Running head: LEARNING FROM A LEADER 1

Learning From a Leader

Chris Krueger
Iowa State University

















LEARNING FROM A LEADER 2
I was born and raised in Denver, Iowa, a small town with close to 2000 residents, located
in Northeast Iowa along Highway 63. Denver is ideally situated near the Waterloo/Cedar Falls
metropolitan area, the University of Northern Iowa, and Wartburg College in Waverly. Denver
has been and continues to be a community that supports excellence in education.
Since my time as a student, Denver has gone through many educational and structural
changes, but one of the draws for me to return home to teach was its constant dedication to
improving its schools through quality facilities, teachers, and administrators. Denver Community
School District's commitment to children is evident in the construction of a 3-5 elementary
school in 2003. More recently, in 2011, new construction brought the K-2 portion of the school
to the 3-5 site, creating a K-12 structure all on one campus.
The elementary consist of 351 K-5 students, 34 special education students, and 60
students who receive free and reduced lunch. Average class sizes in the K-2 are 16.2 students,
19.25 in the 3-5 classes, and 17.5 in the 6-12 grades. In 2010-11 86.4 % of fourth graders were
proficient in reading and 89.8 % were proficient in math.
Besides having a great community, facilities, and school, Denver is also blessed with
visionary leadership. That is why I chose to learn more about becoming a leader from the K-5
principal Kim Tierney. Mrs. Tierney, 30, is in her third year of being principal at Denver
Elementary. She was a Center-Point, IA graduate who has dreamed of being an elementary
school principal since she was a little girl. Kim played volleyball and graduated from the
University of Northern Iowa with an elementary education degree. While attending UNI, Kim
did her student teaching in the Denver School District, and hoped to some day return to work
here. Knowing her goals, she didnt waste time on acquiring her administrative leadership degree
while also teaching fifth grade for four years at Waukee Schools. Mrs. Tierney has a husband
and pre-school aged daughter, but has found time to be family oriented, yet focused on making
Denver Elementary one of the premier schools in Iowa.
Mrs. Tierneys primary roles and responsibilities include a multitude of McRELs 21
responsibilities and she noted that learning about the effects of these responsibilities was
probably her most meaningful learning during her graduate time. She stated that she has used all
of the 21 mentioned at one time or another. As far as her role and responsibilities that I witnessed
during my shadowing time, she mentioned that she typically must read 100+ emails a day and
manage to those, call parents, go to lots of meetings, handle discipline problems, answer lunch
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room questions, schedule subs, and keep up with a hectic schedule. But all of this leads to what
she loves best about her job, the fact that each day is different and brings different challenges and
rewards on a daily basis.
The key skills needed to be an effective principal, Mrs. Tierney felt was building a
rapport with her staff through good communication and building solid relationships. She feels it
was beneficial to sit back the first year and learn the culture of the school, then in year two and
three start to implement the things you see are needed changes within the building. Another
important skill is to have a plan and a vision for what you want your school to look like and
accomplish. The next skill she mentioned was being a change agent, and being able to handle the
difficulties that come with making change at your school. Being a good listener, having that
positive line of communication and relationships in place will help these changes happen more
smoothly. The last skill is to have an overall situational awareness of what is happening in your
building with your staff, students, and parents. Having background knowledge of your teachers
lives will help you handle and understand circumstances that arise during the school year.
Mrs. Tierney feels the leadership strategy she uses best is shared leadership. She has a
Building Leadership Team, a curriculum team, and a special education team that she has put in
place for her to listen and take from while making sure they are following her overall vision for
the school. Some teachers like to be told this is what were doing and how were going to do it,
but with her only having four years of experience and being young in age for a principal, shared
leadership has been the way to go, and she has a high comfort level with it, and it will always be
the way she leads. Listening to veteran teachers who are in the trenches can be very beneficial as
a shared leader.
Mrs. Tierney feels she is probably in the minority when she says that No Child Left
Behind has had a positive impact on her as a leader. The reason being is that it has increased
accountability and in the end it will lead us to better schools, better districts, and students that are
learning more. The measures to which it has been taken is a down fall, but it has increased data-
driven decision making in schools, which can be difficult for veteran teachers, but todays
culture has grown up with this way of thinking.
