This is the blog established for Chapter 8's Group Statement
43 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Chapter 8 examines the need to reconstruct the idea of a school community to become a community not made up of a single leader, but one where leadership responsibility is shared by all to accomplish true school success.
In order for this to happen, one main idea of the chapter talked about the importance in creating credibility to accomplish this daunting reconstructive task. The question being posed is: In creating credibility as a school leader, which of the "5 C's" (character, courage, competence, composure and caring) do you feel is most important to create school success and why?
Character, courage, competence, composure, and caring are all important to credibility. Without any one of them, a leader would not be credible. The school community will not follow a leader who lacks character. A leader must be honest and trustworthy in order to influence others. A leader must have courage in order to speak the truth and be willing to change. A leader must be competent to be able to deal with relationships and difficult issues. A leader must be composed when under fire and be able to control his or her emotions. Lastly, all of the above would be lacking if the leader did not have concern for the well-being of others.
Courage seems to be the most important in that it takes a courageous leader to initiate the kind of leadership that will involve all stakeholders in their vision. Once the trust between leader and follower is established in the process, the other 4 C's provide the framework from which the leader is able to convey his or her vision and establish credibility within the process.
I think character is very important. Character defines one's personality and morals. Without establishing a respectable character, how can one be credible? Without character how can one have the courage and composure to handle difficult situations that arise while in a leadership role? One's character can drive his/her determination to fulfill the duties of his/her position. If a person possesses a great desire to fulfill his/her role(s), this could determine the degree of competence he/she meets.
Great start to this week's blog. Character seems to be the hot topic. I wonder how many, if not all, of the ISLLC's speak directly to the issue of character?
I agree that character is probably the most important. One can be competent, courageous, and composed, but if they have no character, there is zero credibility. Morals, personality, and integrity all fall under character, and those are all important to a strong leader. I do believe all of the 5 C's are important, but any one of them without character is nothing when talking about the leader of a school, and leading teachers who are educating our young minds.
I would think that all of the ISLLC's speak to character. Strong moral and ethical qualities are essential for leaders to be credible. I believe that character is the most important, however all 5 C's are important aspects in becoming a credible leader.
I agree with Amy. I, too, think that all of the ISLLCs refer to a person's character. Character is a very important characteristic for all leaders to have. I would not want to be led by someone who did not possess honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity. Unfortunately, my first year of teaching was extremely difficult because I worked for a principal who lacked many of the five Cs.
Character does apply to all ISLLC standards. Character defines who you are, and in turn, that will define your school's character. Your character is what you will portray to and impose upon your stakeholders. Your character will set the tone for your vision and school culture. How you manage things will be based upon your character and values. Your approach towards the school community will be representative of your character. How fairly and ethically you treat your stakeholders will be judged, based on your character. In the big picture, it all involves who you REALLY are and how you want things to be. The other 4 C's are simply part of your total character.
I agree that the 5 C's are important in creating credibility as a school leader. As far as which is more important, I am not sure that one is more important than any of the others except to say that I have seen leaders that are lacking in any or some of the 5areas. I believe that competence would stand out as the most important because when we look at the reason we do what we do, it is for the education of the students. We can still educate students successfully even if we do not have the other four C's of a credible leader. Without competence, there is no success in education.
I agree with those of you that have emphasized character as the key component of credibility in a leader. I have seen very competent individuals who can make the "trains run on time" but they lack the character to inspire and motivate others. I think if leaders really want to build followership among stakeholders in a school, they have to have the ability to make others respond positively and with excitement to new ideas. I think a person's character, more than anything, is a means to inspire commitment, dedication and leadership in other people and faciliate an environment of follwership.
I believe all "5 C's" are needed to be a truly effective school leader, but without character you can't have the other four. You can not have courage without beliefs to stand up for. You can have competence but your school will not do it's best without a leader they truly believe in. Composure and caring are determined by your character. Without character the school community will not follow you and bond into a learning community.
I thought Amanda's comment ...You can have competence but your school will not do it's best without a leader they truly believe in. ... provided a great insight to the issue of developing "community"
I believe all are important and must be utlilized by successful administrators. My question is which of the five are inherent and which can be learned? Having all the five C's as a part of your make-up is an obvious advantage to anyone. However, for most people who may be lacking in one or more areas, they must learn to acquire these skills. Self evaluation of the five C's can only foster growth and improve your ability to lead.
