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:
- Leadership
is the performance of key tasks, regardless of who is in leadership roles
- Leadership
is a school-wide organization of power and resources
- 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
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