Week 6:Reflection

Creating a positive school culture could assist leadership with growth while performing school reform.. The climate of the school impacts the way students learn, teachers teach and administrators lead. With a positive school culture we are able to fulfill our mission and educate our youth. School culture makes up the cultures, differences or values that allow the environment of the school to function. The culture itself is not limited to nationalities but also differences in learning. In entails how people treat each other, what their values are, and traditions/ rituals they might have in the school. The culture of the school depends on the students, staff and the parents. Peterson supported this definition in his article Positive or Negative by saying that "School culture is the set of norms, values and beliefs, rituals and ceremonies, symbols and stories that make up the 'persona' of the school.”

With this in mind, the positivity of the school culture could drive the steps of school reform. The type of reform a school chooses to use will warrant all of the stake holders to participate in order for the reform to be successful. With the reform, and looking at differences in cultures it is vital that equity is fostered to for all individuals.

One thing that I learned that will shadow me as a school leader is that you must engage in equity among your staff. I say this because in my school there is a lot of inequitable actions that are directed to some of our teachers. Some are giving more resources, some are given newer technology and in many cases some have known. From the readings I learned that in order for a school to grow, equity is important not only to change the mindset of the staff but to promote motivation to buy in to the reform.

Another thing that I ponder greatly with this segment of the course is the understanding of our idea of special education students. I am going to ensure, when I become a school leader, that all students are given the opportunity to learn regardless of their disabilities or inabilities. Since I am the inclusion teacher, I normally have a mass of students that are different from special education to emotional disturbed. The way I handled them in my class is to treat them as each one should be treated individually. Fair is considered by what your needs are. This concept is very difficult for my general education students but they have to learn to have empathy for others and that they are different and should not be compared to someone that may be physically or academically challenged. In my opinion it is important to recognize and acknowledge the differences in others in a positive manner so that they will know their differences are accepted. At my current school our handicapped students is addressed in a way that satisfies the school mission with the differences in the school culture. For example, when a student is unable to participate in Physical Education alternative activities are created for them. Some examples are viewing videos pertaining to the course, participate in the lessons by observation of the classes and then they write about what they observed. In many cases, they find ways to incorporate the student so that they can be involved with the class. Another example that I recall is when a class was reading The Charlie Bone books(similar to Harry Porter) and a parent did not want her child participating for religious beliefs. The teacher and administration addressed in a positive manner by giving the student an alternative reading book to complete the assignment on. This made the parent happy that the school respected her beliefs and took her culture and values for consideration. This differentiation of instruction ensures the equity of all students.

Week Three: Effective Leaders

This week we have learned a vast amount of information in regards to how I now view an effective leader. I was given a portrait of how an authentic leader is one who is genuine and sincerely has the vision of the school among their forefront. In my opinion, they will do what is necessary to reach the goal because it is a part of their belief system. They are able to strategic plan for success and when problems arise they can solve them in a constructive, concise manner. These leaders, to me are very confident in what they do and it would be presumed that they were born to lead.
Next we compared and contrasted servant and steward leadership. As stated in the Jossey-Bass Reader on page 80, "Servant leadership is to give a sense of direction, to establish an overarching purpose." I agree and add to that by saying a servant leader is one who leads by serving others. The best cliché that we often hear that comes to mind, when thinking of servant leadership is,” when you find a great leader your have found a great follower.” Abraham Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs states in order for someone to obtain personal growth they must go through the different tiers of needs. With that mentioned, an administrator would need to care and serve their staff in order to help them to reach their full potential in life. Stewardship on the other hand, would be define as the administrator who is responsible for taking care to make sure all parties that are related to the school are taking care of. The school is not theirs; however, they have responsibility to make sure the school climate is a positive working and learning environment. The main difference I comprehended between servant and steward leadership is that the servant assist and helps and stewards manage, administer and delegates task that should be done.
With all of that learned I think Leadership has to implement and encourage vision in a school. I believe characteristics of successful leaders should promote teacher leadership and student learning, they should be great listeners and have strong communication skills, they should be willing to lead by example, and possess the traits to have a genuine concern to assist their staff with personal growth.