My Philosophy of Educational Leadership -Critical Element Paper #1 Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership and Postsecondary Education University

of Northern Iowa -In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Advanced Studies Certificate -by Leicha M. Scranton Taylor Elementary School Cedar Rapids, IA November 19, 2012 -Timothy W. Gilson, Ed.D.

I believe that every decision made by a school or a building administrator should be based on what is best for children. The whole reason we are here is to insure that all children become successful citizens in the world. We should base our decisions on the following question: Will this help children become successful? If we cannot answer that question with a yes, then we are not headed in the right direction. The most important individuals we work with are the children, so they need to be placed before everything else and considered during every decision. I feel that I have and lead through the following characteristics of a quality instructional leader: vision, differentiated instruction, relationships, collaboration, motivator, data-based decisions, and quality professional development. Vision Having a vision for the direction you want the school to go aligns with Standard 1: Visionary Leadership of the Iowa Standards for School Leaders (ISSL). Every school needs to have a vision of where they want to go, along with a plan on how they are going to reach that goal. A leader cant just walk into a school building and hope to lead a group of teachers if they have a vision of where they want to take them. Having the vision is not enough; a schools staff needs to know how a building leader is going to take them from where they currently are to where the district wants them to be. That involves creating clear action steps and sharing them with the staff. Articulation is vital; without it, the rest of the school community has no idea what the vision is (Wilmore, 2002, p. 21). Getting teachers on board with where the school needs to go is not an easy task, but can be done with clear expectations. When everyone is working together, students will become successful.

Instructional Leader I believe that it is my responsibility to help all children and teachers reach their highest achievement level. In order for me to do this, I have to put the needs of the children first, ahead of everything else. All children and teachers are special in their own way, and it is my responsibility to help them see all of their potential. To figure out each childs or teachers strengths, I need to be flexible and use a number of different teaching methods and styles to get my content across. As an administrator, I must determine which presentation methods or strategies work best for each individual teacher. Once it has been discovered what works for the staff, professional development activities can be planned that are based on that information. Teachers also need to feel that they are capable of doing the work at hand. By implementing and following through with all of these action steps, I am demonstrating ISSL Standard 2: Instructional Leadership. Differentiated Instruction Not all students or teachers learn at the same rate or in the same ways, so we need to meet them where they are at. By implementing a number of different teaching styles and methods throughout lessons or professional development, a building leader is able to connect with more students and teachers. As a administer, I need to be willing to put in the extra time it takes to plan so I can reach all of the teachers through the buildings professional development. If I am able to model differentiated instruction through my professional development delivery, I am modeling for teachers examples of ways they can differentiate with their own students. There is a lot of power in modeling strategies and/or techniques, so teachers can see an example of how the strategy works. Implementing and demonstrating the use of differentiated instruction to

move students forward aligns with both ISSL Standard 1: Visionary Leadership and ISSL Standard 2: Instructional Leadership. Relationships Relationships play a key role in building a positive school culture. A building leader needs to create strong working relationships with staff, students, parents, central office and community volunteers. As an administrator, time needs to be taken to get to know the staff and what their interests are. They need to know that their administrator values them as an individual and is interested in their personal lives. If the staff feels comfortable, then they are more likely to try new things. According to Robbins and Alvy (2009) When positive human relations skills are manifested, people feel comfortable taking risks, experimenting, collaborating, and communicating ideas and feelings (p. 40). Having a strong relationship with community members allows for a stronger partnership for learning. One way I would help this partnership grow is by inviting the community members into the school to see all of the wonderful things happening in the building. I would have to keep in mind that if the community members have a negative experience while they are in the school, it could have a negative impact on our relationship with the community. A negative relationship with the community members could then lead to a negative climate within the building for teachers and students. It is very important to keep all relationships positive and moving in the right direction for the good of everyone involved. Quality relationships help keep a school community together. As the principal if I am able to do that, I am demonstrating portions of ISSL Standard 3: Organizational Leadership, ISSL Standard 4: Collaborative Leadership, ISSL Standard 5: Ethical Leadership and ISSL Standard 6: Political Leadership.

