1. Developing Trusting Relationships: State a behavior (or lack of behavior) that interferes with building trust. Provide evidence and/or an example from the case study. There was no clear evidence that Mr. Rogers spent time developing a relationship of trust with the staff (Martin, 2019). All of the peer responses that I read in the discussion board were in agreement with this assessment. The analysis of the question in Martin, et. al., (2022) about relying on others is a key indicator of this shortcoming. Mr. Rogers did not meet with campus members to analyze the problems or look for common solutions. Instead, he came in with his own solution at the very start. 2. Leading in the Realization of the Vision: State a behavior (or lack of behavior) that interferes with the realization of the vision. Provide evidence and/or an example from the case study. The consensus among the peer discussions reviewed and my own analysis point to a lack of vision on the part of Mr. Rogers and by extension, no shared vision between the stakeholders in the school. The first question in Martin, et. al., (2022) about a clear vision is missed in the scenario. From the actions of Mr. Rogers, such as doubting that the teachers would use new equipment if they had it and worrying about the college making their concerns about LHS public, it seems that Mr. Rogers is reacting to problems instead of analyzing the situation in comparison to a shared vision for the school. 3. Making Shared Decisions: State a behavior (or lack of behavior) that interferes with shared decision making. Provide evidence and/or an example from the case study. The assessment from my analysis on shared decision making is in line with that of the peer discussions. Mr. Rogers is making decisions independently of the teachers and the community. In the first year, he started planning to implement an early college program without first consulting the teachers. Many of the faculty leaders have been at the school for more than 15 years. Discussions with these individuals would have provided insight and helped forge alliances by making collective decisions about the direction the school should go in. 4. Communicating Effectively: State a behavior (or lack of behavior) that interferes with effective communication. Provide evidence and/or an example from the case study. Most of the discussion posts reviewed pointed to an ineffective communication strategy employed by Mr. Rogers. In the first year, he came out and announced a radical change to the school by implementing an early college program. This idea created a lot of push-back from the staff that signaled a lack of a safe and open communication system between them all. In the second year, Mr. Rogers held a faculty meeting where he announced the poor review of LHS by the college. 5. Resolving Conflict & Issues: State a behavior (or lack of behavior) that interferes with conflict/issues resolution. Provide evidence and/or an example from the case study. The consensus among my peers seems to be that there is conflict within the staff as indicated by the negative and low perception of the students by the faculty. A few noted the conflict between the faculty and the college as well. In all of these cases, the conflict was not dealt with by Mr. Rogers and was instead either ignored or he took sides. 6. Motivating and Developing Others: State a behavior (or lack of behavior) that interferes with motivating/developing others. Provide evidence and/or an example from the case study. All of the peer discussions reviewed indicated a lack of motivation by the faculty and a lack of effort to meet the needs of the students and staff to help drive motivation within these groups. Mr. Rogers was reacting to the individual events and pushing for changes without working to meet the needs of those he was seeking to induce a change within. References: Martin, G. (2019, October), Case Study #1. [PDF]. https://luonline.blackboard.com/ultra/courses/_183930_1/cl/outline Martin, G. E., Danzig, A. B., Flanary, R. A., & Orr, M. T. (2022). School leader internship: Developing, monitoring, and evaluating your leadership experience (5th ed.). Routledge. The primary problem introduced by the case study (Martin, 2019), is that few students from Landon HS are attending King Community College and of those that do, few finish the program. The remainder of Cast Study #1 provides demographic information about the school and community, a brief history of the principal’s (Mr. Rogers) interactions with the staff, and a few other background pieces of information such as the changing demographics of the community. The school is in a rural community with a large population of low socio-economic families. The community is starting to see an increase in families moving to the area that are in higher socio-economic brackets. The school faculty do not seem to be in alignment with the principal and KCC over the prospects of the students. From the scenario, there are several near-by colleges that students from LHS attend after graduation. There are also several demographic groupings at LHS. Currently, approximately half of the student population come from families that did not attend college. At the same time, more professional families are moving in which will alter that percentage. The information given does not indicate what group of students are performing poorly at KCC and there are no concrete indicators given as to the areas they are