I would have to cast my vote for Character as being the most important of the "5 Cs". As some others have already noted, the heart of being an effective leader lies in the high moral and ethical character demonstrated within the school and community. I believe this trait will enable leaders who possess it to be proficient in many or all of the others.
All five Cs are essential for a leader to be considered credible. Depending on the situation, each one could take on the role as being "most important" when considered by the other parties involved. However, if the people you lead don't believe you to be a person of integrity, it won't matter how well you communicate your school's vision, how courageously you stand up for that vision, how competent you are at developing a plan to implement that vision, how composed you are when you defend that vision, or how caring your appear when you steward the vision. You will just be spinning your wheels, and your community of leaders may dwindle down to a "community" of one.
Well, we've all discussed character as being key among the "5 C's." I believe in today's schools composure is also a key element that (as Ken says) can be learned and is very important to an administrator's success.
Administrators today have many more jobs than they had just a few years ago and it's important to not feel bogged down and overwhelmed with all of the responsiblities. I know it seems like it's sometimes hard to keep our composure as teachers with teaching effective lessons, classrooom management, duties, committees etc, etc...It seems the list gets longer every year. With the job of of an administrator this is even more the case. Keeping a steady head and vision is what gets those tasks completed in a calm and consistent manner.
It was intiguing to see how my administration handled the "power to" and "power over" concepts that were in the book. I was harder for me to find "power to" examples...not impossible, but I needed to be a bit more creative with my ideas, somewhat more of a stretch. I really don't know what to make of that. I don't think it points to anything in particular, but was interesting.
I agree with everyone that character is the key component to quality leadership. I really connected to the idea of Leadership by Outrage. I see children on almost a daily bases coming to our school without adequate care from parents. I see our federal and state govenment increasing requirerment on our schools without increasing our funding. I see curriculm demands placed upon teachers that are not developmentally appropiate for our children. Without strong character how could you possible help a community successfully through all these injustices.
I totally agree with the comments from Laura Beth and Patricia B. I see character as being the staple and the other 4 C's as contributing factors in creating school success. I too, connected with the idea about Leadership by Outrage. This concept came up in practically every Breeze discussion we had while preparing this chapter for our class. I truly believe that Outrage is a positive that keeps leaders motivated to "do the right thing" which takes us right back to the issue of CHARACTER!
Amanda's comment was very thought provoking. Having a great and dynamic character is truly the glue that can keep a school moving forward and the people in it motivated and in-touch. It is true, a school leader can do the mechanics of performing the duties of the job, but without a leader that is trustworthy, fair, competent, ethical and motivating... a school can still be unsuccessful with low morale.
As my fellow group members would tell you, leadership through outrage is a concept that I cannot get enough of! I think more effective leaders simply have the drive to perfect education for the good of the students, rather than keeping-up with standards and receiving a paycheck. I do acknowledge that outrage alone would not sustain the effectiveness of a leader.
I think the term relationship is key to the definition of leadership, so I guess caring might be the 'C' I would like to focus on. Character and caring go hand in hand beause to have integrity, trust, and honesty, you must certainly care about yourself and others. Along with caring is that deep sense of passion that comes from caring strongly about what you believe in, thus contributing to leadership by outrage. Caring is embodied in all of the ISLLC statements because they all begin with "promoting the success of all students." Building meaningful relationships with students, teachers, and the community is a key component to effective leadership.
Like most everyone else has mentioned, I too believe character is the most important of the "5 C's" in creating credibility as a school leader. The other elements (courage, competence, composure, and caring) are important as well, but like Lara said - "Any one of them without character is nothing when talking about the leader of a school and leading teachers who are educating our young minds." I don't have a whole lot of experience in the schools yet, but just from student teaching and subbing in the same schools a few times it is pretty apparent which schools have leaders that excel at the 5 C's, and which schools have leaders that really lack in some of those areas.
I think there are some areas in education that we can take different stands or have different beliefs about and still be effective leaders. But I don't believe character is one of them. We need to have character to develop that trust (as many people have stated) which is how we begin to build community, vision, and purpose.
I do think that character is very important, but I believe that is important to have composure. Keeping composure during difficult times can create a successful looking school. I think that composure is a key component of character.
I agree with Sarah that caring is most important. Just like going to the Doctor you don't want to go to one that comes in does his thing and leaves without any compassion, you want someone who cares about your problems. Like a doctor a school leader has to face problems daily from everyone, teachers, parents, and students. For a leader to be effective they have to really care about all stakeholders.
