By Jonas Jeswald, LL’12, gcLi Scholar ‘19, Head of Middle School, Germantown Academy (PA)
Towards the end of the final faculty meeting of gcLi Leadership Lab 2019, gcLi Founder Jim Carney looked at me and asked me to reflect on my experience as a Scholar, and specifically what I had observed this year in comparison to my prior gcLi experience as a participant in the summer of 2012. My response came easily: “gcLi has stayed true to the core of what it was when I attended: a profound experience that fundamentally changed my life’s journey, both personally and professionally. And at the same time, through the thoughtful changes and additions to the Lab group experience, the new faculty, and the addition of Dr. Steiner-Adair, it has become even better. I was humbled and honored to have been asked to return as a scholar.”
After the chimes rang to officially close gcLi LL 2012, I walked away from the closing circle inspired by “Crucible Moments” and the lessons of Dr. JoAnn Deak. This year, as a Scholar, I walked away inspired by the sixty participants and faculty who came ready to dive deeply into messy, complicated work that requires serious effort and significant self-discovery. Independent Schools are mission-driven, and gcLi is no different. The mission of gcLi is to educate teachers to teach leadership to students and, as in our schools, there is no roadmap, no “one” way to live this mission. As a Scholar, it struck me that the participants who took the most away from the gcLi experience quickly recognized the need to roll up their sleeves, and dive into the work. They went all in and appreciated the fact that in order to teach leadership to our students, we have to think of ourselves as leaders and model the leadership behaviors we want to see in them. To be successful, we must practice ourselves. It requires one to, as both Harvard professor and adaptive leadership guru Dr. Ronald Heifitz and gcLi faculty member Mike Pardee say, “learn while leading and lead while learning.” That is what was most impressive about the week. The amount of learning that happened during the week by the faculty from the participants was astounding, and the amount of leading that the participants did as they learned was stunning. I was lucky to spend a good chunk of the week with Dr. Ted Fish in his final year as Executive Director, and there is no one better at facilitating this. Our Lab Group was a study in how to lead and learn and learn and lead.
Every year I write a quote or saying on the bulletin board in my office. Typically, these are quotes that I look at every day, and they often reference what I believe will be core to the success of the current or upcoming school year. Thanks to the faculty and participants of gcLi Leadership Lab 2019, there are many bulletin board options for the upcoming school year, and I thought that I would share a few of the possibilities as I strive to continue to live the gcLi mission in the 2019-2020 school year:
- Know yourself, Know your students, Know your people, Know your school.
- Moments of instructional misses and failures can and should be cause for celebration.
- Assume good intent, but address impact.
- In addition to knowing that we care about them, our students must see our passion for what we do.
- Guilt and shame blast trust apart in relationships with students (and all humans).
- Identify your sphere of influence for this work at your school, do what you can do within your sphere, and then grow it!
- Understand and tell your story, and then help your students understand and tell theirs.
- Teaching students to teach leadership is messy and requires patience, perseverance, and a lot of hard work.
Such good stuff. So many good people. Incredibly important work. What an amazing week. Thank you, gcLi, for another inspirational and transformative experience.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_column_text]Jonas Jeswald just completed his fifth year as the Head of Middle School at Germantown Academy, a PreK-12 school located just outside Philadelphia in Fort Washington, PA. Jonas is a graduate of the 2012 gcLi Leadership Lab cohort, and served as a gcLi Scholar for the 2019 gcLi Leadership Lab in recognition of his efforts to build a culture of leadership at Germantown Academy. In addition to being Head of Middle School, Jonas also teaches Spanish and a section of Lead Lab, GA’s 7th grade leadership course. He is a graduate of Skidmore College and Northeastern University.