Chapter 2 And 3 Of Practicing The Art Of Leadership

As with the importance of selecting a highly qualified principal to help raise test scores and closing achievement gaps, the selection and support of staff is also critical. Gregory F. Branch, Eric A. Hanushek, and Steven G. Rivkin’s 2013 study “School Leaders Matter” examined the effectiveness of many principles’ leadership and the effect they had on student achievement ratings. “A primary channel through which principals can be expected to improve the quality of education is by raising the quality of teachers, either by improving the instruction provided by existing teachers or through teacher transitions that improve the caliber of the school’s workforce” (Branch, pg.4). A principal must be able to continually seek out professional development, to research best practices and new educational theories to support their staff and students. If principals are to close the achievement gap, they must be willing to inform and instruct their staff on new teaching strategies. Mr. Canada, from his TED talk, “Our failing schools. Enough is enough!”, states: “You go into a place that has failed kids for fifty years and say: ‘so what’s the plan?’ And they say: ‘Well, we are going to do what we did last year, this year’. What kind of business model is that?” (TED, 2013). The principal willing to venture into new, uncharted waters may succeed or fail, but at least they

This past school year I have been social chair of Nursing Students Without Borders. I have organized, implemented and hosted social events throughout the Fall of 2016 and the Spring of 2017. This past year the leadership of NSWB has worked to make NSWB community focused which is why the position I held was added this past year. I have been able to mentor a pre-nursing student through NSWB. I was able to answer the questions honestly from a pre-nursing student and provide support during the application process. I have been able to participate in leadership meetings and have learned how to plan well and how to improve event planning.

The article, Relationship Building with Teacher Colleagues by Jordan Catapano discusses the importance of spending time building relationships with

In this chapter, Fullan begins by maintaining that principals who are effective lead learners are necessarily also good managers, because they understand that having clear routines is essential for school improvement.” (57) He quotes from Viviane Robinson’s Student-Centered Leadership to both underscore the previous point and emphasize that successful principals take an active learning stance: “The principal who makes the biggest impact on learning is the one who attends to other matters as well, but, most important, ‘participates as a learner’ with teachers in helping move the school forward.” (58) Fullan also borrows from Helen Timperley’s work in responding to the question, Who is in a principal’s class? The principal’s class consists of “team leaders who in turn can leverage the learning of other teachers in their group”

According to the textbook, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, there are over 100 definitions of the word “leadership”, and all of them are unique in their own way (Northouse, 2015, p.1). There are so many different aspects to leadership that is it nearly impossible to have one definition that covers every area. Each and every person that is a considered a leader has his or her own way of leading because every situation, whether it be work, a team, at home, etc., calls for different and distinctive ways of leading people. Northouse states that there are six main aspects of leadership; it’s a trait, ability, skill, behavior, relationship, and an influential process (Northouse, p. 3-6). Giving a clear answer as to what leadership is defined as is very difficult, but this paper will talk about my specific leadership skills and what leadership means to me.

A consultative style encourages discussion with the team; the leader presents the situation or problem and may possibly suggest a provisional decision. They then invite discussion about it and get suggestions and ideas, the leader then decides. Positives of this style include group synergy ‘none of use is as clever as all of us’, and acknowledgment that the team has something to contribute to the decision-making process. Disadvantages of this style could include slower decision making due to consultation, and the expectation of the team or individuals that they will always be consulted.

According to former Indiana state superintendent of schools Dr. Suellen Reed, “We know from our research that there’s no turnaround school without a turnaround principal” (as cited in Gammil, 2007, para. 2), further supporting the fact that “school leaders have an essential role in cultivating a positive school culture in public schools” (Peterson and Deal, 2002, p.30). However, it is imperative to improve our understanding as to how principal leadership impacts the school culture in high poverty schools to ensure that all children receive a quality education, regardless of zip code, in an environment conducive to learning. The six measured factors are as follows:

To create and work on positive relationships in schools, you need to show and role model effective communication in conversations with other adults and the way you approach other adults

The second quality of an effective leader is to have a vision. The vision should also include the schools missions, purpose and goals. The principal should be progressive and constantly looking for ways to keep the staff and students motivated to work towards a common goal. As an effective leader you must continuously promote the vision. This could be done with a school created slogan that fits the community. Most people want to belong and feel a part of something successful or on the path to greatness. It is a wonderful feeling to be a member of a successful school community where people really

When I was in High School during my fourth and eighth period class; my junior and senior year, I would always go to the Elementary and start working with the teachers and sit in the desks with those kids while they worked, I would help them with any questions they have on their homework and to make sure they behaved and respected the teacher.

Number of studies have asserted that teaching experience of principal positively associates with his/her instructional leadership (Eberts & Stone, 1988; Glasman, 1984; Hallinger, 1983; Leithwood et al., 1990). Studies have identified personal values of principal to indirectly shape his/her attention to varying aspects of educational programs (Barth, 1980, 1990; Cuban, 1988; Glasman, 1984; Leithwood et al., 1990, 1992). “Research on effects of principal leadership on student learning draws its conceptual lineage more directly from research on school effectiveness and school improvement.” (Hallinger, Bickman and Davis,

Novice principals implementing change can be one of great challenge. With the demands of being a principal today we must have perseverance to make a positive vision become reality. According to a recent study done on 200 novice principals asking about the challenges they face implementing change, 121 of them plan to leave the profession (Bayar, 2016, p. 194). In this qualitative research study, principals also state that undesired behaviors have increased in today’s schools (Bayar, 2016, p. 197). I have been in two different school districts and in both I have experienced new administrators. In both cases, there was backlash from staff and students about new behavioral and intervention plans. Change will always be accompanied with backlash in trying to establish a new culture. I have been fortunate enough to see a pbss system come to fruition at my current school. In the end, the teachers are the ones who ultimately incorporate the change in their classrooms. Principals must be highly involved and consistent in implementing the

Before this class, I had a very primitive and vague definition of leadership. Not only did I define it as per my views and ideologies, but I also said that each individual has their own definition of leadership. My initial belief was that leadership does not have a clear cut definition, but there were well defined leadership traits which made an individual. I also initially believed that personal traits did not translate into leadership traits with no strong correlation. After going through the various modules this class offered, it is safe to say that I have significantly redefined leadership and underwent a strong personal assessment. This paper talks what I took back from each of the class activities, assignments and how my self-assessment compares to the perception of others.

According to the authors of this article (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009), principals need to concentrate on the development of skills and behaviors in order to be successful in motivating, leading, and changing the direction of a school. The successful principal understands that there exists a fine balance of caring for others and the need to accomplish specific tasks (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009).

Marzano, McNulty and Waters propose five steps for a plan of effective school leadership. The first step is developing a leadership team with purpose. The definition used for a purposeful community is one with the collective efficacy and capability to develop and use assets to accomplish goals that mater to all community members through agreed-upon process (Marzano, et. al, 2005). The second step is distributing some responsibilities throughout the leadership team. The third step is to select the right work. The fourth step is to identify the order of magnitude implied by the selected work. The last step is to match the management style to the order of magnitude of the change initiative. The last step incorporates whether this is first or second order change.