Leadership Research: Vol 07, No 1. (2016)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10613/3108

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    Look out look in: social emotional challenges teaching In the Northern Arctic: an autoethnography
    (Electronic version published by Vancouver Island University, 2015) Chen, Tina; Moll, Rachel
    This study used the research method of an autoethnography to reflect on the life of a beginning educator living, teaching and surviving in the Northern Arctic. This study explores the social emotional challenges that a beginner teacher went through after she had left the familiarity of life in British Columbia. In this study, a beginner teacher went into the beautiful and unknown territory of Nunavut to explore and develop her inner self. Through her experiences teaching in the North, she was able to use an autoethnographic lens to deeply reflect on her teaching practices, life style choices and eventually come out of this experience with a positive, rich and meaningful perspective. This beginner teacher was able to look out into the world, in order to look in within her soul to know herself on a deeper and more truthful way.
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    Digital citizenship: student perceptions of the effectiveness of a digital citizenship intervention
    (Electronic version published by Vancouver Island University, 2016) SSM; Moll, Rachel
    The impact of a school-wide digital citizenship intervention using a cyber media expert at raising student awareness of 8 key online behaviours was investigated by using a mixed methods exploratory approach. A survey (n=20) collecting both quantitative and qualitative data was distributed to all grade 9 students from one middle school in the Comox Valley, School District 71. The response rate was 29%. After current literature was reviewed, a Likert-scale survey was created to identify effectiveness at raising digital citizenship awareness of 8 key online behaviours involving: privacy settings, chat rooms, instant messaging, SMS/MMS texting, cellular phone/smart phone privacy, social networking platforms, cyberbullying/digital peer aggression, and reporting procedures. The survey also consisted of two open-ended questions which were used to elicit longer responses for feedback on what students would immediately change after attending the intervention and feedback on what online topics students would want more information on in future interventions. The results of this study suggest that a school-wide intervention was effective at raising student awareness about digital citizenship. Gender did not play a significant difference among the majority of the online behaviours. Results to the open ended questions indicated that students were willing to take action to keep themselves safe online and provided suggestions for future interventions. In addition, future suggestions for research and implications for policy and practice in schools were discussed to prepare both educators and students for this digital era.
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    Culture of learning: a self-study
    (Electronic version published by Vancouver Island University, 2016) Kitching, Jill; Moll, Rachel
    The purpose of this self-study was for the researcher to discover how beliefs about learning impact how assessment for learning practices are implemented in a classroom. In seeking to inform the study and her practice, the researcher examined the literature in the areas of assessment for learning, growth mindset and language through the lens of her research question: As a classroom teacher, how do my conversations about assessment and the assessment tools that I use reflect my beliefs about assessment for learning and growth mindset? The researcher’s sources of data were her researcher journal reflections, self-designed assessment tools and audio recordings of classroom talk. The analysis of this data resulted in three themes: accountability of students, mistake making and the student-teacher learning relationship. The researcher concluded there were three insights into these themes: the spirit of assessment for learning requires belief and practice to be aligned, classroom decisions around assessment need to be based on student best interests and teachers need to be intentional and explicit about their actions and classroom practices.
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    Discovering grit: getting gritty about making students grittier
    (Electronic version published by Vancouver Island University, 2016) Dyer, Jelena; Moll, Rachel
    Teachers have long wondered about what makes some students successful when others are not? They have experienced frustration when watching a student who is clearly intelligent – flounder and give up too easily. This paper seeks to find out what experiences make gritty students turn into gritty, successful adults. Angela Duckworth defines grit as, “Passion and perseverance to achieve very long-term goals.” (Duckworth, 2013) This study used the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) and compared it against qualities discovered in the themes threaded throughout the literature concerning modern grit research. The five qualities this study sought to connect with grit were: belonging, ability, personal value, influence and growth mindset. The self-report survey completed by 241 participants, found that the perceived qualities of belonging and ability, and the mindset known as growth-mindset had a moderate effect on grittiness. The study found that a person’s perception on their own value and their ability to influence their own lives had a positive impact on their grit level. In the final chapter the researcher made some recommendations as to how teachers can apply the knowledge gained from this research into best teaching practice.
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    Distributed leadership and the leader: designing a professional development course for private school principals of Calcutta, India
    (Electronic version published by Vancouver Island University, 2016) Kaur, Kuljit; Moll, Rachel
    This research project was prepared to explore the role of a leader in distributed leadership setting with an intention to prepare a Professional Development Course for principals of private schools of Calcutta. The course was based on the model of distributed leadership which I had prepared on the basis of the extensive research in the field of distributed leadership. The hierarchical leadership style that I had experienced as a teacher was the driving force behind the research project. In fact, it is believed that this course would be helpful in providing answers to the adverse effects of autocratic leadership style that I had experienced. It is believed that it would be helpful to provide a new window to the school principals to learn about (a) a new leadership style and (b) implementing the model of distributed leadership as per the needs of their respective schools with a view to bringing about overall school improvement.