As I reflected on the "5 C's," I could not help but think about the recent tragic events at VA Tech, and now Illinois. Of course, an effective administrator needs all 5of the characteristics, but I think there is something special to be said for composure.
Every school needs a leader who can remain calm and effective when crisis and emergencies occur. IN today's society more than ever there are so many events that are unpredictable. During these times, when others are in panic, there has to be someone who can effectively act to minimize damage to the school and community.
In today's society we still strive to promote the best learning environment possible for our students, but we also have to prepared and able to act on the unexpected.
I think character is the most important because character emcompasses the other 4 C's. If an administrator has good character, the courage, competence, composure and caring will follow. In reference to Adams comment on individual assignment about power to and power over. I struggled to find examples from my principal for power over. It help me to reflect on different administrative styles and how effective power over and power to can be in the leadership of a school. I think there needs to be a balance of both to be effective.
I believes it takes all five of the C's to be a credible school leader. as with anything we do, we may be stronger in some areas than others, but lacking in any one area could pose a major problem. If I had to choose one area, I think I would choose competence. I would not want to be led by someone who is incompetent in their leadership position.
I agree with many of you that all 5 C's are very important but I vote for character. When being a leader and you are responsible for others to follow your lead and work with you to accomplish common goals then it takes good character. People like people with good character and feel they can be trusted. I agree with the other person who said some of these qualities come natural to some of us while others haveto be devloped but it takes all of them to be the best leader.
The part about chapter 8 that I found most interesting was in the section titled "Building Followership". I think it also ties into the need for a leader to have strong character. Typically if a leader has strong character then they can easily influence people who are drawn to that quality. Ideally the leader can then structure the school in such a way that all faculty view themselves as managers who can think for themselves, exercise self control and are able to accept responsibility. That is the best way to build a following, make people feel like they have ownership in the school, because followers respond to ideas, and subordinates respond to authority. If a leader has strong character and a passion for purpose then I think that builds a strong learning community.
I feel character is one of the most important characteristics a school leader must portray. However, I feel a very important aspect of character can be related to consistency. A school leader must attempt to use consistency on a daily basis to build credibility with not only staff, but also students. If all individuals involved know they will be treated the same as all other indiviuals the decision making process becomes simplified in difficult situations.
During my time as a teacher, I have observed many more occurrences of power over leadership rather than power to, especially in actions taken by the central office administration. I have been fortunate enough, however, to work for a principal who has no reservations delegating authority to others when appropriate. She realizes that every employee brings contributes different strengths to our school community and appreciates the diversity that distributed leadership offers.
I agree with Amber....I have worked for both a "power over" and "power to" leader....the biggest difference that I immediately think about is the morale within the staff. With a "Power to " leader so much more is accomplished and teachers are excited about the process since they have ownership in the process.
A lot of good comments on chapter 8Angie said in her post "a leader must be honest and trustworthy in order to influence others." I have worked for a principal that is far from that and it was miserable but you have to remember we are there for the kids. I can work for a principal I don't respect but it makes it harder. The school runs a lot smoother when the principal has character, morals, values and ethics. The teachers, community, and students sense when a principal is less than stellar.
I also think that an efficient school leader should exhibit all the the 5c's in some way or another. I think caring is one of the most important because if the staff does not believe that the leader cares about the school vision or about the staff as a whole, this lack of caring may filter over to other stakeholders.
As most all have already stated, I to feel that character is the most important of the "5 C's". However, I think that the "power over" or "power to" was an interesting area for this chapter. I, like Amber have worked for both types of leaders. I have seen the effectiveness of the "power over" type of leader in some instances. (specifically in the military) However, in most situations the "power to" is the type of leadership I would hope to utilize as a principal.
Great comments, it certainly seems that character has the majority of votes of the "C"s. I was also impressed with other dialogue that became embedded, including the power over and power to; thanks for your participation
We want a school community but how many times have you heard faculty members say "I wish they would just tell me what to do!" Where is the competence? No one wants to take the responsibility for an idea gone wrong. Let the principal dictate what to do and then we can blame them. There is no courage in that.
I have to agree that character would be the most important aspect a school leader can have. I have worked for 3 different administrators and I had one that had such character about them. Everyone in the building was behind her. I never heard negatives. I truly believe that when a leader possesses admirable character you have a cohesive school environment. Faculty and staff are working together to make it and educational experience that students won't forget.
43 comments:
Chapter 8 examines the need to reconstruct the idea of a school community to become a community not made up of a single leader, but one where leadership responsibility is shared by all to accomplish true school success.
