Distributive Leadership and Capacity Building: Blog #5

  Identify whether distributive leadership is used for capacity building at your school site and explain how it is being used.

Distributive leadership and capacity building goes hand-in-hand at my school.  My school’s mission is effectively being enforced through continuous capacity building, by which distributive leadership processes are put in place to rectify and address issues affecting the school’s vision. We have a series of channels and levels of hierarchy, in which problems, or concerns are being addressed. The first level of leadership hierarchy begins with the Leadership committee, which consists of our Curriculum and Reading Specialist, Guidance Counselor, grade-level lead teacher, head-custodian, cafeteria manager, and lead paraprofessional. The Leadership committee works collectively with the principal and assistant principal to solve problems and share ideas. The leadership committee also goes to district meetings, workshops, conferences, and off-campus PLC’s, and then return back and conveys information to each department. Following the leadership committee, is our department and teacher committees. On each committee there is a lead person, (e.g., head-custodian, cafeteria manager, lead teacher, lead-para etc...), who reports the issues, concerns, and outcomes to others on their team.  Within the scope of each team are members who work cohesively, concerning student achievement, behaviors, and staff concerns, all of which could affect school’s procedures and improvement.  Basically, the lead person makes the overall decisions in the best interest of the department or team.  Lead members then report back to the Leadership committee to express teams’ opinions about issues at the school. The information is then filtered back to administration for change to be considered or addressed. I personally believe it is very beneficial to my school that it continues the use of the distributive leadership concept in capacity building because it takes an entire community, not just one individual, however, a village, to improve student instruction and school operations.



Leadership Theory and Leaderhip Style: Blog # 4

Identify what leadership theory most closely matches your leadership style and explain how that style could benefit your school.

To me, leadership is the process of motivating a group of people to act towards accomplishing a common task. My leadership style is clearly aligned to the results of my personal strengths analysis from the Strength Finders 2.0 and my values as an individual. The analysis has brought me to this point of identifying my personal leadership style and theory that I conform to. After analyzing the strength report and taking into consideration the different types of leadership styles, I learned that the attributes I possess, impacts my leadership style as a Transformational and Quiet Leader.  According to Changing Minds, 2013, “Transformational leadership is a form of leadership style that leads to positive changes in those who follow. Transformational leaders are generally energetic, enthusiastic and passionate. Not only are these leaders concerned and involved in the process; they are also focused on helping every member of the group succeed as well (Changing Minds, 2013).”  As for the Quiet Leadership style, “leaders base their success on ones thoughts and actions. Although they are strongly task-focused, they are neither bullies nor unnecessarily unkind and may persuade people through rational argument and a form of benevolent (Changing Minds, 2013).”   Through a thorough review of the leadership theories, Behavioral Theory closely matches my leadership style; However, I do connect with Bass and Burns Transformational Theory. Behavioral Theory is based upon the belief that great leaders are made, not born, and Bass and Burns Theory focuses on values, teams working collaboratively, and engaging one another to higher levels of morality and motivations (Changing Minds, 2013).  Since I was identified by StrengthFinders2.0, as a “people person” and a “nurturer” at heart, I believe my leadership style can benefit my school because I value cooperation and always consider others' feelings and opinions. I try to treat people in the world with consistency by setting up clear rules and adhering to them. I process information that I learn, before I express my views, which is a plus point. I particularly prefer looking for a consensus and don’t enjoy conflict.  I learn by doing things, which has been certainly demonstrated through my leadership practices. Being responsible is one of my strongest characteristics that I deem to be important. I am a very hard worker and I take pride in figuring out what is wrong and resolving it. Overall, I believe possessing a combination of great values and positive characteristic, are the key ingredients to perfecting a great leader. My statement holds truth to the Behavioral Theory, that leaders can be made.

Reference

Changing Minds. (2013).  Leadership.  Retrieved from

       http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/leadership.htm

 

Power Dynamics: Blog #3

Describe the power dynamic at your school site. How can you use this information to influence change at your school.

