Recommended Reading

Learning from Lincoln:  Leadership Practices for School Success
by Harvey Alvy and Pam Robbins

LearningfromLincoln.jpgAs a collector of books about Abraham Lincoln, I was delighted when this month's ASCD selection was about our 16th President.  Couple that with the fact that one of my latest areas of research is the power of leadership in the school setting, and you can see why I was so excited at its arrival.   I dug in immediately and began reading!

Ten leadership qualities and skills are discussed in this book.  Each is brought to life with amazing stories, memorable writings and famous speeches of Abraham Lincoln.  When examined through the light of these ten skills, the reader sees clearly why Abraham Lincoln is one of the most renowned leaders of all time.  We have much to learn by studying his words and actions.

"Lincoln's life and leadership provide profound examples and lessons for school principals, teacher leaders, district leaders, and other individuals with leadership responsibilities,"  point out the authors.  The ten leadership qualities and skills are important for school leaders and have direct application for our day-to-day jobs.   We all have shared leadership roles in making our schools the optimum learning environment for our students!

On a side note, this school year 68 leadership teams of principals and lead teachers- some from Great Expectations Model  Schools and some from OKCPS schools on that GE journey- are taking part in Great Expectations Leadership Training.  We will, no doubt, be discussing this book during future training sessions!  I encourage anyone who cares about young people and their educational settings to read Learning from Lincoln: Leadership Practices for School Success as a tool for self-examination as well as inspiration.


The Director's Column for February, 2010

Greetings from the Great Expectations office in beautiful Tahlequah, Oklahoma. I believe this winter has been a challenging one with all the snow and ice that has fallen. I know many of you have suffered with the loss of electrical power and my thoughts are with you.

The classroom practice I am focusing on this month is Practice #8 which states:

“Enriched vocabulary is evident and is drawn directly from challenging writings and/or wisdom literature. Sources should include classic literature, myths, fables, poetry, proverbs, quotes, and other genres.”

This practice is important for the following reasons:

  1. Challenging vocabulary activities increase the love of language.
  2. New vocabulary enhances dialogue and enables students to communicate more effectively.
  3. Vocabulary from challenging literature is rich and fresh, making it exciting for students.
  4. Enriched vocabulary and interesting literature provide novelty for the brain.
  5. Great literature introduces readers to many different genres (poetry, fiction, autobiographies, folk tales, plays, essays, etc.)
  6. Character-building literature enriches students’ vocabulary and expands their horizons.
  7. Literature-rich content stimulates imagination and helps students discover their expanding world, and provides new ways to look at life’s changes.
  8. Analysis of wisdom literature involves thinking and feeling and allows students to make connections between themselves and the characters in the story.
  9. Making connections is vitally important to learning. The use of quality written works can provide anticipatory sets that help students connect with real life situations.
  10. Diverse literature allows students to experience cultural literacy.
  11. Diverse literature introduces students to great authors.
  12. Immersion in literature can lead to a life-long love of reading and learning, which increases future opportunities.
  13. Enriched vocabulary can build self-esteem in students, and high self-esteem increases academic potential.

     

The following “How To’s” for implementation will help you successfully integrate this practice:

  1. Select meaningful literature, character-building poetry, myths, and fables from various cultures as content for reading lessons.
  2. Use excerpts from wisdom literature to set the “stage” for new topics.
  3. Introduce authors and discuss how their writings relate to real life.
  4. Develop a classroom library that students can use.
  5. Allow students to create their own form of book reports.

     

The successful implementation of this practice will “look like” and “sound like” the following:

  1. Teachers and students use enriched vocabulary drawn directly from challenging writings and/or wisdom literature.
  2. Teachers use visual displays and word walls that include enriched vocabulary drawn directly from challenging writings and/or wisdom literature.

 

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