Download Shaping Positive School Cultures for the 21st Century

Shaping Positive School
Cultures for the 21st Century
2008
Dr. Kent D. Peterson
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1025 W. Johnson Street
Madison, WI 53706
[email protected]
Dear Diary,
Please allow every teacher to realize what awesome power
they hold in their hands and that they are the doors through
which whole new worlds of possibility can open for their
students. That by understanding students, day to day, and
not judging them or shutting out the many opportunities for
their success teachers can, and often do, make all the
difference.
Sandi Redenbach (Diary of a Dropout)
We can talk or dream about
the glorious schools of the
future or we can create them.
Marilyn Ferguson
“Effective leaders know that the
hard work of reculturing is the sine
qua non of progress.” (Fullan,
2001, p.44).
Culture and Effectiveness
“At a deeper level, all organizations,
especially schools, improve performance by
fostering a shared system of norms folkways,
values, and traditions. These infuse the
enterprise with passion, purpose, and a
sense of spirit. Without a strong, positive
culture, schools flounder and die.”
(Peterson and Deal, 2002, p. 7)
Culture is a Powerful
Force
School culture influences
how people think, feel, and act.
Culture is a key determinant of staff
focus, commitment, motivation, and
productivity.
Elements of Culture
• Norms, Values and Beliefs that underlie thinking,
feeling and acting
• Symbols and Artifacts that Communicate
Meaning
• Stories that Herald Values
• Cultural Network
• Heroes and Heroines
• Rituals, Traditions, and Ceremonies
• “Culture is “the way we do things around here!”
Elements of Toxic Cultures
• Negative Values and beliefs hold sway in toxic
cultures.
• Sense of purpose is spiritually fragmented.
• Relationships are negative and destructive.
• The cultural network’s most powerful members
negaholics (Carter-Scott, 1989)
• The only heroes are anti-heroic.
• Few positive rituals, traditions, or ceremonies
exist to develop a sense of community and
hopefulness.
Deal and Peterson (1999).
Culture is a powerful force that exists in any
organization in which people share some history.
It develops as people work together, solve
problems, cope with conflicts, achieve
successes, and deal with tragedy.
(Schein, 1985; Deal and Peterson,1999)
Key Roles of Cultural
Leaders
READ the Culture
Historian and Anthropologist
ASSESS the Culture
Analyst and Evaluator
REINFORCE or TRANSFORM the Culture
Visionary, Symbol, Potter, Poet, Actor, and Healer
(Deal and Peterson, 1994; 1999)
Ways of Reading Your Culture...
•Conduct a school history.
•List Six Adjectives to describe your school.
•Think of a song that depicts your culture.
•Create a metaphor… If my school were an animal,
it would be a _______
because_________________________.
•Interview a school’s storytellers.
Conduct a History of the
School
• Divide into groups representing the
decades one arrived in the school.
• Discuss the major educational events
that shaped the culture of the school
during that decade.
• See possible historical elements to
include.
Topics to Consider in the
School History
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Major educational and other events
Key formal and informal leaders
Curriculum, instruction, assessment
Types of educational technology
Students and community characteristics
Key successes, challenges, crises
Rituals, traditions, and ceremonies
People, personalities, and relationships
Any unique events that shaped the decade
Clothing, hairstyles and music of the decade
Ways of Reading Your Culture...
•Conduct a school history.
•List Six Adjectives to describe your school.
•Think of a song that depicts your culture.
•Create a metaphor… If my school were an animal,
it would be a _______
because_________________________.
•Interview a school’s storytellers.
Vision and Mission
an image of a desired state of affairs
that inspires action, determines
behavior, and fuels motivation.
Charles Garfield
(Peak Performers)
The Importance of Vision
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Vision focuses attention
Vision inspires the heart
Vision directs action
Vision reinforces meaning and purpose
(Bennis and Nanus; Peterson)
Vision, Mission, and
Culture
• What are the core values of the culture?
• Can you identify the shared purposes in the
culture?
• What is the culture’s hoped for future?
• Is the vision and mission embedded in the
culture?
Shaping Positive
Cultures
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Work with the informal network
Recount stories and history
Role model core norms and values
Use symbols and artifacts
Communicate core values in your actions
Use ceremonies and celebrations to
recognize accomplishments
Informal Network
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Gossips
Spies, Counterspies, Moles
Storytellers
Heroes and heroines
“ Keepers of the Dream “
Toxic Informal Network
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Pessimistic Storytellers
Rumor Mongers
“Keepers of the Nightmare”
Negaholics and Naysayers
Prima Donnas-Prima Donalds
Space Cadets
Martyrs
Deadwood, Driftwood, Ballast
Saboteurs
The Importance of
Ceremonies and Celebrations
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Reinforce Values
Build Culture and Community
Recharge Motivation
Communicate Purpose
Celebrate Success
Types of Celebrations
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Beginning of Year
Fall Solstice
Ethnic Events
Battle Preparations
Retirements
End-of-Year
Large and Small Accomplishments and Actions
Elements of Ceremonies
Map Your Ceremonies and
Celebrations over the Year
Conduct an Educational
Garage Sale
• Decide what in the school should be sorted into
different places
• Consider what you want to keep, store, repair,
and discard
• You will place aspects of the school in five
different stations
• The stations are: Museum, Not-For-Sale, Repair
Shop, Garbage Can, Toxic Waste Hauler
Museum
Place items that have served the
school well, but need to be “retired” to a
valued place of honor.
Not-For-Sale
These features of the school are some
of the best things going on and are
important to keep and celebrate.
Repair Shop
These are aspects of the school that
need some repair, fine-tuning, or
improvement.
Garbage Can
These are items that need to be thrown
out. They no longer serve the good to
the school.
Toxic Waste Hauler
These are negative, hostile, or toxic
aspects of the school that take special
handling. These need to be discarded
carefully!
Culture Shaping Roles
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Anthropologist
Historian
Visionary
Symbol
Potter
Poet
Actor
Healer
(Deal and Peterson, 1999)
Looking to the Future
After Today
• 1 Behavior Reinforced
• 2 Things Learned you want to share
• 3 Things to Do when you Return
“Teachers usually have no way of knowing that
they have made a difference in a child’s life,
even when they have made a dramatic one…
Good teachers put snags in the river of
children passing by, and, over the years, they
redirect hundreds of lives…
[Great schools are] made up of people who
can never really know the good they have
done.”
Kidder (1989): Among Schoolchildren
Resources and Research
Research on Organizational
Culture
Effective Schools Research
(Edmonds;Brookover; Lezotte)
Shaping School Culture (Deal and Peterson)
School Reform Literature (Fullan)
Professional Learning Communities (DuFour;
Louis; Kruse)
Good to Great (Collins)
Balanced Leadership (Marzano et al)
Execution (Bossidy et al)
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Elements of Positive, Successful
Cultures
a mission focused on student and teacher learning
a rich sense of history and purpose
core values of collegiality, performance, and improvement that
engender quality, achievement, and learning for everyone
positive beliefs and assumptions about the potential of students and
staff to learn and grow
a strong professional community that uses knowledge, experience, and
research to improve practice
an informal network that fosters positive communication flows
leadership that balances continuity and improvement
rituals and ceremonies that reinforce core cultural values
stories that celebrate successes and recognize heroines and heroes
a physical environment that symbolizes joy and pride
a widely shared sense of respect and caring for everyone
Source: Shaping School Culture: The Heart of Leadership (1999). Terrence Deal and Kent Peterson, San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.