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I teach; therefore I learn. I learn; therefore I must lead. I lead; therefore I must understand. Summative Essay Educational Leadership By Teresa Kennon. Insights From Experiences.
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I teach; therefore I learn. I learn; therefore I must lead. I lead; therefore I must understand. Summative Essay Educational Leadership By Teresa Kennon
Insights From Experiences I have gained a plethora of insights as I carried out my project, took classes, did research, and participated more in administrative duties in my school. The guiding light in all of this I believe is to lead your school as a administrator in much the same manner a teacher guides her students. While the responsibilities are magnified and the ramifications of decisions are on a much larger scale, I nevertheless see similarities.
Data Analysis Leader Coursework Internship Read and reflected upon numerous Educational Served as Academic Coach Leadership Articles Examined how educational leaders impact the Examined Test Scores and identified micro-curriculum and macro-curriculum school strengths and weaknesses Read and reviewed literature for school project Served on EBIS and RTI Teams on the academic coaching and its effects Recommended and delivered interventions
Curriculum, Assessment, Instruction Leader Coursework Internship Read and reviewed numerous articles Master Teacher, State Academic Coach And research investigations on academic coaching Listen to principals/professors share insights on Worked with State Department to daily experiences implement new math strategies Discussed various programs and ways to deliver Observed teacher and provided feedback instruction
Performance Leader Coursework Internship Examined various types of curriculum Served on Math Vertical Team Investigated GPS an d CRCT in relation to other states ‘ evaluation procedures Attended state conferences on Raising Standards
Operations Leader Coursework Internship Read and conducted research on legal Arranged professional development aspects and rules and regulations activities Listened and asked questions of administrators Coordinated program with graduation who perform these duties coach to provide tutoring Interviewed administrators Organized new program for delivery of Title One services Shadowed administrators Served on committee to write proposal for school wide Title One program
Relationship Leader Coursework Internship Learned methods that were tried and true Host for visitors for career fair from Mrs. Strawbridge and Mr. Fowler (principals) Attended School Board Meetings and talked Breakfast with Board of Education to members Members Read books and reported on traits of leaders Took conversational Spanish Organized and hosted monthly Title One parent meetings
Process Improvement Leader Coursework Internship Researched benefits of academic Academic Math Coach coaching Teacher Support Specialist Interviewed academic coaches Implemented new computer programs for remedial instruction Delivered interventions for RTI
Change Leader Coursework Internship Heard testimony of challenges Coached math teachers incurred and how challenges were solved Encouraged teacher collaboration Researched and read John Maxwell’s books on leadership Teacher mentor Read articles on traits that make successful Implemented tutoring program leaders Initiated implementation of new teacher support club
Learning and Development Leader Coursework Internship Academic research on coaching Initiative to foster more use of manipulatives in math Cooperative group presentations Arranged professional development presentations Organized Pi Day
What makes a great ? “Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach." - Rosabeth Moss Kantor
Expectations of an Administrator • Representing and promoting the district’s mission and values • Creating and maintaining a safe school climate • Setting expectations and delivering results for academic achievement, climate safety, budget efficiency, and employee/student performance • Recruiting and maintaining staff • Organizing and budgeting resources • Confronting and providing remediation for inadequate teaching practices
Expectations of an Administrator • Prioritizing goals and agendas • Solving problems • Valuing diversity • Driving for results • Embodying integrity and trust • Measuring student and teacher progress • Coordinating stakeholder concerns • Improving skills
Teacher–Principal Analogy I have gleaned insights when I examined and compared the jobs of teachers and administrators. I feel the principles and tenants of educational leadership are best learned and refined in the classroom and then expanded to the more global context of the s context of the school.
Educational Leadership The very essence of leadership is having a vision and the conviction and determination to follow that vision. As I participated in weekly leadership meetings we made decisions and examined progress toward our school vision.
Educational Leadership "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams I truly realized this as I completed my Teacher Support Specialist endorsement and mentored beginning teachers.
What does an educational leader do? "A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be." - Rosalynn Carter Much like a great teacher leads her students, a great administrator leads her faculty to levels at which they should aspire to be.
Hats I Have Worn Through my experiences and especially through my project as I worked as an academic coach for math teachers at my school, I have worn many of the hats I alluded to in the previous slides. I was a supervisor, mentor, developer, analyst, role model, evaluator, coordinator, facilitator, and teacher.
All I Really Needed to Know about Educational Leadership I Learned from the Wizard of Oz • Follow the Yellow Brick Road/Yellow School Bus, but always be prepared for detours.(Follow goals but be prepared for obstacles.) • Imagination can take you anywhere- even over the rainbow or to meet AYP Goals. (Have a vision.) • When friends stick together, they can work miracles. (Team building, develop the micro-curriculum)
School Leadership and The Wizard of Oz • All you need is right there inside of you. (Use your faculty for expertise and support.) • Asking for what you want is half the battle. (Dealing with the county office, budget matters, faculty/community support) • The grass is always greener on the other side of the rainbow. (Comparisons with schools that made AYP)
School Leadership and The Wizard of Oz • When you venture out into the world, stand up for yourself, but be kind. (Be professional and represent your school in a positive manner; be a role model.) • Keep home in your heart and you can always return to it.(Remember when you were a student/child/parent/ teacher.) • “Hearts will never be made practical until they are made unbreakable.” (Students and faculty don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Being an administrator hurts sometimes.)
School Leadership and The Wizard of Oz • Sometimes you have to leave home to find it. (Visit and learn from others schools but appreciate your own.) • “There’s no place like home!” (Value your staff, students, and stakeholders and do things to retain them.) • Hard work, faith, and hope can work wonders, but ruby slippers can’t hurt either. (Community/staff involvement and achieving AYP goals help your school.)
Pearls of Wisdom Gained From Many Grains of Sand • School management is about doing things right; whereas school leadership is about doing the right things. (Modified from Peter F. Drucker’s quote) • Principals must balance the charge of ensuring social and political solidarity, yet encouraging critical thinking in students in the micro-curriculum. • In order to gain the right information, one must ask the right question. If one continues to repeat what has been done, the results too will continue to repeat themselves.
The Pearls Continue • “The leadership instinct you are born with is backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.” Elaine Agather • “The function of leadership is to provide more leaders, not more followers.” Ralph Nader • “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Dwight Eisenhower • The best principals pick good teachers to do what they want done and have enough self-restraint not to meddle while the teachers do it.
The Educational Leader Must Have a focus on academics, behavior, and character. She must help to prepare teachers and students for the future. She must have a passion to educate and challenge the old ways in order to prepare for the new.
The Education Leader Must Love her teachers and students more than she loves her title. An administrator must be willing to be different from her staff only in that she is more accountable and responsible.
An Educational Leader Must Never stop learning, forget from whence she came, or lose her passion for educating our youth. “In times of change, learners inherit the Earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” Eric Hoffer
An Educational Leader Should Aspire to be the most she can, while inspiring students and teachers to do the same. She must not alleniate others with her power. She must remember, “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.”- Isaac Newton
Visions of Education Together administrators, students, teachers, and communities can achieve more than the sum of the parts, but it is incumbent upon administrator to develop this vision and fuel the fire by which to make it a reality.