Collaboration In order for a school to be successful the individuals in the school need to work together to move the building forward. Teams need to be willing to plan their instruction, reflect on things that have gone well or how to make things better. As a building, we need to use the data to guide our instruction and everyone needs to be working towards the same goal. Many teachers feel overwhelmed by their work load and the ever changing expectations from the district. This makes them think that they cant do their best because they feel like they cannot get everything done successfully. As a building leader, it would be my place to make the teachers feel comfortable with the content and help them manage their time by prioritizing what is most important. It is also very important to have the teachers feel like they are a community of equals, not only with their teammates, but also as a member of the school community. In a collaborative workplace focused on learning, all staff would assume some responsibility for the professional welfare and growth of both students and colleagues (Robbins & Alvy, 2009, p. 114). By helping the staff, see the impact on students when they together as a team, then am doing my job as an administrator. Being able to work collaboratively with groups of teachers to ensure success for both teachers and students aligns with ISSL Standard 2: Instructional Leadership and ISSL Standard 5: Ethical Leadership. Motivator I believe that effective building leaders also need to be a motivator for the staff, if done correctly portions of all six standards are met. Part of being a leader is to build staff up when things arent going well and to continue to celebrate them when things are going well. It is really easy for teachers to get in a rut and just go through the motions. It is up to an administrator or

the administrative team to keep teachers from falling into that rut and continue to challenge them with new ways of thinking and teaching. This will hopefully push the teachers to challenge their students to show what they know in new ways, for example, pulling in more technology into their teaching and presentation. Data-based Decisions I believe that decisions need to be based on two things: (1) what is best for the students, and (2) based on the visible data. Decisions should be made based on data-driven decisions based on multiple sources of facts rather than presumptions or conjecture (Wilmore, 2002, p. 57). Data needs to be used by teachers to guide their instruction, as well as the administrator using the data to guide their decisions on the direction to take the building. Effective educators always have a hunch about how things are going, but they need the data to back up their hunch before moving forward with a decision. As an administrator using the data to guide decisions aligns with ISSL Standard 1: Visionary Leadership and ISSL Standard 2: Instructional Leadership. Professional Development A buildings professional development needs to align with the buildings vision and district goals, but it also needs to align with what the teachers need to continue to grow professionally. I believe that professional development should include as much hands-on and visuals as possible. Many teachers learn by doing hands-on practice. This type of practice gives the teachers a chance to see what it is they are learning and also helps them to reflect with coworkers before trying the new strategies or tools with their students. As principals, we must recognize that unless we show teachers a better way, they will probably never even attempt a

different instructional practice (Whitaker, 2012, p. 43). As the principal, it is up to me to make sure that all of our professional development sessions and staff meetings link to our buildings goal. When professional development applies to the buildings School Improvement Plan, district initiatives and teacher need I am demonstrating both ISSL Standard 1: Visionary Leadership and ISSL Standard 2: Instructional Leadership, because everything aligns with the direction the school is moving. Education and learning is a lot of hard work for students and teachers. If the students or teachers do not see the value in the work that is being done, then they wont want to try to learn new things. I feel that it is my responsibility as an administrator to help teachers see the value in the work they are doing to move the building forward. I also think when a school building works together, towards a common goal, students and teachers will be successful. For that to happen the building needs to have a strong leadership team that has committed souls, passionate about creating success in the lives of every student (Wilmore, 2002, p. 20). I feel I need to always remember the reason I became an educator. I did it for the children, so if Im always keeping them in mind, I will reach the goal I have set out to meet: success for all both students and teachers.

References

Robbins, P., & Alvy, H. (2009). The principals companion (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Whitaker, T. (2012). What great principals do differently. 18 things that matter most (2nd ed.). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. Wilmore, E.L. (2002). Principal leadership: Applying the new educational leadership constituent council standards. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press Inc.