My Goal Of Becoming An Expert In Instructional Leadership

The ever-changing landscape of education and school accountability has given rise to a renewed focus on shared leadership. In the past, the principal was viewed as the primary decision maker within a school. However, Glickman (1989) points out that it is impossible for school principals to effectively complete all the necessary instructional and managerial tasks within schools. He contends that some teachers have more leadership abilities than the actual administrators and that “in successful schools, principals aren’t threatened by the wisdom of others, instead, they cherish it by distributing leadership” (Glickman, 1989, p. 8).

The process I developed and used to complete my dissertation was trial and error in the beginning. I entered the Ed.D. program, at Southwestern College after several years removed from a graduate program after having obtained my Master’s in School Administration. I entered the doctoral program with basic knowledge of current instructional research, theories, and practices, but had a desire to challenge myself professionally.

Based on my experience in the classroom and my educational background, I want to pursue a certification as a K-12 administrator because I want to help and work with a larger population of students. My desire to enhance the culture and community in a school building has come from working with three amazing, passionate, and dedicated administrators (one principal and two vice principals) in my school building. Their drive to positively influence the lives of students, collaborate with parents, and enhance the teaching styles of all the faculty members in the building, has motivated me to want to do the same. A new challenge is presented every day in a school building, and I want to be part of an administrative team that will successfully work together to overcome each and every obstacle in order to better the educational experience of students.

The following information was gathered during a discussion with Dr. Clayton Mork from the Crescent School District. He shared his personal view of the role of an instructional leader. Also his view of how instructional leadership practices relate to student achievement. Dr. Mork shared two instructional leadership actions and outcomes he implemented at Crescent School District related to student achievement. Dr. Mork also explained his philosophy of curriculum development regarding involvement of teaching staff.

In this paper, I will reflect on my new knowledge and skills that I have acquired regarding teacher leadership, supportive communication and collaboration. I will also reflect on practical application of these skills, such as assessing the needs, problems or issues, and creating the action plan to address the issues. In the end, I will define how teacher leadership can positively affect student learning and achievement.

For the second practicum, I was asked to be engaged for fifty hours on several administrative activities. For this assignment, I completed the following five activities: (1) working on the parent, student, and teacher handbook, (2) pre-interviewing possible teacher candidates, (3) observing a safety meeting, (4) data analysis, and (5) participating in a board meeting. This segment of the paper will discuss these aforementioned activities along with a reflection on these activities.

Aside from the administrative duties, educational leadership involves soliciting the cooperation and working with teachers to improve the pedagogic processes in their schools. Furthermore, this will require team effort from all the stakeholders to achieve these goals and adherences to the school’s mission and vision.

Teacher leaders and administrators play a vital role in the overall organizational structure of a school. As discussed in Educational Leadership, there are ten roles that teacher leaders tend to gravitate towards. The roles of teacher leaders vary according to duties and responsibilities placed on the teacher leader, they include the following: resource provider, instructional specialist, curriculum specialist, classroom supporter, learning facilitator, mentor, school leader, data coach, catalyst for change, and learner (Harrison & Killion, 2007, pg. 74-77). As a teacher leadership at Lake Oconee Academy, I personally see my duties and responsibilities covering several of these roles. Since the beginning of my employment at Lake Oconee

“The principal must communicate a clear vision of instructional excellence, provide feedback to teacher through both the informal and formal processes of supervision and evaluation, and, finally ensure continuous professional development consistent with the goal of high student achievement for all students” (DiPaola and Hoy, 2014, p. 20). Supervision of teachers is a major responsibility for principals and it has a significant impact on school climate and student achievement. The supervisory process itself is very complex and requires principals to differentiate supervision styles from teacher to teacher. The purpose of this paper is to describe my first supervision experience that took place during the Fall 2016 semester at Rural Retreat High School.

The benefit of becoming a school administrator will allow me to touch the lives of many students to help them achieve their life’s goals. I will be responsible in motivating staff and holding them accountable while implementing school-improvement strategies such as using data to identify and plan for needed changes in the instructional programs, which is equally important in meeting the goal. I will have involvement in setting educational standards, goals, establishing policies and procedures to enforce discipline, evaluate curricula, teaching methods, and to comply

The West Fargo Public School system is not only the fastest growing school district in the State of North Dakota, it is also one of the most innovative and creative. The district’s Mission is “Educating today’s learners for tomorrow’s world”. Teachers employed by the district take this Mission statement to heart and live it in their own lives. To them, education is a lifelong process, not just something everyone experiences between the ages of 5-17. Evidence of this can be seen in the fact that this past summer 20 elementary and secondary teachers began a 20 month educational journey by enrolling in West Fargo’s second Teacher Leadership Academy (TLA). The Academy is a collaborative effort between West Fargo Public Schools and North Dakota State University’s Educational Leadership Program. The 20 teachers began their journey this summer and will be meeting during the school year every-other Wednesday after school. At the end of five semesters they will be awarded the Masters of Education (M. Ed.) degree. Some of the unique features of the Teacher Leadership Academy are: a) rather than traveling to campus for their coursework, Academy students are taught at the district’s Leidal Education Center, b) classes are facilitated by not only university professors, but the district’s two assistant superintendents [Dr. Allen Burgad and Mrs. Beth Slette], and c) course assignments are focused around the district’s initiatives and strategic plan.

Introduction: Mr. Nichols thanked everyone for attending. He explained why the subcommittee was developed; the goal is to have a workable plan ready for the fall. Mrs. Everly thanked Mr. Nichols for his leadership on the Board, and by bringing this conversation to the table, we can only get better. At the administrator meeting last week with Mrs. Joseph, administrators talked about the communication issues within the discipline process that need to be worked out; there is a need to tighten up communication between the office and teacher. Mr. Nichols noted that central office administrators have already been working very hard on this subject, but he thinks it is important for administrators to receive input from teachers and parents.

Educational leadership has changed and evolved through the years as a result of dramatic changes in the school culture, student demographics, environment, science, technology, and economy. Given the complexity and unpredictability of the demanding challenges to educate all children, prospective school leaders may find it desirable to define their own beliefs about instructional supervision and evaluation as they prepare for the rigor of school leadership practice. While enacting supervision, a supervisor is guided by certain values, assumptions, beliefs, and opinions that support the purpose and process of supervision (Sergiovanni & Starratt, 2006). This can be described as the supervisor’s

According to Hans Urs von Balthasar “a vocation is something lived, something enacted and a concrete life story” (Contino, 2004, p. 85). My vocational life story has developed over the past forty years with my first job at twelve babysitting six children to where I stand today teaching home economics at Chowchilla high school. “I build my own life story through the decisions of projects I undertake” and the choices I have made regarding my career path (Contino, 2004, p. 85). Someone looking from the outside at my wandering path might believe of my career changes seem a bit radical. Moving bicoastal, leaving a stable career of twenty five plus years to go back to college, take a pay cut and joining the unstable labor market of Home

Effective school leadership today must combine the traditional school leadership duties such as teacher evaluation, budgeting, scheduling, and facilities maintenance with a deep involvement with specific aspects of teaching and learning. Effective instructional leaders are intensely involved in curricular and instructional issues that directly affect student achievement (Cotton, 2003). The writer of this paper acknowledges that school principals should play the role of instructional leaders, not just a school manager. The reality is that are many demands on a principals time and management skills making it difficult for most of them to spend time in classrooms, when performing teacher evaluation. Principals often make sure that teachers