Leadership is the ability to guide and direct a group of individuals to a common vision and mission. Educational leadership is the pursuit of leadership in the institution that provides knowledge, history, and innovation from their pre- kindergarten throughout their matriculation of university. In these institutions of education, we have several individuals, some who might teach, some who might collaborate, and some who might manage the institution. Due to these various roles, it is important to establish what my core values are to clearly guide and direct the stakeholders of the school. As a leader, I value the belief that all children deserve a quality education that provides them with opportunities to develop into the best versions of themselves. I value cultural diversity within students, staff members and leaders. I also value a joyful and engaging environment that motivates students and staff to do their best to achieve the clear goals and expectations that are set for the student achievement. Through the lens of these core values, my philosophy of educational leadership is the ability to implement quality education for students within a culturally, collaborative and affirming community made up of teachers, students, and a wider learning community.
I have chosen to pursue leadership for three key reasons. My first reason is to further develop my professionalism as a teacher in my classroom. I aim to be knowledgeable about what a teacher leader is and how I can be better prepared to take on leadership roles in a school or district. Next, I seek personal growth in the areas I have mastered as an educator, and would like to see how I can nurture the areas I need to continue to develop using the seven domains of the Teacher Leader Model Standards (National Education Association, 2020) Finally, I chose to pursue leadership because I want to create a learning community where teachers and students can upskill themselves for a future that is unknown yet full of possibilities. I want teachers and students to be able to walk onto campus with exposure to all this world can offer them if they simply choose to pursue a goal. I aspire to lead a learning community that changes lives and produces leaders, innovators, and impactful neighbors.
In schools, teachers are expected to create a learning environment that is safe, engaging and results in the on-grade level or above-grade level expectations for students. While we have created a framework for teaching and learning for students, educational leaders should be expected to establish a parallel universe for teachers and staff. As a school leader, I also aim to create a safe, inclusive, and culturally responsive learning community. To do this, I plan on developing culturally appropriate soft skills, to lead the learning community.
Researchers developed a synthesized conceptual framework of soft skills for educational leaders (Ariratana et al., 2015).
The studied variables were eight components of leadership soft skills for educational administrators including: (i) communication and presentation; (ii) leadership competency; (iii) teamwork; (iv) analytical thinking and creative problem-solving; (v) professional and morality; (vi) learning; (vii) usage of information technology, and (viii) development of interpersonal relationship. (p. 333)
The study sets out guidelines and examples of how educational leadership can successfully lead a learning community. Staff development workshops would help me as a school leader improve my communication and presentation skills. Intentionally using informational technology to collect data on staff morale and using this data to actively work on developing morale is another example of how I would be able to successfully lead a learning community. The article also highlights that interpersonal skills are important for school leaders. Once a school leader develops an understanding of what leadership style works best for the community, the leader should therefore adjust their style for a successful tenure.
On the first day of school, I usually take the time to dress up in a warm and welcoming outfit, with a stomach filled with excitement that usually bubbles out with a smile on my face and several “Good mornings!” and “Welcome to the first day of school!” If a school selected me as a leader, they would see how intentional and strategic I am in building culturally responsive relationships within the learning community. Students, parents, and community members often comment on how welcoming my classroom is because of the time I spend on creating a culturally representative classroom environment. The learning community would view my compassion and ability to develop meaningful relationships by taking the time to sit and listen to those who approach me with questions and oftentimes reaching out to colleagues who I observe might need support. Thus, when a school selects me, they will first be able to see how I intentionally create opportunities to communicate and develop relationships within the learning community using culturally responsive strategies. Hollie (2017 )state it is important to communicate with “students and staff that I plan to validate, affirm, build and bridge relationships when I talk to them, in how I relate to them, and in how I teach and present to them” ( p. 205).
Logistically, when a school selects me, the learning community would see me conducting a systems and policies review to ensure the school is functioning efficiently. As a leader, I sincerely believe that effective systems are the key to successful communication and collaboration. The deeper I understand the routines and systems, the more efficient I can be in leading the school towards our mission and vision. The school community should expect an anonymous analysis of the school. As a teacher, I would prefer anonymous reports to ensure the confidentiality of those who would like to highlight sensitive areas. These 360 surveys would collect quantitative and qualitative data surrounding student and teacher voice, academic data, school spirit, and rapport between community members. The report and the subsequent analysis would lead to strategically analyzing whether the mission and vision of the school have been reached, are still maintained, or if they are no longer the backbone of the school. I believe the mission and vision of a school is important to highlight and emphasize within a school, because then everyone knows why they are there, and what they are working towards. By the end of this process, the learning community will then understand that my leadership style is to work towards a common mission and vision, with inclusive collaborative contributions and based on the data collected from the entire learning community.