In order for this to happen, one main idea of the chapter talked about the importance in creating credibility to accomplish this daunting reconstructive task. The question being posed is: In creating credibility as a school leader, which of the "5 C's" (character, courage, competence, composure and caring) do you feel is most important to create school success and why?
Character, courage, competence, composure, and caring are all important to credibility. Without any one of them, a leader would not be credible. The school community will not follow a leader who lacks character. A leader must be honest and trustworthy in order to influence others. A leader must have courage in order to speak the truth and be willing to change. A leader must be competent to be able to deal with relationships and difficult issues. A leader must be composed when under fire and be able to control his or her emotions. Lastly, all of the above would be lacking if the leader did not have concern for the well-being of others.
Courage seems to be the most important in that it takes a courageous leader to initiate the kind of leadership that will involve all stakeholders in their vision.
Once the trust between leader and follower is established in the process, the other 4 C's provide the framework from which the leader is able to convey his or her vision and establish credibility within the process.
I think character is very important. Character defines one's personality and morals. Without establishing a respectable character, how can one be credible? Without character how can one have the courage and composure to handle difficult situations that arise while in a leadership role? One's character can drive his/her determination to fulfill the duties of his/her position. If a person possesses a great desire to fulfill his/her role(s), this could determine the degree of competence he/she meets.
Great start to this week's blog. Character seems to be the hot topic. I wonder how many, if not all, of the ISLLC's speak directly to the issue of character?
I agree that character is probably the most important. One can be competent, courageous, and composed, but if they have no character, there is zero credibility. Morals, personality, and integrity all fall under character, and those are all important to a strong leader. I do believe all of the 5 C's are important, but any one of them without character is nothing when talking about the leader of a school, and leading teachers who are educating our young minds.
I would think that all of the ISLLC's speak to character. Strong moral and ethical qualities are essential for leaders to be credible. I believe that character is the most important, however all 5 C's are important aspects in becoming a credible leader.
I agree with Amy. I, too, think that all of the ISLLCs refer to a person's character. Character is a very important characteristic for all leaders to have. I would not want to be led by someone who did not possess honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity. Unfortunately, my first year of teaching was extremely difficult because I worked for a principal who lacked many of the five Cs.
Character does apply to all ISLLC standards. Character defines who you are, and in turn, that will define your school's character. Your character is what you will portray to and impose upon your stakeholders. Your character will set the tone for your vision and school culture. How you manage things will be based upon your character and values. Your approach towards the school community will be representative of your character. How fairly and ethically you treat your stakeholders will be judged, based on your character. In the big picture, it all involves who you REALLY are and how you want things to be. The other 4 C's are simply part of your total character.
I agree that the 5 C's are important in creating credibility as a school leader. As far as which is more important, I am not sure that one is more important than any of the others except to say that I have seen leaders that are lacking in any or some of the 5areas. I believe that competence would stand out as the most important because when we look at the reason we do what we do, it is for the education of the students. We can still educate students successfully even if we do not have the other four C's of a credible leader. Without competence, there is no success in education.
I agree with those of you that have emphasized character as the key component of credibility in a leader. I have seen very competent individuals who can make the "trains run on time" but they lack the character to inspire and motivate others. I think if leaders really want to build followership among stakeholders in a school, they have to have the ability to make others respond positively and with excitement to new ideas. I think a person's character, more than anything, is a means to inspire commitment, dedication and leadership in other people and faciliate an environment of follwership.
I believe all "5 C's" are needed to be a truly effective school leader, but without character you can't have the other four. You can not have courage without beliefs to stand up for. You can have competence but your school will not do it's best without a leader they truly believe in. Composure and caring are determined by your character. Without character the school community will not follow you and bond into a learning community.
I thought Amanda's comment ...You can have competence but your school will not do it's best without a leader they truly believe in. ... provided a great insight to the issue of developing "community"
I believe all are important and must be utlilized by successful administrators. My question is which of the five are inherent and which can be learned? Having all the five C's as a part of your make-up is an obvious advantage to anyone. However, for most people who may be lacking in one or more areas, they must learn to acquire these skills. Self evaluation of the five C's can only foster growth and improve your ability to lead.
I think Ken's post was very thought provoking.
I would have to cast my vote for Character as being the most important of the "5 Cs". As some others have already noted, the heart of being an effective leader lies in the high moral and ethical character demonstrated within the school and community. I believe this trait will enable leaders who possess it to be proficient in many or all of the others.
