overcoming the Brain's Negativity Bias
3.1 Moving Toward Cultural Proficiency
4.1 Early Indicators of Trust
4.2 Bianca's Protocol for Early One-on-Ones
4.3 Mindful Listening Tool
5.1 What's Your Listening Style?
5.2 Mature Empathy Stems
5.3 Affirmation Stems
6.1 Sample Visions
6.2 Orientation to Vision Stems
6.3 Strategic Listening Tool: Leveraging Level 3 Data
6.4 Challenging Unconscious Bias Through Reflective Inquiry
6.5 Reflective Inquiry Stems
6.6 Bias Toward Action Stems
7.1 Home Visit Case Study
7.2 Postconference Survey for Teachers and Parents
8.1 Five Ways to Listen to Students
8.2 Sample Fishbowl Questions
8.3 JJSE Staff Meeting on Serving African American Students
8.4 Criteria for Developing Essential Questions
9.1 The Key Properties of Complex Change
9.2 A Few Simple Rules for a District
9.3 Skinny Plan Tool
10.1 Brain-Friendly Facilitation Moves
11.1 Data from Learning Leader Chats
11.2 Tips for Team One-on-Ones
11.3 Nine Reflective Questions for Team Member One-on-Ones
FOREWORD
There are countless books on leadership, but none like Shane Safir's The Listening Leader. When all is said and done, it deals with the forest and the trees. It unpacks both understanding and action. Overall, this book pays equal and integrative attention to “listening” and to “driving.” It will cause you to reconsider leadership in ways that you have not thought about.
The nature of leadership in school systems these days is badly outdated, as evidenced by the long-standing failure to make improvements. We need leadership that connects with the lives and the futures of students, parents, and teachers. We need new forms of leadership that lift students from seemingly inevitable inertia to lives of action and success. The Listening Leader lays out how to mobilize countless numbers on the ground to forge a path forward. Old leadership discourages; Listening Leaders will unleash unrealized energy. Here's the test: Apply some of the ideas of this book to whatever you thought was an intractable situation. Then leverage the new impetus.
Every chapter has gems of insight. Each begins with “This chapter is designed to help you . . .,” and lists the four or five big ideas that you will learn. Then, after delving into the topics, the chapter ends with Key Takeaways and Listening Leader Inquiry. This format alone gives the reader ready access to the ideas in the book as a whole.
Chapter 1 gets the reader immediately into courage of purpose and pathways of solution. We get to understand local accountability, formative versus punitive feedback, experiential use of data, and timeliness. In Chapter 2, we find the core tenets of the Listening Leader, which includes both rational and emotional elements.
Chapters have deeply insightful charts and frameworks. Here are a few:
Chapter 5 identifies a list of principles and pitfalls, which includes mistakenly leading from a self-proclaimed sense of urgency; viewing emotion as unprofessional; and failing to interpret nonverbal cues, including one's own. We learn how to understand and navigate complex change by engaging the Six Stances of a Listening Leader, and what to expect when leading complex change. In Chapter 9, there is a wonderful chart comparing how one would lead a technical versus a complex change. Simple rules are provided for complex change, such as “Make your first year of implementation all about learning, not performing”; and develop and learn from “skinny plans.” In discussing complex change, the author shows what she and others did to guide the change and learn from it. For example, the goal of developing “expert teachers who continually refine their craft” is coupled with allocating significant time for collaboration and professional learning. Achieving “real accountability” is linked with coleadership and consensus decision making, and so on.
In another chapter, we learn how to design a game-changing meeting around listening routines. The related appendix contains quick design tips, sample team agreements, and 10 great TED Talks for better meetings. There is also a powerful chapter on listening to students, something dear to my own recent work, where we are finding that students are “radical change agents” with respect to pedagogy, learning environments, and society.1 This chapter, written by Matt Alexander of June Jordan School for Equity, makes the case powerfully and shows the way, including five routines to build a culture of listening to students. There is an equally powerful chapter on listening to and connecting with parents for greater equity of learning.
All of Shane Safir's chapters are based on her own work and that of colleagues and coaching clients. The book reveals mistakes made by various leaders, what was learned, and how to do it better the next time. The Listening Leader connects us to other practical and deep work. This is a book that amplifies listening to a deep comprehensive art. What makes this book so timely is that educations systems are stuck now, mired in the status quo. Shane Safir offers a way out and forward.
Read it, act on it, and reap the benefits for all.
