1. Leadership
a. Collaboratively assessing and improving culture and climate
b. Provide purpose and direction for individuals and groups
c. Model shared leadership and decision-making strategies
d. Demonstrate an understanding of issues affecting education
e. Through a visioning process, formulating strategic plans and goals with staff and community
f. Set priorities in the context of stakeholder needs
g. Spokesperson for the welfare of all learners in a multicultural context
h. Understand how education is impacted by local, state, national and international events
i. Demonstrate the ability to facilitate and motivate others
j. Demonstrate the ability to implement change and education reform
Reflection
Ralph Nadar says, "The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers". This statement really speaks to me when thinking about a school leader. An effective school leader is able to provide purpose and direction for individuals and groups, while creating leaders in their school. It's not about getting people to follow you, but to create teacher leaders that help get the work done.
I also believe that an effective school leader is one who creates a strong purpose or mission for the school while maintaining a positive culture. They set high expectations for staff and students, while monitoring and evaluating.
During my field experience, I had the opportunity to demonstrate my leadership skills in various ways. Both of my artifacts show my ability to lead through being a Professional Learning Community Facilitator. One of the artifacts documents hours in which I served as a facilitator and led Professional Learning Communities at Eagle Ridge Junior High. Through this experience, I was in charge of leading three PLC groups on a journey of data analysis, differentiated instruction, analyzing student work, and gifted and talented training. These PLC groups were made up of teachers from various disciplines who met bi-weekly to engage in professional dialogue about student achievement. My second artifact shows my ability to provide purpose and direction for individuals and groups through an email that was sent out to staff with reminders and help for goal writing. As a PLC facilitator, I was in charge of directing staff in writing their classroom achievement goal that aligned with the school wide goal. In addition, as a PLC facilitator, I was able to be involved with helping write the school wide goal and determine the direction for our professional development plan. Being involved in writing the school wide goal helped me to guide and lead teachers through writing classroom achievement goals that were fitting to their subject area, but also aligning with the big picture of the school. I was able to provide focus and direction to them through this process.
Leading a school has so many different facets. School leaders must be able to improve and maintain the culture and climate of the school, provide purpose and direction for staff members, share in decision making, and formulate strategic plans and goals for the school community, while being an instructional leader. All of these jobs are critical to being able to lead a building effectively. I know that leadership is one of the most important skills that a building administrator can possess. I do not think just because you are in the position of principal that you automatically are a leader, so I find it important to work on these skills and continue to grow, develop and refine them.