All five Cs are essential for a leader to be considered credible. Depending on the situation, each one could take on the role as being "most important" when considered by the other parties involved. However, if the people you lead don't believe you to be a person of integrity, it won't matter how well you communicate your school's vision, how courageously you stand up for that vision, how competent you are at developing a plan to implement that vision, how composed you are when you defend that vision, or how caring your appear when you steward the vision. You will just be spinning your wheels, and your community of leaders may dwindle down to a "community" of one.
Well, we've all discussed character as being key among the "5 C's." I believe in today's schools composure is also a key element that (as Ken says) can be learned and is very important to an administrator's success.
Administrators today have many more jobs than they had just a few years ago and it's important to not feel bogged down and overwhelmed with all of the responsiblities. I know it seems like it's sometimes hard to keep our composure as teachers with teaching effective lessons, classrooom management, duties, committees etc, etc...It seems the list gets longer every year. With the job of of an administrator this is even more the case. Keeping a steady head and vision is what gets those tasks completed in a calm and consistent manner.
It was intiguing to see how my administration handled the "power to" and "power over" concepts that were in the book. I was harder for me to find "power to" examples...not impossible, but I needed to be a bit more creative with my ideas, somewhat more of a stretch. I really don't know what to make of that. I don't think it points to anything in particular, but was interesting.
ooops...
I'm that last "anonymous".
From Adam J.
I agree with everyone that character is the key component to quality leadership. I really connected to the idea of Leadership by Outrage. I see children on almost a daily bases coming to our school without adequate care from parents. I see our federal and state govenment increasing requirerment on our schools without increasing our funding. I see curriculm demands placed upon teachers that are not developmentally appropiate for our children. Without strong character how could you possible help a community successfully through all these injustices.
I totally agree with the comments from Laura Beth and Patricia B. I see character as being the staple and the other 4 C's as contributing factors in creating school success. I too, connected with the idea about Leadership by Outrage. This concept came up in practically every Breeze discussion we had while preparing this chapter for our class. I truly believe that Outrage is a positive that keeps leaders motivated to "do the right thing" which takes us right back to the issue of CHARACTER!
Amanda's comment was very thought provoking. Having a great and dynamic character is truly the glue that can keep a school moving forward and the people in it motivated and in-touch. It is true, a school leader can do the mechanics of performing the duties of the job, but without a leader that is trustworthy, fair, competent, ethical and motivating... a school can still be unsuccessful with low morale.
Cheryl Burrell-Graves
As my fellow group members would tell you, leadership through outrage is a concept that I cannot get enough of! I think more effective leaders simply have the drive to perfect education for the good of the students, rather than keeping-up with standards and receiving a paycheck. I do acknowledge that outrage alone would not sustain the effectiveness of a leader.
Mike Southee
I think the term relationship is key to the definition of leadership, so I guess caring might be the 'C' I would like to focus on. Character and caring go hand in hand beause to have integrity, trust, and honesty, you must certainly care about yourself and others. Along with caring is that deep sense of passion that comes from caring strongly about what you believe in, thus contributing to leadership by outrage. Caring is embodied in all of the ISLLC statements because they all begin with "promoting the success of all students." Building meaningful relationships with students, teachers, and the community is a key component to effective leadership.
Like most everyone else has mentioned, I too believe character is the most important of the "5 C's" in creating credibility as a school leader. The other elements (courage, competence, composure, and caring) are important as well, but like Lara said - "Any one of them without character is nothing when talking about the leader of a school and leading teachers who are educating our young minds." I don't have a whole lot of experience in the schools yet, but just from student teaching and subbing in the same schools a few times it is pretty apparent which schools have leaders that excel at the 5 C's, and which schools have leaders that really lack in some of those areas.
- Erin Hernley
I think there are some areas in education that we can take different stands or have different beliefs about and still be effective leaders. But I don't believe character is one of them. We need to have character to develop that trust (as many people have stated) which is how we begin to build community, vision, and purpose.
I do think that character is very important, but I believe that is important to have composure. Keeping composure during difficult times can create a successful looking school. I think that composure is a key component of character.
I agree with Sarah that caring is most important. Just like going to the Doctor you don't want to go to one that comes in does his thing and leaves without any compassion, you want someone who cares about your problems. Like a doctor a school leader has to face problems daily from everyone, teachers, parents, and students. For a leader to be effective they have to really care about all stakeholders.
