Please discuss the following:* What is the "Essential Knowledge" from your article that the group should understand/ be able to apply to leadership practice?
* How can the school vision become a tool for leaders to assess school effectiveness?
Remember: Each group member must post at least three times: Once for the essential knowledge from their article, once as an answer to the discussion question, and at least once to someone else in the group.
Post #1 - "Essential Knowledge"
ReplyDeleteIn this article, the most essential knowledge is that, as a leader, you should not let you vision blind you. As a leader, you have to have a well-rounded view of what should be accomplished within your school. While your vision is important, so are the other things and accomplishing those things will likely keep your teachers from turning against you. As a leader, you should strive for collaboration, not conformity. Therefore, as a leader, you want to ensure that you are collaborating with your teachers. The article states that you should concentrate on fostering vision building. The article also states that the principal should be a leader of instructional leaders and is responsible for making vision building a collective exercise. On page 20 of the article, there were 8 guidelines for how principals should work interactively with teachers and communities. All of these guidelines are important, but to me the three most important are #1 - Understand the culture of the school before trying to change it; #2 - Value your teachers: promote their professional growth; and #3 - Extend what you value.
Post # 2 - School Vision
ReplyDeleteThe school vision can become a tool for leaders to assess school effectiveness because it is the "end goal" that you would like to reach as a school. A mission can be designed, the steps you take as a school can be documented along the way, as well as data collected on the effectiveness of what is occurring. If the data shows progress towards the "end goal" or vision, then you know the school is effective. In order for to monitor school effectiveness, it is imperative that the majority of the school team (i.e. teachers, custodians, etc.) believe in the vision. If the majority of the team is not working collaboratively on the school mission, the vision may never be achieved. It is important that the leader work with others, take their input/ideas in to account and that the school vision reflect the idea of the WHOLE school, not just the principal or administrative team. Designing the vision has to be a group effort and acting as an effective school to meet the vision has to be a group effort!
Well said, Jenna!. The essential knowledge that I took away from the readings is that having a vision as a school leader provides a guidepost for where the school is headed. The leader can have their own personal vision and work toward it, but the school vision needs to be shared and collaborative; these two visions (personal and the school) need to be aligned not counter to one another. It is important as a leader to know all stakeholders and form a realistic vision that is realistic given these groups. The vision, if shared, is a tool that can help align the different stakeholders to a common goal, helping to build collaboration among these groups. Another way that a vision is a tool is that it can help guide instructional decisions. If the vision is the umbrella, instructional decisions can be analyzed to see if they fall under the umbrella. (With the multiple initiatives that come down from higher up, a clear vision can provide a leader with a reason why the program is not best for the organization at the time. If it doesn't fit the vision, is it best for the school community?)
ReplyDeleteI liked the perspective of the school vision article - while we have talked a lot about vision, this served as a good reminder that the vision should not be set it stone - flexibility is important to build that collaborative community environment. Just as students in the classroom have different needs each year, a school goes through changes. What may be good during one period of time may not fit the dynamics of a school at another.
Karin, I agree with flexibility. As new leadership comes into any school, I feel the vision statement needs to be modified to reflect his/her beliefs and the school community. It will be important to be mindful of the timing. Jenna, I agree with your statement regarding vision being an end goal of the school and the vision being a tool to get there. Great job ladies! =)
DeletePost 1 Essential Knowledge
ReplyDeleteI read the article Vision as a Compass. The essential knowledge I took away from this article is staying true to your values even when circumstances are difficult and when something happens you have to make what is wrong right even if that means going above and beyond. As we know as an educator we are always being judged by various stakeholders and held to a higher standard. Community members, faculty, students talk and it’s important to all be following and own the shared vision that has been created. If your school’s vision is doing what is in the best interest of kid’s do that at all times even when it’s not the easiest. There are temptations all around us and it’s important as the leader of the building to set the example and first hold yourself accountable to the vision.
