LEADER OF SERVICE The Principals Role as a Leader of Service -Critical Element Paper #3 Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership

and Postsecondary Education University of Northern Iowa -In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Arts in Education -Zach OBrien Waterloo West High School Waterloo, IA January 2014 -Dr. Victoria Robinson

LEADER OF SERVICE The role of a principal in the American education system has always been thought of as a person who is charge and makes all of the decisions. Currently there is a shift in philosophy and principals are not individual leaders but more leaders of service. The principal in a school must be a leader of service by including the community and working as a team, including others in decision making, demonstrating ethical and caring behavior, and enhancing other peoples growth. These four characteristics are supported by Spears (1996) in his reflections of Robert Greenleafs writings on leadership. In his article A New Approach to Leadership, Llyod (1996) explains how the idea of a principal being a boss is no longer the mindset. In the past the principal would make decisions and tell others what needed to be done. As a leader of service the principal needs to understand decisions are made and carried out in teams with collaboration. Currently at Waterloo West High School we are moving to a schedule that will include response to intervention with the students. The past few months I have been able to be a part of the group included on making this decision. This process has not been easy and there have been many different opinions and ideas. We just recently finalized what the schedule will look like for the 2014-2105 school year and none of this was decided by our principal as an individual. One of the most important things to her was that this major decision was made by a group of people and that buy-in and ownership existed, what a great example of a leader of service. Teamwork and Community If one wants to be a true leader of service as a principal the community and teamwork must be at the forefront. When the idea of community and teamwork is not present in a school setting it is the responsibility of the principal to establish and maintain this culture in their school. As I learned from Dr. McNulty in the fall the school does not stand alone and the school includes much more than just what is inside its walls.

LEADER OF SERVICE One of the most important things I must focus on as a future educational leader is the ISSL standards, which stands for Iowa Standards for School Learners, Wilmore (2002). My experiences as an assistant basketball coach for eight years have given me an excellent opportunity to participate in a climate of teamwork and community. ISSL standard number four focus on collaborative leadership and I have been able to show competency for this standard through coaching. Even though coaching basketball is focuses more on extra-curricular activities rather than academics it still is very important part of a students education as I have learned from Dr. Nicholas Pace in his activities and athletics course. One of my main responsibilities is to scout and collaborate with practice planning on a daily basis as the lead assistant coach. This year on our staff we have seven assistant coaches; four of them are new to the staff this year. Throughout the season I have had the wonderful experience to communicate with them as a team and collaborate with them on a daily basis. On our staff it is very important to use that we have a sense of a small community and that we collaborate as one. At the beginning of the year I spent lots of time with the assistants making sure to always answer their questions and help them out in any way possible. As a new coach to the program eight years ago I know what it is like to be the fresh new face and not have an idea of what I needed to do on a daily basis. After practice I always hold meetings to get input and ideas from the assistants, as well as to help guide them in whatever they may need. This opportunity this year has provided me with a priceless opportunity to lead as a leader of service. Involving Others in Decision Making The principal in a building is responsible for building a positive climate and culture not only for students but for their staff as well. One way to accomplish this is for the principal to

LEADER OF SERVICE include others in the decision making process. Often times there will be difficult decision the principal will have to make on their own and quickly but not all decisions should be made by the principal individually. Furthermore, when the principal includes their staff in conversations and collaborates with them on decisions the principal is demonstrating the idea they do not have all the answers. I think that the strongest principals minimize their weaknesses by hiring staff whose strengths are their weaknesses. Lee and Zemke (1995) further described this concept in saying that collaboration provides leaders the advantage of being able to turn to the collective wisdom of the group to gain knowledge from their employees (as cited in Taylor et al., 2007, p. 405). At the beginning of my teaching career I started off as a Level 1 Strategist for special needs students. As a special needs teacher I was given the opportunity to be in charge of roster students and lead IEP meetings. As the roster teacher I was the primary leader for the student and during IEP meetings. During this time I was able to collaborate and include others in the decision making process for students IEPs. For example, when the annual review meeting took place to renew and change a students IEP I would seek input from all of the students general education teachers. The Iowa state law only requires the special needs teacher to invite one general education teacher to the meeting but I felt that it was important to invite the students entire general education teacher to collaborate on decisions. This experience allowed me the opportunity to work with other and value other opinions in the decision making process. One great opportunity I had was when one of my roster students failed a class but was out for athletics. When a special needs student fails a class they can be ruled eligible to compete if the roster teacher finds the students failing grade was directly a result of their learning disability. Ultimately I was the one who was going to make the final decision but I called together the math and reading teacher as well as the LEA representative who happened to be our assistant

