Capacity Building Ability

As I sit down to write my entry for the week, I began reflecting on the previous entries contained in my "Discovery Journey" blog. I find it interesting how the pieces now seem to be converging. My experience at a school site is currently very sparse. I have worked at one school, which I discussed at length during my week three blog. I stated, "The powers they had were explicitly given to them by the Central Office" (Naylor, 2013 June 23). The school discussed did not use distributive leadership, nor do I believe this would be allowed by the administration.

Now I come to the task at hand. If the school had chosen to allow the use of distributive power, it could grow the school's teaching capacity. Concerning principals Slater stated "the success of their performance will be determined by their ability to inspire a culture of empowerment" (2007).  Therein lays the problem. The Central Office and the foreign government sponsorship do not want anyone to experience empowerment in any capacity.

This school or any school can benefit from capacity building through distributive leadership. The administration can begin by requesting input from staff as to what type of enrichment and learning would benefit the teachers and students.  Administrator need to know the staff and their strengths. In my week two blog entry I wrote, "To be a great team leader, I need to build a team that uses the strengths of all members to compensate for individual weaknesses" (Naylor, 2013 June 10). By knowing the strengths of the teachers, the administrator will be able to distribute tasks and responsibilities to those with the ability to follow through and handle what comes at them. This will show the staff that they are valued and trusted. The staff will begin to contribute and collaborate more and capacity building will begin to happen naturally.

Administrators can grow leaders by trusting them enough to releasing tasks and responsibilities to them. These can be formal or informal leaders, but teacher leaders in either capacity will be a benefit to the school and growing teaching capacity. There can be formal in-service sessions lead by teacher leaders and attendance by teacher leaders at conference or educational sessions where the information is brought back to the school and shared with the other teachers. Mentoring programs should be established to assist new and struggling teachers to build capacity with skills such as classroom management and lesson plan integration among subject matter. There is no need for the administrator to handle this task. As a learning community begins to emerge, teacher leaders will as well. These new leaders will be volunteering to lead in-service sessions and contribute ideas to continued success of the school. Collaborative efforts by staff will be the norm in this learning community. As stated in my week four blog, "Community building will assist in collaborative efforts by faculty and allow trust to be built among colleagues" (Naylor, 2013 June 27)

In week one I talked about personal growth. I said, "As I continue to change and grow, I am hoping to uncover the leader within" (Naylor, 2013 June 9). My goal as a teacher leader is to inspire this in other teachers. I commit myself to assisting faculty and students to continue to flourish and grow. Together we will build a learning community. By building a learning community, everyone succeeds.

References:

Naylor, T. (2013 June 9). The Journey Begins [Web Log Post]. Retrieved from
     http://tlnaylor.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-journey-begins_9.html

Naylor, T. (2013 June 10). Discover Your Strengths [Web Log Post]. Retrieved from
     http://tlnaylor.blogspot.com/2013/06/discover-your-strengths_4177.html

Naylor, T. (2013 June 23). Power Imposed by Cultural Differences [Web Log Post]. Retrieved from
     http://tlnaylor.blogspot.com/2013/06/power-imposed-by-cultural-differences.html

Naylor, T. (2013 June 27). Leadership Style Unveiled [Web Log Post]. Retrieved from
     http://tlnaylor.blogspot.com/2013/06/leadership-style-unveiled.html

Slater, L. (2008). Pathways to building leadership capacity. Educational Management Administration &

     Leadership, 36(1), 55-69.

Leadership Style Unveiled

In an effort to determine which leadership theory most closely match my leadership style, I had to first discover my leadership style. The analysis and interpretation from the "What’s My Leadership Style? Questionnaire" during week two gave me the answer. I scored low for task-orientation concerns, and high on people-oriented approach. I focus "on group interactions and the needs of individual members" (Self-Assessment Library, 2008). According to the analysis, I have to be cautious that I am not too laissez-faire as this may affect productivity, but the staff will be content.

