Views of Leadership: An Interview with Louise Cadwell, by Guest Blogger, Melissa Tobias

The following post is authored by my friend and colleague, Melissa Tobias.  In her graduate work, Melissa is studying both the work of the Reggio Emilia schools for young children and Sustainability Education.  This year, she and I are working together in several ways through her program at Lesley University. I was honored that Melissa chose to interview me about my views and practice of leadership.  It was helpful for me to think about how I arrived at where I am now, and to talk with Melissa about the evolution that I have experienced.  The books and authors that are mentioned here were recommended to me by two mentors of mine, Lori Ryan who I worked with in St. Louis for 20 years and, Linda Henke, who I worked with in my later years in St. Louis.  I am forever grateful to both of them for all of their guidance and support in my work. 

Louise Cadwell is currently serving as an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University in the Graduate School of Education.  I am enrolled in a Masters Program at Lesley University and one of my courses this semester focuses on leadership.  For this course, we were asked to interview someone about their leadership style and inspirations.  When considering who to interview, I thought about someone who embodies leadership in multiple ways; as a teacher, an author, a researcher, a consultant, and as a mentor.  I chose to interview Louise Cadwell who is serving as an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University in the Graduate School of Education.  Louise and I met several years ago at an Education for Sustainability Institute at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont.  As we are both from St. Louis, we instantly connected and Louise has been a serendipitous mentor for me ever since.  The following is an excerpt from my paper based on our interview.

Louise describes her view and practice of leadership as having been influenced by stepping stones...literally steps along the way that have shaped her approach. As her career developed, Louise took time to explore concepts in leadership with the other educators at The College School where she worked as a studio teacher from 1992-2002 and Curriculum Coordinator from 2003-2008.  She was particularly influenced by the work of Rick Dufour, Linda Lambert, Peter Senge and Kathy Cramer.  After reading books by Dufour, Lambert and Senge, Louise began to develop a better sense of what leadership means in regards to schools and learning communities... highly skilled and highly active teachers building a culture of leadership together. Another influential leadership theory for Louise is asset-based thinking, based on the books and workshops of Kathy Cramer.  Each of these authors and learning experiences were important stepping stones along Louise’s path of leadership.

As an education consultant, researcher, and teacher, Louise acts as a leader in many different ways.  No matter where she is in the world, or who she is working with, the same principles guide her leadership.  Her passion and dedication to collaborate and learn with other educators is what underlies all of the work that she does.  In this way, Louise’s work is driven by love; “the other-acknowledging, other-respecting, other-helping drive that reunites the separated” (Kahane, 2010, p. 32).  Her depth of knowledge, ability to teach, inspire, and share has gained her credibility and power in the field of education.   She believes that listening, asking questions, and encouraging a voice from everyone are keys to effective leadership. These practices help to create a culture of shared ownership among a group.  In this way, Louise’s power is evident.  As Kahane describes, “Our power is generating and amplifying when we realize ourselves while loving and uniting others” (Kahane, 2010. p. 26). Louise demonstrates a healthy balance of love and power in her leadership style; a passion for knowledge led by self- actualization, an urgency to share knowledge and ideas, balanced with a “power-to” approach of empowering educators to build communities of learning together.

Louise is also an effective leader because she lives an undivided life.  Louise acknowledges her whole self; her warm memories of exploring the arts and nature with her mother, as well as memories of having to be courageous to speak in front of groups as she came into her role as a leader.  Parker Palmer suggests that leaders are more effective when they share their whole, authentic self (Palmer, 2004).  Louise acknowledges that she did not always feel like a leader.  With patience and persistence, Louise came into her role as a leader.  She is authentic and honest about who she is, and acknowledges that leadership requires constant reflection.

This combination of authentic passion, content area expertise, and a strong theory of leadership grounded in power and love is what has made Louise such a successful leader.  The influential learning experiences in her life, especially based on The Reggio Approach and Sustainability Education have inspired a sense of urgency to share, teach and collaborate with others.  This sense of urgency has pushed her to take steps forward as a leader in her field.  Louise describes her leadership journey as an “evolving expertise fueled by curiosity.”  Along this path, Louise has continued to be reflective about who she is as a leader and as a learner, and will continue to serve as an inspiring mentor along the way.

Works Cited:

Kahane, A. (2010). Power and love: A theory and practice of social change. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler

Palmer, P. (2004). A hidden wholeness: The journey toward an undivided life. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Paris Views: Collections, Materials, Compositions

Ashley and I just took a marvelous spring break from the never ending winter in New England and went to Paris.  It was spring in Paris and we used the new bike system,Velib, to ride everywhere.  This trip, we frequented Les Puces, or the Flea Markets.  I have always wanted to visit  them.  It is a bit of a trek to the outskirts of the city, but every bit worth it.  We wandered over many blocks loving what we saw.  We did not buy anything really, but we were swept away by the spectacle and the aesthetic.  More than ever before, we were struck by the French art of arranging and composing materials and goods.