Michael FullanProfessor Emeritus, OISE/University of Toronto
NOTE
1
. Fullan, M. (2016).
Indelible leadership: Always leave them learning.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
PREFACE
Any citizen of this country who figures himself as responsible—and particularly those of you who deal with the minds and hearts of young people—must be prepared to “go for broke.” Or to put it another way, you must understand that in the attempt to correct so many generations of bad faith and cruelty, when it is operating not only in the classroom but in society, you will meet the most fantastic, the most brutal, and the most determined resistance.
—James Baldwin, “A Talk to Teachers” (delivered October 16, 1963)
I became familiar with the stark shape of injustice while interning for civil rights attorney Jennifer Wood inside the Rhode Island youth prison system—euphemistically called a “training school.” Wood was representing incarcerated youth in a class action lawsuit designed to improve conditions of confinement, such as access to education, quality food, and better facilities.
Each week, she and I followed armed guards through a half-dozen clanging security doors to meet with elected youth leaders. Sitting in a circle, we listened to young men and women share their stories and grievances. While taking notes on technicalities, we also witnessed much heartbreak—the profound frustration of being locked up in your prime, particularly in a system that's overwhelmingly stacked against people of color. I recall Ramón, an aspiring artist who shared his vivid and haunting drawings with me. I remember Shawna, a buoyant young woman whose cousins lived down the hall from her in the female dormitory.
These youth had bright futures, but because of the institutional racism shaping so much of their lives, they lacked the second chances many White teenagers have.
Through this experience, a painful truth became clear to me: The prison system had siphoned off huge numbers of young people of color—mostly Black, Latino, and southeast Asian—who were growing up in poverty. I was learning what many people of color know by necessity. I grew up in a majority White, middle-class suburb where many teenagers committed the same infractions that landed the youth I met in Rhode Island in prison. Yet I can't name a single kid I knew who did time for his or her behavior. This inequity branded itself on my heart and mind and fueled my later pursuit of a career in public education.
When I became an urban schoolteacher a few years later, I realized I had to “go for broke,” as writer James Baldwin had instructed teachers to do 30 years prior. Like so many educators, I faced both incredible opportunities and daunting challenges. How would I humanize my classroom inside an essentially dehumanizing institution? How would I support the most marginalized students to participate in a rich intellectual world? How would I develop a learning community in the face of radically different social, emotional, and academic needs? And as a White teacher working with students of color, how would I earn trust and credibility?
There were many ways to get this wrong, not the least of which is what author and Columbia University professor Christopher Emdin calls “a pervasive narrative in urban education: a savior complex that gives mostly white teachers in minority and communities a false sense of saving kids.”1 I wish I could say I got it right from the get-go, but the truth is that going for broke is an ongoing process. Educators of all backgrounds step into an inequitable system, replete with distractions and obstacles that pull us off the path to transformation. How can one stay humble, courageous, and grounded in the face of such challenges?
Today, there are countless hawkers of solutions and programs to turn around our schools. Although these reformers are well intentioned and have at times produced some good results, I believe that the best solutions lie in the brilliance of our teachers, our students, and their families. We can't “intervene” our way to equitable outcomes without listening to the people we aspire to serve.
As I'll share in this book, I eventually left the classroom to help found and lead a new high school in San Francisco. Many years later, I spent a sabbatical year teaching Jordanian and Palestinian students in Amman, Jordan, where I learned new ways to listen. Rather than following a predetermined set of pedagogical steps, I had to study subtle cultural cues, make sense of Arabic turns of phrase with no English parallel, and create room for my students' stories. I recall one assignment for which two young women from Gaza wrote harrowing narratives about surviving a recent Israeli military assault; one minute they were sitting outside chatting, and the next, the sky exploded with bombs. This experience reminded me that to empower young people, we must welcome their untold stories and constantly adapt to the shifting nature of culture and context. Listening and “going for broke” are lifelong propositions.
I start from the premise that we already know what it takes to educate young people. So what gets in the way? We struggle with low expectations—of ourselves as leaders, of our schools, and of so many of our students. We struggle to uncouple the blunt assessments doled out by high-stakes tests from the complex and deeply human enterprise of learning. And we struggle to convince teachers to design intellectually rich environments when so often our adult learning environments are devoid of depth and humanity. We can address these issues, and I hope this book will begin to chart a course.
