Fullan

Reading through the fullan exercises and answering the questions requires a great deal of honesty and soul searching. I chose to do the chapter on building relationships and found it extremely interesting. the section on emotional intelligence is particularly confronting as so many times in our interactions we do not necessarily think abou managing our own reactions and stresses.

I was horrified to see that it has been over a month since I posted a blog. I have been busy - alot of my thoughts are on paper s I read through the readings I tend to jot down what I think or bits that are important.
Assignment 1 is now finished and sent. I found it very useful to work with others for the first part of it as this is my first 'go' at study in over 12 years.
What did I learn?
I learnt that groups go through different stages before they become a team - forming - focusing performing. Our group went through these and with hindsight it was an interesting experience.
I learnt that a leader is not a manager, and that leading form the top down is not necessarily an effective strategy. I learnt that leader must have emotional intelligence in order to succeed. I define emotional intelligence as the ability to understand oneself as well as the ability to be empathetic (is that a word?) to others.
I believe that leading from within is reallly important. A leader does not have to know everything but they must have the ability to inspire and focus others t solve problems and effect change.
I realise that as a teacher librarian I am in a position to lead others and effect change. The difficulties are that in schools change is often effected' from the top' and there is little opportunity to plan and work with groups to plan things properly.