Culture
Thoughts on Culture
Notes from class (LSA 5030, Dr. Money)
As a new principal, if you are not acknowledging the existing culture of the school, you're setting yourself up for failure
From Ubben, ch 5-Creating a Positive Learning Climate
"The organizational climate of the productive school is what can be described as "open"-a situation in which organizational members-staff and students-derive high levels of satisfaction both from their interpersonal relationships and from the tasks assigned to them." (pg 94)
Characteristics of a principal of an open (effective) school:
Genuine
Works hard
Goes out of the way to help a teacher
Has integrity
Not aloof
Set up rules and procedures are not inflexible and impersonal (but they are adhered to)
Does not micromanage
Lets appropriate leadership acts emerge from the teachers
"Students' feelings of alienation and teachers' feelings of helplessness must be recognized and can be addressed by the reorganization of schools into smaller learning communities." (pg 95)
"Most people would not willingly stay where they felt unwanted, unwelcomed, and unappreciated" (pg 97)
From Hooper, ch 7-Modeling Cultural Responsiveness
Action Items
On multi-level campuses, could older students mentor younger ones? Could it be an elective or part of a class?
Lay out a set of expectations (figure out the non-negotiables), but understand there are always things that won’t fit into those, be open with staff about accommodations. (For example, if duty hours are 8-4:30, but someone need to leave earlier to pick up their child, work that out individually)
When considering how to allow leadership emerge from anyone, there has to be boundaries and guidelines. If a leader has not set up the parameters, any acts of leadership or creativity could be inappropriate and therefore need to be squashed resulting in a decrease of future leadership and innovation.
Create small subteams. Meet with them regularly to create collective identity. For example, it's one thing to break kids up into classes or teams, but if they don't have a chance to see themselves as a team in the context of other teams, that identity will not form.
From Hooper, ch 8-Sustaining Inclusive Learning Communities
Three requisite features of school culture (pg 129):
Inclusiveness based on trust and respect
Continuum of trust: lack of trust-->confidence others will follow through-->vulnerability-based trust
Commitment to learning
Mutual Accountability-"...includes not only a sense of shared responsibility for the success of each student, but also the willingness of each team member to call attention to actions (and inactions) that other members may exhibit that reinforce barriers to achieving the shared vision of the school."