August 19th, 2017
21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM
Unlocking leadership potential
MRUSD learns how to provide opportunities for students
By JOAN CAVALLO
Special to the Messenger
ST. ALBANS — Two days of experiential learning were provided for a team from Maple Run Unified School District (MRUSD) on unlocking the leadership potential of all students.
This experience was facilitated by the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) and sponsored by the Vermont Principals Association (VPA). The MRUSD team, Sarah Biggie, Mary Brouillette, John Cioffi, Shannon Warden and Joan Cavallo worked together and with teams from three other schools in the State to learn the tools and skills presented, and think about how these can support Vermont public schools and the transferable skills.
CCL has created a set of Leadership Essentials, that they use when working with adults. CCL has been offering the Martha Waddington Leadership Initiative to Vermont School leaders over the last year, with plans to continue well into the future.
This is being done by a gift that Martha Waddington left to CCL to serve Vermont Leaders. They are now exploring, with pilot schools, how these essentials can be used to bring out the leadership in every student.
For our two days together, we explored the concept of each essential, and then experienced the skill in action. It was nice to be able to be a learner in a group of other leaders as learners. To model this in our schools for colleagues and students, we need a deep understanding, which was part of the goal of this time together.
At the end of the two days we created our plan to bring this back to our Unified District, and become a pilot for this work. We felt that the learning we had experienced was powerful and truly fit with what we want for our students. John Cioffi commented, “Our goal is to build students into productive community members, leadership is part of that.”
Shannon Warden added, “The best way to build leadership capacity for our students is for us to model it.” As a group we were energized, and already thinking about how to bring the ideas back informally before we even started to work on our unified plan.
After sharing our plan with Joel Wright and Preston Yarborough, the CCL leaders that supported us through the two day process and will support our district in this journey, we felt confident that we are on the right track to be a pilot district. This work will help to show students their potential as leaders of themselves, others and positive change in their world. We will share more with our community as we go through our journey. -- Joan Cavallo is the principal at St. Albans City School
Unlocking leadership potential
MRUSD learns how to provide opportunities for students
By JOAN CAVALLO
Special to the Messenger
ST. ALBANS — Two days of experiential learning were provided for a team from Maple Run Unified School District (MRUSD) on unlocking the leadership potential of all students.
This experience was facilitated by the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) and sponsored by the Vermont Principals Association (VPA). The MRUSD team, Sarah Biggie, Mary Brouillette, John Cioffi, Shannon Warden and Joan Cavallo worked together and with teams from three other schools in the State to learn the tools and skills presented, and think about how these can support Vermont public schools and the transferable skills.
CCL has created a set of Leadership Essentials, that they use when working with adults. CCL has been offering the Martha Waddington Leadership Initiative to Vermont School leaders over the last year, with plans to continue well into the future.
This is being done by a gift that Martha Waddington left to CCL to serve Vermont Leaders. They are now exploring, with pilot schools, how these essentials can be used to bring out the leadership in every student.
For our two days together, we explored the concept of each essential, and then experienced the skill in action. It was nice to be able to be a learner in a group of other leaders as learners. To model this in our schools for colleagues and students, we need a deep understanding, which was part of the goal of this time together.
At the end of the two days we created our plan to bring this back to our Unified District, and become a pilot for this work. We felt that the learning we had experienced was powerful and truly fit with what we want for our students. John Cioffi commented, “Our goal is to build students into productive community members, leadership is part of that.”
Shannon Warden added, “The best way to build leadership capacity for our students is for us to model it.” As a group we were energized, and already thinking about how to bring the ideas back informally before we even started to work on our unified plan.
After sharing our plan with Joel Wright and Preston Yarborough, the CCL leaders that supported us through the two day process and will support our district in this journey, we felt confident that we are on the right track to be a pilot district. This work will help to show students their potential as leaders of themselves, others and positive change in their world. We will share more with our community as we go through our journey. -- Joan Cavallo is the principal at St. Albans City School