We were reminded of our studios and ateliers in the schools were we work.  There is a great similarity in what we are trying to achieve.  A sense of order, and richness and abundance at the same time.  A great diversity of materials placed in pleasing juxtapositions so that the imagination can take off based on what the eye sees.  Unusual combinations and provocative placements so that we are sparked by new possibilities.  Pleasing compositions of materials attract us and we are drawn to touch them and explore them.  Loris Malaguzzi used to say that the areas of our classrooms should be like market stalls, enticing children to interact with what they find and to learn in joyful ways.

What we found in Paris was a great feast for the eyes, and a lovely reminder of what thoughtful display and organization can provide for us.  We were also renewed by the challenge to go looking for beautiful stuff everywhere with children and families.  In this way, we can all benefit from playing and learning with diversity, beauty, color, form, fabric, yarn, metals, ceramics, found objects and the joy of holding the stuff of the world in our hands and shaping it anew.

The Art of Inquiry at Opal School, co-authored with Yvonne Liu-Constant

From February 17 to 21, Louise and Yvonne Liu-Constant, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Lesley University, led a study tour with eleven participants to Opal School of the Portland Children’s Museum.  This is the first year for Louise and the Opal School staff to collaborate with Lesley University in Cambridge, MA after two years of offering this experience for graduate credit through Butler University.  This year, the participants came not only from all over the country (OR, CA, MA, VT), but also from as far away as Beijing, China. We were mostly early childhood educators, but with diverse experiences ranging from college and graduate students, to teachers and directors, working in public as well as private settings.  The group dynamics were simply amazing–we all connected in the short week that we had together, bringing deep thoughts and provocative questions from our observations of Opal classrooms to each discussion.  During our last discussion on Friday, Louise described the week as “transformative,” and all heads nodded.

How does a week like this transform us?

Carlina Rinaldi, President of Reggio Children and Director of the Loris Malaguzzi International Center in Reggio Emilia, Italy tells us that…to learn is to love and to learn is to change.  Carlina Rinaldi also reminds us that our emotions are engaged in deep learning and that the most powerful learning is a social experience.  The kind of learning that Carlina speaks of is the kind of learning that we witnessed all week long among children and adults at Opal School.  In turn, our group of Lesley students were changed by what we observed.  None of us will ever be the same again.

This blog post will focus on one aspect of what we observed that changed us…The Power of Questions.

Our first day at the Opal School was a holiday, so we had the opportunity to take a close look at the environment while the children were not there. The presence of meaningful questions posted around the rooms caught our eye.  The questions served as invitations for children to explore the materials and the provocations invited them to think deeply.  For example, in this photo, the teachers of Opal 3 invited children to explore with wire (“What can wire do?”) while provoking a deeper inquiry about balance (“How might wire help us explore balance?” “How might wire help us express balance?”)

The questions also demonstrated how social learning is seen as critical and integrated into all learning.  For example, this question found on the art materials shelf in Opal 2, where every item is in its place, asks “What does it feel like to belong?”

Questions surrounded us in written form, but also in every classroom between a teacher and one child, or in a class meeting...in math class, in literacy studio, in  P.E. class.  What could have been statements informing and instructing students, became engaging, collaborative and thoughtful exchanges that required thinking and creativity on everyone's part.

Our participants frequently shared questions that they heard while observing in classrooms.  These questions have inspired us to change our teaching.  During group reflections, we shared:

“As a teacher, I should be posing questions, and seeing how questions can make me a better listener.”

“I’d like to create a culture of inquiry around me, and I hope that becomes more of a habit in my personal and professional life, so even when I’m talking with friends, before giving advice, I’d stop and ask: how can I make it into a question?”

“What I’m seeing here at Opal is that asking question is the pivotal act in teaching.  It turns teaching from preaching into inquiry.”

“The only way we can learn from each other about asking questions is to move to a more reflective space, which allows us to be more vulnerable with each other.”

“The questions that are posed here are open questions that invite reflective thinking rather than one correct answer.”

“The way that questions are used here is very natural, seamless with the flow of conversation.”

“Teachers at Opal are well practiced and well versed in the art of questioning…they are on the same page.”

“It seems that reflective practice is a cornerstone of teaching and learning for everyone of all ages at Opal.”

One of the books that has deepened both the understanding and practice of the language used in teaching at Opal is Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives, by Peter Johnston.  This book is a must read for all of us.  It demonstrates how the language that we use in classrooms can support not only students' intellectual development but also their sense of self and their social, emotional and moral development.

For those of you who would love the opportunity to visit Opal School, we highly recommend any of their professional development initiatives.  Their yearly summer symposium is a wonderful way to experience the school and hear teachers' excellent presentations about their work. Go here to register for the June Symposium.