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Leadership, Myth, & Metaphor

Finding Common Ground to Guide Effective School Change

First Edition
By: Daniel Cherry, Jeff Spiegel

Foreword by Michael Fullan

Use the creative energy of metaphor to clarify and make your leadership vision a reality!

The authors report on the findings of a Gates Foundation-funded professional development study of over 250 superintendents and principals, articulating the significance of leadership archetypes and metaphoric reframing in renewing leadership vision and practice as well as organizational change. While leaders possess unique core values, they also share intrinsic beliefs, including:

Commitment to a greater cause
Devotion to an ethic of care
Improving the condition of society
Making a significant impression on student and adult lives
Inspiring others to seek their full potential

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781412927086
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2006
Page Count: 144
Publication date: January 13, 2006

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Description

Use the creative energy of metaphor to clarify and make your leadership vision a reality!

How do you see yourself as an educator? How would you describe yourself as a leader? Have you ever considered using metaphors to reframe your leadership practice, vision, and mission? Often, leaders stumble when asked to articulate their values, ethics, and purpose. This book illustrates the significance of leadership archetypes and metaphoric reframing in understanding and facilitating organizational change.

Leadership, Myth, & Metaphor reports on the findings of a professional development study-funded by the Gates Foundation-of more than 250 superintendents and principals, celebrating educators' unique individual core values while acknowledging their shared intrinsic beliefs, including:

A commitment to a cause beyond oneself
A devotion to an ethic of care
A desire to improve the condition of society
A wish to make a significant impression on student and adult lives
A conviction to inspire others to seek their full potential

Awareness of yourself on a personal and professional level leads to a deeper consideration of your mission as a leader and of your purpose in life.

Key features

- Addresses themes relevant to day-to-day school leadership
- Provides an analytical framework for school leaders to reframe their vision, goals, and unique leadership styles
- Offers a new reflective process for organizational development
- Presents inspiring and poignant vignettes
- Illustrates metaphoric reframing process through several graphic organizers
- Poses reflective questions and activities at the end of every chapter

Author(s)

Daniel Cherry

Dan Cherry is co-founder of Deconstructing the Box, a consulting group that specializes in Leadership, Organizational Change, and Technology. He most recently was the director of the New Hampshire School Administrators Leading with Technology (NHSALT) program funded through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dan is also a member of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) faculty and has been recognized as an expert in improving instruction through the use of technology. As an educator, Dan has ten years experience as a classroom teacher, seven years experience as a Technology Director, and five years working at the state level for the New Hampshire Department of Education. Dan has been recognized as a Distinguished Speaker at the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference and he has presented many national education conferences. After hours, Dan spends time with his 10 year-old son Aaron, his 5 year-old daughter Danielle, and his wife of 13 years Sandra. His hobbies include coaching Little League Baseball and youth basketball, playing his string bass, singing in church, community theatre, and cheering for the Buffalo Bills!

Jeff Spiegel

Jeff Spiegel is currently the Assistant Superintendent for the New Hampshire SAU 43 School District and co-founder of the consulting firm, Deconstructing the Box. He was a Graduate Fellow at New York University’s Institute for Developmental Studies and a Fulbright Memorial Scholar to Japan. Jeff earned his doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the Graduate College of the University of Vermont. His research focused on reframing female leaders’ personal myths by way of metaphor. Jeff’s career in education has evolved from classroom teacher in central Harlem to special educator and adjunct faculty member at Johnson State College and St. Michaels College in Vermont. For 18 years he served as an elementary school principal and organizational consultant in New Hampshire. He has written extensively and presented at numerous state and national conferences on topics addressing school culture development, differentiated instructional design and creative problem-solving for educational and organizational reform. Jeff has just completed two years as the New Hampshire Principal in Residence for the NHSALT (School Administrators Leading with Technology) Project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Michael Fullan

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Introduction: The Spirit of Leadership

1. The Touchstone: Standard Bearer and Institutional Anchor

2. The Advocate: Proponent of a Cause Beyond Oneself

3. The Parent: Everyone’s Icon of Moral Leadership

4. Metaphoric Reframing: A Vehicle for Creative Leadership

5. Road Maps to Organizational Success

Finding Common Ground

Resource: ISLLC Standards

References

Index

Reviews

"Cherry and Spiegel provide a valuable addition to the current literature on educational leadership. As the book demonstrates, metaphors and myths can provide educational leaders with a way to clarify for themselves and to communicate to those they lead the central themes, vision, and mission they have for the group. Metaphors assist in describing the incredible complexity that must be effectively managed in providing effective leadership in schools."

David S. Hill, Dean of Education, Health, and Human Services
State University College of Plattsburgh

"Cherry & Spiegel provide a fascinating tour of ways in which metaphors - and their accompanying stories - are used by educators as leadership tools to spark change, reframe problems, and reveal core values."

Stephen Denning, Author of "The Leader's Guide to Storytelling"

"The authors have preformed a valuable service by demonstrating how a leader's metaphors - conscious or not - greatly influence how they lead. They also show the benefits of being self aware of one's own metaphor and its strengths and limitations in helping one successfully address the challenges of daily life as a leader."

Robert T. McLaughlin, Executive Director
National Institute for Community Innovations

"(The authors) have given me new ways to think about the meaning of my work, both personally and professionally; new insights into the power of the stories that all educators have to tell; and new tools with which leaders, staff and students can build a creative, productive, reponsive, and caring community for us all."

Jill Mackler, Co-Principal
Bristol Elementary School

"Anything that causes administrators to be reflective about their leadership style is helpful. This book was instructive and enjoyable as it challenged readers to come up with a personal metaphor for their leadership styles."

The School Administrator, May 2007

Other Titles in: Leadership | School Change, Reform, & Restructuring

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