The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Helpful reads for building positive and passionate educational leadership

In keeping with the theme of this issue of the ATA Magazine, your ATA Library is pleased to present our newest titles for principals here. Of course, there are many more new titles available in our library catalogue (http://library.teachers.ab.ca). Please remember that you can always send an e-mail to your ATA Library at library@ata.ab.ca to request research on any topic related to your professional development. Our librarians love to do research for you!

The Balance Myth: Rethinking Work-Life Success
Taylor, Teresa A. 2013. Austin, TX: Greenleaf Book Group (306.361 T246)
Throwing the belief of work-life balance out the window, Taylor discusses, from her own experience, how women can integrate their personal lives with their work lives rather than trying to isolate and balance them.

Cage-Busting Leadership
Hess, Frederick M. 2013. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press (371.21 H586)
Are we creating caged and disenfranchised leaders through our selection and training process? Hess argues that we train leaders to see contracts and regulations as restraints when in reality there are few limitations embedded in these documents. He believes that it is time to encourage a leadership that blasts through or reshapes unnecessary and counterproductive constraints and focuses on creating powerful cultures of teaching and learning.

The Daily Practices of Successful Principals
Brock, Barbara L and Marilyn L Grady. 2012. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin (371.2012 B864)
Written by two former school administrators, this book provides a practical examination of daily practices used by successful principals.

Dealing with the Tough Stuff: Practical Solutions for School Administrators
Gabriel, John and Paul Farmer. 2012. Hoboken, NY: John Wiley & Sons (371.2 G118)
Written for vice-principals and principals, this book addresses the difficult aspects of administration, such as handling discipline, mediating student conflicts, working with parents, facilitating parent conferences and working with staff members.

Helping Educators Grow: Strategies and Practices for Leadership Development
Drago-Severson, Eleanor. 2012. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press (371.201 D759)
Arguing against the dry and unhelpful teaching of skills development through the presentation of facts, the author champions the creation of learning environments that support transformational learning for both leaders and those who aspire to those roles.

It’s Okay to Be the Boss: The Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming the Manager Your Employees Need
Tulgan, Bruce. 2009. New York, NY: Harper Collins (658.409 T917)
Identifying a “crisis of undermanagement”, Tulgan discusses the difficulties managers face in taking ownership in the workplace and balancing that against wanting to be “nice”. He makes a strong case of hands-on management but is clear to differentiate it from micromanagement.

The Jossey-Bass Reader on Educational Leadership
Grogan, Margaret and Michael Fullan. 2013. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (371.2 J83)
The newest edition of this popular anthology includes articles, book excerpts and reports from many of the most popular writers in the field of educational leadership.

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
Sinek, Simon. 2014. New York, NY: Portfolio/Penguin (371.2012 S615)
In the Marine Corps officers eat last and do so as a symbol of the sacrifices they make for their teams in battle. Starting with this idea, Sinek discusses how leaders can create a loyal team that will work hard to fulfil their leader’s vision.

Leverage Leadership: A Practical Guide to Building Exceptional Schools
Bambrick-Santoyo, Paul. 2012. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (371.2 B199)
Arguing that any school can be made great by its principal, Bambrick-Santoyo sets out seven principles that will guide school administrators to success.

Leadership Resilience: Lessons for Leaders from the Policing Frontline
Smith, Jonathan Ashley and Charles Ginger. 2013. Farnham, UK: Gower Publications (363.2068 S652)
Suggesting that challenges faced by leaders are similar to those faced by police officers, the authors look at how the police have developed strategies for coping with the pressure of isolation, suppression of emotions, dealing with angry people and delivering bad news, and examine how these can be applied into leadership in non-police settings.

Management? It’s Not What You Think!
Mintzberg, Henry, Bruce W Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel (Eds). 2010. New York, NY: Financial Times Prentice Hall (658 M667 2010)
Written with humour and irreverence, the articles included in this short book question traditional ideas of management and inspire new thinking about what it is to lead.

