MY

 PHILOSOPHY  OF  EDUCATIONAL  LEADERSHIP   1  

My Philosophy of Educational Leadership

--

Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership

and Postsecondary Education

University of Northern Iowa

--

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirement for the

Master of Arts in Education

--

by

Austin William Schmidt

American School of Kuwait

Hawalli, Kuwait

February 24, 2017

--

Dr. Timothy Gilson

MY  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EDUCATIONAL  LEADERSHIP   2  

Leadership is a quality that is necessary in all fields but takes special importance in the field

of education. The definition of a teacher leader as provided by Marilyn Katzenmeyer and Gayle

Moller in their book, Awakening the Sleeping Giant, is “teacher leaders lead within and beyond

the classroom” (Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2009, p. 6). That portion resonated with me because all

teachers are already leaders in their classrooms, but moving beyond that to be a leader within my

greater school community is something that I am aspiring to do. I look forward to learning more

about what makes someone an effective leader, but more importantly look to see how I can use

the skills, knowledge and dispositions that I already have to become an effective leader in my

own way. I believe this degree will help to open up more doors for me in the field, as well as

help me to be the most successful teacher and teacher leader possible.

I have been fortunate enough to have excellent examples of leaders all around me during my

childhood. Almost all of my feelings and experiences towards leadership stem from watching my

father as I was growing up. My dad is the founder and CEO of a video production company that

he started a little over thirty years ago, and is still active in the company and going strong. While

I was fortunate enough to see the success that the company brought for my father and our family,

it was the behind the scenes portions that helped to shape my overall feelings towards how

leaders act and who leaders are.

Anyone can sit from behind a desk and bark orders at others and call themselves a leader,

but a true leader is someone leading the pack with the task at hand. This is something that I saw

countless times growing up, so much so it is one of biggest things that I believe distinguishes

good leaders from mediocre leaders. It was always an expectation that at almost any shoot or

event that went on, my dad as the leader was the first one there, and that last to leave. He
MY  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EDUCATIONAL  LEADERSHIP   3  

consistently leads by example, he will never ask someone under him to do anything he wouldn’t

do first, which is a quality I will carry into my position as a teacher leader.

Respect is the final component of leadership that I take away from watching my father work.

Within all fields, one is guaranteed to meet people from all walks of life, what makes a good

leader is how they react to people with very different backgrounds. This is something that I see

from my father quite a lot. The make-up of his company is diverse with people from all different

levels of education, areas, and lifestyles. What makes the company work as well as it does is a

culture of respect within he workplace. This begins with my father, as the leader and the respect

he shows for all his employees then trickles down until all employees are naturally respectful of

each other. To repeat a point I made early, he’s leading by example with how to be a respectful

leader. This is another quality I will be sure to bring into my role as a teacher leader, and as a

teacher in general.

One vital component of being an effective teacher leader is to create an open and inviting

environment where all parties feel comfortable. This ties directly into the first domain of the

Teacher Leadership Model Standards, which focuses on fostering a collaborative culture to

support educator development and student learning (Teacher Leadership Exploratory

Consortium, 2010). The domain goes on to explain “the teacher leader strives to create an

inclusive culture where diverse perspectives are welcomed in addressing challenges” (Teacher

Leadership Exploratory Consortium, 2010, p. 14). Throughout my life I have been exposed to

people from all walks of life and have been able to work with them during various projects. For

these groups to be successful it was necessary to ensure that all people felt as though they were

in a safe space for them to openly express their ideas about any topic. Katzenmeyer and Moller

encourage teacher leaders to learn skills that will make them sensitive to seeing other points of
MY  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EDUCATIONAL  LEADERSHIP   4  

view and to “articulate and acknowledge the differences that exist rather than ignoring them”

(Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2009, p. 79). I see this skill as something that I have been able to

demonstrate time and time again with great success.

The knowledge that one is not all knowing is an essential piece of knowledge when being a

teacher leader. Far too often, we see people in leadership positions who are unable to admit when

they are wrong, or, heaven forbid do not know a certain thing about a certain topic. As a leader

and as a person; I acknowledge that I do not know everything. This leads to the opportunity to

learn from my peers through discussions and collaborative efforts. The knowledge that I’m not

all-knowing has often been one of my strengths when it comes to being a part of groups or

learning communities. I’m becoming more and more comfortable enough to stop and say, “can

we back up and clarify this or this.” As a participant in groups, I would always feel more

comfortable when I would see the group leaders do this. This also leads to a more positive group

culture, where it’s okay to make mistakes and share openly. A part of this also refers to leaders

being able to learn from their own mistakes, in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s article, Ten Lessons

from Presidents, she explains, “Leaders learn from their mistakes. To succeed, leaders must

acknowledge and understand and improve on their shortcomings” (Goodwin, 1999, p. 34). When

a leader is able to look at their own mistakes and own up to them, they are able to strengthen the

group as this allows others to be more open about their own mistakes.

Being a hard working individual is a necessary disposition that teacher leaders need to

possess in order to facilitate successful and meaningful learning communities. Through my work

and personal experiences, I have been able to show just how hard working I am willing to be.

Whether it be working twelve or thirteen hours day at my job in high school, or taking extra
MY  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EDUCATIONAL  LEADERSHIP   5  

efforts with tutoring during my college classes, I’ve shown that going the extra mile is a part of

who I am, and will continue as my career progresses.

Domain six of the Teacher Leader Model Standards focuses on improving outreach and

collaboration with families and communities (Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium,

2010). A large part of improving collaboration with the school community, as well as with

parents is creating a culture of respect where the diversity of the group is celebrated. I intend to

bring with that culture of respect. As someone who values diversity and differences of opinions,

ensuring that all peoples’ views and beliefs are respected and heard with be a huge priority. Once

it is set up that the area is a place where all people can be safe to share openly due to the culture

of respect meaningful discussions and collaboration with all levels of the school community will

be able to ensue.

As a leader I do not want to go into any community expecting anything, I would much rather

earn the respect of the students, teachers, and overall community. As previously mentioned,

respect is a large part of being a teacher leader. No one can be an effective leader if they do not

have the respect of the people they are leading. To earn the respect I will walk in day one with a

yearning to work collaboratively with all parties to ensure that the school or learning community

runs successfully.
MY  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EDUCATIONAL  LEADERSHIP   6  

References

Goodwin, D. K. (1999). Leader to Leader (F. Hesselbein & P. M. Cohen, Eds.). San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass.

Katzenmeyer, M., & Moller, G. (2009). Awakening the sleeping giant: helping teachers develop

as leaders (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin a SAGE Company.

Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium. (2010). Teacher Leader Model Standards.

Retrieved from

http://www.teacherleaderstandards.org/downloads/TLS_Brochure_sm.pdf