Digital Commons Network^™

A Preferred Vision For Administering Secondary Schools : A Reflective Essay, Marlys R. Frohwein

Graduate Research Papers

Someone once said that to be a great educator was to be like a prophet. You would need to prepare young people not for today, but for thirty years into the future. How do we go about making all the changes that would be necessary to answer all the pressing needs facing most schools? Glickman (1993) has suggested the following:

Success is the intelligent use of mistakes in self-renewing schools. The moral imperative of the schools is for its members to move into their areas of incompetence: If we already knew exactly how to do this work, we would not …

A Preferred Vision For Administering Secondary Schools : A Reflective Essay, David G. Dreessen

Graduate Research Papers

The successful school administrator needs to be a "finely-honed" instrument at the center of the education process. The administrator must be sensitive to needs of the entire efforts, as well as providing direction, vision, innovative ideas, support, reinforcement, and expertise for the complete educational effort. The unity of purpose in education will proceed as a team effort, knocking down obstacles and building outstanding educational competencies in the process.

A Preferred Vision For Administering Secondary Schools : A Reflective Essay, Jonna D. Andersen

Graduate Research Papers

As teachers and administrators, we need to constantly support each other and appreciate all that we give to our students. We need to realize that in education we will not always meet with success, but we need to continue to look at ways in which to do our jobs better. Principals need to be the people who work to keep their faculties and staff in a positive/progressive direction. Administrators and teachers need to set their own goals, working constantly to achieve them. As you hit roadblocks, you need to find alternatives to get you back on the road. Education is …

A Preferred Vision For Administering Secondary Schools : A Reflective Essay, Troy E. Becker

Graduate Research Papers

In the classroom and in coaching we are able to affect certain groups of kids and hopefully touch their lives in a positive way. An administrator should be able to have an even greater impact on the school community and create a positive environment in which even more people will benefit. The greatest challenge will be to persuade people to make positive changes towards a common goal and vision. Rosalyn Carter in Maxwell (1994) said, "a leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they do not necessarily want to go, but ought to …

A Preferred Vision For Administering Elementary Schools : A Reflective Essay, Carole J. Bernard

Graduate Research Papers

Working together in a cohort group and acting as a quasi-administrator has afforded me the opportunity to receive theoretical knowledge as well as on-the-job training. The cohort has also helped me as a participant develop an understanding and respect for individuals from different backgrounds and experiences. Through on-the-job training I have been able to develop and practice my own leadership style while working and learning effective strategies from my principal. The blending of these two aspects of leadership experience have contributed significantly to prepare me as a future principal. I believe the cohort, a cadre of leaders, is dedicated to …

A Preferred Vision For Administering Secondary Schools : A Reflective Essay, Marshall D. Scichilone

Graduate Research Papers

As I prepare to gather my thoughts and to reflect on what I see as major issues and problems in our schools today, and my vision of how to address them, I cannot help but reflect on the last 30 years. As a classroom teacher for those years, I have come into contact with a variety of different administrators and nearly as many different leadership styles and ideas on leadership. I have certainly been shaped by all of these experiences and I will try to use them to evaluate the concepts and techniques that we have discussed in our studies …

A Preferred Vision For Administering Elementary Schools : A Reflective Essay, Brian F. Krob

Graduate Research Papers

In a clearing in the woods, I see a bricked schoolhouse with kids of all ages outside laughing and playing. The sun is splashing down on the landscape like a blanket covering a canopy bed. The teachers are lingering around the playground communicating with each other about the day's events and the principal grinning from ear to ear thinking about everything around him that makes up this school.

This is a vision I have in my mind of the perfect school and the perfect administrative position. I also have to think about all of the people who came before me …

A Preferred Vision For Administering Elementary Schools : A Reflective Essay, Constance L. Weber

Graduate Research Papers

As I began reflecting on education and leadership in the school setting, I realized that I have been involved in formal education in one form or another for the past forty-three years. I began kindergarten in a one-room rural school, with one instructor for nine grades. The teacher picked me up and transported me to school each day. I'm not sure what role the principal had in that school at that time. I don't actually remember a principal. The next year I began first grade in a Catholic school in a small town, and I continued in this school through …

Personal Philosophical Perspective On Educational Leadership For Secondary Schools : A Reflective Essay, Deborah L. Padomek

Graduate Research Papers

Every child deserves the best possible education we can provide them. Burdick, Pond, & Yamamoto (1994) found that too many persons leave our educational system at both the secondary and collegiate levels unequipped with the vocational skills, the self-understanding and career decision-making skills, or the work attitudes that are essential for making a successful transition from school to work. It is important to teach students skills necessary for future employment, and also teach them the importance of being critical thinkers and applying previous learning.