I bring two different, but related, perspectives to this project. First, I carry my own hard-won experience as a teacher and school leader who learned, through early missteps and various successes, to navigate working across difference. Second, as a school and district transformation coach for over 10 years, I have supported a diverse cross section of leaders; this work has deepened my belief in the importance of listening and of growing a culture of transformation rather than relying on charismatic leadership to save the day. I know that the strategies in this book are effective for any leader who wants to create the conditions for change.
None of this will be easy. Interrupting decades—centuries, really—of inequitable schooling seems a Sisyphean task. But it is possible. I hope this book will help you find the courage to listen—to yourself, to your community, and to what's possible when you decide to go for broke.
NOTES
1
. Downs, K. (2016, March 28). What “white folks who teach in the hood” get wrong about education.
PBS Newshour.
Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/what-white-folks-who-teach-in-the-hood-get-wrong-about-education/
INTRODUCTION
I learned to listen in the row houses, apartments, and projects of southeast San Francisco. I had been teaching at a neighborhood high school, which served roughly a third Latino, a third African American, and a third Filipino students. In my second year, I had the opportunity to create a program called the Law Academy in partnership with an extraordinary English teacher named Rex de Guia. I taught pre-law and US history, managed student internships, and coordinated a group of attorneys who served as mentors. Our students conducted mock trials and debates, read legal cases alongside authors like Kozol, Baldwin, and Freire, and defended their ideas in college-level essays.
It was an invigorating experience, but also heartbreaking. Every year, we lost at least one student to homelessness, the dropout epidemic, juvenile hall, or violence. Our program constituted just three of a student's six class periods, and although the school at large was functional, it was also demoralizing and dehumanizing. To enter the building, students had to pass through a tall, guarded, wrought-iron fence. Using the restroom required a security escort. When a teacher quit midyear, as was far too common, I would walk past classrooms and see an endless stream of B movies running. Far too many young people either checked out emotionally or dropped out.
Several years later, I joined a group of colleagues who wanted to start a new school. We had heard of groundbreaking public schools in New York City that had flipped the script for students like ours, sending over 90% of their graduates to university. With a small planning grant, we visited New York and witnessed the magic of Urban Academy, the International High School at LaGuardia Community College, and Vanguard High School.
In these institutions, everyone appeared happy—adults and children alike. Instead of pockets of excellence, we found schools bursting with excellence! Students presented and defended their best work to “committees”: small groups of teachers, students, and family members trained to listen and pose critical questions. Teachers were in constant dialogue, pushing each other's thinking and practice to new levels. Leaders listened to their school communities, valued student and staff feedback, and fended off external mandates that didn't serve their students.
Our team returned home and formed a partnership with the community-based San Francisco Organizing Project (SFOP; http://www.sfop.org/), a member of the PICO National Network,1 to rally parent and community support for our vision of a new small high school serving the district's most underserved students. We began by conducting “one-on-one” meetings in the homes of parents, and discovered the power of story to connect people in an intimate social fabric. Throughout these meetings, we subscribed to PICO's 90/10 principle—90% of each meeting would focus on listening and only 10% on talking. I took a year off from teaching, and listened to over 200 parents in the community.
I remember sitting in the living room of a father, and learning of his tremendous sacrifices emigrating from El Salvador so that his children could have a better life. Only now, they were attending schools with low standards and poor safety records. “I want them to be safe,” he implored. “I want them to learn and to graduate. Is this too much to ask?” Listening to stories like this, I grew accustomed to giving my undivided attention to the speaker, paying attention to nonverbal cues, and asking questions to connect the speaker's hopes and dreams with the potential of a new school.
From these one-on-ones, a powerful network of parent, student, and teacher leaders emerged. At first, 10 or 15 people attended our community meetings. In short order, the rooms brimmed with 30 to 40 people. By the time we brought people together to ask the board of education to support our effort, nearly 300 people turned out. The crowd spilled out of the cafeteria doors as several students, teachers, and a diverse group of parent leaders spoke passionately. Together we secured a public pledge from board members that they would help us open a new small, in-district high school. Afterwards, the organizing team stood in a circle to debrief. One parent, whose daughter was fast approaching high school, spoke words I will never forget: “I feel like I'm part of the new civil rights movement.”
We weren't just building relationships; we were building what I call relational capital—the interpersonal currency that fuels social change. We were building power. And we were building a movement. Only later did I realize the critical skill nested at the heart of this work: listening. By relying on a basic human capacity, we laid an unshakable foundation for what became June Jordan School for Equity.
