Week 8: Admin and Organization

1) This course has given you an opportunity to practice a range of leadership strategies when making decisions that require you to think politically, orchestrate collaboration among all stakeholders, and remain steadfast in your original vision. What do you envision to be the pitfalls that you might face as a first year principal, and how will you implement the strategies learned to overcome the pitfalls?

I believe that being a first year principal there would be the possibility of many different types of pitfalls: Social, Political, Fiscal and Legal. Social: If a principal is new to a building and does not have a clue as to the climate and culture of their new buildings mistakes can easily be made. It is important to have a true understanding of your school before trying to make any large scale changes. You have to know your staff in order to establish buy in. Political: There are so many hidden political agendas in school districts. If you are not aware of who is truly on your side there is a good chance that you will trust the wrong people.You need to know who is on the side of your agenda and your school. Fiscal: There are so many loopholes when it comes to budgeting and very specific guidelines it would be easy to make the wrong choices with all of the best intentions if you are unaware of the historical budget items and issues. Legal: A principal is faced with so many daily decisions and if you are unaware of the legalities behind those decisions you can find yourself in a lot of hot water. In order to avoid these pitfalls it is imperative that you surround yourself with a team who you can trust, that has history with the district and can get your back if need be. It is especially important to remember that change takes time. You can not walk in as a new principal in a new building and expect everything and everyone to change to meet your agenda. You need to get to know your staff before making any major changes, you need to have buy in and a respected leadership team to help guide you through the rough waters.

2) How has this course prepared you to use twenty-first century leadership skills as you model a new culture for collaborating, analyzing student performance, and continually reflect on instructional practices, school climate, and quality decision making?

This course has taught me to reflect on every decision before making it. Rash decisions are soon regretted. I am ready to develop a leadership team and will have the expectation that they will communicate regularly using 21st century learning tools. We will look at the data and make decisions that are driven in part by the data. We will work as a team, not in isolation.

3) Educational leadership and coordination, are not the sole responsibility of school principals: They can and should be exercised at all levels of the school organization. What opportunities for collective leadership have you provided in your plan?

There are many opportunities for collective leadership within my Action Plan. The most prevalent one would be the Assessment Framework committee and the Curriculum committee. They will be involved in man levels of building leadership and decision-making.