After reading chapter 2, I thought it would be interesting to post our own teacher leadership profiles using the self-reflection exercise provided in this chapter. What are your strengths? What areas do you find challenging?
Based on the self-reflection exercise, I'll admit that I'm a little inexperienced in the leadership role, when it comes to my colleagues (except for the few times that I was a teacher mentor). I agree however with Donna that we're all leaders in our classroom. I did however have many of the characteristics as Leader, which I felt was very positive, yet I was reluctant to check off "pleaser" (but I did) which describes my personality. I guess I wasn't sure if being a "pleaser" really makes a good leader. My preferred work style and team structure vary depending on the task at hand.
Looking at the self reflection exercise, it seems that I am more idealistic than realistic in some ways. When I am working with my colleagues I am fairly inexperienced. In a leadership position I find it challenging to work in a traditional setting with a structured hierarchy and to confine myself to the task at hand without seeing how the planning will turn into results. The challenge, especially for those of us in the "specials" area, is to view education in a traditional reading, writing and arithmetic setting knowing that it is so much more. Balancing this out is the strengths that I have as a leader according to the self-reflection. I am a collaborative leader preferring to delegate to those who understand areas outside of my knowledge and to bring it back to the group for a cohesive planning session. Being a creative thinker who has an end vision in mind of what the purpose of a committee or group should be seems to be one my strengths as well. Supporting Deb's statement though, the type of leadership will vary depending on the specific tasks at hand.
Utilizing the self-reflection exercise, I appear to be more of a visionary leader. I have had the opportunity to work in a leadership role as the technology director for our district. I struggled with the traditional structured hierarchy at Newark Valley and decided to return to the classroom. Leadership characteristic that I embody include: creative thinker, risk-taker, doer, thinker, problem-solver, sharer, and collaborator. I DO NOT compromise easily, and find this personal characteristic sometimes interferes with becoming a good leader. My preferred working style would, like Deb & Burton stated vary depending on the task at hand. Team structure would also depend on the task, but overall I prefer professional learning community. I believe PLC offers a wide array of ideas and expands the learning beyond our physical environment.
Based on the self-reflection exercise, I have some experience as a teacher leader outside of the classroom. Depending on the situation at hand, my leadership characteristics consist of: risk taker, doer, thinker, coordinator, sharer, pleaser, and collaborator. I have to agree with Deb about the pleaser. I find myself doing this and wonder if it is a good thing. Are happy people productive people? My preferred working style would all depend on the task at hand. There are times when I would rather work on my own and then there are times I would like to be part of a group.
After taking reviewing the self-reflection exercise, I definitely notice a shift in my thinking about and perception of leadership. I think that I have tended to both view and participate in a much more traditional sense of leadership. Interesting, that meant I would view leaders as the decision makers and I would follow and/or defer to their judgement, much as my colleagues have described being a pleaser. For the last few years, I can sense a shift in my leadership style both in and out of the classroom. I curently view leadership as shared and collaborative. I find myself being much more open to ideas of others and new/different styles of leadership. I am happy to see our building move more in the direction of PLCs and feel that it has been embraced by our traditional leaders, for example our principal. I value the changes I see both in my personal and professional growth as a leader.
As a leader I know that I am experienced but this can be both a positive and negative. I am a strong believer in teams and believe that we can accomplish more when we work together. This has been a belief of mine as long as I can remember. In high school I always volunteered to be team captain. In college I had a scholarship which required me to be a leader of a service team and then I was a resident assistant which required me to be a leader of my building. My second year here I became department chair for the fine arts department. (Don’t yell at me but…) I hope that someday I will be an administrator. The down side of all this is that I occasionally get so wrapped up in it all that I don’t allow my team to catch up. I am so passionate about teamwork and collaboration that I forget that not everyone shares my views.
Looking over the self-reflection excercise, I realized that my choices to describe myself as a teacher leader are more formed by my experiences in the classroom than I realized. I decided that I am a colaborative & traditional leader. I think over my years, I have had experiences with students & adults that so many times have expanded or changed my view on whatever is being discussed, that I am most comfortable colaborating. I also think that learning to teach art classes made of such diverse groups helped me see the different situations, solutions, & end products that can come from people placed in the same group. This also goes to forming my working style which depends on the task along with my prefered team structure which would be task or initiative based. A result of my experience explaining things to such a diverse group of thinkers, and recieving such a diverse set of responces. It re-enforced that for me, there is rarely an all in one plan.