EQUITABLE SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION IS POSSIBLE
This book is about creating the conditions for equitable school transformation through listening. By focusing your attention on people, and the daily stream of data they bring you, you'll learn to listen and build capacity in others. There is also a larger purpose woven into these pages: to transform our schools by transforming our school cultures into equitable places and spaces for every student.
Listening Leadership extends well beyond the act of listening; it is also an orientation toward collegiality, shared leadership, professional growth, and equity.
Listening is a vital and overlooked tool, and the cornerstone of leading across differences in race, gender, culture, socioeconomic status, language, and age, among other factors. Listening Leaders use their ears and eyes to understand where people are coming from. They lead with questions more than answers, and they demonstrate care, curiosity, and regard for every person who crosses their path. But Listening Leadership extends well beyond the act of listening; it is also an orientation toward collegiality, shared leadership, professional growth, and equity. It's a mindset and a way of being. Exhibit I.1 contrasts a listening mindset with a “telling” mindset.
EXHIBIT I.1 WHAT IS A LISTENING MINDSET?
The concept of mindsets has gained popularity in recent years, spearheaded by the work of Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck. In her 2006 book Mindset, Dweck contrasts a growth mindset, the belief that ability is fluid and that effort pays off, with a fixed mindset, the belief that one's abilities, talents, and intelligence are static.a Listening Leadership offers a framework for holding a growth mindset as a leader.
Consider the difference between a listening and a telling mindset.
A Listening Mindset Reminds Us To …
A Telling Mindset Instructs Us To …
Slow down.
Use a thoughtful process to get to an outcome.
Listen before making decisions.
Harness the wisdom of the group.
Distribute leadership to others.
Move fast; be efficient.
Drive toward outcome; ignore process.
Use authority to make decisions.
Be the expert in the room.
Hold on to positional power.
I expect that many of you already possess a listening mindset and skills, which this book will help you sharpen.
a Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.
Equity is the through line of this project. In its simplest form, equity means providing every student with the resources he or she needs to learn and thrive. This requires a willingness to redistribute resources in order to close entrenched opportunity gaps. In my local district of Oakland, California, gentrification and income inequality are pushing many working families and families of color out of their communities. Currently, if 100 students start high school together, 67 will graduate, 46 will start college, and only 10 will graduate college within 10 years. As a school coach in this district and the mother of two children in Oakland schools, I am committed to building an integrated, equitable system. Each time I enter a school building, I ask myself, Would I send my own children here? If the answer is no, there is work to be done.
In its simplest form, equity means providing every student with the resources he or she needs to learn and thrive.
Is equitable school transformation possible? Absolutely. In 2003, I became the founding coprincipal of June Jordan School for Equity (J JSE), a social justice school preparing a working-class, predominantly Latino and African American student body for college and to become agents of positive change in the world. Now in its 14th year, and led by two incredible leaders whom you'll meet in Chapter 10 (one of whom wrote Chapter 8), JJSE continues to serve some of the most marginalized students in San Francisco, with outstanding results. From 2010 to 2013, an average of 60% of JJSE's Latino graduates were eligible for a 4-year university, as opposed to 28% in California and 35% in the San Francisco Unified School District. In that same period, 75% of JJSE's African American graduates were eligible for a 4-year university, versus 29% in California and 27% in the district.
Graphic created by JJSE staff
Equitable schools like JJSE can exist for every child if Listening Leaders like you create the right set of conditions. When planting a garden, it is crucial to analyze your growing environment: sun, shade, rich soil, a seasonable climate, and moisture. No plant, no matter how tenacious, will survive without this confluence of factors to support it. Lacking an essential ingredient, it will suffer, wilt, or die. To nurture healthy students, Listening Leaders cultivate fertile conditions in their schools: a relentless focus on equity; a climate of trust that supports deep adult learning; and a commitment to student and parent voice, distributed leadership, and collaborative inquiry. Creating such a space begins with listening.
WHAT DOES A TRANSFORMED SCHOOL LOOK LIKE?
Student performance is not predictable by race, socioeconomic status, language, gender, or zip code.
Teachers choose to stay for many years, invest in the school community, and steadily improve their practice; veteran teachers apprentice new ones.
The staff is diverse, and the adult culture is collaborative, student focused, and dynamic.
Families feel respected and welcomed into a supportive community. Parents come to school to celebrate their children's learning, and the staff finds creative ways to connect with every family.