No Principal Left Behind: Leadership Coaching for the 21st Century and Beyond
Lovelady-Spain, Fannie and Melody Dawson. 2011. Rockdale, TX: Lovelady School Leadership Press (658.315 L898)
Based on her own experience and observations, Lovelady-Spain has found that the most effective schools are led by principals who received coaching to develop their leadership skills. She examines successful coaching programs so that principals can consider how coaching can be integrated to help them reach their goals.

Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence
Su, Amy Jen and Muriel Maignan Wilkins. 2013. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press (658.4092 S939)
How can you become a leader that people are drawn to? How do leaders learn to be approachable and to have direct impact? Su and Wilkins show that by demonstrating value and connecting with people in a positive way, leaders develop their leadership presence no matter where they are in the hierarchy of an organization.

Principal 2.0: Technology and Educational Leadership
Militello, Matthew and Jennifer Friend (Eds). 2013. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing (371.33 M637)
The essays within this book provide views of educational technology from a number of perspectives which will stimulate one’s own thinking about technology in classrooms and how it can be leveraged to attain the educational goals that we have for students.

Positive Academic Leadership: How to Stop Putting Out Fires and Start Making a Difference
Buller, Jeffrey L. 2013. New York, NY. Wiley (378.111 B936)
Focusing on possibilities rather than problems creates a positive framework for leadership and results in more effective management, says Buller. He provides concrete ways that leaders can implement a positive leadership style in their day-to-day interactions and create a more successful organization.

The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact
Fullan, Michael. 2014. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (371.102 F965 2014)
Principals are said to have the second biggest in-school influence on student success. Fullan considers what principals can to do to improve learning outcomes and maximize the impact they have in their schools.

The Principal as Leader of Challenging Conversations
Ontario Principals’ Council. 2011. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin (371.2012 P957 2011)
Difficult conversations are stressful in the hypothetical and downright panic-inducing for some in reality. Keeping these conversations on topic and framing them in a positive way is challenging in high-stakes relationships. This guide covers basic listening and communication skills as well as providing scripts, sample dialogues, style inventories, checklists and resources for practicing skills.

The Principal’s Handbook for Leading Inclusive Schools
Causton, Julie and George Theoharis. 2014. Baltimore, MD: Paul H Brookes Publishing (371.9 C374)
This how-to book leads principals through the basics of special education and to an understanding of the supports needed to make inclusion work successfully in their schools.

The Secret Solution: How One Principal Discovered the Path to Success
Whitaker, Todd. 2014. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (371.2012 W578 2013)
Written as a story, this book tells of a principal who travels a journey through four distinct leadership styles as he works to transform a school. On this journey he encounters familiar characters in education, including superstars, fence-sitters and bullies.

Taking Charge: Leading with Passion and Purpose in the Principalship
Shaw, Paul L. 2012. New York, NY: Teachers College Press (371.2012 S534)
Shaw examines the essence of leadership for principals and considers how they can work towards school improvement. He presents the strategic actions taken by real principals in their first 15 months and discusses how those actions impacted school performance.

Time for Leadership: The Accomplishing More in Less Time, Less Effort, and Less Stress Leadership Journey
Khawand, Pierre. 2013. San Francisco, CA: OntheGo Technologies LLC (371.2 K45)
Taking a holistic approach to leadership, Khawand focuses on using organization skills to spend less time on essential tasks and avoid getting bogged down in the non-essential. He provides insights from his own career in both large and small organizations and combines these with best practices culled from other sources.

Working With Difficult and Resistant Staff
Eller, John Frank and Sheila A Eller. 2011. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press (371.201E45)
The hardest part of any principal’s job can be dealing with people. Many new principals arrive unprepared to deal with resistant staff, but, to be effective leaders, principals must not only work with but also win over these staff. Written as a quick reference to the most pressing problems of administrators, this book offers principals good advice for creating good working relationships with all staff.