struggling with. All that is provided is that they are not finishing the two-year program. The first information needed would be to find out more about the students who are attending KCC and what specific areas of deficiency they are experiencing. From the information given, the next area for investigation is why students are not performing well at LHS. The teachers say that they are more interested in going to work than going to school. There are several options to explore at this point. The scenario discusses the Mr. Rogers views and the teachers views along with demographic information. It seems that most students are in a low socio-economic demographic. Their parents work, but do not make enough money for the family and the students have to work as well. This does not help the students to see a value in school. This would lead to exploring why the school is not partnering with the community and the college to improve employment opportunities through avenues such as trade programs and associate degrees. These questions lead to a more root problem of a lack of unified, shared vision for the school that incorporates the school, students, parents, community, and college. Each group has their own goals and agendas which are not aligned and creating conflict. Additional data still needed to verify this as the root problem and help with moving toward solutions would be related to the local economy and the school. There is only some data given about the demographics. It would be helpful to have better information on what students do after leaving high school. How many go straight to work, how many go for some secondary education, how many go to college. Additionally, data on how many students work during high school will be informative. From there, data on teacher interventions and classroom activities along with the results of those will help in identifying strategies that work and strategies that do not. Another area of inquiry would be to find out what the objectives were for the students who went to KCC. Were they looking for a trade certificate, a 2-year degree, or looking to move on to a 4-year college? This data will help in discussions with all of the stakeholders to clearly identify the needs of the students. From this analysis, there seems to be a need for all of the stakeholders to work together to create a shared vision for the school. If the students and families are more worried about paying current bills than going to school, then traditional educational incentives and opportunities will not be as relevant. By working together to include the parents and the community in the vision planning, Mr. Rogers can help to align the school with the current needs of the students. From the information given, it does not seem that the educational work at LHS is aligned with the job market needs locally. By including teachers in the discussions, the teachers are able to build upon the strategies that have worked in the past and better align them with the students. Having conversations and an aligned vision with the community will help the teachers provide activities that are more motivating to the students because they are more relevant to their current situation. Having KCC involved in the building of the vision and action steps helps the college to align their offerings with the community and educate the community about the opportunities and support they offer. As these groups work together, they will also have a chance to include in their planning support for the current economic needs of the students. The scenario states that working is a top priority for the students right now. If the school can work with the community and the teachers to better accommodate this environment, then the students will be more motivated to continue with their studies to meet their goal. References: Martin, G. (2019, October), Case Study #1. [PDF]. https://luonline.blackboard.com/ultra/courses/_183930_1/cl/outline Martin, G. E., Danzig, A. B., Flanary, R. A., & Orr, M. T. (2022). School leader internship: Developing, monitoring, and evaluating your leadership experience (5th ed.). Routledge. Case Study #1 (Matin, 2019) was an interesting scenario that I have seen in various ways many times. I was very interested in seeing the viewpoints and analysis of my peers. I had my interpretation of the reading, but I am very aware that I bring my unique viewpoint that has its own blind spots. I have enjoyed reading through the posts and seeing the various ideas and thoughts. In general, we were all in alignment together. Just like any concept that deals in averages, everyone has various divergences. I found many that went into greater depth than I did on some competencies (Martin, et. al., 2022). The theme was in alignment, but I was able to see a different viewpoint and nuance. I have learned that what is important or substantial to me is not necessarily the same for others. I have a very strong dislike for making avoidable errors. I am very willing to take a calculated, researched risk knowing that the result may not come out as intended. At the same time, I prefer to get as much input and outside information as I can before deciding, so I don’t make preventable mistakes. It would be interesting and informative to see how each person’s unique analysis coalesced into a final root cause. It was not always obvious, but there did seem to be some that could reasonably go to a different conclusion than mine did.
