Program+Goals

= Beginning of Program: = The goals of the educational leadership program reflect my own professional goals. I am a firm believer that we are lifelong learners. The world around us is ever changing and if we do not change with it, we are not going to be successful. As an educator and a leader, it is crucial that I stay up to date with the latest theories and research on best practices for students. We are currently discussing grade reform in our school district and there are many teachers who do not even want to discuss the issue. They do not see any reason to change the way we are doing things despite current research on grading procedures. I too, struggle with some of the ideas that are being presented but continue to keep an open mind. My greatest weakness is probably taking orders when I do not agree with what I am being told to do. Building community within a classroom or an entire school is also imperative to working collaboratively. I have taken two TRIBES classes which focused on how to build community in a classroom. I was skeptical at first, but as the class progressed, we used the community building strategies in class and our group of teachers, in both classes, slowly formed a bond that positively change the group dynamic. The better we got to know one another, the more open we were to sharing our ideas with one another and this in hand made for a better learning environment. Students, administrators and teachers alike can only benefit from a feeling of community in schools. The challenge to an administrator in our high school is how to build this community with a staff of over 100 teachers. There is absolutely no feeling of community at Bay Port and this is something I would make a priority, if I were an administrator. As a foreign language teacher, so much of what I already do is promote understanding and respect. I teach a lot about the culture of the German speaking countries and although many aspects of life in Germany are similar to the United States, there are many differences and I try to teach students that different does not mean bad. I struggle to get students to see things from another perspective and to understand why different may actually be better. Change should take place when a current plan of action is no longer producing the desired result. Change should not happen just for the sake of change. I think that the latter happens regularly in education. New leaders bring change. Quite often, changes are made without researching if the change was really needed. I would have a really hard time as an administrator pushing for a change that I did not believe in. Again, the focus needs to be on what is best for students and what will actually help all involved to achieve their goals.

= End of Program: =


 * Goals 1 + 2: **
 * 1) **1. ** **Envision and guide organizational change **
 * 2) **2. ** **Communicate effectively, engage constituents, develop people and build community **
 * Dispositions: **
 * 1) **1. ** **Value change – source for improvement **
 * 2) **2. ** **Understand people and relations – receptive to the ideas of others **

“Our society appears to be moving away from passive consumption, away from models in which the few broadcast to the many. People want a greater sense of participation and involvement of community, network” (Hayes-Jacobs, 2010, p. 126). Demands on schools are coming from all sides and a big change in education is coming. Common themes to the reforms in education include critical thinking, problem solving skills and a demand for education to be more participatory. In order to make these changes in education, strong leaders will be essential to facilitate the process. In a leadership role, I see myself being what Sergiovanni and Starratt (2007) call a “human resources supervisor”. This type of supervisor values working with teachers collaboratively to come up with solutions in the hopes of higher acceptance of the decision/change. This then creates higher school effectiveness because teachers feel that their opinion is valued. Increased teacher satisfaction is the end result. This form of supervision is not as controlling and creates an atmosphere that is open and increases ownership of the changes to be made. To me, this is the ideal way to lead change.

As a leader of the German department, I work as a human resources supervisor. I keep the following in mind when leading my department:

“Building the capacity of teachers, then giving them the discretion to practice effectively, and finally, holding them accountable for helping students become effective learners in a caring environment are the benchmark indicators of leadership for learning” (Sergiovanni &Starratt, 2007, p. 6).

With this in mind, I introduced the goal of improving the speaking and writing abilities of our students. I wanted our group to come up with strategies to use with students and we worked together to come up with these strategies. I knowingly used the participatory model which recognizes that participation of the effected teachers in the decision as to what changes to make, will lead to a higher acceptance rate of the change (Kowolski, 2008). We all implemented them in our classes and discussed the effectiveness of the strategies in our weekly professional learning community. We have changed some of the strategies we used and continue to use others. This was a great way for all of us to provide input and for all of us to evaluate and make changes.

As far as writing abilities, I have been piloting using some strategies to improve the writing ability of my students in my highest level German class. Once I have enough data to show that these strategies are having a positive effect, I plan to suggest to the department that they too implement the strategies. I think that because I will have the data to support the changes, my colleagues will be more open to the idea. If I had just walked into a meeting and told them we were going to make the changes, I do not think they would support me. By showing them the data and the proposed changes as well as a forum for discussion, they will hopefully embrace the changes. The accountability piece is perhaps the most important. As the leader, I will continue to discuss the implemented strategies and how each teacher is using them in class.

