Our Intrepid Journey - Principalship 101

Today was a definite highlight for us...a trip to the Grand Canyon, made even more special with the company of Monica.  Whilst on our drive to the canyon I was privileged to podcast with her and listen to the stories of the educational and life journey of her family.  What a journey they have had!   While she spoke of her grandmother being taken as a child by the white man to a boarding school where she was abused and that she ran away from multiple times, I was taken straight to the TV spin-off of Yellowstone called '1923'.  When we see things on TV I often think, nah...it's overly dramatised for the screen, but Monica's story fits right in with the storyline told on that show.  She spoke of the trauma her people suffered over the years through colonisation and I drew many parallels between her people and indigenous people around the world.  I was fascinated to learn about the traditions that had been passed down to her through her ancestors and how s...

After rising to the glorious views of Monument Valley this morning we spent the day on the road to Flagstaff.  On our way we detoured to Chinle on the Navajo reservation to have a korero with Michelle Woody a teacher at Chinle Elementary School.  She teaches reading in grades 5&6.  It was interesting learning about what teachers teach at this level and how they teach it.  I had many questions about the 'standards' which they tested every two weeks and the curriculum.  My wonderings were about how the curriculum and the standards fit together...were they teaching to the test or to the curriculum.  With the many sites and documents she shared I was astounded by the amount of admin work that she did to monitor student's progress and check and recheck standards.  Michelle and her team had an obvious passion for the progress of the children they teach and listening to her speak about her students she obviously knew them and their families very well....

MICHELLE: Today we headed out bright and early to the Ak Chin reservation about an hour out of Phoenix City.  Driving through the res there were definite parallels for me with state housing areas in New Zealand in the 80s.  The houses all looked the same but the land is barren with no grass and very little foliage.  There were elements which reflected hardship and poverty but there was beauty in the rawness of the landscape.  We arrived at the Ak Chin Indian Community Education Centre and Library to meet with Dr Jeff Thornburg, the Education Director, and Stephanie, the Manager of the 'Head Start Programme' (preschool education center promoting native language learning).  Discussion was heavily focussed on the importance of language, identity and culture and the aspirations of language revitalisation and the barriers encountered on the journey of their people in this area.  The conversation was rich, informative and inspiring.  The barriers faced by th...

MICHELLE: After a good breakfast we worked a little on the blog and podcast set up.  We ran a dummy talanoa about our purpose behind this trip and what we hoped to take back to our schools.  We practiced recording, listening back to see if the structure of discussion was sharp, to the point - holding interest.  The blog is set up and profiles added...now all we need is a picture. We discussed how were are going to post the podcasts, when we were going to post them, how we would link them to the blog.  There's a lot more to it than just record and post, we need to work on our editing skills. We took a break from set up to head to Universal Studios (can't come to LA and not do a theme park!).  By about the 3rd ride, motion sickness set in so I pretty much spent the rest of our time there "people watching" with Nardi while Mary covered every inch of the park.  I was in awe of the studio tour and how clever film makers are at using a variety of sets and effects...

MICHELLE: The 12 hour flight was a little cramped and we all got some sleep...but not alot.   I was seated next to Greg from Antarctica on his way to Fresno.  He has been on the ice from October last year and works as a telecommunications specialist.  It was fascinating listening to his stories about life on the ice, growing up in New York, school life for him and what inspired him to get into telecommunications. With very little sleep we arrived round midday and after finding our rental car we headed to our hotel where we settled into our rooms and had a quick swim before dinner.  Before we left for dinner, we made our way downstairs in the hotel for 'happy hour' where we got to meet a few of the patrons and get a bit of a feel for the place.  People here are very friendly...maybe a tipping system helps! We decided on a little sight seeing and ventured out to the Santa Monica Pier for dinner at Bubba Gumps - delicious!  After dinner and a walk along t...

The news that all primary principals would be receiving a coaching and wellbeing support fund through the 2023-2025 collective agreement allowed principals to examine a range of options to develop their leadership through PLD that is tailored to their own individual needs.  Upon news of this funding, our emails were flooded with 1:1 coaching programmes, PLD workshops, wellbeing retreats and overseas conferences.  There have been many discussions across the sector for the 'proper' use of the fund, which when first released was heavily focussed on the well-being.   To a certain degree, this offering has caused added stress to some principals because the goalposts moved from wellbeing to professional learning.  Initially, there needed to be more clarity on what's appropriate and what isn't.  There were different expectations between the now two unions and an element of resentment between the allowances given with the fund. Through our Professional Growth Cycle...

After 12 months of talking about it, the Principal's Intrepid Journey is finally up and running.  This blog is an offshoot of the "Our Intrepid Journey: Principalship 101 podcast.  It is the story of leadership and principalship - who we are as leaders, what we're doing, why we're doing it and hopefully a wonderful resource of readings and conversations for all principals to tap into, whatever their needs or interests.   We are a trio of principals who gravitated together early in our principalships.  In very much a case of 'finding your people', each of us lead primary schools in similar communities, we catch up regularly and always bounce ideas, glean advice and information from, and often lean on each other when we need a shoulder.   Our careers in education span decades and we are still confounded by the constant fluidity of change and the immense amount of change happening at the same time.  Through our experiences in leadership and as princi...