Mrs. Tierney feels she doesnt devote enough time to instructional leadership
responsibilities, as she would like to. She does feel that Denver allows her to devote more time
than most districts would based on her not needing to deal with a whole lot of behavioral issues
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in this particular district. She has talked with other principals who have stated they spend up to
75% of their day on behavior and cant get anything else done. It is important to build a self-
sustaining culture in your building so that it runs just as smoothly if you are there or not. Kim
would like to say 60-70% of her time is dedicated to instructional leadership in Denver. She
correlates running and managing a staff to being similar to running a classroom as a teacher, or a
team as a coach. Having good management skills will allow for more instructional time.
The most challenging aspects of her job are balancing her school and family life. She
picks up her daughter from day-care at 5PM to assure herself that she is out of the building. Mrs.
Tierney takes home her computer and pulls out her work at 8PM and manages her emails and
schedules and plans for the next day and week. Being able to get in quality family time is tough
but critical. The second biggest challenge is handling difficult personalities on staff, and it is
important to look at things from a different perspective at time, as everyone sees and reacts to
thing differently. Trying to understand why some reacts the way they do to certain ideas or
suggestions. It is an adjustment to not have people happy with you, but it comes with the job.
You cant take any criticism personally; it is the role of the chair.
Mrs. Tierney feels the biggest changes and challenges occurring in education are in the
area of technology and incorporating it, not only into the classroom but also as an instructional
leader showing your staff that you use it as well in staff meetings, etc. The evaluation process
will also become more demanding. No Child Left Behind is looking at evaluating teachers
annually. This will create a huge time constraint due to the paper trail this involves. Continued
increase in data-driven decision making, more demands from the state level. Doing all of this
with less time, less money, less staff and teachers will be a huge challenge. She feels we will see
more competency based education, more virtual learning, along with increased rigor of
professional growth programs, all which will produce big challenges for future educational
leaders.
As I has stated previously, Kim always had dreamed of becoming a principal but what
has kept her on her current path is the small bonuses she receives from students, staff, and
parents. In this job we do not receive monetary bonuses, but the little thank yous and personal
positive notes from those involved in the school are the rewards that make her love this job. She
also loves working with children and getting to know them on a personal level and having an
impact on them. I evidenced this relationship building on my shadowing as I was impressed as
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we walked the halls and witnessed that Mrs. Tierney knew to ask or talk about fishing, or
hunting, or rap, with each individual student we passed in the hallway. Knowing her students on
a personal level was a big deal to them and to her.
I was able to witness many more of Mrs. Tierneys leadership duties during my
shadowing experience. Mrs. Tierney did fire code checks at the old K-2 and new pre-school
building, ordered ITBS testing material, and handled office referrals. She was responsible for
evaluated the pre-school teachers since the Pre-K coordinator does not have an administrative
degree. She did walk-thrus to observe teachers at work. I enjoyed watching Kim get interviewed
by pre-school students as part of a community leaders lesson. I also was able to watch Mrs.
Tierney handle a bullying situation amongst third grade boys.
In closing the interview Mrs. Tierney felt her biggest lessons learned and best advice to
give is to go slow to get things done fast. She said you must approach change like the tortoise
and not the hare. She feels this has been the approach she has taken with our PLCs and standard
based report cards and it has been very beneficial. Also to not put too many things on your
teachers plates. She has struggled with this, as she has wanted to try and implement so many
new things that are out there. She wants Denver to be innovative and looked at for advice from
other districts, and feels we are getting there. She feels that as long as you ask yourself, Is this
best for kids? with every decision you make, you can be assured your doing the best thing.
Along with this advice she adds to create and maintain focus and to communicate, communicate,
communicate! She also emphasized the importance of making a great first impression that first
year and to not be scared of demanding greatness from your staff. How you are perceived in that
first year will go along way to how successful you are in the following years in your district.
In reflecting on my principal interview and shadowing experience I have learned a great
deal about what to expect and what it takes to make a great leader in an elementary school. This
experience has taught me a great deal about the rewards and demands of serving as a leader, but
it has also given me the reassurance that I could be a successful educational leader. When I
reflect upon the questions I asked Mrs. Tierney I find that our beliefs and leadership styles are
not very far removed from one another.
Kim had stated that she feels her role as principal is very similar to that of a teacher in
charge of a class or a coach in charge of a team. I feel my 14 years of teaching and 16 years of
coaching have helped prepare me for the challenges this job would bring. I feel my years as a
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coach correlate so well to what I learned in this process. The duties and responsibilities this job
entails, makes me feel like I have been practicing principal skills for the last 16 years.