Well said Katy. It can be very difficult to stay true to what you value, especially when something goes wrong or you are being questioned/judged by those around you. As you said, keeping the best interest of the students in mind is most important, but it is also important to make sure your vision is supported by your teachers, staff, parents and other stakeholders. Without that support, you are fighting a losing battle, no matter how much you "think" you are looking out for the best interest of students. It's definitely a fine line and will be quite difficult for us when we first step in to an administrative position.
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ReplyDeletePost 2 School Vision
ReplyDeleteI read the article Vision as a Compass. Having a shared vision is very critical in my mind as a leader. This is what you would hope everyone in your building is striving for and is keeping in the back of their mind when they make a decision. Developing and creating a shared vision developed by a collaborative team of stakeholders representing the entire school community is essential because you want it to be representative or symbolic of your school to improve buy in. The school vision is an overall goal that can bring the school community together to help students achieve. In addition, as a leader a solid well known and developed vision can be a tool to help you when you are working with staff who are having a difficult time by keep going back to the shared vision and driving it home.
Hi all - I just read the direction again and realized I was to have three posts - I think I answer the essential knowledge and how vision is a tool in my single post. Let me know if I need to separate it out.
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ReplyDeleteJenna, I agree with your perception of a leader being well-rounded - you can't be limited by the school's vision but it certainly can find a foundation for making instructional and structural decisions for a school. BRMS has not redone their vision since we got a new principal three years ago, and I have been unable to find when the current one we have was created? How about Stone Hill? With the new leadership, have you all created a new vision/mission? For us, we've talked about it, but time to do it has been the greatest barrier.
ReplyDeleteAmen - Katy! Administrators certainly are always in the spotlight. Having that vision provides a tool to refer to in order to provide support for decisions. If the vision is know by all and referred to, it can help build a common core for all stakeholders. As I said to Jenna above, we haven't changed ours either. Have you all had discussion about re-examining it?
I totally give up - evidently I fail at following directions. I just realized that I did the wrong article. Hence the deleted posts.... I"m trying again below.
ReplyDeleteVision, Leadership & Change
ReplyDeleteEssential Knowledge from the article....
A shared vision is a look in to where the organization wants to be in the future. By having a shared vision, a common ground exists and serves as a foundation for change. (It seems pretty common sense - it is where we as an organization want to be in the future. In order to get there, we need to grow as an organization which involves change.)
There "right vision" according to the article has five characteristics:
1.) energizes and ceates as sense of commitment for people (stakeholders)
2.) provides meaning for the staff
3.) establishes a standard for excellence
4.) links where we are to where we want to be
5.) transcends status quo (i.e. - this is what we've always done and it works ok)
Another key point is that leaders and staff need to have a shared vision. Research shows that school administrators "tend to encompass the whole system'" in their vision, creating an organization vision whereas teacher visions seem to be largely directed to "individual or personal actions for change." Creating a shared vision creates a shared commitment.
Finally, the article provides the key components necessary for developing a shared vision. 1.) Know the organization 2.) Involve critical individuals (many different types of stakeholders) 3.) consider where you are going as a school (what are the future trends, not just where you are now) and 4.) Put the plan in writing
Vision as a tool (taken from my first post in which I was clearly oblivious to the task at hand!)
ReplyDeleteThe vision, if shared, is a tool that can help align the different stakeholders to a common goal, helping to build collaboration among these groups. Another way that a vision is a tool is that it can help guide instructional decisions. If the vision is the umbrella, instructional decisions can be analyzed to see if they fall under the umbrella. (With the multiple initiatives that come down from higher up, a clear vision can provide a leader with a reason why the program is not best for the organization at the time. If it doesn't fit the vision, is it best for the school community?)
Whew.....I think I finally got it!
ReplyDeleteKarin, everything you posted, from start to finish, was well said. Your last post about the shared vision being a tool that aligns stakeholders is an interesting way of looking at it. I never thought of it that way, but that puts it in to perspective for me. While I know the vision has to be supported, identifying it as a tool is a great way to approach stakeholders with it when in a leadership role. Thanks for all of your hard work!
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