Host Leadership session by Michaela Sobotková

This August I worked for the SeltAcademy as a trainer in Istanbul where I taught the Leadership and Management course for Heads of English of the Marmara region. I have to say that I really liked the content of the course which consisted partly of teacher training sessions and partly of management sessions. One of the sessions which really stuck out for me was the one called Host Leadership. I have to admit that it was quite a relief for me to find out that none of the trainers knew what the session was supposed to be about apart from Leah Davcheva who wrote the lesson plans and who also kindly and patiently explained to the rest of us what the concept of host leadership was about. I think that the concept is really powerful and it works really well when transferred to a teaching environment. That’s also the main reason why I decided to share its main ideas with others.

The concept of host leadership is based on a relationship between a host and a guest. This relationship is used as a metaphor for a relationship between a leader and people he/she leads. This can easily be transferred into teaching environment because every teacher has to be a leader. Basically, to keep a harmonious relationship a teacher should do all things a host does and a student should behave the same way a guest does. You can see in the pictures below a list of activities written by the participants of our course when they were asked ‘What does a host do?’ and ‘What does a guest do?’. If you look at the lists and think about a teacher as a host and a student as a guest you’ll see that most of the activities overlap. A student as a guest should definitely obey a teacher and be kind to him/her, he should knock on the door, get permission before doing something, be thankful and appreciative and definitely eat what’s offered which in this case can be understood as a metaphor for doing activities which the teacher has prepared. This works the same way for a teacher as a host: he/she should definitely make a good plan and prepare for his/her guests-students, entertain and engage students, welcome students in a kind and warm way, create pleasant atmosphere for students and make them comfortable. The important thing is that seeing the similarity of the relationships can help teachers realize that some problems they have with their students might be caused by malfunction of the relationship.

The concept distinguishes six different roles a host has to perform. A suitable situation which can help us understand the function of the individual roles is organizing a party. 

The first role is called Initiator. A host is in the role of Initiator when he/she decides that he/she wants to throw a party. The decision is usually based on asking people whether they’d be interested in coming to a party, thinking about the theme and other details. In teaching environment, this is the phase when you get an idea that your students might enjoy listening to songs in your lessons and you start thinking about how to make it work.

The second role is called Inviter.  When a host acts as Inviter, he/she starts inviting people and doing steps which are necessary for organizing the party. If we use our example from the previous role, a teacher here would start planning using specific songs in specific lessons, planning stages of activities, getting lyrics and recordings of the songs.

A host as Gatekeeper opens the door for his/her guests and invites them in. He/she also has the right to decide who’s allowed to stay and who should leave the house. A teacher can also decide who’s going to stay and leave the classroom. If a principal interrupts your lesson telling you that he/she needs to talk to you, you can always turn him/her down saying that you first need to finish the activity you’ve just started and then you can talk.

The next role is a role of Space creator. As a space creator a host decides about a position and number of tables and chairs, and all other things in the house. Similarly a teacher can decide to put posters on walls, rearrange a seating plan and bring things he/she wants to have in the classroom. 

A host as Connector introduces people and makes sure that everyone has a suitable person to talk to. Teachers do this when they divide students in pairs or groups and decide how to pair their students up so that they benefit from working with their partners. 

The last role is a host as Co-participator. As a co-participator a host takes part in various activities together with his/her guests. He/she has dinner with the guests, plays games with them, chats with them. A teacher is a co-participator when he/she joins a group of students and works with them. 

This is what the host leadership concept is about in an extremely simplified way. I’m sure that Leah would be able to give much more details and information but I think that this is quite enough to get a grasp of the concept and realize the importance and power of the relationship. 

What makes this concept particularly suitable for Turkish environment is the fact, that in Turkey the host-guest relationship is much stronger than in other European countries and a guest is perceived here as something sacred which makes the comparison even more powerful for the local people. 

The main reason why I decided to write about the host leadership session was that I not only enjoyed teaching the session but I also learned a lot from it myself. In this way I would like to thank Leah again for giving me the opportunity to get acquainted with the concept.

Here are some photos from the session. First the participants brainstormed metaphors for a 'leader': 

Later they explore the roles of guests and hosts. Here are the ideas brainstormed by the group. 

The participants explored the difference facets of the 'host leader': 

Extra reading:

There are some excellent resources on the web about the use of metaphor in professional training, and for teacher training/development programs. 

We would recommend reading Metaphorically Speaking by Steve Darn and Ian White) based in Turkey.) 

This webpage gives a lot of information about metaphors and why they are powerful. 

This article points out the importance of choosing a metaphor for teaching that has "a high degree of resonance" with the learners. 

What are your favorite articles about metaphor in (teacher) education? Please share in the comments. 

CTS Portfolios by Nina Shandetskaya

Keeping a portfolio is one of the essential components of the CTS course. Participants must maintain a portfolio of all their lesson plans, handouts, session notes and other work. This should be neat and tidy. As portfolios are a relatively new concept for our course participants, we use the word loosely to mean a collection of all their course work, rather than narrowing the purpose of the portfolio down. My group in Erzurum found keeping a portfolio a very enjoyable activity.

How did we manage?

