February Leadership:Making Coherence

MTL MeetingFebruary 2010

Pandora BedfordAstrid FossumLaura MalyCynthia Rodriguez

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0314898. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Learning Intentions:

To understand the benefits of creating productive disturbances

To recognize that effective leaders bring coherence with the strategies being implemented

Success Criteria

By the end of this session, you will be able to design a professional development experience that aligns the math strategies that appropriately creates disturbance or makes coherence.

Creating Disturbance

“Equilibrium is a precursor to death. When a living system is in a state of equilibrium, it is less responsive to changes occurring around it. This places it at maximum risk.” (Fullan p.160)

Creating Disturbance

“Living systems cannot be directed along a linear path. Unforeseen consequences are inevitable. The challenge is to disturb them in a manner that approximates the desired outcome.” (Fullan p.160)

Creating Disturbance

“Productive disturbance is likely to happen when it is guided by moral purpose and when the process creates and channels new tensions while working on a complex problem.” (Fullan p.161)

Creating Disturbance

“You can’t get there from here without amplifying and working through the discomfort of disturbances. With change there will be disturbance, and this means that there will be differences of opinion that must be reconciled. Effective leadership is guiding people through the differences; in fact, it is enabling differences to surface.” (Fullan p.164)

Key Points About Creating Disturbance

Read page 170.

In your notebook, record your reactions to the key points in relation to your role as MTL.

Making Connections

Think/Pair/Share

Is any part of your school culture in a state of equilibrium or complacency?

If so, what might be done to disturb the system toward a desired outcome? What would this entail?

Making Coherence

“Saying that disturbance is a good thing does not mean that coherence is not. Just the opposite is the case: unsettling processes provide the best route to greater all-around coherence.” (Fullan p.167)

Making Coherence

“Making coherence includes aligning policies and coordinating strategies for changing directions, assessment, professional development, and so on.” (Fullan p.166)

Making Coherence

“Everyone knows that the job of making coherence is never ending and is everyone’s responsibility. If people are not contributing to solutions, their inaction is more likely to stand out.” (Fullan p.168)

Key Points About Making Coherence

Read pages 174-175.

In your notebook, record your reactions to the key points in relation to your role as MTL.

Making Connections

Think/Pair/Share

Is there shared commitment to selected ideas and paths of action in your department or organization?

If so, how was it generated?

If not, what is the problem, and how might it be corrected?

Assignment Review

You were asked to bring back a written description of a meeting or professional development session that you facilitated at your school to encourage the creation and sharing of both explicit and tacit knowledge.

Assignment Review cont.

With a partner, discuss your responses to the following questions:

How did you encourage the creation and sharing of both explicit and tacit knowledge?

What was the moral purpose guiding the session?

Did you either create disturbance or make coherence? Why or why not?

“This moral purpose-outcome combination won’t work if we don’t respect the messiness of the process required to identify best solutions and generate internal commitment from the majority of organizational members.”

(Fullan p.168)

“Living with change means simultaneously letting go and reining in.” (Fullan p.159)

“Complexity keeps people on the edge of chaos. It is important to be on that edge because that is where creativity resides, but anarchy lurks there too.”

(Fullan p.166)

A Framework for Leadership

Michael Fullan, Leading in a Culture of Change, 2004

March Assignment:

Continue to work on your personal leadership goal.

On the framework provided, record one action step that you will take in the next month (in the center circle).

In every other section of the framework, reflect on how your action step supports that specific component.

Learning Intentions:

To understand the benefits of creating productive disturbances

To recognize that effective leaders bring coherence with the strategies being implemented

Success Criteria

By the end of this session, you will be able to design a professional development experience that aligns the math strategies that appropriately creates disturbance or makes coherence.

Feedback Question

What are the challenges and concerns that you are facing as you make connections with the components of Fullan’s Framework in your role as MTL?