Leading for Results

Transforming Teaching, Learning, and Relationships in Schools
Second Edition
Dennis Sparks - National Staff Development Council
Leading for Results
November 2006 | 248 pages | Corwin
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ISBN: 9781483351803
Available from January 0001
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ISBN: 9781412949699
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Description

Praise for the First Edition:

Sparks rejects simplistic solutions to school improvement, and honors the practical knowledge and expertise of educators."
—Richard DuFour, Educational Author and Consultant

"Dennis Sparks has given us a practical, original, and tough-minded book about what schools need now. An excellent book—but even more, a book to act on."
—Mike Schmoker, Consultant and Author

"In this inventive 'self-help''handbook for educators, Dennis Sparks challenges and helps us—not to do something but to be something different."
—Roland S. Barth, Author, Lessons Learned

Improve teaching and learning in your school by fostering personal and organizational change!

Authentic or transformational leadership flows from self-awareness regarding intentions, values, and feelings and its influence is reflected in a leader's actions. Leading for Results, Second Edition, focuses on the educational leader's role in actualizing human potential and unleashing individual and organizational energy, while promoting extraordinary performance in "ordinary" people by first changing within oneself.

In this updated edition featuring 18 new thought-provoking essays, Dennis Sparks shows how school leaders can promote extraordinary changes, be accountable, and achieve meaningful results for schools, districts, and their personal lives. Using bold theories about education, leadership, teaching, and student learning, you'll learn how to make change happen, create usable strategies, commit to action, and achieve goals by

  • Examining your assumptions and producing results-oriented thoughts, words, and actions
  • Deepening your understanding of important issues related to the interpersonal challenges of change
  • Engaging in next-action thinking and applying what you've learned

This powerful resource helps leaders to recognize their capacity for making a tremendous difference in their organizations, ensuring ultimate success!

Contents

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Author

Introduction

Introduction

How to Use This Book

How to Use This Book

Part I: Transformation Through Clarity and Creation

  • 1. Use Fundamental Choices to Create Your Life
  • 2. Clarify Your Intentions
  • 3. Establish Stretch Goals
  • 4. Identify Multiple Ways to Achieve Your Goals
  • 5. Find the Trim Tab
  • 6. The 80/20 Principle
  • 7. Practice Satisficing
  • 8. Determine Root Causes
  • 9. Develop a Theory of Action and Use Storytelling to Communicate It
  • 10. Gain ClarityThrough Writing, Speaking, and Reflecting on Action
  • 11. Leaders Provide Teachable Points of View

Part II: Transformation Through Interpersonal Influence

  • 12. Tell Your Truth
  • 13. Use Candor to Assess Current Reality
  • 14. Use Genuine Dialogue
  • 15. Engage in Dialogue-Like Conversations
  • 16. Listen to Others in a Deep, Committed Way
  • 17. Use Silence as a Learning Tool
  • 18. Make Requests to Initiate Action and Create Results
  • 19. Make and Keep Promises
  • 20. Replace Questions With Declarative Statements
  • 21. Minimize the Language of Obligation
  • 22. Decrease the Use of Cause-Effect Language
  • 23. Stand Up for Your Point of View

Part III: Transformation Through a Culture That Promotes Professional Learning, Teamwork, and Continuous Improvement

  • 24. Shape School Culture to Improve Teaching and Sustain Competent Teaching
  • 25. Create Successful Schools
  • 26. Promote Breakthrough Thinking
  • 27. Attend to Leaders' Inner Development
  • 28. Recognize Our Best Selves
  • 29. Increase the Use of Signature Strengths
  • 30. Enhance Your Personal Energy
  • 31. Build Relationships to Sustain Positive Energy
  • 32. Address the Fundamental Barriers to Professional Learning and Teamwork in Schools
  • 33. Spread Positive Emotions Throughout the Organization
  • 34. Address Anxiety in the Schoolhouse
  • 35. Appeal to the Heart as Well as the Head
  • Part IV: Transformation Through Professional Learning and Doing
  • 36. Design Powerful Professional Learning for All Educators
  • 37. Match Professional Development Goals and Methods With Student Outcomes
  • 38. Bridge the Knowing-Doing Gap
  • 39. Amplify Positive Deviance
  • 40. Create Professional Learning That Alters Educators' Brains
  • 41. Install Next Action Thinking
  • 42. Change Habits
  • 43. Sustain the Conversation
  • Index

Description

Praise for the First Edition:

Sparks rejects simplistic solutions to school improvement, and honors the practical knowledge and expertise of educators."
—Richard DuFour, Educational Author and Consultant

"Dennis Sparks has given us a practical, original, and tough-minded book about what schools need now. An excellent book—but even more, a book to act on."
—Mike Schmoker, Consultant and Author

"In this inventive 'self-help''handbook for educators, Dennis Sparks challenges and helps us—not to do something but to be something different."
—Roland S. Barth, Author, Lessons Learned

Improve teaching and learning in your school by fostering personal and organizational change!

