1. Each person has several horizontal and vertical pulls.
* Horizontal Relationship — The association of one individual to another individual within the same locality such as a neighborhood or a city.
* Vertical Relationship — The association of an individual to another individual or to a group based primarily on membership affiliation. This affiliation often includes membership outside the locality setting.
* List several that affect you. How have some of the pulls affected you as a community member in terms of loyalty, time constraints, and citizen involvement?
Author's school's leadership structure.
Author's Venn diagram describing roles in his school.
As a member of the school’s Leadership Team, I must wear several “hats” at the same time. Of course I am at heart a teacher, but I must also wear the hat of a Core Leader (traditionally called a Department Head) for Sciences and also a Learning Leader. The Learning Leader is said to be an “Academic Leader” of the school staff.
ReplyDeleteThe Learning Leader role is the role which provides for the greatest input into the direction that our school takes in instituting change. Horizontally within the school, I see myself as one among three Learning Leaders. Together we analyze data for our school’s progress towards meeting our goals. These goals were set forth by our staff and were informed by the Leadership Council (this includes the Principal, two Vice Principals and three Learning Leaders). The work that we’ve been doing has been steady and directed toward improving our students’ abilities in reading and comprehension as well as providing smooth transitions for students entering the school and providing for students with special needs and their integration into our Student Advisory Program. Meeting the needs of the First Nations population is the fourth of our school’s goal and probably the most important to this class.
As Learning Leaders we are apart of the Learning Leaders group in the city. Each month we meet and discuss our progress in our schools and learn from guest speakers as part of the agenda. We seek to improve our students in the areas which have been outlined for us in the Continuous Improvement Plan, set forth by the Regina Board of Education.
Though this is very important to my school and our schools as a Board, I must always remember that I became a teacher first and foremost. My students, I must always remember, will always be of great importance to me. They also represent a horizontal relationship for me.
In the past, I’ve used Venn diagrams to represent these relationships. Venn diagrams allow me to make sense of the various pulls I’ve experienced at different times.
In this Venn diagram I see myself as part of the entire Leadership of the Regina Public Schools. With that group, however, I see that I have pulls in all sorts of different directions. My role as Teacher has overlap with my roles as Science Core Leader, member of the Curriculum Advisory Committee and Learning Leader as I try to provide leadership in my school.
As a Learning Leader I am a member of City-wide Learning Leaders group. I see this as a vertical pull. Also, as a Learning Leader I provide leadership on my school’s Leadership Council which then provides leadership to the Learning Council. The Learning Council consists of each of the Core Leaders (subject-specific leaders in the school – i.e. science, humanities, practical and applied arts, mathematics, International Baccalaureate, languages) as well as the Leadership Council.
As I review this Venn diagram it strikes me as being quite convoluted and intricate. The pulls horizontally and vertically help to itemize the various pulls and pushes that I now experience. But on the upside of all of this I feel that all of this involvement gives me an excellent overall picture of the direction of Leadership in my school division.