In our district, every educational leader pursues a leadership inquiry. It’s a way to investigate an area of leadership where you want to learn more. That said, it’s not just “pick a topic”! The inquiry must be rooted in continuous learning improvement, which means based on educator learning need, which is, in turn, driven by student learning need. This is difficult work, and one of the most challenging aspects is landing on an inquiry that is meaningful and practical.
Our work has been largely informed by Steven Katz‘s research. The tools we use are intentional interruptions to ways of thinking, such as an inquiry template and a learning conversation protocol. They interrupt that thinking so we can do some real learning.
The leadership inquiry also represents a small slice of our work. In other words, it’s not the whole job crammed into a learning template. The inquiry is a series of small learning moves that help a leader reflect on how they influence others.
In the interests of transparency, you can view my leadership inquiry here. As I often say to the leaders I work with, it’s an example, not an exemplar. But it gives a flavour of the intense thinking and reflection that I go through with small learning moves. Let me know if you have any questions!
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