Students engage in meaningful intellectual work that stretches their hearts and minds as they develop critical consciousness and resilience.
Adults and students are joyful and productive, and the lines between school and the “real world” are blurred.
LEADER-FUL SCHOOLS, NOT LEADER-THIN
Who is a leader? A leader is anyone willing to take responsibility for what matters to him or her in the work of school improvement.2 The spaciousness of that definition is an invitation to every person who has tired of the status quo and wants to create change. We need schools and districts that are leader-ful, not leader-thin. I offer a solution: Create a pipeline of Listening Leaders.
Schools can be rigidly hierarchical places, but we need only look beyond our field to see the impact of leader-ful organizations. Corporate innovators like Google have begun to flatten their hierarchies and empower informal leaders to innovate and drive strategy. The brilliant organizers at the helm of the Black Lives Matter movement have changed the national conversation about race and racial justice by adopting a leader-ful approach.
Pitching a big leadership tent and welcoming all who wish to enter will allow you to distribute responsibility for the complex work of school transformation. As my colleague Chris Funk, superintendent of the East Side Union High School District in San Jose, California, says, “The principal and administration team alone can't make significant change on campus unless they have fearless teacher leaders beside them.” I would add nonteaching staff, students, and parents to this equation. Cultivating the leadership potential of staff, students, and parents will help you transform your school or system. Chapters 5 and 6 are designed to help you build the capacity of staff, including emerging leaders, and Chapter 9 directly addresses the topic of distributed leadership.
PRIMARY AUDIENCES FOR THIS BOOK
When I became the coprincipal of JJSE, I had a vision, passion, and instructional and strategic leadership skills. I knew how to design strong curricula and engaging professional learning. I knew how to observe classrooms and give teachers meaningful feedback. I knew how to write a coherent work plan or a grant proposal. But what I needed most, I lacked: a road map for working with adults. I needed someone to point out the land mines and commonly missed turns on the path to equitable school transformation. In short, I was unprepared for the social-emotional complexity of the job.
Despite the listening skills I had gained as a community organizer, I quickly discovered the difference between building trust with parents and building trust with colleagues. I was shocked by how easily staff members felt triggered by each other and by me as a positional leader. I didn't know how to engage people in hard conversations about equity. I wasn't sure how to nurture a healthy collaborative culture.
Since leaving JJSE in 2008, I have coached educational leaders of all stripes—teachers, principals, assistant principals, coaches, and central-office executives—who struggle with the same challenge: how to listen effectively to their stakeholders. These wonderful, passionate people care deeply about the work, but often find themselves thwarted by their own role in a dysfunctional staff culture. This book is also for these leaders, many of whose stories appear in its pages.
Specifically, I am writing for three audiences:
Site leaders
I believe the job of a school administrator is one of the toughest in the nation. Although instructional coaching programs have begun to proliferate across the country, I have yet to find a district that systemically invests in its site leaders. More often than not, principals and assistant principals stumble their way through the job, finding informal mentors and activating their own networks of support. They deserve better, and I hope this book will begin to address the struggles of this critical group of change-makers.
Teacher leaders and coaches
Look around you: Visit classrooms, watch teachers collaborate, and observe instructional coaches in action. Powerful leaders abound in our schools. Yet we tend to rotate the same cast of characters through leadership positions year after year. Alternatively, we throw teachers into the murky waters of leading a team without a life jacket, or even a set of goggles! For teacher leaders and coaches, I hope the book provides a framework for action that feels clarifying, empowering, and inspiring.
Central-office leaders
Like site administrators, central-office leaders are often the last to receive quality professional development. Many districts have complex organizational charts populated by all types of leaders who receive little to no training. This troubles me for two reasons. First, district leaders are positioned to drive whole-system change; they manage resources and make decisions that can reproduce or disrupt the status quo. Second, the behaviors modeled at the top of the system set a tone that trickles down to sites.
Every district has a prevailing narrative about “those people” in the central office. In a healthy system, the narrative might describe central-office staff as “listeners,” “supportive,” “site-focused,” and “competent.” The book offers this key group a new way of being and relating to school sites and one another.
THE LISTENING LEADER MAP
In today's increasingly complex schools, the need to listen is more urgent than ever, but few leaders do it well. We march through our buildings at breakneck speed, zooming past the one element that most deserves our attention: human beings. Listening Leadership will teach you to slow down, invest in relationships, and grow a sustainable culture of improvement.