While leadership is often strategic, accomplishing a mission and vision takes time and effort. The reality is, school happens five days a week. The learning community should have daily expectations of their leader. As a leader, the learning community should expect me to intentionally build and cultivate strong, positive relationships with teachers, students, parents, and communities because I care about them and who they are outside and inside the school. They should expect me to develop, cultivate or continue building an inclusive school environment, with established systems and a common language. They should expect this because when we all come to school, we are surrounded by people that might look different, or speak different languages, but really have so many things in common. By intentionally developing an inclusive environment, all members of the community have a way to communicate with each other and find joy in building authentic relationships that cross traditional roles and barriers. Finally, they should expect me to affirm students, teachers, and the communities’ various identities and their culture. One way I would do this is to build a common school language and identity for us to bridge our home culture with a common school culture that everyone can thrive in. I choose to affirm students, teachers, and communities to build their growth mindset and belief in themselves, that often time is lost due to challenges or feeling like you do not belong. Affirming all members of our school builds a strong and positive school culture that encourages everyone to show up each day ready to learn, teach, and be part of the team.
As a culturally responsive leader, I hope to cultivate a safe, warm, and welcoming learning environment for students, faculty, and staff to bring their whole selves and explore how they can grow. I believe the community should be able to express their diverse background and feel appreciated and acknowledged throughout the day. However, I do have high expectations for the community that I choose to lead. Students should expect to see themselves represented in the curriculum, with their languages heard and written throughout the school. Additionally, they should encounter teachers who look like them or understand their culture, both as homeroom teachers and among the support staff and leadership. Teachers should expect to be greeted warmly, have an opportunity to express themselves and their opinions thoughtfully, and engage in constructive dialogue. Additionally, they should have avenues for professional growth to advance their intellectual and educational development. Teachers should also expect to have specific workshops to create a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment. These workshops would include topics such as: how to be culturally responsive, positive discipline, and high and low cultures. Along with these cultural workshops, we will review the school’s policies, setting clear expectations for academic standards, reporting procedures for the year, and implementing other essential systems necessary for the school to run as efficiently as possible. The community should expect me to be present, approachable and have an open-door policy to hear the problems and find constructive solutions. They should expect their voices to be heard, and to have forums to engage with teachers to improve the quality of the school.
The Teacher Leader Model standards highlight key areas of leadership that are essential to becoming and developing a well-rounded leader (National Education Association, 2020). Specifically, Domain three highlights the importance of collaborative planning and the role distributive leadership plays in teacher leadership. Though I have a vision for what leadership might look like at a potential school, it is the collective effort, and distributive leadership of the professional within the school’s learning community that will drive the success and student achievement. As a leader, I hope to essentially foster a culturally responsive, warm, and welcoming environment that allows students, staff, teachers, and community members to thrive and become the best versions of themselves.
In conclusion, I believe that all students deserve a quality education. Creating an environment where teachers, students, and staff members can come together to make this happen is exciting. Through creating impactful opportunities for students, cultivating a culturally inclusive and diverse staff, and collaborating with all members of the learning community, I look forward to leading educational communities that prepare us for the unknown ahead.
References
Ariratana, W., Sirisookslip, S., & Ngang, T. K. (2015). Development of leadership soft skills
among educational administrators. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 186, 331–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.016
Hollie, S. (2017). Culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning – classroom
practices for student success, grades K-12 (2nd ed.). Shell Education.
National Education Association. (2020). The Teacher Leader Model Standards | NEA.
https://www.nea.org/resource-library/teacher-leader-model-standards
1) p. 2 – period after parenthesis in TLMS citation
2) p. 4 – check indent on first paragraph. On my view it looks like it was double indented
3) p. 4 – remove extra space between 2017 ) and it should read Hollie states, not Hollie state. Note you also need to remove the extra space between ( p. 205). No space between (p.
4) p. 4 – first sentence in second paragraph uses the word “systemies.” I’ve never heard of that word. Did you mean “systems?
5) p. 7 – “developing in a well-rounded leader.” I think the word “in” should be removed; right?
6) p. 8 – References should start on the top of this page. In my review, the References started at the bottom of this page