As I reflected on the "5 C's," I could not help but think about the recent tragic events at VA Tech, and now Illinois. Of course, an effective administrator needs all 5of the characteristics, but I think there is something special to be said for composure.
Every school needs a leader who can remain calm and effective when crisis and emergencies occur. IN today's society more than ever there are so many events that are unpredictable. During these times, when others are in panic, there has to be someone who can effectively act to minimize damage to the school and community.
In today's society we still strive to promote the best learning environment possible for our students, but we also have to prepared and able to act on the unexpected.
Sherry Greer
I think character is the most important because character emcompasses the other 4 C's. If an administrator has good character, the courage, competence, composure and caring will follow.
In reference to Adams comment on individual assignment about power to and power over. I struggled to find examples from my principal for power over. It help me to reflect on different administrative styles and how effective power over and power to can be in the leadership of a school. I think there needs to be a balance of both to be effective.
Judy Willis
I believes it takes all five of the C's to be a credible school leader. as with anything we do, we may be stronger in some areas than others, but lacking in any one area could pose a major problem. If I had to choose one area, I think I would choose competence. I would not want to be led by someone who is incompetent in their leadership position.
Paul Love
I agree with many of you that all 5 C's are very important but I vote for character. When being a leader and you are responsible for others to follow your lead and work with you to accomplish common goals then it takes good character. People like people with good character and feel they can be trusted. I agree with the other person who said some of these qualities come natural to some of us while others haveto be devloped but it takes all of them to be the best leader.
Vicky Welch
The part about chapter 8 that I found most interesting was in the section titled "Building Followership". I think it also ties into the need for a leader to have strong character. Typically if a leader has strong character then they can easily influence people who are drawn to that quality. Ideally the leader can then structure the school in such a way that all faculty view themselves as managers who can think for themselves, exercise self control and are able to accept responsibility. That is the best way to build a following, make people feel like they have ownership in the school, because followers respond to ideas, and subordinates respond to authority. If a leader has strong character and a passion for purpose then I think that builds a strong learning community.
I feel character is one of the most important characteristics a school leader must portray. However, I feel a very important aspect of character can be related to consistency. A school leader must attempt to use consistency on a daily basis to build credibility with not only staff, but also students. If all individuals involved know they will be treated the same as all other indiviuals the decision making process becomes simplified in difficult situations.
BJ Lasley
During my time as a teacher, I have observed many more occurrences of power over leadership rather than power to, especially in actions taken by the central office administration. I have been fortunate enough, however, to work for a principal who has no reservations delegating authority to others when appropriate. She realizes that every employee brings contributes different strengths to our school community and appreciates the diversity that distributed leadership offers.
I agree with Amber....I have worked for both a "power over" and "power to" leader....the biggest difference that I immediately think about is the morale within the staff. With a "Power to " leader so much more is accomplished and teachers are excited about the process since they have ownership in the process.
A lot of good comments on chapter 8Angie said in her post "a leader must be honest and trustworthy in order to influence others." I have worked for a principal that is far from that and it was miserable but you have to remember we are there for the kids. I can work for a principal I don't respect but it makes it harder. The school runs a lot smoother when the principal has character, morals, values and ethics. The teachers, community, and students sense when a principal is less than stellar.
I also think that an efficient school leader should exhibit all the the 5c's in some way or another. I think caring is one of the most important because if the staff does not believe that the leader cares about the school vision or about the staff as a whole, this lack of caring may filter over to other stakeholders.
As most all have already stated, I to feel that character is the most important of the "5 C's". However, I think that the "power over" or "power to" was an interesting area for this chapter. I, like Amber have worked for both types of leaders. I have seen the effectiveness of the "power over" type of leader in some instances. (specifically in the military) However, in most situations the "power to" is the type of leadership I would hope to utilize as a principal.
Great comments, it certainly seems that character has the majority of votes of the "C"s. I was also impressed with other dialogue that became embedded, including the power over and power to; thanks for your participation
We want a school community but how many times have you heard faculty members say "I wish they would just tell me what to do!" Where is the competence? No one wants to take the responsibility for an idea gone wrong. Let the principal dictate what to do and then we can blame them. There is no courage in that.
I have to agree that character would be the most important aspect a school leader can have. I have worked for 3 different administrators and I had one that had such character about them. Everyone in the building was behind her. I never heard negatives. I truly believe that when a leader possesses admirable character you have a cohesive school environment. Faculty and staff are working together to make it and educational experience that students won't forget.
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