I have always taught my students to trust the process when making decisions and working through a problem. The work of analyzing the competencies for mistakes and successes was very helpful in making an in-depth determination. I also found a great deal of benefit in reading through the peer discussions. I did not make any large shifts in my analysis, but I did see other nuances that came to the surface. One in particular was my consideration of trade programs. Ironically, I teach a CTE class, but my initial analysis did not include that on the list. I was originally focused on 4-year college analysis. Bringing in the different viewpoints helped me to see more than I had seen otherwise and also to be aware of things that I overlooked myself. I do believe that I worked down to a useful and workable root cause of the problem. Doing a root cause analysis is something that I do routinely. I enjoy puzzles and solving problems. Root cause analysis is something that I teach my students as well. We spend a great deal of time and effort into collaborative problem solving and analysis. At the same time, I am very confident in my analysis because the situation presented in the case study is something that I have actively been working on with schools around the country. I have been fortunate to be a part of a team working with low socio-economic school to create a collaboration between the teachers, administrators, students, parents, local business and industry, and community colleges. What we have been doing has been making an impact in those communities. My experience along with the detailed analysis process gives me a high degree of confidence. References: Martin, G. (2019, October), Case Study #1. [PDF]. https://luonline.blackboard.com/ultra/courses/_183930_1/cl/outline Martin, G. E., Danzig, A. B., Flanary, R. A., & Orr, M. T. (2022). School leader internship: Developing, monitoring, and evaluating your leadership experience (5th ed.). Routledge.
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On going self-reflection is a key component of being a life-long learner. In Dr. Fong’s lecture (2022), she touched on several key aspects that leaders need to be aware of. As the instructional leader, the principal sets the tone for the rest of the school to follow. Being aware of my own strengths and weaknesses puts me in a better position to develop strong relationships with the staff, the students, and the community. I’m not perfect, but I can always improve. By practicing self-assessment, I implicitly give others the approval to do the same. It does not have to be overly explicit. Simply showing others that I am aware of my current state of being and willing to grow goes a long way.
Self-reflection is something I do currently as a teacher and with my students in class. I’ve found that it helps me to better understand my students and their unique situations when I allow myself to look for, admit, and work on correcting mistakes. When I do that, the problems we have encountered are not nearly as bad as they could be. Along the way, we have all been able to show empathy and grace for each other. In that spirit, we have helped each other to grow and learned something new about each other along with ourselves. As an instructional leader, I know that I will be nowhere near perfect. To make things even harder, when dealing with people, things are almost never black in white. It seems to always be some shade of gray. Going back to Dr. Fong’s lesson (2022), I can see where being aware of my ethical and moral positions, along with my own biases is crucial. Each decision is a challenge and that challenge is happening on a stage with a lot of eyes watching. Through on-going self-assessment and self-reflection, I have a better chance to make the best decisions I can today and then make even better decisions tomorrow. References: Fong, D. (2022, January 24). _Fundamentals of Leadership: Modular 2 Lecture [web-conference, PowerPoint slides]. https://luonline.blackboard.com/ultra/courses/_183930_1/cl/outline Not long after graduation from college, I found myself in restaurant management. I had an economics degree but didn’t want to go into that field any longer. I kept waiting tables until I moved up to management. I worked for several different general managers and alongside even more assistant managers. Each had their own styles and approaches. I was fortunate to spend a lot of time under one GM, Larry. He had a more “human” approach to management. It resonated with me and still impacts my work today. Larry was always willing to give people a chance. When setting goals for the restaurant we included servers and cooks, so they knew what we were trying to do. Instead of assigning servers to their stations each day, the front-of-house leaders set it up. They knew the staff and flows better than we did. Most importantly, no matter how bad someone might be at their job, if they tried, they always got another chance.
