To Bravely Go: Dynamic Leadership

My current principal is by far the most effective leader I've known. 

This year, she has worked on building our technology base towards blended learning and 1:1. She encourages us to leverage online resources to network with stakeholders and each other. We are striving to be a true 21^st century center of learning. 

Recently we had an issue at our school involving social media which she personally addressed with each affected grade level, and watching her in action gave me a great opportunity to analyze her leadership style. She is the embodiment of the 6 characteristics of leadership, as noted by Mendez-Morse:

·         having vision,

·         believing that the schools are for learning,

·         valuing human resources,

·         being a skilled communicator and listener,

·         acting proactively, and

·         taking risks.

Right away, she told the students that they each had value, and she connected the implications of the issue with the vision of our school, asking that individuals consider our collective goals and the effects individual acts can have, for good or bad, on our community. She encouraged students to open up about their beliefs and points of view, and worked through scenarios and resolutions with them. At no time did she raise her voice or get angry with them. She gave acknowledgement and appreciation to the students, reminding them our school is a place for learning and enrichment, and left it in their hands to change the outcome for the better. They responded by communicating and taking positive actions to resolve the situation. 

Her communication and listening skills defused what could have been a debacle, and although it was risky to trust the students to do the right thing without mandating it, her proactive stance encouraged them to do better, so the situation was resolved positively without further escalation.

Because our school has been the victim of internet slander in the past, we are hyperaware of how quickly things spread on the web. Our school makes very little use of social media at this point. I’d like to see all schools use social media as a way to connect with and communicate to stakeholders in real time, and to highlight achievements by students. We could leverage social media to effectively spread and grow our vision, and to help form larger and more effective learning networks for the adults. It could provide a positive boost for the school climate and culture. Integral to all of this would be building our brand image to reflect our values. I’m realizing this might be a task I can help achieve at my school.

As for my own leadership skills assessment, two areas were tied at 10/10 for me: Being a Good Role Model, and Positive Attitude and Outlook. Working with tweens all day has made me keenly aware of the need to stay positive, and to model and demonstrate what I expect of them so they have a tangible example to use as a springboard for their own work. Students benefit from teachers who are positive, as positive teachers are less likely to devolve into yelling at the classroom to gain control and more likely to offer a safe and inviting learning environment. Being positive is also a great way to support coworkers, who sometimes are having bad days and just need that little bit of encouragement to feel better and refocus.

Providing a Compelling Vision for the Future is an area I can improve, and is one reason I enrolled in the Digital Media, New Literacies, and Learning M.Ed. program. One of my aspirations is to become a TIS, and to be accessible and proactive as such. In the meantime, I am focusing on helping transition classrooms into blended or flipped learning situations where integrated technology presents students with opportunities for research, development, and problem solving at my school. By introducing and modeling use of technology during team meetings, I have been able to provide ideas and support to other teachers looking for ways to better utilize the technology we have at hand to maximize student achievement. I am fortunate to work in a setting where time is given for us to collaborate both at and across grade levels in flexibly structured “professional learning communities.” I’d love for my school to shift from a PLC focus to a broader PLN, and I plan on being a change agent to help us get there.

Two of the Six Secrets of Change that can help with these objectives are Capacity Building Prevails and Systems Learn. To build capacity, distributed leadership must be enacted in an environment where trust is present so that stakeholders can come together; participants must feel valued. Those with the competencies and internal motivation to emerge as leaders must be provided with resources to help the school achieve the goals stated within the vision. For the system to learn, those leaders must be given the chance to transparently share and seek knowledge and practices in order for school culture to evolve through synthesis of knowledge from almost limitless PLN opportunities via transparent communication. We can learn from others and apply relevant information and practices to catalyze dynamic change.