Well, what we really needed was one enthusiastic member of the group who turned up the second day with a nice folder containing 5 A-4 pages of different colours with all the activities from Day 1 on them to get started. Everything was creatively organized on the paper with stars, smiling faces, hands and pictures. 

A good start, isn’t it? Moreover, it was a kind of inspiration to other participants. This way we had had four teachers out of 11 with great portfolios by the end of week 1.

What about the others?

I could hear some trainees complain, "We are not students. Why should we prepare it? It’s time-consuming. I’m not good at keeping things in order." However, at the end of week two I could see 10 folders with all the course materials nicely organized. It was also the participants’ attitude to the idea of having all the materials in the portfolio that changed completely, probably because they began to see some of the benefits.

Trainees’ feedback on keeping a portfolio

“After this course, I know that my portfolio is my basic resource. It is simple and easy-to-use. I can quickly find a game and use it in my class.” 

“Keeping a portfolio is a really good way. When I need to do something differently in my teaching practice, I can always turn to my portfolio and find information easily. It saves time while planning a lesson.” 

“At the beginning of the course I didn’t want to prepare a portfolio. Now I am sure that I will always use my portfolio and it will be a good resource for the development of all skills. There are lots of activities and games that will help me during my lessons.”

“I’m impressed by the work we’ve done over the two weeks. Now I have a guide book for my teaching career!”

The teachers didn’t only compile different items, but also reflected on their own work and the performance of other participants. We decided to have a special section called “Bank of Ideas”, in which the trainees gathered activities from other teachers in the group.

I can say it for sure now that the course portfolio helps to increase motivation, develop teacher’s reflective capacities and encourage teacher growth.

These are 5 easy steps to create an impressive portfolio

• Start as early as possible! The first day of the course is just the right time;)
• Plan well and systematically collect data.
• Update information regularly.
• Involve other trainees as contributors. You can benefit from teamwork.
• Be creative and reflective.

Here are some more lovely examples from my group: 

Note from Kristina: Nina's group was all female and a male group would probably have kept their portfolios quite differently. However, even without all the colour and sweet drawings, a portfolio is a useful tool. You may like to explore the links below and share them with participants if they balk at keeping a portfolio. Please add you favorite links and ideas in the comments. 

1. Why use portfolios in assessment? 

2. Using a portfolio to reflect. (Scroll down for some useful questions.)

3. Detailed explanations of reflection, artefacts and portfolios. It's for art teachers but the basic principles are the same.   

In fact we should consider how to make better use of the portfolios in the 'advanced' CTS courses. I shall have a little think about this over the next few months. Thanks for setting the standard for portfolios, Nina :)

Cucumbers and CCQs by Rene Mark LeLong

By Rene

For my second  year as a SeltAcademy trainer  I was  despatched to the city of Konya and although I had been a trainer the previous year and I know a little about Turkey there are still some things that take some getting used to.

As I settled down for my first hotel breakfast I noticed the slices of cucumber. For me as an Englishman, cucumber is to be enjoyed in dainty sandwiches or as part of a salad, why anyone would want to eat it for breakfast is beyond me. Oh well there’s always watermelon to enjoy instead.

                                           

After breakfast it was into the minibus to be dispatched to the school to meet my trainees and the school coordinator, who  was  welcoming and  he immediately apologised for the high temperatures and then offered  me a cup of tea. They drink a LOT of tea here.

Afterwards he found me a fan for my “office” I felt privileged not only too be given an office but because as a rule the schools don’t have air conditioning and even fans are not guaranteed. My advice to would be trainers would be to take lots of water and perhaps a spare outfit for the afternoon. Things can get very hot and sticky with temperatures staying  in high 30s days and night.

Last year I had twelve male trainees but this year it was seven female trainees, so I knew that topics of conversation would be a little different. This is a traditional part of the country and as I sat there attempting to find some common ground and make  small talk with the trainees wearing the traditional long coats and the headscarves. I reminded myself that there would be no high fiving as  a form of  congratulations for successful completion of the Getting To Know You activities.

However despite initial trepidation from both trainee and trainer we soon slipped into our respective roles and  thanks to a well organised and resourced programme  things continued smoothly.

There were certainly some lighter moments. 

The trainees were keen, sometimes too keen, as was illustrated when I had told them about concept check questions (CCQs) they got a little carried away. In one demonstration lesson, one trainee was presenting a recipe. She said “Milk- do you know what milk is?” then remembering the need to CCQ she said “ “Does milk come from a cow?” Does milk come from a donkey?” One trainee answered  ‘well yes I think you can get milk from a donkey.” “Can you ? “ said another. “Yes I have heard that…..” Time to move on please ladies!

                  

Original graphic by Rene

     

All too soon the two weeks had raced by and  it was time to say goodbye to my hard working trainees and present  them with their certificates. It was so rewarding to see the progress they had made, the ideas they had shared and the willingness there had to try out fresh ideas in the classroom. We went our separate ways and I look forward to having the opportunity to work in Turkey again. Now if only I could develop a taste for cucumber for breakfast.

Rene with his all-ladies group

    

Note from Kristina: If you want to know more about a traditional Turkish breakfast, check out my VoiceThread or explore this website starting with the article about Turkish breakfasts.