Presentations
Need some talking-points for presenting what you learned at this year's Parents as Leaders workshops?
- Download a 1-page summary of the main points from the 2011 PAL workshop!
Session 1 (Feb. 26) – Cross Cultural Leadership Development
We began by identifying the common aspirations and very different perspectives parents bring to their interactions with the educational system. Presenters Diane Burbie and Monicka Guevara emphasized the importance of approaching each cross-cultural interaction with awareness, skill, and confidence, and proceeded to outline seven key elements of cultural competence that leaders need to be effective. We looked at how individuals approach group situations with different expectations and levels of trust, and considered how leaders' awareness of these differences is key to building the trust necessary for a group to accomplish its work. We spent time discussing the use of coping strategies, clarifying questions, and recovery steps, and each participant was encouraged to choose a couple of specific skills to start putting into practice during the next few weeks.
Download cross-cultural leadership presenter Diane Burbie's Powerpoint presentation.
Download a powerpoint presentation you can adapt for making a presentation at your school
Download "From Workshop to Action – Bringing the Conversation back to Your School"
Session 2 (Mar. 12) – Parent-School Partnership
We began our second session by asking participants to think about why they wanted to develop their leadership skills, how they hoped this would help their schools. After brainstorming ideas for solutions to a range of parent involvement challenges, we heard from different presenters on the following topics: leading effective meetings; understanding student achievement data; and District and school budgets.
Leading effective meetings – District staff shared the "Facilitative Leadership" model they are using and training school administrators to use. Note: the "FL" presentation materials were developed by Interaction Associates, LLC, and the District does not have permission to post these copyrighted materials without permission. PEN is seeking guidance from the District as to how we might share the basic concepts with parent leaders throughout the District. Briefly, the presentation covered the following topics:
- Seven practices of facilitative leadership: share inspiring vision; focus on process and relationships as well as results; seek maximum appropriate involvement; create pathways to action; facilitate agreement; coach for performance; and celebrate accomplishment.
- Sustained change requires a three-dimensional concept of success that takes into account process and relationships as well as results.
- Take the time to PLAN meetings, including thinking about who the stakeholders are (whose interests must be represented?); the desired outcome of the meeting; the decision-making method(s) to be used, including the appropriate level of involvement from various stakeholders; who will play what roles in facilitating the meeting; and what are the ground rules?
- "Intervention" strategies for keeping a meeting on track include: being clear about the process and desired outcomes, re-focusing participants as needed; checking in with the group if something doesn't seem to be working – using humor (but not at another person's expense!) if necessary to relieve tension; responding to a challenge with a question back to the individual who raised it or to the group; acknowledging concerns or issues that threaten to pull focus, perhaps noting them as issues to be dealt with at the next meeting or in a different forum.
- "Open / Narrow / Close" approach to reaching agreement. The "ONC" model offers a range of tools from offering a specific proposal to wide-open brainstorming as a starting point, followed by a set of tools for narrowing options and making a decision.
Understanding Student Achievement Data (powerpoint). – presented by Kim Kenne (parent, former DAC-leader, and School Board member-elect).
Overview of District & School Budgeting (powerpoint) – presented by Dr. Meg Abrahamson (PUSD Director of Student Support Services)
Attendees