The changes being made not only improve the teachers but the students are achieving better as well. As an educator the student is always the central focus and any changes that are made must revolve around improving student achievement.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hayes-Jacobs, H. (2010) Curriculum 21. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Curriculum Development.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kowalski, H. J., Lasley, H. J., & Mahoney, J. W. (2008). Data-driven decisions and <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> school leadership, best practices for school improvement. Boston: Allyn & <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Bacon.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sergiovanni, T. J., & Starratt, R. J. (2007). Supervision: A redefinition. (8th ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Goal 3: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Advocate and promote equity for diverse populations and respect individuals **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dispositions: **
 * 1) **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Implement non-discriminatory access **
 * 2) **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">4. ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Empathetic understanding of diversity **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">For a successful future of the United States, schools need to respect and celebrate individual differences (Zhao, 2009). Furthermore, “all children should be accepted and be provided with equal opportunity to help realize their potential” and what better way to do this than by providing the opportunity to be creative and to critically think about material rather than just memorize it (Zhao, 2009, p. 47). They need to have a real world application of the material they are learning and it is up to the leaders of schools to encourage and educate teachers to transform their instruction to do this. Real world application implies that what students learn in school will be used in the world. This will then supply a more authentic learning experience and increase the internalization of the material (Trilling & Fadel, 2009).

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The project based learning course showed me how to implement this kind of learning into my classroom. The PBL unit on the environment that I developed involves using a lot of self-discovery through the internet as well as collaboration with students in a school in Germany. The students in Germany and my students have to communicate with one another through a discussion group to learn about environmental policies in Germany as well as share policies from the United States. I am excited about this type of learning because it really puts the students in the role of active participants and not passive learners. In project based learning also encourages “multiple learning approaches to match diverse learning styles” this allows students to demonstrate their understanding in a way that makes sense to them. (Trilling & Fadel, 2009, p.33)

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The course that really helped me think more about social equity in the classroom was the social justice course. I was made aware of things I was doing in the classroom that were discriminatory. Every student needs an equal opportunity education. The way teachers teach is based on each individual teacher’s experience. The experiences of students need to be considered if instruction is to be equitable. I cannot assume that every student has access to technology at home or even has a support system at home. When assigning projects I now reflect on this and make sure that what I am assigning does not disadvantage students in any way. (Kumashiro, 2009)

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In addition, troubling knowledge that exists in the world i.e. racism, sexism etc. should not be avoided. These issues must be brought to light so that different insights, identities, and practices can be critically examined. The process is disruptive, discomforting, and problematic but it is only through this process that closed minds can be opened to different viewpoints. The goal is not to rid the classroom of harmful hidden messages but to make them visible and make sense of them (Kumashiro, 2009).

