Standard 3. Cultural Leadership
School executives will understand and act on the understanding of the important role a school’s culture plays in contributing to the exemplary performance of the school. School executives must support and value the traditions, artifacts, symbols and positive values and norms of the school and community that result in a sense of identity and pride upon which to build a positive future. A school executive must be able to “re-culture” the school if needed to align with school’s goals of improving student and adult learning and to infuse the work of the adults and students with passion, meaning and purpose. Cultural leadership implies understanding the school and the people in it each day, how they came to their current state, and how to connect with their traditions in order to move them forward to support the school’s efforts to achieve individual and collective goals.
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Element 3A: Focus on Collaborative Work Environment: The school executive understands and acts on the understanding of the positive role that a collaborative work environment can play in the school’s culture. I worked closely with the 2nd grade teachers when I initially took over the grade for discipline at the beginning of the school year. I explained to them how important clarity was in any referrals written and how I needed them all to be clear in what they needed from me when handling the issues they presented to me. It created a great discussion and we have a very positive, collaborative relationship that has increased student time in the classroom while also addressing any consequences/discussions needing to take place. Element 3B: School Culture and Identity: The school executive develops and uses shared vision, values and goals to define the identity and culture of the school. As a Winstead Wahoo, our students recite the goals to "Be a learner, be responsible, be prepared, and be respectful." However, what does this mean to a K-2 student? I have had the awesome responsibility to be in charge of discipline and have discussions with students on the values our school has. I even have breakout groups that I work with like "Team Nieves" pictured here (they named themselves, not me!) I also participated in a school wide tradition of the kindergarten storybook character parade. I dressed as a crayon along with the kindergarten teachers to represent characters from that book. I was also able to share my favorite book with the students, read it to them, and share my opinion on why I believe reading is important. |
Element 3C: Acknowledges Failures; Celebrates Accomplishments and Rewards: The school executive acknowledges failures and celebrates accomplishments of the school in order to define the identity, culture and performance of the school.
I sent an email to the staff about a few reminders, but also wanted to celebrate them towards the end of this email. Our school had a tragedy occur when one of our staff members experienced a loss. I was very proud of how the staff stepped up and did everything that was asked of them. Before they left for spring break, I wanted to make sure they knew how proud I was of their performance, keeping the focus on student learning during a very difficult time. Element 3D: Efficacy and Empowerment: The school executive develops a sense of efficacy and empowerment among staff which influences the school’s identity, culture, and performance. We were having issues outside with the flow of our afternoon car line duty. Parents were speeding, passing each other, and did not understand the way we wanted things to work. I asked the people working the car line, who had done it for years, to meet with me so we could discuss this issues. They knew better than I did the issues that we were dealing with and I asked for their help. They thought us creating a car line tips handout to give to parents would work. I used their expertise to help create the most important information we wanted parents to know so that we could ensure the safety of our students at school and provide clear instructions on what our process in the car line would be going forward. |