What do I know about school leadership? Oy vey, where to begin? With theory? With practical experience? Where the two meet, where "the rubber meets the road?" Maybe all of the above.
- Framing paradigms and how they help to analyze and reflect upon future or past organizational strategies: the structural frame, in which every decision rises out of an orderly, intricate system; the political frame, in which decisions are made based on the competition for limited resources; the human resources frame, in which management is based on relationships and human connections; and the symbolic frame, in which actions arise through ceremonies and performance.
- The use of carefully scrutinized and collected data/research to drive school decisions. How organizational goals and plans require intense scrutiny and a democratic process before taking action. How the "root cause" of a perceived problem is never visible on the surface but only after trial and error of peeling back different layers of the onion. How amalgamating research is helpful, but clearly communicating why that research is important and how that research affects the school is key.
- How school leaders need to utilize the powers of motivation to make change happen. How transformative leaders have to fight society's acceptance of extrinsic motivation as the "be all, end all" tool to enact change and spark and fan the flame of intrinsic motivation to encourage others to accomplish meaningful change both, both individually and as a group. How motivating factors affect all four of the frames (especially political) when dissecting administrative case studies and how their lessons learned affect our individual leadership development.
- How a leader's supervision of instruction is either the breath of life of deadly flame to a school's educational success. How different theories of supervision apply to different development levels of faculty members. How to enact meaningful, purposeful, and transformative evaluations of teachers and their crafts to take them individually, and as a collective group, to new heights. How some evaluative measurements successfully quantify a teacher's craft while undermining the art of their practice, how other evaluative measurements encourage growth while stifling individual choice, and how to strike a balance that fits the community you lead.
- How two sides of an issue are not always "right" and "wrong," as they are sometimes the best response at any given time. How both sides can learn from each other to find compromises where everyone loses as little as possible. How selling an idea to key stakeholders involves molding your pitch to meet the needs of both your community and your audience while finding a fair way to address deficiencies in your argument and how you plan to remedy them. How different communities' perspectives on similar issues affects the decision making process of today's school leaders.
How did I learn these things? Some of those lessons were gleaned from close readings of assignments, others came from trying to execute theory within my practice and wrestling with the conflict where the two meet in the real world. But most of those lessons were gleaned from discussions with school leaders: with building principals, with administrative coaches, with researchers of school leadership, with department heads, etc. Those lessons were passed on to me as stumbling blocks to avoid or as advice to carefully consider. It's like when a parent or mentor tells you, "Remember this..." and that little voice in your head listens but doesn't store that lesson for later reflection and consideration? I've learned to force that little voice to listen, take notes, make connections, and bookmark those discussions and lessons for when I confront difficult circumstances in my professional life.
How do these things work within my school building, you ask? My suggestions and input on school goals and visions in grounded in meaningful research and data that connects to our community. My interactions with my colleagues and superiors is grounded in an intense devotion to maintaining reliable, safe, and strong relationships. My decisions often only arise after careful consideration of all parties and sides, after keeping an open mind to my possible misinterpretation, and after thoughtful and thorough communication with everyone involved. My goal to push students and colleagues to improve is founded in a hope to inspire their own intrinsic motivators, not always dangling rewards and consequences to change behavior. My perspective on what good teaching looks like allows for both the unquantifiable art of our craft and the measurable actions that lead to improvement. My conversations with my superiors always focus on my colleagues' and kids' best interests and what I can do to better represent them and their needs.
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