Four writing principles have shaped the book:
The
Listening Leader
through stories
Each chapter opens with a vignette and closes with my reflections on the same vignette. You'll find anecdotes threaded throughout the chapters to illustrate key concepts. I'll ask you to think about your own story as a leader. What are your core values, and what experiences have shaped them? Who are you as a leader, and who do you aspire to be? Gardner and Laskin argue, “Leaders achieve their effectiveness chiefly though the stories they relate…. Leaders not only communicate stories, they embody those.”
3
The
Listening Leader
through rigorous intellect
I will honor your intellect and professionalism by inviting you to engage with high-level concepts. Although I use accessible language, I haven't shied away from rigor because I believe in your ability to grapple with these ideas. Too often, adult learning content gets watered down. The more we challenge ourselves, the more likely we are to challenge our students.
The
Listening Leader
through practical tools
The book is full of tools, tips, and templates to help you turn your learning into action. The chapters include concrete strategies that you can adapt to listen to colleagues, parents, and students; to construct an annual calendar; to plan a staff retreat; or to design a great meeting.
The
Listening Leader
through inquiry
I don't believe in one-size-fits-all approaches to school reform. Nor do I believe in scripted curricula or quick fixes to the problems that have confounded public schools for decades. Real transformation requires a willingness to sit with hard questions and to take bold action without always knowing the outcome. To make the text more dynamic, I've ended each chapter with an element called Listening Leader Inquiry where I respond to real questions I've received from readers and colleagues. At the end of your reading journey, I hope you have as many questions as answers and a desire to continue learning.
Structurally, the book is organized into three parts, corresponding to three developmental areas that make up the acronym ARC: awareness, relational capital, and complex change. You'll see a small stack of rocks at the beginning of each chapter that signal which area we are in. Each part of the book includes anchor frameworks and tools to guide your listening (see Table I.1). Here is a brief overview of the content.
TABLE I.1ANCHOR FRAMEWORKS FOR LISTENING LEADERSHIP
CHAPTER
FRAMEWORK
DESCRIPTION
PART 1
: AWARENESS
2
The Core Tenets
Simple, brain-based tenets that inform all of your moves as a Listening Leader. Each tenet is coupled with a brain “mandate.”
3
The Equity Channels
A listening tool that helps us to pay close attention to equity. The first two channels are based in part on the work of Professor john a. powell (who does not capitalize his name).
4
The Six Circle Model
A simplified model of a living system, developed by Tim Dalmau and Steve Zuieback based on the work of Margaret Wheatley.
PART 2
: RELATIONAL CAPITAL
5, 6
Deep Listening and Strategic Listening Stances
A practical toolkit I created to help you plan for and engage in productive conversations with colleagues and other stakeholders.
PART 3
: COMPLEX CHANGE
10
Group Dynamic Temperature Checks
Visual thermometers that allow you to diagnose and respond to positive and negative group dynamics.
10
Experiential Learning Cycle
My favorite framework for designing great adult learning experiences; based on the work of John Heron.
Part 1: Awareness outlines the essential bodies of knowledge behind Listening Leadership, namely neuroscience, equity, and mindfulness.
Part 2: Relational Capital helps you apply your growing awareness to navigate the choppy waters of working with adults and across difference. We unpack the Six Stances of a Listening Leader, tactical approaches to building trust and capacity in others, and we examine powerful ways to listen to families and students.
Part 3: Complex Change sheds light on the nature of the living system that you lead—be that a team, school, or organization. We study the properties of complex change, distinguish technical problems from complex challenges, and learn to influence change without micromanaging people. We conclude with practical chapters on how to leverage listening routines as you design meetings and professional development, and concrete ways to grow and sustain a listening culture.
At the back of the book is a glossary of key terms and several appendices, which include a Listening Leadership rubric, and hands-on tools linked to content in various chapters. On my website, shanesafir.com/resources, you'll find additional downloadable tools.
Table I.1 is a quick reference guide to key frameworks you'll find within the book.
HOW TO READ THIS BOOK
I have a few suggestions for how to get the most out of this book:
Use the rubric.
I have included a Listening Leadership rubric in
Appendix A
for you to track and self-assess the competencies in the book. Feel free to use this as a prereading tool, section by section as you read, and/or as a postassessment.
Shrink the change.
This is one of my favorite phrases from the Heath brothers' book Switch. If you start to feel overwhelmed by the number of things that you could improve, take a deep breath. Then take 5 or 10 minutes to journal on this question: Where will I get started? What is one leadership skill or stance that I want to work on? Trust that a small change can have far-reaching implications.
