“Know Thyself” Self – Analysis
Summary: In Summer 2007, a Virginia Tech Doctoral cohort completed EDAE 6924, School Community Partnerships. Here is a personal reflection authored by Stacey Timmons.
“Know Thyself” Self –Analysis
Student Connection-Communication/Participation/Governance:
In order to be an effective leader I feel that a school leader must purposeful and plentiful in his or her communication with students. This is due to the fact the students are the largest point of connection to parents and the community.
In an effort to increase student participation, governance and to communicate better with students I work to involve students as a school family, grade levels, and as individuals. I choose the route that will allow me to address the issues at hand most effectively. In the beginning of the year I meet with students to establish school expectations for behavior, academics, “rules to live buy”. During this session I allow students the time to ask questions that affect the entire student body so that all issues are out on the table and addressed appropriately. I conduct follow-up school wide meetings at various times throughout the year to keep expectations fresh in the minds of the students.
I meet with grade levels at a minimum of four times throughout the year to celebrate academic achievements and to have “town hall” meetings. In these meetings students are individually recognized in front of teachers and their peers for academic achievement which builds student self-esteem and motivates them to continue high quality work. During the town hall portion of the meeting we discuss upcoming events, issues and concerns of the school and issues and concerns of the students.
Individual meetings with students are more difficult and impossible to do with all students. I work with school faculty to determine which students may need individual attention throughout the year. We often target students that are having problems connecting to the school, experiencing academic or behavior problems, and students that need encouragement and recognition. In an effort to interact with all students on a personal level, I attend school dances, sporting events, and other school functions to build trust and foster relationships.
Parent/Community Connection-Communication/Participation/Governance:
By being thorough, open, and truthful in my interactions with students I have taken the first step to building effective relationships with parents and the community at large. As with many other school leaders, I use newsletters, e-mails and phone calls to build relationships with parents. However, I have implemented other strategies that allow parents to be involved more directly with the school.
One strategy I utilized was the creation of a parent advisory board that served as a parent governing body of the school. Parents on this board work with the school leadership school leadership team on school policy and procedure. This allow for parents to have direct influence on school operations.
When creating this board I ran up against some opposition from faculty. Some of the faculty felt that the parents would become overbearing in attempts to “run the school”. This clearly has not materialized due to the fact that the organization is clear on its charge and duties. Conversely, the parent board has become a great assistance in heading off parent complaints and concerns because they are involved in decisions as they are made.
The parent board has also assisted in organizing various curriculum nights for parents that has strengthened the home-school connection and involved more parents in school functions. I would like to see the parent board expanded to more schools so that parent involvement is expanded to more than just fund raising organization. While the parent board does work with the community to build partnerships with the school to sponsor events and other activities I would like to see the partnerships expanded to more that sponsorships. I would like to begin working with community members and businesses to bring in expertise, speakers, and other resources to enrich the learning experiences of our students.
While I feel that I have a good start on developing effective communication and involving parents in the school and school governance, I need to strengthen the community involvement piece of the puzzle as stated above. I think by strengthening this component I will have strong school community connection that will allow for the best learning for students to take place.
Philosophy:
In order to be an effective school leader and to run an effective school, parents and community must have more than superficial involvement in the school program. There must be involvement in the actual governance and decision making process of the school. It is incumbent on school administrative staff to lead the effort and set expectations for parent and community involvement. Parent and community involvement must be from all socioeconomic backgrounds, diverse, and be representative of the school population. School personnel must be proactive in their efforts to attract and retain an active base of parents that are motivated to be become part of the school community. All efforts of the school, parent, and community partnership must be to serve the best interest of the students.
Comments, questions, feedback, criticisms?
Send feedback
- E-mail the author of the module, “Know Thyself” Self – Analysis
Footer
More about this content: Metadata | Version History
This work is licensed by Stacey Timmons under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0).
Last edited by National Council of Professors of Educational Administration on Jun 14, 2007 11:18 am GMT-5.