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I have added a unit called current issues in society to my IB German class and it takes on these troubling and polarizing issues. Each student has to pick a topic that is controversial and pick a side to defend. Students then pair up and make a presentation that presents the other side of the issue. They are issues like gay marriage, universal health care, welfare etc. After each presentation there is a class discussion about the issue and each student has an opportunity to express his/her own opinion. There is an atmosphere of trust in the classroom and students know that they will not be attacked for their opinion. Finally, students have to write a few paragraphs where they state their opinion before the presentation and if they have changed their mind at all after the presentation and discussion. It has been interesting to see how students are seeing the issues in a different light after each discussion. It is my hope that students will truly try to understand the different sides to every issue and have empathy for people who are not as fortunate as they are.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Another unit I do in my German V class that I created for the social justice course is a unit on migrants and foreigners. This has become one of my favorite units to teach. I lived as a foreigner in Germany and can offer a unique perspective to the unit. I find that most students have negative opinions towards foreigners and this unit helps the students to understand the perspective of a foreigner and by the end of the unit they have a completely different viewpoint about foreigners and even have empathy for them.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kumashiro, K. (2009). Against common sense: Teaching and learning toward social justice. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kowalski, H. J., Lasley, H. J., & Mahoney, J. W. (2008). Data-driven decisions and <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> school leadership, best practices for school improvement. Boston: Allyn & <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Bacon.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills:learning for life in our times. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Zhao, Y. (2009). Catching up or leading the way. Alexandria, VA: Association for <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Supervision & Curriculum Development.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Goal 4: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Integrate theory data research and ethical standards into the context of one’s practice through continual learning **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dispositions: **
 * 1) **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">5. ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reflect on philosophical assumptions ethical principles and rationale **
 * 2) **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">6. ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understand oneself as a learner and value learning + **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kumashiro’s (2009) three types of good teachers are the cornerstone of what it means to me to be a life-long learner: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Teachers as Learned Practitioner – Teachers need to: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Teacher as Researcher – Teachers need to: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Teacher as Professional <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">These three types of good teachers can be transferred to good leaders as well. Good leaders also need to be learned practitioners, researchers and professionals. Learning about the theories, types and strategies of leaders was an essential part of the journey towards educational leadership. I have come to understand the different strategies of leadership to use with different groups. Some groups need a leader that is authoritative and other groups need a collaborative leader. Good leaders take on the qualities of all different types of leaders and know when to use which type of leadership.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">learn about students,(theories of who they are, how they learn, how they develop etc.)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">learn about what they teach and demonstrate it by learning the standards in their field
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">learn about how to teach(classroom management and discipline)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">be life-long learners
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">conduct self-reflection
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">challenge their thinking – conduct research in anti-oppressive ways, analyze and question data
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Make teaching a profession – This will improve the quality of education
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Do not rely solely on the standards. They are problematic because they repeat knowledge and do not encourage troubling knowledge or looking beyond knowledge.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Decision making plays a large part of an educational leader. After learning about the different models of decision making, I prefer the classic model. The classic model involves the following steps: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Using this model will assure that with every decision I make, I am thinking about all the possibilities and am choosing one based on which will do the most good. It goes without saying that bias and personal gain must be taken out of the equation if the decision is
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">identify all decision alternatives
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">view every alternative before choosing
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">know all consequences
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">assign values to each alternative using data
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">select one base on its quantitative superiority (Kowalski, 2008, p. 57)

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Since making decisions requires data to be accurate and effective, it is important for me to realize that data can be biased just as people can be. Being able to read and interpret data is an important skill. The data must come from a reliable source and connections must be made to show that the data is relevant. Once the data has been established as reliable and relevant that is when the leader (or the leader and his/her team) can use the data to make decisions and/or create school improvement goals. When a decision is successful or a goal is met a great leader will “look out the window to find reasons for success and look in the mirror when things do not go well” (Collins, 2001, p. 33). This is an important lesson in humility. Nothing can be achieved by one person; it is the collaboration of a group that can achieve anything.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Behind every leader is also his/her ethical framework. Values are what make up this framework and a leader has to learn to balance his/her own, societal, student, employee, and organizational interests and values rather than act politically to advance personal or special group interests. In the end an educational leader should ask him/herself if a decision is legal and balanced and if it aligns with the school district’s mission and vision (Kowalski, 2008). If the answer to any of these questions is no, the decision is not ethical.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I find that since starting the MS Educational Leadership program I am attune to the most current issues in and the changes coming to education. I have become much more reflective and pro-active about using research and data to change instructional strategies in the classroom. As a leader, I also understand how important it is to have research and data to back up any change one is trying to make. Learning about the decision making and data processing processes will help me to better decisions in the future.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Through the research class, I was able to go through the process of researching an idea and conducting a study. It gave me a great appreciation for all the work involved in the process! The topic of my research was improving the writing abilities of students and I conducted a study with my IB German students and German IV students. I decided to use additional teaching strategies with the IB German group to see if the strategies would help improve their writing. The study is still in progress for another year but the data from the first year of the study is promising and it appears that the teaching strategies are improving the students’ writing.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Collins, J. C. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap--and others don't (6th ed.). New York, NY: Harper Business. Chicago

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kumashiro, K. (2009). Against common sense: Teaching and learning toward social justice. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kowalski, H. J., Lasley, H. J., & Mahoney, J. W. (2008). Data-driven decisions and <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> school leadership, best practices for school improvement. Boston: Allyn & <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Bacon.