Leading the Change in Today's Schools
The Hilty, and Hirsch and Hord texts offer some great components of successful shared leadership as a means for changing our schools. Some of the components of successful shared leadership include group members having a shared vision or goal, having the freedom to research innovative practices and the support to implement those practices, and allowing members to utilize the strengths they possess. The idea is that schools want to ensure that students experience a democratic school that prepares them academically and socially for life in both the business world and the community in which they live. The approach from the side of a teacher, administrator, and community member must be united in vision and allow for work together while feeling as though influence is bidirectional.
Some schools approach this through a research, implement, reflect, refine, sort of cycle. This approach can end up being self perpetuating and may result in significant change in the long run. Other schools work to change their schools through the work of small groups of people who are working to figure out the most effective practices and structures for their school. These groups may also be successful if there is a leader who helps guide the groups work while allowing for bidirectional influence. There are many other ways in which schools may choose to create change for the better. Regardless of the mode, all members must have some level of buy in for this work to be successful.
Another aspect that is important to enact any sort of change in a school is that all members must hold the belief that all students can achieve success while being held to high standards. This belief is a must for any school that desires their students to experience a democratic education. There is definitely an element of social justice within the requirement of high standards for all. Though not all schools have the same resources and not all students have the same preparation, all students can be held to high academic and social skill standards which may help to provide a high quality educational experience for all.
In my experience, leadership has been somewhat limited to those in positions of power. There are many initiatives in my district that are sent to our principals with little direction or resources for implementation. My school has several small groups that work on different district initiatives and we do our best to achieve what is required of us, but I cannot help but feel as though there is a better approach. I work on the Family Engagement team at my school and we have worked to help increase the number of opportunities families have to engage with the school, but have made little headway. Most events are not well attended and some are even not attended. This has led to some members feeling rather hopeless about the work we do, including myself. I am not sure what I would change about the way in which this committee operates, but I feel that there must be a way to increase the engagement of our students' families with our school. Another area of leadership that I have been a part of is the Shared Leadership Team. This team consists of one teacher representative from each department, the principal, academic dean, family liaison, and counselor. My experience was very negative and most meetings resulted in our principal taking charge and pushing her agenda through (this administrator has since left our school and I have since left the Shared Leadership Team). There was definitely a unidirectional path of influence and it was rather clear that those in a position under the principal had little or no influence on the goings on within this team; it was "shared leadership" in name only.
Through this course I hope to see examples of effective shared leadership from my peers. I also hope to learn about the elements that are necessary to build a community of collaboration and allow for equitable bidirectional influence. I also hope to further deepen my understanding of what it means to become a teacher leader within my school building.
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