Bullies in Leadership

Have you ever had a principal, learning director, or GIS act more as a leader than a mentor? How did that work out for you and the environment of the school. I am guessing the attitude trickled down into the classroom to the students.

As I get closer to becoming an administrator, I have to keep in mind more and more how I present myself to others. Am I bringing out the best in my coworkers and students? Am I portraying myself in a positive way? I need to keep in mind that I need to use the strengths of the people around me. As a future administrator, I cannot micromanage everthing. I need to trust the people I am surrounded with. That is why it is good to higher the right people. I need to keep in mind that it is not good to create public humiliation by calling out teachers or staff in front of their peers. Pulling the teacher to the side to talk is much more appropriate. Also, saying one thing and doing another will not lead to respect and unity on campus. A leader must lead by example. Sometimes that is difficult, but it is necessary.

I have learned that I need to really think about how I portray myself to parents, students, and coworkers. I find that I have changed while going through this program. Leadership qualities do not need to apply to just the administration. I have felt my teaching and relationships with people on campus has improved since I have applied more leadership qualities to my everyday life.

Meetings with a Purpose

While reading Leadership Connections, something that jumped out to me was making staff meetings purposeful. I know everyone has sat through those meetings that were a waste of time. You are thinking of all the things you could be getting done. The book gave a few good tips for planning a staff meeting as an administrator. You want to make sure to make the meeting purposeful. Communicate to the staff the objectives for the meeting. Make sure the staff understands why the topics are being discussed during the meeting. Also, one should honor diversity. Staff members have many talents and strengths to be able to share with their colleagues. Lean on staff members to help present topics. This is a good way to make staff members feel appreciated and good about themselves. Another way to make meetings better is to compromise. As the administrator, find out what your staff wants or needs to discuss. Is there professional development that the staff could benefit from? Are meetings necessary every week, or can they be every other week? Listening to staff members will help keep complaints to a minimum.

The key is to develop good relationships with your staff. A leader needs to listen to the staff members. This will help build a positive culture on your campus. Good communication will lead to happier people on campus. People will feel like they are being heard. This can be demonstrated through little things at staff meetings to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the staff members. This will also keep gossip and complaining after meetings by aggitated staff members to a minimum.Happier adults on campus will trickle down to create happier students on campus.

New to Leadership

As I am getting closer to switching into the admin. role, I get a little anxious thinking about connecting to the new staff. As I was reading Leadership Connectors, I was able to get some good tips from chapter 2. I have noticed my current principal uses many of these suggestions, which is probably why the atmosphere is so great at my school.

I think as a new administrator, a person needs to walk around and be seen. Talk to the teachers, but more importantly listen to the teachers. Build relationships and trust with the people on campus. The book makes a suggestion to focus on little things that need attention. You may be able to fix a few little things without shaking up the school or staff. Trying to change something major may "ruffle some feathers".

The other part that stood out to me was to be aware of the finances. You need to know your budget inside and out to be successful. Know where your money is being spent. This will allow you to budget for technology or tools to help your teachers and staff be more successful.

There were so many great tips in the first couple of chapters, but those were a few that stood out to me. Building relationships, developing trust, knowing your finances, and focusing on little things you can do to help the school will all help the transition into administration.

Motivation

Our first in class session made me even more motivated to complete my Master's project. I am focusing on increasing student motivation through mentoring students. It is great to see clips, such as the "Drive" video, that focus on trying to find ways to increase student motivation in a positive way. The goal is to get students to want to learn. As educators, it is a difficult task to reach all students, but we need to find a way to connect students to their learning. Using a variety of positive strategies will help reach these students. This is difficult for teachers, because we are used to a variety of positive strategies, but we also use punishment to try to motivate students. As teachers, we need to find a way to connect all students to their learning, and we need to realize it is not going to be easy. It is going to rewarding, though!