Y in the Workplace: Managing the “Me First” Generation
Lipkin, Nicole A and April J Perrymore. 2009. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press (658.302 L674)
As a new generation enters the workforce, both that new generation and the previous generations must adapt to accommodate each other in the work environment. Written for those in the previous generation, this book provides insight into the character, strengths and challenges of the new generation, and gives suggestions for guiding these new employees in the workplace.

You Can’t Do It Alone: A Communications and Engagement Manual for School Leaders Committed to Reform
Johnson, Jean. 2011. Lanham, MD: R&L Education (371.2 J67)
Getting stakeholders on side with your vision is one of the most important tasks of principals. Johnson provides summaries of current public opinion surveys and offers solid advice for winning over parents and students through engaging communication strategies.

Le changement sans stress – Dépasser les résistances et la pression
Lugan, Jean-Paul. 2011. Paris, FRA : Groupe Eyrolles (658.402 L951)
Ce livre, écrit par un formateur-coach spécialisé en management d’équipes, formation de dirigeants, conduite de changement et techniques de communication, pourrait vous permettre : 1) de mieux comprendre les enjeux liés aux changements, 2) d’acquérir les outils et les méthodes de gestion permettant de prendre en compte les résistances et les préoccupations des équipes; et 3) d’identifier et de gérer les facteurs de pression, notamment en période de restructuration.

La direction d’école et le leadership pédagogique en milieu francophone minoritaire – considérations théoriques pour une pratique éclairée
Sous la direction de Jules Rocque. 2011. Winnipeg, MB : Presses universitaires de Saint-Boniface (371.2012 R684)
Ouvrage très pointu, auquel de nombreux auteurs ont contribué, sur les fondements historiques de la gestion scolaire francophone dans l’Ouest canadien, et la complexité du double mandat, pédagogique et social, des institutions scolaires francophones minoritaires. La nécessité d’exercer « un leadership pédagogique partagé » exigeant beaucoup de temps, d’énergie, de compétences, de connaissances, d’écoute et de compréhension, pour que la langue et les cultures francophones minoritaires se maintiennent et s’épanouissent, est mis en évidence.

Explorer les pratiques déontologiques et le leadership par le questionnement professionnel 
2010. Québec : Les Presses de l’Université Laval (371.2 E96)
Recueil de cas auquel près d’une centaine de spécialistes ont contribué en apportant chacun leur propre analyse de situations problématiques diverses. Cet ouvrage est un parfait exemple du rôle que l’étude de cas pourrait jouer dans le perfectionnement professionnel des pédagogues. Il pourrait aider ceux et celles qui aspirent à un rôle de leadership à acquérir les principes éthiques qui guideront leur travail.

Gérer les personnalités difficiles – Préserver sa bonne humeur au travail malgré les défauts des autres
Bouchard, Nelson. 2011. Montréal : Les éditions Quebecor (658.304 5 B752)
Dans ce petit livre agréable à consulter, vous trouverez une foule de suggestions qu’il vous suffira d’appliquer pour avoir des rapports harmonieux avec tous ceux que vous côtoyez sur votre lieu de travail ou lors de réunions et rencontres. L’auteur y décrit les principaux types de caractères et vous livre des conseils simples et efficaces à suivre pour composer efficacement avec chacun d’eux. Plus personnes ne vous mettra sur les nerfs, et vous pourrez enfin avoir d’excellentes relations de travail avec tout le monde!

Les 151 idées efficaces pour gérer les personnalités difficiles
Mason-Draffen, Carrie.  Le Figaro Management Éditions - Imprimé en 2011 sur les presses de la Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery à Clamecy, FRA. : (650.13 M398)
Ouvrage pratique, clair et facile à lire, pour : faire face efficacement aux personnalités toxiques, apprendre à mieux communiquer avec vos collègues, et identifier les conflits avant qu’ils ne surviennent. Titre de l’édition originale : 151 quick ideas to deal with difficult people (2007)