Listening to Influence

I have mentioned Kevin Eikenberry in other postings. He is truly one of my favorite mentors when it comes to leadership. I have spent a considerable amount of time reading about the power of influence and how to influence others to accomplish our Esperanza goals. Therefore, when a recent article from Kevin was titled To Listen is to Influence it caught my attention.

Kevin included in his article a Chinese proverb: To listen well is as powerful a means to influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversations. Therefore, it would behoove all of us to think about the strategies we can employ to sharpen our listening skills.

Teachers who listen better to their students and their students' families will gain invaluable insights and thus, be better teachers. Esperanza administrators who listen to students, families, teachers/staff, and community members and respond accordingly will be more effective adminstrators. Esperanza Board members who listen to each other and to the school's administrators will be in a better position to meet the needs of the school to better serve the students.

It is amazing how valued a good listener is--probably because it is such a rare commodity. It is our desire to make being a good listener part of Esperanza's school culture.

Learning About Teacher Evaluations

An Esperanza Board member, Suzi Ramos, and I went to the Charter School Conference dinner last night and then Carmen Thompson, another Esperanza Board member, joined Suzi and me for the conference sessions today. All of the sessions were helpful, but my favorite session was the one titled "Conducting Effective Teacher Evaluations" presented by Dr. Joe Heywood. There were some points I especially want to remember:

• Answer the question: Why do we evaluate?



• Answer the question: What do we want the outcome of evaluation to be?



• Have the purpose of evaluation be "Wonderful growth!" rather than "Gotcha!"



• Create a Professional Development Plan with teacher evaluation: 1) Goals, 2) Conferences, 3) Trainings, 4) Peer Interactions (Projects, lessons, etc. in collaboration with other teachers) and mentoring beyond 3 years and sharing knowledge, 5) Observations



• Use multiple observation tools such as a running log with marginal notes and interview questions.



• A good administrator nurtures the growth of his/her teachers by 1) providing strong professional development opportunities, 2) work closely with teachers to improve teaching ability, and 3) care enough about each teacher as a person and a colleague.

Our attendance at the conference would have been worth it if this were the only session we attended. Many thanks to Dr. Heywood for sharing!