Distributive Leadership

The school I substitute at does not have distributive leadership.  Everything must be run by the principal.  There is no way around this.  The school would be a better place if they did have a distributive leadership. If I was a leader I would want to have distributive leaderships because this would make everyone know how important they are in running the school.  This would also help everyone have their own say in certain things in stead of just one person.

Leadership Theory

The theory that fits my leadership style best is the participative theory.  I always like to hear others opinion as well as sharing my own.  This can help come up with the best possible way to go about any situation.  Sometimes hearing what others think makes me think more than I normally would.  I think a great leader must always be open minded.  They must think of others and listen to all points of view before making big decisions that effect everyone.

Power Dynamic

The power dynamic in the school is the teachers and principal.  They would all meet for staff meetings.  The teachers had time to express concerns or ideas and the principal would listen to them.  They would have a discussion as a group on each topic brought up.  Depending on the topic the principal come back to them with an answer either right away or the following day.  The principal was the one that made the final decisions but she always would hear the opinions of each person on whatever is being discussed.  The topics discussed are anything from parent teacher conference dates,school events, testing or individual grade level activities.  This information could be used to influence change by using this time to express any ideas I have for change to the whole staff and principal in one place.  This is the best way to influence change in the school.

Strength-Based Leadership

Strength based leadership can really support a community based practice.  A teacher leader will know how to use each person's strength to help the team succeed.  Teams also should be created in a balanced way. If one team has many people with the same strength but are very weak in another area they may want to change their teams.  If this is not possible then they will have to learn how to work on their weaknesses to improve how well the team succeeds.

What I hope to learn..

What I hope to learn from this course is how to become a leader in my future career and in my social life.  I also hope working in a learning team goes as well as the other class but it is of course different people so it might not run as smoothly.  In this case I will have to learn how adapt to others even better than I had already learned.  This will help grow my leadership skills because I will always be working in teams when being a teacher.  Each grade level teachers have to work together and help one another.