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5-Gen Leadership
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5-Gen Leadership
Leading 5 Generations in Schools in the 2020s

Foreword by Eric Sheninger


September 2021 | 192 pages | Corwin

An unprecedented leadership challenge for school administrators

Today’s school leaders face the unprecedented challenge of leading five generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and brand-new Generation Z teachers, along with Gen Alpha, today’s youngest students. Based on extensive research and the author’s experience working with thousands of educators and students, 5-Gen Leadership addresses the nuances and expectations implicit with leading each generation. With an emphasis on developing a multi-generational lens through which to view school improvement, this book covers topics such as recruiting and retaining today’s young teachers, tailoring professional development for each generation, and helping each generation succeed in a complex, accelerating world. Readers will also find:

  • Tactics for transitioning to 5-Gen Leadership and understanding the four distinct generations in the teaching staff
  • Moving leadership styles from a managing model to a coaching model
  • Advice for understanding and creating a welcoming environment for Gen Z and Gen Alpha
  • Suggestions for closing the digital generation gaps that emerged during the COVID-19 school closures
  • A glimpse into the future to imagine how new generations of leaders will help reshape schools by 2030

If we’re going to make the most of reforming our schools in the 2020s and keep up with the exponential rate of change in society we must understand today’s students and the four disparate generations in our staffs. This book is critical to help leaders bridge those gaps.

“How do we prepare today’s students for the rapidly changing workplace and society in which they will live, work, and interact in an education system designed for a century that has passed us by? In 5-Gen Leadership: Leading 5 Generations in Schools in the 2020s, Mark White clearly provides a well-lit path to assist educators to successfully make the necessary cultural, structural and instructional changes that are needed.”

-Bill Daggett, Founder
International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE)


 
Foreword
 
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Introduction
 
Chapter 1: From Boomers to Alphas
Understanding the Four Generations in Staffs Today

 
Two Groups Are Trying to Lead, and Two Groups Are Trying to Fit In. Sort of . . .

 
Millennial Teachers Are Walking Away

 
Making Generational Adjustments

 
Trouble in the Gen Z Teaching Pipeline

 
Recruiting Gen Z Teachers

 
Take Steps Now to Become a 5-Gen Leader

 
And After We Recruit and Retain Them . . .

 
 
Chapter 2: The Impact of the Silent Generation and Gen Alpha
Lessons From the Silent Generation

 
Gen Alpha, the New Generation

 
Gen Alpha’s Impact on Education

 
The Transcendent Power of Relationships

 
 
Chapter 3: Moving From Managing to Coaching
The Challenge of Transitioning to a New Model

 
Millennials, Gen Zers, and Gen Alphas: Handle With Care

 
Coaching Into Grit and Professionalism

 
Rethinking Evaluations

 
New Channels for Communication

 
 
Chapter 4: Teaching Distracted Generations
Our Evolving Brains

 
Distracted Students, Distracted Teachers

 
Clues in the News

 
 
Chapter 5: Tactics for Creating Multigenerational PD
Acknowledging the PD Problem

 
A Global Leadership Question: “How Do We Train These Different Generations?”

 
Relevancy in PD

 
Finding the Generations in the Staff

 
Mind the Gap!

 
Presentation Methods for Teacher Z

 
 
Chapter 6 Generational Lessons of COVID-19
Gen Z and Gen Alpha: The New Lost Generations?

 
The New Digital Divide

 
A Flipping of the Paradigm

 
Adjusting Mindsets

 
Advice for Changing Mindsets

 
The Digital Gap in Administrators

 
 
Chapter 7: Upagers and Political Activism
Gen Z Survivors Leading the Way on Gun Reform

 
Gen Z Leading the Way in the Pursuit of Racial Justice

 
Lessons From a University Protest

 
The Coming of the Minority Majority

 
 
Chapter 8: Millennials and Gen Z Ascending in the 2020s
Four Key Points and Questions for the 2020s

 
The University Model Could Affect the PreK-12 Model

 
New Paths to Leadership

 
The Future: Millennial Teachers, Gen Z Teachers, and AI Teachers?

 
Being Human in the 2020s

 
 
50 Tips for Transitioning to 5-Gen Leadership
 
References

Here is a publication that celebrates the different generations that schools now have teaching in and attending them. It offers practical tips to include the skills of all the generations to offer the best teaching and learning for everyone.

Joy Rose, Retired High School Principal, Westerville City Schools
Westerville City Schools

Where you stand depends sometimes on where you sit. And where you sit is often influenced by how and when you grew up. Mark’s analysis and unique understanding of the impact and needs necessary for today’s leaders to work with different generations is timely, relevant, and revealing. One size rarely fits all.

Jim Mahoney
Former CEO of Battelle for Kids

There are so many nuances that take place within a school that we need to understand, and Mark White focuses on one of the most important. 5-Gen Leadership engages educators into understanding how different generations teaching within our school approach our greatest issues and provides the tools to begin those conversations.

Peter DeWitt, EdD
Leadership Coach, Author, Collective Leader Efficacy and Instructional Leadership

How do we prepare today’s students for the rapidly changing workplace and society in which they will live, work, and interact in an education system designed for a century that has passed us by? In 5-Gen Leadership: Leading 5 Generations in Schools in the 2020s, Mark White clearly provides a well-lit path to assist educators to successfully make the necessary cultural, structural and instructional changes that are needed.

Bill Daggett
Founder, International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE)
Key features

School leaders will find:

  • Practical tips for transitioning to 5-Gen Leadership
  • Advice for recruiting and retaining Millennial and Gen Z teachers
  • Advice for creating a welcoming environment for Gen Alpha
  • Resources to help everyone succeed despite challenges such as COVID-19
  • Vignettes from representative teachers and leaders from each generation

For instructors

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ISBN: 9781071836996

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