Great Leaders
We need great leaders to be a visionary for the teachers
and students. Leaders need to be there in order for the stakeholders to know
what the vision is for the school. Many leaders need to have a good gauge of
what the community, faculty and students need in order to know the areas that
need improvement within the school. Also, this allows the leaders to determine
areas of excellence. I work with leaders that are able to motivate and drive
their staff and students while they are making changes that are important for
the students to be successful. After all the overall vision/mission is for the
students to be successful and to leave us being better prepared than when they
walked in the door. Each day we need to strive for the best in ourselves and
our students and a great leader is there to encourage us along the way. When we
begin to lose sight of our vision we then lose sight of why we became an
educator. A great leader will be able to recognize when a teacher might need a
boost or have a conversation with them to determine if there are things that
might be bothering them. To me a great leader is one that has systems in place
to make sure they know when teachers or staff members are struggling and to
find ways to motivate the individual to get back on track. Great leaders need to
have some empathy and realize that everyone has issues and that we need to just
make sure that the issues are not stemming from problems in the classroom. When
we have great leaders in place they realize that there is not any replacement
for great teachers. Therefore, we need to make sure that we are taking care of
our teachers and staff who work so hard with the students to keep them encouraged
and focused.
A great leader in a school should be a learner. The
leader needs to be reading and researching along with their teachers to find
strategies that can improve instruction and help with student success. Also, great
leaders know that teachers need to be given opportunities for professional
development in order for the teachers learn new strategies that they can take
back to their campus and implement in the classroom. As a leader we should be
showing our teachers, staff and students that you should always be trying to
learn new things and be open to changes. Sometimes these changes are hard but
you don’t know if they will work if you don’t try. This is especially true in
the classroom. There are times that a new program or strategy might seem like a
lot of work, but if we go into this experience realizing that there is always
something that you can learn then it might make it a little easier to make the
changes or at least to give it a try. I have been told that sometimes it is the
learning process and experience where we grow and develop not necessarily the
end result. We should not be afraid of failure because sometimes that is when
you learn the most. It is through the learning process that you gain insight
and stretch your limits.
