Who I am as a Leader

         What is the important work for you as a leader? What makes it important?

         I think that some of the most important work one can do as a leader includes coaching others, setting an example, and providing the knowledge, skills and desire that help to form the habits necessary to become an effective leader. I think that one of the most critical elements of quality leadership centers around sound preparation. One doesn't have to be the most intelligent, innovative, or experienced individual to achieve lasting results. One of the most salient and helpful reminders about thorough preparation comes from Louis Pasteur: "Fortune favors the prepared mind". 

         The types of work that carry the most meaning to me include having a pioneering spirit that motivates others to either follow, or create other initiatives that contribute to the prosperity of others at work or at home. This past spring, my colleagues who teach sophomore English, spearheaded a new first semester curriculum that focuses on improving student writing. We figured that it was more valuable for our students to write effectively than to read an extra novel or two. Our sophomore team was eager to improve upon the existing sophomore English curriculum, and our collaborative leadership within the department acted as the catalyst for other grade-level groups to examine their curriculum more closely. Our hope is that the preparation we put forth this spring with come to fruition this fall. Our collaborative approach was not groundbreaking, but we were preparing thoroughly to enhance sophomores' writing skills and the overall quality of their learning experience in the classroom. We were not a directive, either from our department chair or curriculum coordinator. Our department also voluntarily furnished a school-wide writing rubric for colleagues across all academic disciplines to use to assess writing, since this is a shared responsibility under the tenets of the Common Core.  

 As a teacher, adopting a leadership role is kind of a non-negotiable standard. I think it's also assumed within the greater community that teachers are leaders, too. So, to lead is to do your job well. When I worked in the independent school system, I was required to coach two seasons of athletics and supervise study halls three nights a week. This was very time consuming, but afforded me a lot of time to interact outside the classroom with the kids, but those days are gone. I am reminded, however, how important it is to lead as a teacher, because, as Ted Sizer's book title aptly points out,  The Students are Watching.

         What guides your decisions as a leader? For the organization? For the people with whom you work?

 Often my decisions as an educational leader are guided by what has been done effectively in other places. I think that my experiences teaching in a few different places has afforded me some perspective about how there are many different ways to lead a group of students or a learning community into a different direction. Drawing from past experiences provides a lot of good information and resources upon which to draw from for inspiration. There is a lot of talent in the workplace, and, as the Heath brothers assert in Switch, people like to feel "big" when contributing to change, and so as a leader, I try to elicit ideas from the group to inform my own decisions. For instance, last year, the administration decided that it would change the daily schedule at BFA, and the principal was accepting schedule proposals from the faculty. Based on past experiences, I thought that the school community would benefit from shorter classes, collaboration time for teachers without students on campus, and a more consistent daily schedule that would allow students to see all of their subject teachers at least four days a week. The schedule the school adopted included all of these elements, and although I am sure I did not singularly make the changes happen, I did draw from past experience and filtered the ideas through colleagues before making the submission to our principal. 

         How do you get the work of the school or organization done?  What is the focus – getting things done for short term? Long–term? 

 This is a great question- getting work done for the school can be a painstaking process. I think that decisions are driven by data that is sort of overhyped in the short term and "underhyped" over the long term. In other words, decisions affecting school policy guided by consensus building and there is too often division amongst the ranks. Sometimes, it is better to act decisively than to meander and consume excessive time and resources performing analyses of the implications of making changes. The faculty are part of a three-year personal learning cycle intended  to improve professional practice, but the director of curriculum who implemented the cycle accepted another leadership position at another school. Our principal accepted another leadership position after just two years, and our superintendent was summarily dismissed for demonstrating a gross lack of leadership. So, getting things done has been a long and difficult process within the community. I  believe that short-term fixes have been trumping longer-term goals for the future of the school. 

         How do you communicate with others?

         I generally communicate with others face-to-face if it is during the school day, and I do take advantage of the web to communicate with students and colleagues "after hours". I will often tell my students that I will check my e-mail in the early evening should they have any questions regarding the course material. I also invite them to join me in assessing their written work when it is assigned through Google Drive. I don't like it when others assume a communications matter is important simply because an electronic communication was sent out. Electronic communication is entirely inappropriate at times, especially in a leadership role, when a face-to-face conversation needs to happen. It is my subjective opinion that too often electronic correspondence is used to absolve individuals of the commitment to communicate effectively and responsibly with others.

        What is your process for making decisions?

I think that increasingly, my decision-making processes are become more individually tailored than collaboratively because a lot of time is wasted overanalyzing the potential outcomes within the group. I think that this is probably a bit of a contrarian approach given all of the collaborative tools at our disposal to help inform the decisions we make. I am certainly not averse to working collaboratively within a group, but I think that often institutions like to state that their workplace is a collaborative work environment because it's trendy and it's the jargon that's expected. My school claims that it is a collaborative workplace, but the administrative turnover makes it difficult to make a case for effective administrative leadership when the leaders leave. I tend to base my decisions around what has worked elsewhere and if the changes I am trying to make are attainable, especially in the short term.

         How do you determine what resources to use and how to use them?

 I have no reservations letting it be known that I am a benevolent thief when it comes to acquiring resources from others. The electronic resources I have adopted into my own teaching practice from classmates in the educational technology sequence alone is staggering. With these digital resources, I refer to the SAMR model with what I am learning and choosing to use so that the reason(s) for using them are purposeful and effective. I also consult the Vermont Technology Grade Expectations, the Common Core State Standards, and the NETS-S standards to ensure that my students have the potential to become better equipped for the workplace that awaits them and so that I am improving my own skills as a licensed professional educator

 *** The inspiration for my blog title comes from Professor Robin Bates's literary blog        titled Betterlivingthroughbeowulf. His daily articles delve into several different aspects of life and his inspiration to begin the blog is quite touching.