Set a reading intention.
Ask yourself before you dive in: What do I want to learn, and how do I want to grow as a leader? What are the challenges and dilemmas that keep me up at night? What would wild success look like for me as a leader?
Challenge your inner self-critic.
As you read the stories in this book, you may recognize your own missteps from time to time. Facing our leadership gaps can be sensitive, but I encourage you to notice your discomfort and stay curious. More important, hold a growth mindset with respect to your own leadership. Your work is incredibly complex. The book is here to help you reflect and grow.
Highlight and annotate.
There is a lot of content in this book. As you move through it, highlight the pieces that stand out to you. Jot a note in the margins to remind yourself why a passage resonated or to ask a question that it surfaced. Interact with the text as if it were a quiet coach—a guide-by-your-side helping you become the leader you want to be.
Form a study group.
What other leaders do you know who are struggling with issues similar to yours? Can you create a learning network of colleagues with whom to read and discuss the ideas in the text? This could look as informal as a happy-hour chat about a particular chapter, or as formal as an ongoing study group with peers.
Practice, practice, reflect. Rinse and repeat.
The Listening Leader
is full of provocative ideas and frames that might jolt you into new ways of seeing your work. I've also baked in many practical examples and tools. Give yourself permission to try out a new move or strategy that might feel awkward at first. You might even say to your team, “I read about a strategy that I want to try out today. It might feel a little awkward, but go with me here for a minute!” As you practice, you'll form deeper and deeper grooves in your brain until suddenly, you will have mastered a new skill. Play with the ideas and make time to reflect on how your experiments go.
ANONYMITY AND PSEUDONYMS
To safeguard the privacy of leaders I have coached or collaborated with, as well as the institutions in which they work, I have altered most names and identity features. A notable exception is in Chapter 10, which pivots around a meeting at JJSE and for which I have permission to use participants' real names. Note that every story in this book is real, stemming either from my personal experience or from interviews with colleagues.
NOTES
1
. PICO stands for the Pacific Institute for Community Organizing (
http://www.piconetwork.org/
), a national network of faith-based organizations working toward creative solutions to challenges facing urban, suburban, and rural communities.
2
. Adapted from Weissglass, J. (1990). Constructivist listening for empowerment and change.
Educational Forum, 54,
351–370.
3
. Gardner, H. E., & Laskin, E. (2011).
Leading minds: An anatomy of leadership
. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 9.
Chapter 1The Transformative Power of Listening
Preview: Listening is the gateway to equitable school transformation. The “test-and-punish” era created a culture of compliance that made it difficult to hear parent, student, and staff voices. Listening Leadership offers a simple yet groundbreaking way of being and leading.
This chapter is designed to help you:
Consider the impact of the testing era on educational leadership.
Compare and contrast common leadership archetypes.
Gain a practical tool for shifting school conversations toward equity.
Explore critical challenges that listening addresses.
LEARNING TO LISTEN
When I arrived as a school coach in fall 2009, the Arts Academy was in disarray. A year before, the district had appointed a new principal named Lauren to tackle declining test scores and parent concerns at this racially and economically diverse middle school. During her first month on the job, Lauren had made sweeping changes, including dismantling a signature arts program, without consulting any of the staff. According to one veteran teacher, “The arts program was our whole identity as a school. It allowed struggling students to become successful through the arts, and she chopped it up into a horribly watered-down version. She didn't consult with teachers on a lot of decisions that affected us.” In short, the leader had failed to listen.
Her purpose made sense: She hoped to close the school's achievement gap by increasing instructional math and English language arts instructional time for students. But her process alienated the staff and diminished the value of the arts to the school's identity. Veteran teachers felt particularly disrespected, and in the spring of Lauren's first year, they organized a vote of no confidence in her leadership. Soon after, the assistant superintendent brought me in as a coach to help her repair this contentious relationship.
In our early conversations, Lauren seemed puzzled. A first-time principal but a longtime district teacher, she had arrived with a clear vision for the school and felt she had begun to implement it. She couldn't understand why the staff had chosen to publicly humiliate her. For the next few months, I held one-on-one sessions with her, as well as what felt like educator group therapy sessions with her and a cadre of teachers we came to call the Veteran Seven. The union president, a remarkable woman, participated in these meetings as a listener and cofacilitator.