Authentic or transformational leadership flows from self-awareness regarding intentions, values, and feelings and its influence is reflected in a leader's actions. Leading for Results, Second Edition, focuses on the educational leader's role in actualizing human potential and unleashing individual and organizational energy, while promoting extraordinary performance in "ordinary" people by first changing within oneself.

In this updated edition featuring 18 new thought-provoking essays, Dennis Sparks shows how school leaders can promote extraordinary changes, be accountable, and achieve meaningful results for schools, districts, and their personal lives. Using bold theories about education, leadership, teaching, and student learning, you'll learn how to make change happen, create usable strategies, commit to action, and achieve goals by

  • Examining your assumptions and producing results-oriented thoughts, words, and actions
  • Deepening your understanding of important issues related to the interpersonal challenges of change
  • Engaging in next-action thinking and applying what you've learned

This powerful resource helps leaders to recognize their capacity for making a tremendous difference in their organizations, ensuring ultimate success!

Contents

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Author

Introduction

Introduction

How to Use This Book

How to Use This Book

Part I: Transformation Through Clarity and Creation

  • 1. Use Fundamental Choices to Create Your Life
  • 2. Clarify Your Intentions
  • 3. Establish Stretch Goals
  • 4. Identify Multiple Ways to Achieve Your Goals
  • 5. Find the Trim Tab
  • 6. The 80/20 Principle
  • 7. Practice Satisficing
  • 8. Determine Root Causes
  • 9. Develop a Theory of Action and Use Storytelling to Communicate It
  • 10. Gain ClarityThrough Writing, Speaking, and Reflecting on Action
  • 11. Leaders Provide Teachable Points of View

Part II: Transformation Through Interpersonal Influence

  • 12. Tell Your Truth
  • 13. Use Candor to Assess Current Reality
  • 14. Use Genuine Dialogue
  • 15. Engage in Dialogue-Like Conversations
  • 16. Listen to Others in a Deep, Committed Way
  • 17. Use Silence as a Learning Tool
  • 18. Make Requests to Initiate Action and Create Results
  • 19. Make and Keep Promises
  • 20. Replace Questions With Declarative Statements
  • 21. Minimize the Language of Obligation
  • 22. Decrease the Use of Cause-Effect Language
  • 23. Stand Up for Your Point of View

Part III: Transformation Through a Culture That Promotes Professional Learning, Teamwork, and Continuous Improvement

  • 24. Shape School Culture to Improve Teaching and Sustain Competent Teaching
  • 25. Create Successful Schools
  • 26. Promote Breakthrough Thinking
  • 27. Attend to Leaders' Inner Development
  • 28. Recognize Our Best Selves
  • 29. Increase the Use of Signature Strengths
  • 30. Enhance Your Personal Energy
  • 31. Build Relationships to Sustain Positive Energy
  • 32. Address the Fundamental Barriers to Professional Learning and Teamwork in Schools
  • 33. Spread Positive Emotions Throughout the Organization
  • 34. Address Anxiety in the Schoolhouse
  • 35. Appeal to the Heart as Well as the Head
  • Part IV: Transformation Through Professional Learning and Doing
  • 36. Design Powerful Professional Learning for All Educators
  • 37. Match Professional Development Goals and Methods With Student Outcomes
  • 38. Bridge the Knowing-Doing Gap
  • 39. Amplify Positive Deviance
  • 40. Create Professional Learning That Alters Educators' Brains
  • 41. Install Next Action Thinking
  • 42. Change Habits
  • 43. Sustain the Conversation
  • Index
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Leading for Results

Transforming Teaching, Learning, and Relationships in Schools

Dennis Sparks
Cancel Print

November 2006 | 248 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Hardcover 27/02/2023 9781412949699 $90.95
Paperback 27/02/2023 9781412949705 $41.95
Lifetime 27/02/2023 9781483351803 $38.00

Praise for the First Edition:

Sparks rejects simplistic solutions to school improvement, and honors the practical knowledge and expertise of educators."
—Richard DuFour, Educational Author and Consultant

"Dennis Sparks has given us a practical, original, and tough-minded book about what schools need now. An excellent book—but even more, a book to act on."
—Mike Schmoker, Consultant and Author

"In this inventive 'self-help''handbook for educators, Dennis Sparks challenges and helps us—not to do something but to be something different."
—Roland S. Barth, Author, Lessons Learned

Improve teaching and learning in your school by fostering personal and organizational change!

