“Leaders are dreamers. Leaders are idealists. Leaders are possibility thinkers. All enterprises, big or small, begin with imagination and with the belief that what’s merely an image today can one day be made real in the future” (Kouzes & Posner, 2012, p. 106). Community Consolidated School District 21, Wheeling, Illinois. 1994. The district hires 75 new staff after a number of teachers take an early retirement package. I accept a position teaching bilingual 6th graders at Whitman Elementary. This move shapes the rest of my career as a teacher, but more importantly as an educational leader. I stay in School District 21 for only 5 years, but the tremendous experience there during my formative teaching years is crucial to how I view myself as an educator and what I know about possibilities and potential. As a young teacher, I am invited to collaborate with veteran staff to make real school change. It is in this setting I solidify my belief that all children should have authentic, challenging and inspiring learning experiences. It is also my work in this setting that creates my sense of efficacy; I know I can make it happen. Minnesota State University, Mankato. 2010. A group of visionary educators create a plan to significantly impact the quality and demographics of teacher candidates entering the profession as they participate in the Network for Excellence in Teaching funded by a grant from the Bush Foundation. Informed by Linda Darling Hammond‘s report What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future (2006), they recruit team members with varying expertise to improve teacher quality; mine is connecting with local K-12 schools to build relationships and figure out how to get our teacher candidates in schools longer for a more in-depth experience. Again, my experience is heightened by the modeling and support of a team of extraordinary colleagues and models. I have asked myself frequently what it was about my first school district in Wheeling, Illinois that prompted such a feeling of empowerment in a teacher so new to the profession. What was it here at Minnesota State University, Mankato that created a culture of growth and dedication? As I learned about Kouzes and Posner’s research on leadership practices in The Leadership Challenge (2012), I realized that the leaders in both of these work environments - from superintendent to dean to instructional coach to principal to team leader- truly embodied the 5 practices:
Model the Way
Inspire a Shared Vision
Challenge the Process
Enable Others to Act
Encourage the Heart
Over the last 10 years we have had visionary leaders who had excellence and inclusion as common practice. I firmly believe that my early teaching experience in a progressive and supportive environment, along with engagement in a high-quality teacher preparation system have prompted me to know I can and must make an impact on learning for all students. This commitment goes way beyond just student achievement, to the wholistic experience students have in schools throughout their careers. Beliefs, Values and Positions I believe that all students should have authentic, challenging and inspiring learning environments. We have tremendous opportunity because of technology and advances in learning theory and data collection. About 20 years ago, I read Deborah Meier’s work The Power of Their Ideas (1995) and was deeply impacted. Because I have the Ideation strength, I tend to be lofty in my ideas, but I want to make a direct impact on what happens for students on a daily basis in school. We also have tremendous responsibility to think critically and futuristically about how choices we make now will impact us as a society later. According to Meier, “… it turns out that public schools, in new and different forms, are the best vehicle for nourishing the extraordinary untapped capacities of all our children” (1995, p. xiii). I believe we have a moral and ethical responsibility to ensure that school continues to promote and feed our democracy. I value the contribution that each individual child or teacher can make. The positions I hold are (1) that we must begin to question beliefs and practices from a philosophical and societal lens and (2) that I will advocate for the highest quality learning experience for all students. We must not sell anyone short. Style and Building Capacity My development as a teacher-leader at K-12 and university levels lead to a conviction that we all must take responsibility for the status of system as a whole. I like to ask groups of teachers or students with whom I work, “What did you do to get smarter today?” I absolutely believe that our investment in learning about each other and about ideas that face the world will increase our capacity as learning communities. If we know and understand each other and the world, we are more likely to care, to want to make a difference and to strive for better and better. The wise words from Rath and Conchie in Strengths-Based Leadership remind those with Ideation strength to “[h]elp people see that you are seeking to improve the status quo, to better explain the world and to make discoveries that ultimately serve humanity” (2008, p. 179). Not surprisingly, my unique combination of strengths supports this ideal. According to the Strengthsfinder 2.0, my most recent assessment of top five strengths are Strategic, Ideation, Connectedness, Input and Learner. I also favor maximize, include and adaptability. This combination leads me to naturally believe that all things and people are connected and that the more we learn about others and the world, the more able we are to see the right path. As I leader, I will strive to develop those connections between students and staff through common experiences and traditions that can bring people closer together. As I young teacher, I was heavily supported in a very collaborative atmosphere. I will invite and empower all staff members to play a role, to make a contribution. I know I am idealistic. Kouzes and Posner suggest “You must first clarify your own visions of the future before you can expect to enlist others in a shared vision” (2012, p. 115). My strengths of strategic, ideation and connectedness prompt me to think a lot about my vision and how it connects to the rest of the world. I believe communicating about the underlying “why” behind initiatives encourages others to be able to share the vision. My strategic strength will help me sort through the unlimited possibilities for bringing together students and staff into a community. I like to facilitate conversation and have practice with purposeful selection of conversation strategies. I will attempt to model the way as I collaborate with colleagues, encourage them to take risks and to strive for the ideal. “Questioning the status quo is not only for leaders. Effective leaders create a climate in which others feel comfortable doing the same. If your organization is going to be the best it can be, everyone has to feel comfortable in speaking up and taking the initiative” (Kouzes & Posner, 2012, p. 186).
References Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). What matters most: Teaching for America’s future. The National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future. Retrieved from http://nctaf.org/wp-content/uploads/WhatMattersMost.pdf Gorton, R. A. (2012). School leadership & administration. important concepts, case studies, & simulations. New York: McGraw-Hill. Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2012). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Meier, D. (1995). The power of their ideas: Lessons for America from a small school in Harlem. Boston: Beacon Press. Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths based leadership: Great leaders, teams, and why people follow. New York: Gallup Press.