We had a cook trainee that just didn’t get the hang of it. His training week was supposed to be over, but he still couldn’t run the station alone. We kept him on because he was always on time, tried his best, never complained, and never gave up. The manager on duty always had to be working alongside him during busy times because he could not handle it alone. This went on for four weeks. One day, things clicked, and he could work on his own. Two weeks later, he had learned the other four stations. This was something that might take a couple of months normally. Two weeks later, he was able to run all four stations by himself during the slower periods. In one month, he went from our worst cook ever to one of our best. Never giving up on people plays large in my values, beliefs, and attitude today. My first job was as a long-term substitute for math. The teacher had a policy of giving a completion grade for homework to encourage them to try. In class, she would go over the work and concepts until all the students understood. Only then, would they be given a test. Learning was not calendar dependent in her room. I took this experience along with my restaurant experience into my own classroom. It did not matter if I was dealing with students, parents, or co-workers. If they didn’t understand, I would keep working it in different ways until we were successful. I took it on myself to look for new methods to approach others. If they were willing to try, I would keep at it. It wasn’t until the SDE conference (Brown, 2017) that I really understood the neurological foundations behind why my students and parents responded so well to my methods. After that conference, I was able to be more intentional about my adaptability and resilience in working with others. Desravines et al. (2016) explains the five levers of leadership. Over the years, I have found that I employ these day-to-day in my school. I didn’t start out teaching this way. It has been a result of me always being reflective in my practice and looking for areas of improvement. When I go into an evaluation, I am usually aware of my strengths. The areas I am most interested in are my weaknesses. I want to find them and improve there. Lever 1 is about being belief and goal driven. I have always believed that people can achieve and grow. At the same time, equity is just as prevalent and important. When I learned about Universal Design for Learning (UDL), it resonated with me right away (Novak, 2016). I find that these same UDL principles that work so well with students also work with my parents and other teachers. I have incorporated them into everything I do when I can. My parents get newsletters with information in both graphical and written formats. When I do teacher workshops, I employ a variety of methods for participants to access the material. Our student population is very diverse with a wide range of ethnicities and backgrounds. I want them all to feel welcome and safe in my classroom and my school. This is something that we do overtly in my class, my club, and our booster club. Equity is very important. Each of our leaners, parents, and community members is unique. I cannot treat them all the same. To be effective in working with them all, I must be open and have a good working relationship with them. Their voice and ideas make my class stronger. It also makes my relationships with others stronger because I can take what I learn from one person and use it elsewhere. Early on, I created a booster club for my classroom and program. I wanted a good way to stay in contact with the parents and the community. I routinely meet with them to look at everything we are doing in and out of the classroom. These open lines of communication help me to be more responsive to the needs of my students, changes in the community, and opportunities throughout. It is not easy to ask students, parents, and community members to give their opinion of my classroom and their suggestions for what should be done. I have found that it is invaluable. Everyone is more engaged and responsive. My work with the booster club and its role as an advisory board is an example of both Interpersonal, Adaptive, and Resilient Leadership (Desravines et al., 2016). A huge influence in my approach to working with my fellow teachers, students, and parents has been the administrators on campus. One principal has had an outsized influence. It is mostly because everything she does is focused on brining everyone forward together. Her care and concern for others is only matched by her high standards for everyone. She has shown that being supportive and gracious to others does not mean you have to lower your standards and expectations. As I progress in my career, my belief in people and my push for community will be at the center of my work. References: Brown, T. (2017, July 14). Cracking the Code on the Teen Brain-Exciting new discoveries from neuroscience. [Conference session]. SDE Discipline I Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada. Desravines, J., Aquino, J., & Fenton, B. (2016, March 22). Breakthrough Principals: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Stronger Schools. Jossey-Bass. Fong, D. (n.d.). Introduction to Leadership: Week 1: Lecture 3 [video]. Blackboard. https://luonline.blackboard.com/ultra/courses/_183930_1/cl/outline Novak, K., & Rose, D. H. (2016, September 1). UDL Now!: A Teacher’s Guide to Applying Universal Design for Learning in Today’s Classrooms. CAST Professional Publishing. |
About 5311This is my first course in my principal certification program. The course focus on leadership. ArchivesCategories
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