Mr. Chris Howes, gcLi Scholar ‘12, Dean of Student Life, Cushing Academy
Learning to Lead: The Art and Practice of Teaching Leadership was a workshop put on by a group of gcLi alumni in January 2017 through the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE). Although some had never met, what united the eight organizers was their shared experience at gcLi and their passion for developing cultures of student leadership. The group consisted of Chris Howes, Meg Stowe, Jess Matzkin, Danielle Llewelyn, Kate Wade, Laura Jalinskas, Sarah Wolf, and Josh Doyon.
The genesis of this workshop began a few years ago when I was involved in setting up a similar workshop through the Association of Independent Schools of Maryland. I felt it could easily be replicated and knew there would be a demand. As it turned out, while only advertised for one month, the group had over 70 participants sign-up for the event.
In preparing for the workshop, the group met monthly on Zoom to plan, prepare, and design the event. Jessica Matzkin from Thayer Academy noted, “It was inspiring to discuss and challenge each other on the different phases of student leadership—and then to really synthesize the information so we could share in a productive and meaningful way. We were reminded that schools are all over the place in defining their leadership programs and that they want guidance and resources.”
The intention of the design was to make the workshop as user friendly as possible. After a short keynote, the participants self-selected their first workshop group. These groups were designed for participants to determine the stage in which they felt their school was in its understanding of leadership programming. The following are the descriptions of the groups:
Are You a Tier 1 School?
- There is no existing leadership program at your school or it is still in the conceptual stages.
- There is no formal structure supporting a leadership program.
- You are still discovering who your partners and your resources are in this work.
Framing Questions: How can you link the mission of your school to a new leadership program? What resources do you have already at hand? Who are your allies? What would a small step or easy success be as you move toward formalizing a program?
Take-Aways: You will have a greater sense of your leadership plan that aligns with your school’s mission while creating a shared language around leadership. You will identify the resources for implementing this plan, and gain an understanding of first steps.
Are You a Tier 2 School?
- Some clearly articulated leadership programs are happening but they’re adult driven (for instance a captains’ retreat).
- Students are educated on leadership styles and skills, but have not yet taken the initiative to implement change.
- There are bright spots of student leadership but not a critical mass of students individually.
- A leadership language is partially articulated, but not all adults and students are aware.
Framing Questions: Are there adults in your community who are passionate about leadership and are engaging with students to build leadership skills?
Take-Aways: You will articulate your strengths within Tiers 1-2 so that you can recognize the work and resources needed to progress to the student-centric models of Tiers 3 and 4.
Are You a Tier 3 School?
- Leadership roles are defined and evidence of a focus on leadership is present.
- Multiple opportunities for leadership exists, but there is no strategic connection to pedagogy, mission, and values.
- Despite an established culture of leadership, efforts may be compromised if specific individuals leave the school.
Framing Questions: What frameworks for supporting leadership development are in place and how do they fit with your mission? Do you share a pedagogy for leadership across the divisions and departments, adults and students? What will it provide your students today and beyond?
Take-aways: You will recognize the importance of embedding leadership into your community while supporting its mission, vision, and culture. This group will share a framework that will equip you to facilitate the critical discussion necessary for developing a sustainable leadership pedagogy.
Are You a Tier 4 School?
- Embedded practices are infused into curricula and reliable programming exists such as a Student Leadership Retreat and Faculty Workshops.
- Intra-Community Partnerships are present. (Leadership for Inclusion, Leadership for Innovation, Leadership for Social Justice)
- You have student-led initiatives (wellness programming, Student Council influencers, active student voice).
- Alumni who have participated in the leadership culture of the school can return and be resources for further learning about leadership practice “out in the world.”
Framing Questions: Your school’s leadership program is built, but how does your school sustain it? How do you support the integration of positive leadership culture in all facets of school life without encountering leadership burn-out?
Take-aways: This group will share tactics and strategies for keeping the leadership work alive and well. We’ll brainstorm next steps, future partnerships, and share resources.
After the first workshop, participants were then shifted to new groups to share their own successes and failures in leadership programming. The idea behind this design was to model the importance of collaboration in leadership work and to demonstrate we are all doing work like this on a daily basis.
We closed the day as a full group by sharing what we learned, answering questions that remained, and noting what we wished to take away. Overall it was a successful day; we learned from each other and discovered the amazing things schools are doing around New England.
“We hope that our time together solidified connections that will allow all of these wonderful teachers and administrators to keep working together and to contribute to a shared bank of resources that we began to create during the workshop,” shared Sarah Wolf of Winsor School. “We are excited that AISNE wants us to offer this program again in the future, and we are working on ways to facilitate even more specific conversations to address the needs of schools at even more discrete levels.” We are grateful to the trust AISNE showed in our group and look forward to their continued support in the coming years.
Chris Howes is the Dean of Student Life at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts, a position he has held since 2014. Previously, Chris served as the Upper School Dean of Students at Severn School in Maryland. After attending the summer leadership lab in 2011, he returned as a gcLi Scholar in 2012. Chris has earned a graduate certificate in Independent School Leadership from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s in Social Sciences from Wesleyan University.