Remaining Steadfast in My Vision as a School Leader

Remaining Steadfast in My Vision as a School Leader

Remaining steadfast in a vision for a school takes courage. Real courage begins when a principal leader steps from behind the lectern getting closer in words and deeds in a way that promotes collective work. Stepping from behind the lectern is not so much a physical thing, but a heart thing to be done with a sense of urgency that assures and motivates the staff. I realize that this is especially true in under performing schools that are struggling and faced with the challenges of 21^st century Common Core instructional shifts. As a school leader, I would include this approach within the first steps to remaining steadfast in my school’s vision. It is a way of coming along side the community of teacher learners while stewarding the vision in a way to build and maintain trust. Defining an atmosphere of trust helps a school leader to better orchestrate collaboration that needs to span from the first year teacher to the 45-year veteran teacher. With all of the demands on school leaders and their staff, it is not an easy task to cultivate a trusting atmosphere like the one suggested here as a catalyst for high performance.  It takes strategic planning.

A reflective leader plans for pitfalls that are likely to occur when a vision is driven by passion. The ability to adapt to inevitable change (daily events, societal life changing events etc.) is a major part of my educational philosophy. Change happens, and within those changes may come pitfalls. Sustaining the vision takes being able to effectively communicate complex ideas and goals driven by effective instructional practices nestled in a healthy school climate. Healthy relationships make up the foundation for a healthy climate.  A major task for the reflective leader is to help the staff to relate to one another in a way that builds relationships symbiotic in nature and driven by the common goal of academic student achievement and social growth. Relationship building among staff, students and staff, and the continuous overlapping of schools, families and communities must include all stakeholders. An inclusive school leader promotes dependent relationships where multicultural education efforts are full scale (Manning, 1996) and works to eliminate the digital divide by promoting digital equity for all students.

The content in the Organization & Administration course has met my individual needs for developing leadership strategies as an individual and as a member of a leadership team. The course design has been favorable for me allowing real world application that works. In order to effectively apply the skills and strategies that I have learned and continually build upon those skills, I must be intricately familiar with my school population.  This includes students/staff, their instructional needs and the needs of the families in the community. Leading in 21^st century schools will require me to be reflective in every aspect of the school’s system of operations. Collaborative planning that involves looking at student work at least monthly would be a strategy that helps to determine our focus for ongoing professional development. I am very interested in working to help turn around challenge (failing) schools. Working in a challenge school will require leadership strategies tailored to meet those unique needs.  It is important to develop goals that are sustainable through concensus building and measurable through qualitative and quantitative tools. It is critical. Stein (2012), a former marine turned educator, states that a leader who tries to lead by consensus while the ship is sinking is not good leadership practice. I agree. As a school leader, I must have the courage to do what is right for children. This approach is part of the quality decision-making skills that is required of a good leader.  Effective two-way communication and deliberate efforts to develop healthy relationships are major keys to successful leadership that leads to thriving schools.    

Co-teaching and Mini-/Elective Courses

Co-teaching, it’s about relationships and communication!

Co-teaching at its best is where learning results in continuous development of  transferable knowledge that is provided by two facilitators  who integrate their unique learning and teaching styles.  It’s been said that students and observers should not be able to tell the difference between the general educator and the special educator.  I agree, however, too often it is not reflective of what is seen in the co-taught classes.  The occurrence of faulty co-teaching or the lack thereof does not just happen on “the day of”  in the classroom.  It happens prior to entering the classroom walls and results from ineffective communication.  Miscommunication stems from events such as inadequate planning that is done in isolation and missing the collaborative component. Gately and Gately (2001), in their work on co-teaching suggest that planning for the co-taught classroom should occur during the summer prior to the start of school.  This approach to building towards the collaborative stage is a wonderful idea.  The challenge is getting teachers to invest in planning time that centers on relationship building during the summer.

A successful educational program begins with effective communication that is ongoing.  When relationship building is at the core of an operation, it tends to work more like a well-oiled machine.  When co-teachers are assigned to work together they begin with what Gately et al. describes as guarded careful communication. School leaders have to set the stage to help teachers to transition beyond guarded communication even though it is wise to be careful. Johnson and Johnson (2009) say groups should not over trust, nor should they under trust in group dynamics. School leaders must cultivate a climate that nudges the staff to connect, creating a sense of family and community.  To help co-teachers to move beyond the compromising stage into the collaborating stage, principals should use the Co-teaching Rating Scale for the special educator and general educator. The teachers could then help to design PD based upon their individual needs.  A lunch meeting during the summer may be a nice place to start the conversation about plans for a successful school year!   

