Leadership and Planning Week 6

In our final blog for Leadership and Planning, we were asked to answer a few questions.

How has your definition of leadership altered or been reinforced? Your definition of teacher leadership?
Leaders can be found in many places in a school district. The most obvious form of leadership comes from administration, but that is not the only place that leadership can be seen in a school. Many teachers don't realize that they are exhibiting leadership skills. Sometimes a teacher leads by the way they interact with students. This can be seen by other teachers as well as having an effect on the students. My definition of leadership and teacher leadership has not changed, just been reinforced.


Has your opinion of your leadership potential changed?
No, my opinion has not changed. I am perfectly happy where I am. I really have no desire to become an administrator. Someday, when I have more than eight years of experience in, I will pursue more forms of teacher leadership. Eight years seems like a lot of experience, but I am still one of the lowest people in my building. Many people in our building have 15-20 years of experience. When the time is right, I will focus more on being more of a leader in my school. 


Do you agree with our textbook's assertion about "improving education from within"? If so, what will you do to help?
I do agree. How is a teacher to improve the learning environment if they are not improving their own education base? The improvement of education needs to be encouraged from fellow teachers and also administration and the school board. Administration and the school board should want educators to improve themselves with quality programs and courses that will only improve student performance.

CEdO565 Week 5

In week 5 of 565 we finished the in-class simulation that focused on change and convincing people that the change would be good for the district. We learned a lot of things during this simulation and some things we were just reminded of that we already knew and may have forgotten.

One thing we were reminded of is how much administration likes to talk about things. "Beating a dead horse" sometimes comes to mind when I think about how much administration likes to talk about things. Another thing we were reminded of is that there will always be people who resist change. Those people think that whatever the change entails, they don't have time for it or they just don't see the advantage of it.

We began earning "Bens" in the first year, but it was only once we really got people moving on our game board and began including everyone that we really started earning Bens. We found that sometimes when we included certain people, i.e. community members or students, that we would earn more Bens.

This simulation made me think a lot about how I view change. Sometimes I will resist change because of who it comes from, which is very petty of me. Sometimes when I resist a change it is because I think that it is not in the best interest of the students. And I have found that sometimes it is just easier to go with the flow and jump on board with change than to resist it, even though I may think it is not the best idea.