Real-life examples to inform and inspire caring in your leadership practices!
The practice of caring is essential to effective schooling. Published as a companion to
Caring School Leadership, this comprehensive resource of powerful, real-life stories will make clear the connection between caring leadership and student academic success and well-being.
Stories of Caring School Leadership includes a guide for using the stories in self-directed reflection and learning, for educators practicing in schools and professional preparation programs. Readers will find stories that
• will help aspiring and practicing leaders reflect upon and further develop caring as a quality of their leadership
• affirm the importance of caring as a fundamental quality of school leadership
• provide examples of caring school leadership in action that can be analyzed, reflected upon, and used to develop practice
Stories have the power to inform and inspire. The stories in this book are evidence of what is possible when caring leadership is practiced in our schools.
Table of Content
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Introduction: Caring School Leadership
Collection I: Stories of Being Caring in Relationships with Students
Introduction
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Stories From Pre K and Elementary Schools
1. Walk You to School?
2. Terry
3. Ana
4. I Don’t Have a Knife
5. Opening Up
6. Had It Gone a Different Way
7. Three Musketeers
8. Fever Free and Smiling
9. Now What Do I Do?
10. Sheila
11. Pizza and a Football
12. Connecting
13. Two Yearbooks
14. The Lunchroom
Stories From Secondary Schools
15. Minister of Presence
16. Sue Knows She Is Loved
17. What’s Going on With Renee?
18. Promise
19. Red Sneakers
20. Nate
21. Patrick
22. Four Years With That Student
23. On the Bus Ramp
24. Giving and Taking the Chance
25. You Just Gotta Be Calm
26. Not Giving Up
27. The Last Leg
28. I’ve Got Your Back
29. Toss and Turn
30. Authentic Care
31. Jason
32. Let Me Work on That
33. The Business Card
34. Not All Who Wander Are Lost
35. Not Too Tired to Be Caring
36. Swimming Upstream
37. Try This
38. The Tux
39. Breaking the Law
40. No Pity, Just Care
41. It’s Because My School Family Loves Me
42. Natalie
43. Our Collective Responsibility
44. Bicycle Built for Two
Collection II: Stories of Cultivating Schools as Caring Communities
Introduction
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Stories From Elementary Schools
45. We Like the Egg Chairs
46. Hear My Message, Not My Tone
47. Family Connect Time
48. Our Transformation
49. Dots
50. Season of Giving
51. Evaluating Faculty With Challenge and Support
52. Coaching With Care
53. Accepting Your Feelings
54. Seth
55. Learning Together
56. Helping a Teacher Build Relationships With Students
57. Buddy Bench
58. 360 Degrees of Caring
59. The Results Are In
60. Always There for Me
61. Lunch With the Principal
62. School Welcomes
Stories From Secondary Schools
63. We Choose Relationships
64. Small Steps
65. Getting You Ready to Walk
66. Student Advocates
67. Grab a Sandwich
68. Welcome to Refugee High
69. Do We Really Know?
70. Setting Rules and Policies
71. No One Graduates Alone
72. Responding to the Crises
73. Good Works Toward Each Other
74. Fostering a Caring Faculty Culture
75. Promoting Safety and Community Through Near Peer Mentoring
76. When It Is Actually Not Easy
77. Mama Bears
78. Celebrating Matt
79. Everyone Has a Voice
80. Our Work Is Really All About Caring
81. A More Inclusive Culture
82. Enforcing the Norms
83. True Safety
84. Gail and Her Girls
85. Our Food Pantry
Collection III: Stories of Fostering Caring in Families and Community
Introduction
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
86. Engaging Parents in Equity Dialogues
87. The Fire
88. Family Support
89. This School Is Here for You
90. An Open Letter to Parents of Children Throughout New York State Regarding Grades 3–8 Testing
91. Community Career Fairs and Pop-Up Food Banks
92. Born and Bred
93. We Are Going to Be Together in This
94. My Mom Is in Trouble
95. We Just Couldn’t See It
96. Our Next Mayor
97. Promoting Early Childhood Education in Families and the Community
98. Visiting With the Kids
99. Parent University
100. What Can We Do?
Bibliography
About the author
Karen Seashore Louis is the Rodney Wallace Professor of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. Her area of expertise includes improvement in K–12 leadership and policy over the last 30 years, particularly in urban secondary schools. Louis also conducts research on organizational changes within higher education, with particular attention to faculty roles, and on international comparative policy in educational reform. A past president of Division A of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), she is a widely published author in the field. Recent books include Organizing for School Change, Leadership for Change and School Improvement: International Perspectives, Handbook of Educational Administration, Second Edition, and Organizational Learning in Schools. Louis earned a bachelor′s degree in History from Swarthmore College and a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University.