APEX - Summer Catalog

Building a Strong Faculty Culture uses the classical virtues as a paradigm for developing a healthy faculty. The objective of this course is to develop your understanding of the components of a healthy faculty culture so that you can bring that understanding to bear on the practical, day-to-day decision-making processes of a school teacher.

This two-part APEX course is focused on both outlining foundation principles of instructional coaching while also dedicating time to the practical work of conducting the observation and feedback process. During the first eight weeks (six sessions), we will ground the learning in several key texts and do a guided practice of the coaching cycle. For this course we will read the complete texts of Never Underestimate Your Teacher and The Coaching Habit. We will also read Plutarch’s essay “How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend” and excerpts from The Art of Coaching and Leverage Leadership 2.0. The second part, lasting eight weeks, will shift gears into a mentorship model- with the facilitators meeting individually with participants to be a thought partner as they do the work of coaching on their campus.

 

At Great Hearts, we value the short cycle observations as outlined in Leveraged Leadership and utilize the Great Hearts Pedagogy - The Teaching Playbook: The Role and Practice of Our Best Great Hearts Teachers and its references to Teach Like A Champion in order to calibrate excellent teaching throughout the network. We also consider rubrics deployed in each region to help guide us toward excellence.

In this course, we will consider a set of challenges that are unique within – or at least more focal to – a classical or liberal arts educational setting, given the distinct goals of such settings. In doing so, a first step will be to consider the goals of a liberal arts education. In taking this course, it is unlikely that you will emerge having mastered these challenges, as they are challenges that reflect the magnitude of liberal education itself. For instance, a teacher might wish to produce a lifelong learner, might even know what actions are conducive to doing so, and still have a long way to travel before having the capacity of cultivating a lifelong learner. This course aims at identifying the challenges and providing tools toward mastering them. There may follow years of attempting to apply those tools before feeling as though you have arrived at any level of mastery.

Intended for any teacher or rising leader, this course seeks to build awareness of the larger context of leading school change and managing transitions. While not exhaustive, it aims to develop an awareness of the process of change and the ways a leader can manage and facilitate change and transitions. This overview includes an introduction to how adults learn and make change and to understanding and managing the progression of transitions, and offers some tools for all leaders to use when implementing or facilitating a change.

In this course, learners will examine Xenophon’s life and work. They will explore several themes related to leadership, including how following well is a prerequisite to leading well, what it takes to become a leader, and how interpersonal relationships evolve in the transition into leadership positions. The course concludes with an opportunity to reflect on what was learned and apply it explicitly to the practicalities of institutional leadership. Additionally, learners will participate in an open forum with Headmaster Poppleton which will allow the opportunity to ask questions about his experience in leadership in light of our study of Xenophon.

Readings include Xenophon’s Anabasis of Cyrus and a selection from Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus as well as Diogenes Laertius’ biographical essay “Life of Xenophon.”

Building on Personal Leadership I, Personal Leadership II centers on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, particularly the character of Prospero, to cement your understanding of who a classical leader is and what his or her work means in the context of education. The readings and assignments promote a sustained intellectual engagement with Shakespeare’s vision, as well as self-reflection on your strengths and areas of growth.