0.4 The art of successful school-based management  (Page 31/36)

As leadership and teachers begin coming to terms with stress and its related, albeit often unanticipated,consequences they first notice that stress can destroy morale and enthusiasm in the schoolhouse. In other words, unmanaged stressdebilitates teachers, students, families and dismantles their learning communities. Leadership can, however, create and sustain aschool culture where student and teacher learning is the heart of the matter. There are two, very specific elements for buildingcommunity within the varied texture of schools: Trusting Relationship and Caring Communities.

Over and again, when I asked teachers what they wanted in a principal they responded that they needed someonewhom they could trust. Leadership can build trust in a variety of ways. Through effective and authentic communication, principalsengender trust by paying attention to the needs of teachers. One principal with whom I visited recently devoted one half-hour of themonthly faculty meeting to conversation. In that part of the agenda, teachers discussed their needs, celebrated successes, andthen outlined goals for the coming month. The principal verbally paraphrased the teachers’comments and feelings, and in so doing, checked his own perceptions of what was being said. Later thatnight, he sent his notes in an email to the staff making sure he had captured accurately what was said. Within two days, theteachers delivered an email to the principal outlining one goal for the month and the accompanying plan for achieving that goal. Also,the teachers suggested one strategy that they would request of the principal so that he could support their pursuit of the goal. Onecaveat, and this was the really exciting part in the author’s estimation, the principal encouraged teachers to include personalgoals in their plans. Although strategies for student achievement and teacher effectiveness were always part of the discussion, theprincipal also encouraged private or personal goals. The message from the principal to the teachers: I value you as a professionaland as a person. In the end, a relationship built on trust emerged and the morale and enthusiasm of principal and teacher alike werebolstered.

Not unlike trusting relationships, schools that are caring communities also support diversity and achievement.Anyone who has taught in middle school recognizes the folly of thinking that putting people into teams, alone, creates acommunity. Even scheduling shared planning, although necessary, is not sufficient for bringing teachers together. Creating a communityrequires intentional acts in an atmosphere of caring amidst shared needs and concerns. Leadership that provides teacher ownership ofthe schooling process invites the cultivation of community. Specifically, when teachers are given significant and realresponsibilities for running the school, when they are expected to be aware of each other’s needs and to support each other, then they begin to share needs and concerns. At one elementary school,teachers began a process of deciding what mattered most to them as a staff and then committed to supporting that belief in anatmosphere of collaboration. It became clear, however, that collaboration was not an option for everyone as some teachers wereworking just to“stay afloat.”Recognizing this harsh reality, the staff met again and reflected on what it was, specifically, thatgot in the way of their being able to collaborate. In teams of three, an individual teacher identified one obstacle and then twoother teachers committed to help address that obstacle. The teachers took time to listen to each other. They, in their teams ofthree, committed to helping each other address challenges each month. Much of the conversation and support during the month camein the way of emails and“accidental”contact during the normal schedule of the school day. The threesomes did agree, however, thatsome sort of contact was necessary at least three times a week. At the end of each month, the threesomes gathered to assess theirstatus and to make plans for the next month. And all these monthly meetings occurred as part of the regularly scheduled facultymeetings. Although there were different levels of success in becoming a school of collaborators, a sense of community and caringclearly became the most important product of the initiative.