Leadership and school environment in my school

¶ … School are we

In education, leadership is playing a central role in determining the kind of school environment for teachers and students. This is because they way administrators interact with everyone will have an impact on their attitudes and beliefs. To fully understand how this is influencing educators requires examining my school. This will be accomplished by focusing on: if it is conventional / congenial / collegial, the supervisory climate that exists and the kind of leadership style. Together, these elements will highlight the atmosphere and if it is conducive for everybody. (Boyd, 2002)

Is your school conventional, congenial, or collegial?

My school is following a mixture of conventional and collegial practices. The way that conventional ideas are utilized is educators have a certain amount of independence in determining how they will teach and kind of methods that are utilized. This helps them to feel more control and have the flexibility for the adjusting to the challenges they are facing inside the classroom. (Cram, 2000) (Boyd, 2002) (Brower, 2005)

A collegial environment exists with staff members working together and sharing ideas about how to improve each other's techniques / practices. This is achieved by focusing on a number of areas in conjunction with one another to include:

Open communication about their practices and tactics that are utilized inside the classroom.

Everyone working together to share craft knowledge with one another.

Observing each other while they are engaged in their practices and offering ideas to help improve performance (in a constructive manner).

Rooting for everyone's short- and long-term successes. (Cram, 2000) (Boyd, 2002) (Brower, 2005)

The combination of these elements is providing a basic background that can be used to help improve the atmosphere of the educational environment for all teachers. This encourages teamwork and innovation. (Cram, 2000) (Boyd, 2002) (Brower, 2005)

For example, inside my school, teachers have the ability to select their teaching style and the kinds of tools they are utilizing. The only major requirement is that they are following the various standards for curriculum. However, at the same time, staff members will work with each other to provide the best techniques in most effectively reaching out to students. This takes place through having numerous conversations and offering insights to make everyone better. (Cram, 2000) (Boyd, 2002) (Brower, 2005)

Whether your current school leader is conventional, congenial, or collegial?

The school leader is someone who is embracing conventional and collegial techniques. This is because, she gives everyone a certain amount of independence in determining how they will reach out to students and meet various curriculum requirements. Yet, she also has everyone participate in an open discussion about how to improve quality and the techniques they are utilizing. This involves having staff members monitor, observe and critique each other in a friendly -- non-confrontational manner. (Cram, 2000) (Boyd, 2002) (Brower, 2005)

To enhance these ideas, the principle handles herself in a professional manner. This means that she looks at various issues objectively and has measured responses for what is taking place. Moreover, she is serving as a liaison that can troubleshoot problems and effectively create innovative solutions everyone agrees with. This is achieved with her being a good listener and carefully thinking about how she will address different issues. (Cram, 2000) (Boyd, 2002) (Brower, 2005)

Once this is occurs, is when she will encourage educators to use a certain amount of independence, to understand what is happening and learn for themselves about how to improve. This creates an atmosphere, where everyone wants to know more and is willing help one another to become better at what they do. It is at this point, when they are motivated to assist their colleagues and address any kind of issues when they are small. In many ways, one could argue that this basic approach is what has helped to create a team atmosphere inside the school. That is fueled by innovation and creativity in the process. (Cram, 2000) (Boyd, 2002) (Brower, 2005)

For instance, the way that our current principle uses the conventional and collegial styles can be seen with how different challenges are being addressed. In this particular case, an educator was having trouble reaching out to students who were English language learners. They were mainly focused on utilizing traditional methods and expected them to pick up on the ideas that were presented. (Cram, 2000) (Boyd, 2002) (Brower, 2005)

The problem is that students did not understand the information and they were quickly falling behind in accreditation standards. To address these issues, she encouraged other educators to monitor the techniques that were utilized and offer ideas to help this person. They worked with them to create different tools, which enhanced the individual's learning comprehension of the concepts through relating them to their culture. This made it easier for them to learn. (Cram, 2000) (Boyd, 2002) (Brower, 2005)

At the same time, they used it technology to teach to different styles of learning and help to reinforce key concepts. This led to a dramatic improvement, in their comprehension of the material and it allowed everyone to actively participate in the process. What made this educator so successful; is the principle used conventional and collegial techniques to identify specific issues before they became major problems. (Cram, 2000) (Boyd, 2002) (Brower, 2005)