In schools, there are various forms of power dynamics. Power dynamics is used to shape a desired culture within a school. The power dynamic at my school is democratic in nature. Ultimately, the principal makes the final decision on issues facing the school.  However, the principal values our opinions and allows us to share them, via faculty, team, and PLC meetings. The next level of hierarchy following the principal and assistant principal is the Leadership committee, which consists of our Curriculum and Reading Specialist, Guidance Counselor, and grade-level lead teacher. The Leadership committee works hand-in-hand with the principal to solve problems and to share ideas. Then, there is the teacher committee. On each teacher committee there is a grade-level lead teacher who reports the issues, concerns, and outcomes to other teachers on that team.  Within the teams are teachers who work cohesively, concerning student achievement, behavior concerns affecting the school, procedures and school improvement.  Lead teachers report back to the Leadership committee to express teams’ opinions about issues at the school. The information is filtered back to administration for change to be considered or addressed.

To influence change at my school, I will recommend there being more collegiality, open lines of communication between staff and principal, support among colleagues, and celebration of success, which in turn will boost morale and staff will feel appreciated.

Overall, the entire school’s staff and stakeholders play an important role in the power dynamics of the school because it takes an entire community of skilled staff and educators to provide a quality learning experience. This community of professionals must also feel that their opinions are valid and that the democratic process that has been established in my school, meets their needs. 

Strength-Based Leadership: Blog #2

 

How can strength-based leadership support a community of practice?

Each of us has our own gifts, talents or strengths, and we often most engaged, fulfilled, and productive when we apply those abilities to our work.

Strength-based leadership is a method that is aligned along those lines.  Its focus is based upon the strengths of people. This approach is a method of working with and resolving problems by focusing on the individual strengths and talents.  As indicated by Rath (2007, p.iii), “People who have the opportunity to focus on their strengths every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life.”

 When a community embrace self-based leadership practice, they encourage seeing beyond the negative behaviors and barriers, while focusing on what is the potential of the community.  Strengths based leadership can support a community of practice in that it(1)  frees leaders to focus on developing the gifts and talents they possess,(2)roles and responsibilities are assigned according to strengths that people have, (3) Employee engagement is evident, people are focused, relaxed, yet goal-oriented, and (4) Employees  are more likely to be non-competitive, appreciative and have high regard for each other’s strengths, empathizing and supporting each other in areas of challenge and weakness(Rath, 2007)

To conclude, Strength-based leadership approach is a new paradigm shift from the focus of,

“what doesn’t work” to “what works.” A positive approach.

References

Rath, T. (2007). StrengthsFinder 2.0.  New York: NY: Gallup Press.

Personal Leadership: Blog #1

What do I hope to learn from this course and how will learning this help me grow my leadership skills?


I would like to share a proverb that my mother would always verbalize to me. “It’s better to be a leader in everything you do and not a follower.” These words have guided me throughout my entire life and I live by them faithfully.  As a leader, one must be able to give direction, purpose, and motivate others to do something. Leaders are capable of standing out and are not afraid to stand up for their beliefs. Teacher leaders must hold the same uniqueness about them because they are essential to improving the quality of teaching and learning within the educational system. With that being said, I would like to hold truth to the profession that teachers are the foundation to whom we become. As I embark into University of Phoenix  graduate course Personal Leadership,  I’m hoping to gain a plethora of knowledge in developing my personals leadership skills, which will enable me to be a resource to my peers, parents and students. From this course I'm hoping to learn how my individual values play a role in my personal leadership abilities. As well, I would like to learn how the school and their stakeholders influence my leadership performance. Lastly, I hope to learn effective communication skills in order to communicate effectively with my peers about job performance. With this new profound knowledge, I hope to become an effective leader, who is well equipped at mentoring teachers with the coaching skills necessary to be better teachers.  Most of all, I hope this course help me to improve on my very own teaching practices.