As the head coach of the Denver-Tripoli wrestling team I have been able to take an 0-15
team and in time, with hard work, time commitment, and shared leadership develop one of the
best programs in the state. I feel my strengths as a leader echo what Kim said about being able to
build relationships, treat people as individuals, and get to know what makes them tick. These
skills have been a huge factor in my success as a leader. I in no way see myself as a dictator, but
more as a listener who is able to build a successful team by getting the most out of each
individual and helping them each be successful in their own way.
In teaching we sometimes come up with an IEP, Individualized Education Plan, for
students, on my wrestling team we come up with an IWP, an Individualized Wrestling Plan, for
each wrestler. I feel this is what sets us apart from other programs. I see so many schools that
have their athletes whistle-trained and doing everything the same way. I feel I am able to treat
each kid fairly but differently to help us reach a common team goal. I see myself leading a
school in much the same way. I listen carefully to my assistant coaches, team leaders, and
captains about what practices best prepare them for upcoming competitions, and I alter my plans
accordingly, as long as it has the teams best interest in mind. Kim tries to find the best veteran
teachers who are leaders and utilizes their in-put as long as it is inline with her vision. Gordon
Cawelti (2003) stated Great leaders do just two thingsthey decide what to do, and then they
seek support to get things done (p. 47). I believe Mrs. Tierney and I are both successful leaders
because we are able to use the support around us to convey our ideas.
She also talked about the challenges of the job and being a change agent. I feel I had to
make many changes in how our team and program were run. Some of these changes were
welcomed and some were challenged by athletes, assistants, and parents. Cawelti (2003) also
stated Normally the process of getting support for a decision begins with involving many people
in the decision-making process. But sooner or later a decision must be made, and the leader is
ultimately responsible for the decisions quality (p. 47). So in the end I stood firm behind the
changes I believed in and they have now become part of our winning culture. Another big
challenge the job will present is balancing family and work. This too has been a huge challenge
for me as a coach. To do my job to the best of my capabilities, my family has had to sacrifice a
lot. I would not be near the coach I am today without their support. This will continue to be a
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challenge, and this balance is something I must strive for, as I progress as a principal and/or
athletic administrator.
Her next big challenge was being able to handle difficult personalities. I feel I have some
real good assistant coaches, who I value greatly, but they are the definition of difficult
personalities. I have been able to utilize their strengths and listen to their criticism and input
along the way, so that we can reach our overall goals. Wrestling is known for having very
demanding and difficult parents to work with, and Denver-Tripoli has been no exception. We
have parents that expect perfection from their kids and when it doesnt it is always the coachs
fault. I feel I have taken on any of these complaints head on and met these challenges to the best
of my ability, asking that question that Mrs. Tierney says to always go back to, What is best for
the kids? This is great advice and I will continue to handle challenges with this in mind.
One of my concerns and challenges I see for me as I move forward as a principal is the
informational background needed to know the ins and outs of state mandated regulations,
rules, and standards. As I shadowed Mrs. Tierney she was working on getting ready for a
Preschool Verification Visit for our site visit coming up. I have lots of notes in my notebook
from this part of the shadowing but it looks like Greek to me and definitely is not the passionate
part of the job for me. This kind of preparation is key to the job and an area that I will need to
work hard at. I feel I have handled this well in the coaching and teaching arena up to date. In
wrestling we are state mandated to record all weights, matches, and weekly data on our wrestlers
and team in a database. There are many rules and regulations that go along with doing this. I
have many coaches who call on me for advice in this area. I am more than capable of handling
this, but I have a lot of wrestling background knowledge to build off of. I will need to build this
knowledge base up in the area of educational leadership before my confidence is up in this area.
By interviewing and shadowing a great leader in our schools, I feel I have been able to
gain first-hand information about leadership, especially the rewards and challenges this role will
someday provide. I have learned a great deal about the intricacies of being an educational leader.
I feel fortunate to have gone to a wonderful school as a youth and to now teach in the same
visionary district. I feel this process has helped me feel more secure in my leadership style and
better prepare me for the challenges ahead. I hope that I can continue to build on this knowledge
and the work the leaders before me have initiated and someday lead this great district, or one of
my own, into the future with the knowledge that I have gained through this experience.
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References

Cawelti, G. (2003). The new effective schools. In W.A. Owings & L. S. Kaplan(Eds.), Best
practices, best thinking, and emerging issues in school leadership (p. 47). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.