With this information in hand, I began to review the leadership material available on the University of Phoenix student web-site. Using information fron the SEDL and ChangingMinds.org sites, I was able to narrow the leadership theory choices down find one that I believe fit my current leadership style. The Changing Minds site stated, "The style that individuals use will be based on a combination of their beliefs, values and preferences, as well as the organizational culture and norms which will encourage some styles and discourage others." I was raised Roman Catholic and attended Catholic school for 12 years. Part of the norm and culture at our school was community service and helping those less fortunate than ourseleves. I believe the Servant Leadership theory most closely matches my assessment, values, preferences, and beliefs.

I keep hearing the phrase, "Help me, help you." I feel it is my moral duty to help others improve and achieve success. I feel responsible for those I lead. I was taught and believe that helping society is everyone's responsibilty, not just government agencies.

The servant leader serves others, rather than others serving the leader. Serving others thus comes by helping them to achieve and improve. Changing Minds says criteria of servant leadership includes that "The people served grow as individuals, becoming 'healthier, wiser, more autonomous and more likely themselves to become servants' ." I would have to say that I was raised on the receiving end of this type of leadership and am currently in a position to pay it forward. I was taught that a teacher was a public servant who wants to service the community they live in by educating and influencing the youth of that community.

This style will benefit my school, because I am committed to the growth of students and colleagues. Community building will assist in collaborative efforts by faculty and allow trust to be built among colleagues. Those practicing the Servant Leadership theory support environments that "empower and encourage service." After all, isn't the teaching profession all about service to others?

References:
Self-Assessment Library: What's My Leadership Style? (2008) Pearson Prentice Hall.
     Upper Saddle River, NJ. Retrieved from http://media.pearsoncmg.com

SEDL (2013). Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate Change. Retrieved from

     http://www.sedl.org/change/leadership/welcome.html

Changing Minds.org (2002-2013). Leadership. Retrieved from
     http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/leadership.htm

Power Imposed by Cultural Differences

The last school I worked at was in Alexandria, VA. I do not wish to name the school as any search engines may see the name and add me to a watch list - yes I am a bit paranoid. Let just say it was a private school sponsored by a foreign country. At the time, the school was only five years old and was going through accreditation with the State of Virginia. We had a boys' school and a girls' school - both in the same building but physically separated by fire doors. Their cultural limitations imposed strict regulations about male and female students having no contact after second grade.  This rule was so strictly followed that boys and girls were sent home on separate buses, even if they were siblings. These two schools were regulated by an area called the Central Office, which I compare to the superintendent's office in the public school system. 

The 'superintendent' was appointed by the foreign country's Ambassador to the United States. There was no election for board members - it did not exist. There was no PTA - there would be no input from parents and no money to raise. This was a government sponsored school and the tuition paid was to cover any expenses. The power dynamics were the superintendent was in charge of both schools. Each school had a principal, a vice-principal, a secretary and teachers. The powers they had were explicitly given to them by the Central Office and spelled out in a 'teachers' handbook' given to all those employed there.

Woman employees were required to wear ankle length dresses and long sleeves. Your head and hands were pretty much all that was allowed to be exposed. You had to wear school issued identification at all times. If you forgot it, the guards would not let you on the property. The guards were not there to deter student crime - they were there to protect the students and faculty from outsiders, threats of violence and kidnapping. The worst problem from a student might be chewing gum in class, as these kids were still afraid of punishment from their parents. Again, the cultural was at play.

Every employee in the Central Office was a man, except for one secretary - this was the only role in that area befitting a woman in their eyes. In this culture, generally men are in charge and woman must do as told. I  remember one time when I went to the Central Office to get my pay check, there was a man walking the opposite direction. There were two women behind the man - it was culturally unacceptable for a woman to pass a man. I, on the other hand, was in a hurry and swept right past anyone, including the men, to get there and back and leave for the day before the DC area traffic became too unbearable.

Among the woman in the girls' school, things were a little different. There were only female teachers, and we all seemed to get along well. However, there was no formal mentoring or coaching. The implicit power seemed to be those there the longest were looked at as the 'go to' person if you had a question. Most of the female teachers were American with husband in the military and with the school only being five years old, there was no one with a long term commitment. I had scheduled classes that came to my room for computer lessons, but I had a fair amount of open time. I had to turn my lesson plans for the following week into the vice-principal for review to verify they were acceptable.