After reading chapter 2, I thought it would be interesting to post our own teacher leadership profiles using the self-reflection exercise provided in this chapter. What are your strengths? What areas do you find challenging? 
Based on the self-reflection exercise, I'll admit that I'm a little inexperienced in the leadership role, when it comes to my colleagues (except for the few times that I was a teacher mentor). I agree however with Donna that we're all leaders in our classroom. I did however have many of the characteristics as Leader, which I felt was very positive, yet I was reluctant to check off "pleaser" (but I did) which describes my personality. I guess I wasn't sure if being a "pleaser" really makes a good leader. My preferred work style and team structure vary depending on the task at hand.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the self reflection exercise, it seems that I am more idealistic than realistic in some ways. When I am working with my colleagues I am fairly inexperienced. In a leadership position I find it challenging to work in a traditional setting with a structured hierarchy and to confine myself to the task at hand without seeing how the planning will turn into results. The challenge, especially for those of us in the "specials" area, is to view education in a traditional reading, writing and arithmetic setting knowing that it is so much more.
ReplyDeleteBalancing this out is the strengths that I have as a leader according to the self-reflection. I am a collaborative leader preferring to delegate to those who understand areas outside of my knowledge and to bring it back to the group for a cohesive planning session. Being a creative thinker who has an end vision in mind of what the purpose of a committee or group should be seems to be one my strengths as well.
Supporting Deb's statement though, the type of leadership will vary depending on the specific tasks at hand.
Utilizing the self-reflection exercise, I appear to be more of a visionary leader. I have had the opportunity to work in a leadership role as the technology director for our district. I struggled with the traditional structured hierarchy at Newark Valley and decided to return to the classroom. Leadership characteristic that I embody include: creative thinker, risk-taker, doer, thinker, problem-solver, sharer, and collaborator. I DO NOT compromise easily, and find this personal characteristic sometimes interferes with becoming a good leader. My preferred working style would, like Deb & Burton stated vary depending on the task at hand. Team structure would also depend on the task, but overall I prefer professional learning community. I believe PLC offers a wide array of ideas and expands the learning beyond our physical environment.
ReplyDeleteBased on the self-reflection exercise, I have some experience as a teacher leader outside of the classroom. Depending on the situation at hand, my leadership characteristics consist of: risk taker, doer, thinker, coordinator, sharer, pleaser, and collaborator. I have to agree with Deb about the pleaser. I find myself doing this and wonder if it is a good thing. Are happy people productive people? My preferred working style would all depend on the task at hand. There are times when I would rather work on my own and then there are times I would like to be part of a group.
ReplyDeleteAfter taking reviewing the self-reflection exercise, I definitely notice a shift in my thinking about and perception of leadership. I think that I have tended to both view and participate in a much more traditional sense of leadership. Interesting, that meant I would view leaders as the decision makers and I would follow and/or defer to their judgement, much as my colleagues have described being a pleaser. For the last few years, I can sense a shift in my leadership style both in and out of the classroom. I curently view leadership as shared and collaborative. I find myself being much more open to ideas of others and new/different styles of leadership. I am happy to see our building move more in the direction of PLCs and feel that it has been embraced by our traditional leaders, for example our principal. I value the changes I see both in my personal and professional growth as a leader.
ReplyDeleteAs a leader I know that I am experienced but this can be both a positive and negative. I am a strong believer in teams and believe that we can accomplish more when we work together. This has been a belief of mine as long as I can remember. In high school I always volunteered to be team captain. In college I had a scholarship which required me to be a leader of a service team and then I was a resident assistant which required me to be a leader of my building. My second year here I became department chair for the fine arts department. (Don’t yell at me but…) I hope that someday I will be an administrator. The down side of all this is that I occasionally get so wrapped up in it all that I don’t allow my team to catch up. I am so passionate about teamwork and collaboration that I forget that not everyone shares my views.
ReplyDeleteLooking over the self-reflection excercise, I realized that my choices to describe myself as a teacher leader are more formed by my experiences in the classroom than I realized. I decided that I am a colaborative & traditional leader. I think over my years, I have had experiences with students & adults that so many times have expanded or changed my view on whatever is being discussed, that I am most comfortable colaborating. I also think that learning to teach art classes made of such diverse groups helped me see the different situations, solutions, & end products that can come from people placed in the same group. This also goes to forming my working style which depends on the task along with my prefered team structure which would be task or initiative based. A result of my experience explaining things to such a diverse group of thinkers, and recieving such a diverse set of responces. It re-enforced that for me, there is rarely an all in one plan.
ReplyDelete