Educational Leadership: A Reflective Essay. Edward L. Diden. Principal Central High School Wartburg, Tennessee

Transcription

1 Educational Leadership: A Reflective Essay 2002 by Edward L. Diden Principal Central High School Wartburg, Tennessee Personal values form the foundation for the daily practice of school leaders. These values develop as a result of life experiences, and they have a profound effect on daily decision making. Values that are important to me include integrity, excellence, and service. Integrity is critical to the daily performance of school administrators and includes personal and institutional obligations. Integrity embodies honesty and trustworthiness. Administrators must conscientiously perform their professional duties and beckon others to do likewise. Closely related, a commitment to excellence is of paramount importance to the effective operation of a school. Everyone is encouraged to give their very best in every endeavor. The call to excellence impacts all the essential players in the school and community. Exemplary performance is most likely when the leader exhibits high standards for self and others. School leadership also involves service to others. The greater the responsibility, the greater opportunity to be of service. Public education provides a framework for altruistic motives of service that contribute to the common good of all. The value of service gives form and purpose to integrity and excellence. When an administrator is willing to go the extra mile to help others, students and staff take note. A servant leader might be found picking up trash, cleaning cafeteria tables, or sending a card to a student or staff member. In leading by serving, an administrator demonstrates great respect to everyone in the organization. This respect is a

2 form of empowerment that beckons people to higher levels of responsibility. This servant value is more caught than taught. When these values are put into action, the school climate for teaching and learning is enhanced. These central values emerge from a work ethic learned from childhood experiences. Reared in poverty on a small farm in rural Morgan County, my parents modeled integrity in their dealings with everyone. My father sold the extra vegetables that we raised in our garden. If he sold a bushel of potatoes, he would discard the small or damaged ones. As he filled the basket with only the best, he would stack extra potatoes on top. When he emptied the basket into a bag, he would add a few more potatoes for good measure. We were taught to be honest in our dealings and relationships with others. The ability of my parents to feed and clothe five children was dependent upon shared responsibilities, servanthood, and commitment. My mother was the oldest of thirteen children. She completed the 8th grade, and then dropped out of school to care for her younger brothers and sisters. She managed the duties of our home in addition to helping with the operation of our small farm. My father only completed the third grade, and reading and writing were very difficult for him. My father was a reserved, painfully introverted person, but he was the most unselfish man I have ever known. My parents worked very hard and expected their children to do the same. As children we were taught that a job worth doing was worth doing well. Living on a small farm in the country provided a wealth of unique learning opportunities. These values were important to me as a high school and college student and athlete. These three values have also been critical to my professional practice as teacher, coach, and principal. I have come to believe that a person s individual work embodies the essence of their personhood. The quality of work speaks volumes about personal character and integrity. After fourteen years as a classroom teacher, I became principal of Wartburg Central High School in To prepare for the responsibilities of this new position, I searched professional journals, attended conferences, read books, and communicated with other school leaders. To emphasize a commitment to academic excellence, the Renaissance Program was introduced in the fall of The basic purpose of Renaissance is to promote outstanding performance among students and teachers through creative recognition and awards. An

3 additional goal is to bring local, state, and national recognition to Central High School as a leader in the pursuit of academic excellence. This call to excellence has proven to be emblematic of the many innovative learning opportunities for students and educators that have occurred during the past twelve years. As an instructional leader, I also searched for funding to support our curriculum. In October 1996 Central High in collaboration with two other Morgan County schools began the process of developing a grant proposal to the Annenberg Rural Challenge. After much research and revision, in August 1998 these schools were informed that the Board of Directors in Granby, Colorado, had funded our proposal. In addition to being a member of the grant writing team, I became project director for this three year project that has brought over $350,000 into our rural school district. This funding supports comprehensive school reform. This process involves work at all grade levels (depth) and across all content areas (breadth). The work encompasses the following set of beliefs: Teaching and learning is more powerful when it is experiential, interdisciplinary, developmentally appropriate, involves students in design, connects with the students past experiences, and results in products useful to others. Schools and communities have a reciprocal relationship. Schools are serving and served by their communities. School reform grows out of community development including economic revitalization. Students are seen as young citizens, participating in the democratic life of the community. The process of schooling should value and be embedded in local culture. Schooling should value and connect with the local environment. Schools should explicitly address equity issues including economic, racial, ethnic, gender, and physical access. These principles have become embedded in my personal philosophy of education. Our teachers have participated in a variety of learning opportunities to examine place based methods of instruction. Many teachers are utilizing these techniques in their instructional programs. A place based approach invites students to become partners in their own learning.

4 The writings of Wendell Berry, John Dewey, Paul Gruchow, Paul Nachtigal, Toni Haas, Clifford Knapp, David Orr, Neil Postman, Bobby Starnes, Paul Theobald, and Eliot Wigginton have nurtured and inspired my professional growth in recent years. I have attended sixty hours of training in the Foxfire Approach to Teaching and Learning including three days of study of the philosophies of John Dewey at the Foxfire Center in Georgia. The Rural School and Community Trust supports work in over 700 schools in 33 states. I have attended several national meetings and established personal relationships with Paul Nachtigal, Toni Haas, Alan DeYoung (University of Kentucky), Vito Perrone (Harvard), Robert Gipe, Rachel Thompkins (Rural Trust), and Bobby Ann Starnes (Foxfire). The collegiality and professional growth experienced in the Graff Scholars doctoral program of the University of Tennessee has also been an enriching experience. As instructional leaders, administrators must nurture a school learning climate that is conducive to inspired curriculum and pedagogy. Ted Sizer (1992) speaks to the topic of teaching as art and science. He states that A teacher with judgment, while keeping the end in view, varies the means. For me, this quote speaks to the blending of science, artistry, and craft in teaching. A balance of all three seems to be needed to view teaching holistically. I would link the three in the following way: science (content), artistry (process), and craft (product). As a master carpenter builds a beautiful cabinet (product), he utilized learned skills (content) throughout the construction (process). The modern preoccupation with standardization gives inordinate emphases to content. When fundamental skills are isolated from process and product, they lose their meaning. If the carpenter was taught the skills of his trade but never allowed to participate in the work of producing a product, his content is useless. When this occurs in a variety of learning situations, the connecting of patters is lost. Discovery of patterns is the essence of wisdom. A pedagogy which balances science, artistry, and craft is the only way to move toward wholeness. Without such, education results in a contorted people of thinkers who cannot do and doers who cannot think (Orr, 1992). I believe that the school principal must become a servant leader in the development of a community of learners that involves all participants teachers, students, and local residents. The principal must be open to suggestions for improving the structure and organization of the school. The principal insists that student needs and interests are the primary concern of all staff

5 members. Teachers are encouraged in the planning of relevant staff development that enriches the professional growth for all. This capacity building empowers educators to think outside the box in designing learning experiences that increase student engagement. The principal serves as a liaison between school and community. The principal also navigates a sea of bureaucratic red tape and acts to buffer the many public pressures that confront teachers. In Horace s Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School, Sizer (1992) concludes his book by stating: And give me, a teacher, hungry pupils, and I ll teach them in a tumbledown warehouse, and they will learn. He emphasizes the desire of the students. Motivation cannot be improved without relating to the students experience. Sizer also says that this inspiration and hunger are the qualities that drive good schools. In my twelve years as a secondary principal, my greatest joys arise from helping other educators inspire their students toward an insatiable love for learning.