Secret+Three---Capacity+Building+Prevails

Note I was reading this chapter the day before Obama discussed the school bill about no summer.....fear of losing what you like best...will it help you achieve?

This summary is challenging...until the TL part Fullan wants you to know that finding and incorporating talent into your organization is not that straight forward. If you find capacity building as simple as picking out the talent which pushes your company or goals, then your company might not grow past a sigular goal. Capacity building includes ideas about learning for life and how can we all do better. Fullan realizes that talent isn't fixed and people will want to be apart of a system if they are learning and improving themselves. It is important for people not to make short cuts to achieve their short-term goal, as the importance of the learning cannot be solely based on the goal itself. This connects with the next secret, reflection on the growth and the work involved holds as much merit as the goal. The talented person will not be happy just achieving a singular goal then leveling off at that plateau.

A new school will want to open with a group of talented employees and then build upon and enhance their effectiveness both individually and in a school system. The librarian though not hiring has a similar role. An effective librarian will recognize the most willing and able teachers for collaboration and then seek to bring them into a collaborative process with themselves to enhance student achievement. If the librarian manages these teachers well, shows the benefits of collaboration for their class, and has applied tools of effective collaboration, more teachers will join and the whole school will function on a higher, more productive level. Librarians have a unique position to be the largest capacity builders in the school system because they aren't administrators yet they are leaders with knowledge and understanding of all the school's goals. (curriculum and standards)

MELISSA: Yes, I can see this page. After reading Chapter 3 I think I can connect the idea of capacity building with chapter 2 of //Administering the School Library Media Center//. Chapter 2 talked about forging partnerships toward information literacy and the way in which the school librarian should assume a leadership role to foster communication, coordination, and collaboration. For example, in Fullan's book, he talks about the way a principal or administrator can hire a talented group of employees, and then must build upon and enhance their effectiveness both individually and in the school system. I see a librarian as having a similar role, in that an effective librarian will recognize the most willing and able teacher collaborators, and will seek to bring them into a collaborative process with the librarian to enhance student achievement. Then, if the librarian manages them well, shows them the benefits of collaboration for their own classrooms and a school as a whole, and gives them the tools to begin collaborating effectively and bringing other teachers into this collaborative system, the whole school will function on a higher, more productive level.
 * Great connection M! **

(57) the very start getting things done collectively and continuously (ever learning) I thin sometimes we as teachers might forget this....it is nice to have a project done, but really we will continue to build and reflect...I hope. (58) have you read the book __//Ish//__ ? this page can be summed up with a good children's read. Lincoln connection was a bit deep...is there an easier way to present? (60) It is not 'can any of us...quote... fear prevents acting on knowledge(60) (61) brings wonderment...getting people to cut corners to achieve short term goals is fraud in second paragraph...hmmm what about smart goals they are short term measurable will people cut corners to meet these? (63) people have built careers describing hill, measuring hill, taking pictures of hill....man are you thinking about consultants yet? Do they ever climb the hill? (67) the policies of high performers 1got more talented people to become teachers, 2. developed these teachers into better instructors...etc 3. more effectively insured instructors delivered the best possible instruction...quality of the education system can;t exceed the quality of the teachers (70-1) examples of developing leaders and leaders needing to be better connected as instructional leaders. Talent isn't fixed-unless you believe it is.....can't teach an old dogs new tricks (unless you believe you can?) Once you get good people in the door you better offer them something good (WOW).

NATALIE: Capacity building means suspending judgment. Allow staff to believe they will not get punished for taking risks-you can’t scare an employee into working harder. Capacity building: hire talented people and them help them develop individually and collectively on the job I was recently on the hiring committee for the hiring of my teammate (one-year temporary family leave for the other teacher-librarian). I hadn’t read this chapter yet, but I definitely had this in mind. It’s important to hire a talented person but also someone who sees the importance of growth and change and flexibility. It was evident with some of the candidates that were extremely talented and highly intelligent, but proved no room for change or personal growth. I agree with Melissa's comments-great connection in the teacher collaboration piece. We won't normally be in the position to capacity build through hiring as leaders, but we can do this through our involvement with working one-on-one with teachers.