Authentic or transformational leadership flows from self-awareness regarding intentions, values, and feelings and its influence is reflected in a leader's actions. Leading for Results, Second Edition, focuses on the educational leader's role in actualizing human potential and unleashing individual and organizational energy, while promoting extraordinary performance in "ordinary" people by first changing within oneself.

In this updated edition featuring 18 new thought-provoking essays, Dennis Sparks shows how school leaders can promote extraordinary changes, be accountable, and achieve meaningful results for schools, districts, and their personal lives. Using bold theories about education, leadership, teaching, and student learning, you'll learn how to make change happen, create usable strategies, commit to action, and achieve goals by

  • Examining your assumptions and producing results-oriented thoughts, words, and actions
  • Deepening your understanding of important issues related to the interpersonal challenges of change
  • Engaging in next-action thinking and applying what you've learned

This powerful resource helps leaders to recognize their capacity for making a tremendous difference in their organizations, ensuring ultimate success!


Table Of Contents:

  • Acknowledgments
  • About the Author
  • Introduction
  • How to Use This Book
  • Part I: Transformation Through Clarity and Creation
  • 1. Use Fundamental Choices to Create Your Life
  • 2. Clarify Your Intentions
  • 3. Establish Stretch Goals
  • 4. Identify Multiple Ways to Achieve Your Goals
  • 5. Find the Trim Tab
  • 6. The 80/20 Principle
  • 7. Practice Satisficing
  • 8. Determine Root Causes
  • 9. Develop a Theory of Action and Use Storytelling to Communicate It
  • 10. Gain ClarityThrough Writing, Speaking, and Reflecting on Action
  • 11. Leaders Provide Teachable Points of View
  • Part II: Transformation Through Interpersonal Influence
  • 12. Tell Your Truth
  • 13. Use Candor to Assess Current Reality
  • 14. Use Genuine Dialogue
  • 15. Engage in Dialogue-Like Conversations
  • 16. Listen to Others in a Deep, Committed Way
  • 17. Use Silence as a Learning Tool
  • 18. Make Requests to Initiate Action and Create Results
  • 19. Make and Keep Promises
  • 20. Replace Questions With Declarative Statements
  • 21. Minimize the Language of Obligation
  • 22. Decrease the Use of Cause-Effect Language
  • 23. Stand Up for Your Point of View
  • Part III: Transformation Through a Culture That Promotes Professional Learning, Teamwork, and Continuous Improvement
  • 24. Shape School Culture to Improve Teaching and Sustain Competent Teaching
  • 25. Create Successful Schools
  • 26. Promote Breakthrough Thinking
  • 27. Attend to Leaders' Inner Development
  • 28. Recognize Our Best Selves
  • 29. Increase the Use of Signature Strengths
  • 30. Enhance Your Personal Energy
  • 31. Build Relationships to Sustain Positive Energy
  • 32. Address the Fundamental Barriers to Professional Learning and Teamwork in Schools
  • 33. Spread Positive Emotions Throughout the Organization
  • 34. Address Anxiety in the Schoolhouse
  • 35. Appeal to the Heart as Well as the Head
  • Part IV: Transformation Through Professional Learning and Doing
  • 36. Design Powerful Professional Learning for All Educators
  • 37. Match Professional Development Goals and Methods With Student Outcomes
  • 38. Bridge the Knowing-Doing Gap
  • 39. Amplify Positive Deviance
  • 40. Create Professional Learning That Alters Educators' Brains
  • 41. Install Next Action Thinking
  • 42. Change Habits
  • 43. Sustain the Conversation
  • Index

Recent Product Reviews:

"Sparks has distilled his vision of leadership into this helpful guide. This is a personal look at leadership, not as much about what leaders should do (although a large number of how-to's are included), but more about how leaders should think and feel to actualize their potential and unleash individual and organizational energy."
The School Administrator, May 2007

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