With my open periods, I was allowed a certain amount of freedom for scheduling other things. Since I'm an Achiever Theme, I like to keep busy. I used my extra periods to bring classes in for additional instruction. Most of the extra time was used for ESL students to expose them to phonetics programs. My rule was that the teacher had to attend with the class and someone that spoke the language had to be present. This also gave me a chance to get to know the teachers and bond with them. I guess at some level I had a certain amount of implicit power too, because I decided who got to come.

I also worked with another teacher who was working on her Master's Degree. We were working on creating a phonetic program for their language, which had more letters than our standard 26. She did the mock-ups and I did the computer graphics. It was great to get to know someone from another culture and bond on a professional level. We were not that different.

I am positive there was no way for me to influence the administration, regulations, or curriculum imposed by the Central Office at this school due to the culture and control by a foreign country. I do like to think that I might have influenced just one girl in this school to continue her education and perhaps be able to make a difference in their country. After this experience, I thank God each day that I was born in here in the United States of America.

Discover Your Strengths

Do you know where your strengths lie? I thought I had a pretty good idea. I thought I was very self-aware - that I knew my natural talents. I have always been an excellent student, especially in math and science. It was no surprise to me that I am dominant as logical-mathematical learner, according to the Gardner theory of Multiple Intelligences. I also scored high in both linguistic and visual - again no surprise.

 My self-discovery this week involved  a self-assessment of my strengths based Strengths Finder 2.0 themes (Rath, 2007). Choosing my top five, I believed that my talents were in the following areas.

 
• Achiever
• Analytical
• Futuristic
• Intellection
• Responsibility

To make an informed decision, one must first have all the data. As a logical learner, I wanted exact answers. I needed to know if I was right, so I took the on-line assessment for the 34 themes. I was surprised.  The assessment revealed that my top five were as follows. 

• Input - craving to know more - like to collect information
• Achiever - have stamina and work hard - like being busy and productive
• Analytical - search for reasons and causes - ability to see all situational factors
• Competition - measure progress against performance of others - want to be first
• Focus - prioritize then act to stay on track

My first thought was "I only got 2 out of 5 right," so I guess that was validation for the Competition theme selection. I start thinking, "What talents am I lacking? How am I going to be a great teacher leader if I do not have strong Futuristic or Responsibility themes? " Rath (2007) suggests that you "partner with someone who has more talent in the areas in which you are lacking." What a great idea! Another light bulb turns on  - team building and team learning are about taking the best of the members' talents to make a great team. To be a great team leader, I need to build a team that uses the strengths of all members to compensate for individual weaknesses. By using easy other's strengths, we can build a learning community in which students, teachers, and parents can thrive and be proud to call ours.

  

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

The Journey Begins

The seed of curiosity has been planted. What can I learn about myself? This journey is about self-assessment and re-assessment.  Ideas and knowledge about myself will begin to sprout and grow.  This knowledge will be watered and nourished by my fellow classmates, the instructor, the vast reading assignments, and exercises in self-observation and discovery. As I continue to change and grow, I am hoping to uncover the leader within. One statement has really stuck with me this first week, “you are your own leader, and just like any leader you can be a good one or a bad one” (Manz & Neck, 2010).  Can I be a good teacher leader?

As I continue this journey, I anticipate many obstacles and hurdles - work deadlines, school assignments, and oh yeah that home remodel. Everyone has some sort of "busy" going on in their life. It is how we practice our own self-leadership that gets the job done. I will learn about my leadership style and strengths. Armed with this knowledge, I will be able see my weaknesses and areas for improvement. I am hoping the fruits of this discovery will yield seeds that I will be able to plant for others. Thus, the cycle continues.

Neck, C. P., & Manz, C. C. (2010). Mastering self-leadership: Empowering yourself for personal excellence (5th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.