I recently discovered Teacher Training Videos from @marynabadenhors on Twitter.

The site has… as the name implies… lots of wonderful teacher training videos. The videos cover using a range of tools in the classroom, including Fronter, Audacity, Wordpress, downloading from Youtube, podcasting and lots more! It is a fantastic resource for teachers, and for anyone interested in improving their ICT skills.

As a school leader you have four main roles; to plan and make decisions, communicate to others, build relationships and manage the performance of your team/school which in my opinion can be the most challenging of them all.

The style of management you choose to use in any given situation is governed by two things, your willingness to support and your willingness to challenge.

You may find yourself needing to offer a high level of support and play the role of counsellor in a situation where it’s not about a persons’ capability but about their confidence.  In this instance your job is to listen, encourage and reassure.

And, when you get the feeling that people are wasting your time or deliberately trying to create a smoke screen or confusion then a high level of challenge is required.  In this situation you become a task master who is assertively laying down the rules and boundaries.

Coaching is the ideal style of management because it requires both a high level of support and a high level of challenge and even if it feels like a massive investment in time, the payback is far greater than any other management style.

A willingness to support is about …

• Being able to listen carefully to others’ opinions, ideas, information and concerns
• Checking to test for understanding and clarity
• Offering guidance, help and reassurance as necessary
• Empowering others to act with backup if required
• Considering other’s needs when offering support

A willingness to challenge is about…

• Expressing your views as clearly and assertively as possible
• Setting high expectations
• Stating the actions or results you want
• Pointing out the positive or negative consequences of not meeting expectations
• Offering alternative views and ideas

The secret is in the balance and often as managers we lean one way or the other and get it wrong by offering support when challenge is required or visa versa.  For those who hate conflict they believe the softly, softly support approach is the right one, but not always.

And for those who like to take a harder line sometimes challenging too much as act as a de-motivator and have the opposite affect.

Dot Struthers specialises in leadership and management development for teachers.  If you would like some free resources and a monthly CPD newsletter register at www.merechats.co.uk

Image: ‘after view of my classroom‘

It’s ICT week on Teachers’ TV and there are a number of interesting new videos which will be useful for any teachers who have to use ICT as part of their teaching.

One new series of videos is called ‘Better Learning with ICT‘. There are currently five videos in the series and many of them feature some of the amazing educators who use Twitter to share ideas and support each other. The videos include:

• Video in the Classroom - A geography teacher uses video to enhance learning in class.
• Improving Your Presentations - A primary teacher uses ICT to aid her presentation skills (with some great tips from @joedale)
• Online Communities in the Classroom - A teacher learns the benefits of using social media in school (@lisibo shares her amazing experience)
• Computer Games in the Classroom - A primary teacher uses computer games to inspire her class (with some fantastic ideas from @dawnhallybone)
• Data Handling in the Classroom - A teacher overcomes her fear of data handling by using ICT (@cthomas18 shares some excellent advice).

Watch the videos online, download them to watch later and follow these incredible educators on Twitter. You’re bound to learn something new… I certainly did when I watched each video!

A Teachmeet is a conference organised for teachers, by teachers. They are much less formal than other conferences that you might have been to, allowing teachers to share (and celebrate) their own classroom experiences with each other.

I’ve never been to a Teachmeet before, so I’m very excited to be attending my first one in a few weeks… on Friday 18th September at The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood. The event is free and takes place from 7pm until 9pm. If you’re involved in education and you’re able to get there, come along!

Find out more (and sign up if you plan to come) on the wiki… and if you’re able to give a presentation, add yourself to the list!