Entry #2 Individualizing Curriculum through Mini-/Elective Courses

Now, more than ever with the onset of the Common Core (CCSS), I think it would be wise to offer mini elective courses. A variety of course offerings provide learners with choices to make decisions about their learning.  In some schools the focus seems geared towards the learner who may not be performing on grade level.  Schools should make a conscious effort to include all learners of  different performance levels into the overall scheme of the school-wide programs.  Now that our schools have adopted the CCSS it would benefit both struggling and gifted learners to have options for mini courses.  

The research supporting the Common Core Standards states that the impact that low reading achievement has on students’ readiness for college, careers, and life in general is significant.  Imagine mini courses surrounding a high interest topic that is appealing to a low-reader.  Say for instance, a struggling reader who is interested in fashion could venture into learning more about topics such as chemistry (unintentionally)while learning about different fabrics.  The same applies to a gifted learner.  Talented and gifted students could begin to extend their learning by exploring beginning courses in their area of interest at the college level or using college-related materials.

Good curriculum fosters the development of mini/elective courses.  Many teachers have a wealth of experience outside of teaching and can lend their expertise to developing well-produced courses of study.  Offering mini/electives courses is something to think about as we continue to explore the art of teaching through the common core standards.   

Curriculum...a reflection

Curriculum…a reflection

Curriculum has many definitions.  Some are broad, while others are very detailed. This fact applies to both prescriptive and descriptive definitions of curriculum.  Curriculum, isn’t it the core of what we do as educators?  Without a formal course of study, it is quite likely that most, including educators and non-educators would define curriculum as the education program that teachers teach. Period.  Seemingly, depending on the time period and the state of education at such time in the (history of education), societal forces greatly impact school curricular. In our 21^st century schools this fact will remain a governing force that greatly influences how we address curriculum and how we us it to help shape society by shaping the lives of our children. The Common Core Standards are central to our district’s instructional focus and the curriculum culture for our students.  Societal forces are in part made up of people who are in cohorts of shared leaders. Glatthorn, Boschee, Whitehead and Boschee (2012) have stated that authors of curriculum know that people will support what they help to shape. From the experience of shared leadership, Glatthorn et. al. (2012) observed that standardizing and centralizing the curriculum takes action within the school walls as a management system for what is taught. In our digital age, technology is a major societal force. An illustration of this digital societal force is the twitter communication during the inauguration coverage of President Obama’s 2^nd term in office. The president in his inaugural address stated, “We must claim technology’s promise.”

As a middle school language arts chairperson, I share in the leadership responsibility of centralizing/standardizing the curriculum.  In our school system, which is made up of approximately 126,000 students divided by 200 schools, our department chairs are directly responsible for guiding the implementation of the curriculum.  At most middle schools, the county promotes the language arts curriculum. Following county leadership meetings, we guide teachers in collaborative lesson planning sessions that incorporate the common core instructional shifts (interpreting more complex text and developing analytic writers) and/or provide a platform to train the teachers through professional development as needed. Curriculum implementation is monitored throughout the year.  Our focus and learning walks are designed to monitor curriculum implementation as well as provide individualized professional development to  “develop” teachers (Marzano, 2012). We expect to see the taught curriculum with integration of technology at its highest standard since we are one of four iPad middle schools.  Each of our 813 students has an iPads for daily instructional use. Teachers and school leaders are expected to incorporate technology as a major instructional resource tool for increased student achievement.

School leaders can be proactive of these influences by forming strong alliances with two-way communication within their schools, at state and at the national levels.  As well, a knowledgeable leader versed in recruiting, responding and respecting community entities to partner with their schools for the best and highest level of curriculum implementation for 21^st century digital schools is sure to meet success. Later in the spring 2013, we will institute a parent/families iPad checkout system so that our families can work along with their children to increase research or other college and career focused skills.

Karin Chenoweth, senior writer for Education Trust states that it takes lots of self-knowledge to be a good leader of a school.  I agree.  Knowing your belief system with a clear vision of the impact that curriculum can have on learning is important. Times have changed and knowing the positive impact that families and community can have on a school (no matter the socio-economic status) is useful knowledge for a school leader. Leaders who allow for change and continuously adapt to our ever-changing world and curricular needs, create a platform to successfully move their schools forward now and in the future.