Running head: EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

My Philosophy of Educational Leadership -Critical Element Paper #1 Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership and Postsecondary Education University of Northern Iowa -In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Advanced Studies Certificate -by Ella M. Cowherd Weeks Middle School Des Moines, IA (November 23, 2012) -Instructor: Dr. Charles McNulty

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Growing up I observed many instances of people telling me and other children that they would not succeed or that they were in some way inferior to others. Many of these children through self-fulfilling prophecy believed and followed the path their peers or mentors prompted them to follow. I was fortunate. My mother always told me that I could do anything and be anything I desired if I worked hard, stayed in school, and strived to be whatever I wanted. Her main message was to be the best me that I could be in whatever job or objective I chose. I respected and believed my mother so I never let anyone else tell me what I could or could not do or be, but I watched many of my friends fall into the trap of believing what others told them and in turn, stopped trying to become successful. Because I saw many friends fail, I felt that other children needed someone to tell them they were capable of achieving greatness. I realize that there is always a possibility that they hear this at home, but I also know that for every negative comment, children need to hear more positives to negate the effects. Having such a positive role model, I wanted other children to experience some of what I had with my mother because she always managed to find good in everything I did and showed me that through failure I could achieve success. I feel it is important to persuade children to think of themselves as intelligent. Through reinforcing this thought process instead of reinforcing negative stereotypes, they can become successful at anything. In talking to students, I found that some believe that life is only as good as their parents (or guardians) achievements, so they do not try to reach a higher goal. These students must realize that their only limitation is their attempt to grow intellectually, and the parents success or failure does not negate the possibility of individual success. These children need mentors to guide them to success. This is why I desire to become an educational leader. I want to ensure students have a positive role model and learning environment for their view of

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success to change or improve so they can become independent thinkers and prepare to become future leaders who strive for greatness instead of mediocrity. To help students achieve greatness, I must have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to lead a learning community successfully. The Iowa Standards for School Leaders outline these requirements and include ethics, collaboration, organization, and vision. As a leader, I have the responsibility to lead by example because there will always be someone looking at what I do and possibly following my example. Principals must model in all their relationships the behavior they expect throughout the school and the community (Robbins & Alvy, 2009, p. 11). To this extreme, I must exhibit actions I want others to follow including treating everyone with respect, dignity, and fairness. I always expect others to treat me this way and I cannot expect others to do anything I am not willing to do, so I must follow my own desires. Included in ethical behavior is ensuring all students right to Free Appropriate Public Education. To allow this, I must keep the good of the school as my top priority by remembering every decision has a consequence. With this in mind, I must remain sensitive to the diversity of the school and the community. I must use my influence as a school leader appropriately, protect the rights and confidentiality of all staff and students, and accept responsibility for my decisions. To evaluate whether my decisions are ethical I must not attempt to singlehandedly make choices that affect my students, staff, and the community. In their efforts to improve student achievement, school- and district-level leaders should as a matter of policy and practice, extend significant decisional influence to others in the school community (Leithwood, et. al., 2012, p. 24). I have to use my available resources to ensure that I collaborate with all stakeholders. Collaboration comes in many forms, so I have options such as face-to-face conversations, mail,

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Internet, and the media to disseminate information. Not only should I disseminate, but I must also maintain a policy for open dialogue to nurture and improve relationships so all stakeholders understand that I value their opinions, disagreements, and ideas so that as partners, we can make our school a better place academically and personally. On this end, I need to provide regular collaboration opportunities with updates on anything we deem important for staff, parents, and the school community so everyone will realize that I value their ideas and want to keep them informed on school improvements. This ties into organization. Through organizational leadership, I must utilize all information from collaborating with the stakeholders to make decisions I believe will enhance student learning. Schools have an obligation to provide safe learning environments, but they also are charged with fostering innovation and creativity (Levinson, 2010, p. 22). I must be willing to trust peoples judgment, take risks, and reach a consensus with my staff while still ensuring that we maintain high expectations for our students. In some instances, this may involve resolving conflicts but it is my responsibility to try to identify potential issues, confront, and resolve any situations as they arise. To incorporate and empower all stakeholders in the learning community, the leader must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills such as conflict resolution, consensus building, and group processes that are particularly necessary when critical and divergent thinking is encouraged and nurtured (Wilmore, 2002, p.52). Though conflicting situations may arise, I must keep our vision in perspective. No matter how many different ideas we implement, how many resources we use, or how many stakeholders we involve, our ultimate goal is to achieve our vision. During the process, I must be able to use research to evaluate and re-evaluate how we are doing toward achieving our vision and I must be flexible enough to re-direct our efforts if we are somehow off course or not striving to reach our goal.

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I plan to be the type of principal that would help all stakeholders reach a common goal student academic success and intrinsic pride in oneself. What this means is that under my tutelage, the community should expect to see students who are academically proficient and take pride in their community. In terms of self-fulfilling prophecy, if we expect great things from our students in the community they will begin to believe they can accomplish great things. Teachers under my leadership should expect me to require them to help change students personal perceptions by continually reinforcing that all students can achieve greatness. They can also expect me to tell them the same they are or can also be great educators instead of good teachers and with all expectations of greatness come responsibility to mentor others to achieve greatness. Outstanding principals know that if they have great teachers, they have a great school; without great teachers, they do not have a great school (Whitaker, 2011, p. 5). Students under my leadership could expect to learn how to be proud of themselves for their own accomplishments and differences. No two students are exactly alike not even twins so everyone should be excited just to be who they are. We cannot change who we are, but we can change our perspective. If we as educators teach our children to excel, they will ultimately learn what is necessary to outclass others and begin to achieve greatness on their own. Marcus Garvey said, If you have no confidence in self you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence you have won even before you have started (St. Peter, 2010, p. 142). This influences me just as my mother inspired me always to strive for excellence. Other than my mother, my inspiration comes from knowing God is watching over me and guides me in my path. As a leader, I expect the community to interact positively with our school. If our students or our staff are not positive role models I expect the community to let us know so we can help them choose the correct path. I also expect the community to keep us abreast of cultural issues

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occurring to allow us the choice to participate. Our schools have diverse populations and these cultural activities could create learning opportunities for all students and staff within our building. I expect my staff to support each other and help everyone grow. If there is confusion, I expect the staff to seek out answers or help one another clarify any misunderstandings. I also expect the staff to work together to help our students improve academically, morally, and socially to become better citizens and role models when they reach adulthood. I expect our students to try. With effort comes success and they cannot succeed without effort. As long as they try, we as educators can help them reach their goals. When one person succeeds, everyone succeeds. When another person is less than successful, everyone else works together to find a better way to address the issue. But, most of all, in an advocating, nurturing, and sustaining school culture, no one ever gives up (Wilmore, 2002, p. 34).

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY References Dunklee, D. R. (1999). You sound taller on the telephone: A practitioner's view of the principalship. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Leithwood, K. & Seashore-Louis, K. (2012). Linking leadership to learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Levinson, M. (2010). From fear to facebook: One school's journey. Washington, D.C: International Society for Teaching in Education. Robbins, P., & Alvy, H.B. (2009). The principals companion (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. St. Peter, A. (2010). The Greatest Quotations of All-Time. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation. Whitaker, T. (2011). What great principals do differently: 18 things that matter most (2nd ed.). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. Wilmore, E. L. (2002). Principal leadership: Applying the new educational leadership constituent council (ELCC) standards. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.