Week 8 - Final Reflection - Organization and Administration
Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 11:39AM -
This course has given you an opportunity to practice a range of leadership strategies when making decisions that require you to think politically, orchestrate collaboration among all stakeholders, and remain steadfast in your original vision. What do you envision to be the pitfalls that you might face as a first year principal, and how will you implement the strategies learned to overcome the pitfalls?
The first year of being a principal should be dedicated to building relationships, keeping the status quo, evaluating the current situation, and developing a plan moving forward. Too often, I have witnessed administrators who come in trying to change too much too fast. Change needs to be rooted within careful consideration of the current situation. The best part of this classwork has been to focus on a framework for developing a plan to produce change or reform. The only reason this would be different is if someone is hired for a specific reason or task. -
How has this course prepared you to use twenty-first century leadership skills as you model a new culture for collaborating, analyzing student performance, and continually reflect on instructional practices, school climate, and quality decision making?
The team situation worked nicely but the artificial nature of switching roles every week makes things difficult. While I understand why this takes place, it clearly hinders the chance to develop leadership skills. However, these classes tend to be set up to artificially reflect a nurturing leadership style. I would say that our team did have one leader that stood out more than others but her leadership style was focused on tasks and not necessarily dominance over discussion and ideology. As Fullan notes, "
The likelihood of effectiveness is increased when a team:-
Is a real teamrather than a team in name only
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Has a compelling directionfor its work
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Has an enabling structurethat facilitates rather than impedes teamwork
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Operates within a supportive organizational context
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Has available ample expert coachingin teamwork. (Hackman, 2002, p. 31,emphasis in original)"
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Educational leadership and coordination, are not the sole responsibility of school principals: They can and should be exercised at all levels of the school organization. What opportunities for collective leadership have you provided in your plan?
The development of a sub-committee with explicit equal roles was essential for our plan. The team recommended the development of a data analysis team that consists of administrators, teachers and even parents. Education consists of a highly educated workforce and this knowledge based needs to be tapped into regardless of their level within a pyramid of power structure.