LEADER OF SERVICE principal. I involved all of these people because I was to involve others in the decision making process. As a future leader of a building I know one must make sure to involve staff and stakeholders in the decision making process. The principals who do not involve staff and stakeholders will create a climate similar to a dictatorship. Ethical and Caring Behavior The state of Iowa as I discussed before has establish six very important ISSL standards for administrators to demonstrate competency in. All of the standards are very important and an administrator must be strong in all six of them but one of the most important standards is ISSL standard 5 which focuses ethical leadership. ISSL Standard five states a school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by acting with integrity, fairness and in an ethical manner. As discussed previously a principal must include all staff and stakeholders in decision making but including others will only take a principal so far if they do not demonstrate ethical and caring behavior to staff and stakeholders. Spears explained that true leadership emerges from those whose primary motivation is a deep desire to help others (Spears, 1996, p. 33). One way for an administrator to demonstrate this by making sure they are doing what is best for other. The past eight years at Waterloo West, I have been an assistant basketball coach for the girls basketball team. During my time in this position I have tried to align all of the decisions I make to ISSL standard five. One experience from coaching I feel has really prepared me to demonstrate ethical and caring behavior. As a coach one is always going to face problems from parents thinking their son or daughter should be playing more. When this situation arises I think that is very important to be pro-active and not re-active. A saying I have followed is attack the

LEADER OF SERVICE problem never let the problem attack you. The reason I bring this up is because as a principal one must not hide from problems that will arise because this sends the message to others one cares more about himself rather than dealing with the problem. Principals who demonstrate this quality are sending the message they would rather do what is easiest for them rather than dealing with problems. One of the best experiences I have had as a coach to demonstrate ethical and caring behavior is by having my players take special needs students bowling and out for pizza on a Friday night. I plan and chaperone this event where my players are paired with a special needs student and bow two games with them. Once the bowling is completed our team takes the students out for pizza and then we take some group photos. I really think this experience demonstrates ISSL standard five. My players have really come to enjoy this experience and really look forward to it just as much as the special needs students. The bowling and pizza night lets special needs students interact with peers from their school in the public setting. The experience is very rewarding for me and the students as they are able to make new friends and be positive role models in the community. Enhancing Peoples Growth The greatest leaders of all time in this worlds history all have one thing in common, they are able to maximize peoples strengths and bring out the best in them. The same can be said for the greatest principal in this countries schools, the greatest principals are able to enhance peoples growth. As the leader of a build the principal must be able to support their staff and stakeholders. One of the best ways to do this is by building positive relationships with staff and stakeholders.

LEADER OF SERVICE During my teaching career I have had the opportunity to host many level three students from The University of Northern Iowa. The level three placements require that students come over and complete observation hours as well as teaching short lessons. As the supervising teacher I am always observing the level three students during their teaching and preparation. I always try to give the student immediate feedback to help them in the future. I always encourage the students to ask me questions as well about their experience.

LEADER OF SERVICE References Lloyd, B. (1996). A new approach to leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 17.7, 29-33. Spears, L. (1996). Reflections on Robert K. Greenleaf and servant-leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 17.7, 33-36. Taylor, T., Martin, B.N., Hutchinson, S., & Jinks, M. (2007). Examination of leadership practices of principals identified as servant leaders. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 10.4, 401-419. Wilmore, E.L. (2002). Principal leadership. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc.