EDU6600 - Initial Reflection - Pre-Assessment

EDU 6600 Initial Reflection

            A crucial element to the success of a school is whether or not teachers are pushing themselves forward with new learning and understanding of best practice.  If teachers remain static, the student’s needs will never be met as the world is constantly changing.  This evolving world asks teachers to continuously reflect on what they do and if it is effective in the classroom.  It takes the leadership of certain individuals to help instill change and progress teachers forward.  In the chapter, “Exploring New Approaches to Teacher Leadership for School Improvement”, Smylie, Conley, and Marks detail three models of distributive leadership.  These models are summarized as follows:

1. Leadership is the performance of key tasks, regardless of who is in leadership roles
2. Leadership is a school-wide organization of power and resources
3. Leadership is a sort of social “web” in which interactions between leaders and their surroundings cause change.

            In my relatively short educational career thus far, I have had limited exposure to different models of leadership and different learning practices. In terms of leadership, my current school models the first and second principles listed above.  As a school with limited resources, most teachers wear multiple hats.  In the same light, our administration realizes there are too many task to be done with these limited resources, so the teacher in charge takes control of the situation and makes decisions, sometimes without approval by the principal.  Almost all of the times a situation like this occurs, our administration is fully supportive as they see each teacher as a leader who can perform key tasks, even if they aren’t in a leadership role.  Similarly, our administration has stated multiple times “You are the expert”.  Our principal constantly looks for opportunities in which a teacher can deliver PD or some other training to the school.  Leadership at my school is seen as a school-wide organization of power and resources via the opportunities we are given to demonstrate our expertise on a given subject or idea.  This paired with the trust and faith by the administration helps foster a school-wide culture of leadership.

            How will educators acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to implement strategies successful?  In my position the acquisition of new knowledge is facilitated through multiple detailed and clear meetings, seminars, and courses.  My school chooses one, maybe two instructional changes to implement each year.  For instance, this years profession learning idea is academic coaching.  To acquire this knowledge our administration has required teachers to read a book on educational coaching.  From here we all have enrolled in three classes throughout the year on coaching. And finally we have all taken on a student to coach as a way of practicing and acquiring the necessary skills. Taking on new learning strategies is not easy, and by slowly scaffolding the process into smaller steps, the opportunities for success and deep understanding are much higher. 

Who will monitor success? This is where model #2 comes into play at my school.  When monitoring the success of new learning practices, our administration trusts the teachers to monitor the effectiveness of the learning strategy.  Our principal values the school as a school-wide organization of resource and power and will turn over the evaluation to the teachers. This is the ultimate form of leadership by a principle and the teachers.  The principle is demonstrating leadership by allowing the teachers a chance to take situations into their own hands.  Likewise, the teachers are demonstrating leadership by controlling the situation in a way the works for them.  In this context teachers cannot hide in the shadows, waiting for a decision by the principle.  The teachers must lead through their own actions, reflections, and c