Week 2 - Passions from the Dana Text Reading

The Passions that Lead Our Journey

Passion 1: Staff Development

Importance: Staff development is necessary to keep teachers enthusiastic and growing. Teachers have a tremendous amount of pressure from outside influences including parents and the government. Developing and supporting staff development of teachers is necessary to keep teachers enthusiastic and motivated. Enthusiastic teachers contribute to a welcoming and positive learning environment (Dana, 2009, p. 32-35).

Example: How does the process of self-assessment help teachers develop their individual professional development plans? How can I help facilitate the self-assessment process?

Passion 2: Curriculum Development

Importance: Curriculum development is essential for student achievement. A high quality curriculum is needed to address the needs of all students. A curriculum should include cross curricular skills and should incorporate the specific needs of students, the campus, the district and the state (Dana, 2009, p. 35-39).

Example: How can I build my own knowledge about literacy across different disciplines? In what ways can my school implement a cross curricular literacy plan to develop literacy skills for our students?

Passion 3: Individual Teacher(s)

Importance: Teachers are people. People make things happen. Therefore, teachers make things happen. Teachers, new and veteran, need support and development to become and stay effective. All teachers need challenges and new ideas to remain interested in the profession and to stay energetic and enthusiastic. Supporting new and veteran teachers through mentoring is crucial to keeping teachers interested and keeping them out of ruts (Dana, 2009, p. 39-41).

Example: “What types of support help my new teachers succeed (Dana, 2009, p. 40)?” How can team support by discipline keep my teachers excited and enthusiastic about their teaching careers?

Passion 4: Individual Student(s)

Importance: Every student is an individual and each individual is different. Recognizing this truth and using it to increase student achievement is important in each school. Teachers and administrators need to recognize and address the needs of each individual including strugglers, high achievers, and those who have behavior issues. By recognizing each student’s individual strengths and weaknesses, schools can help foster each student’s potential (Dana, 2009, p. 41-45).

Example: What are some plans that we could implement that would help reduce the number of automatic office referrals? In what ways can we incorporate math remediation into our school master schedule that would reduce the number of behaviors that seem to happen in our blocked remedial classes?

Passion 5: Community/Culture Building:

Importance: School culture encompasses the feeling that the students have about one another, the smell in the hallways, the look of the facilities, the relationships between all individuals on campus, and the values of the school (Dana, 2009, p. 49-52). “Given that school culture undergirds everything teachers and students in a school building say and do, understanding school culture and reflecting on the role one plays as principal in shaping it is critical to the success of the daily functioning of a school (Dana, 2009, p. 46).”

Example: How can implementing teacher-lead family groups (a group of 12-15 multi-grade-level students assigned to a specific teacher) help students with their sense of belonging, motivation, organization, behavior, involvement, career investigating, study skills, social skills and overall success while at CJH?

Passion 6: Leadership Skills

Importance: Developing leadership skills is imperative because as a principal, you are directly responsible for leading your school. Inquiry and reflection regarding your own leadership skills is essential for leadership growth and development. As a principal, setting goals for yourself and then reflecting on what you have learned is important in your growth as a leader and principal. Continuous growth helps improve your leadership skills, therefore, affecting and improving your school achievements (Dana, 2009, p. 52-55).

Example: In what ways I can facilitate teacher leadership in the implementation of the teacher-lead family groups? What kind of plan could I use to ensure my engagement in the “Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership (Dana, 2009, p. 52)?”

Passion 7: Management

Importance: A principal has responsibilities as both a leader and as a manager. It is important for a principal to find a balance between these two roles. Managing tasks help a school run efficiently whereas leading helps a school run effectively. Both are required for a successful principal and a successful school (Dana, 2009, p. 56-58).

Example: What are teachers’ levels of satisfaction with our master school schedule? What are teachers’ levels of satisfaction with our blocked remedial math classes? What are teachers’ levels of satisfaction with our current elective classes?

Passion 8: School Performance

Importance: School performance is more important than ever. Schools are rated on accountability systems and the scores affect many aspects of education. Budgeting, accountability audits, and funding are all based on school performance to some extent. Student achievement directly affects the overall school’s performance. The pressure for each child to be successful is increasing constantly just as the pressure for schools to improve their performance (Dana, 2009, p. 58-62).

Example: In what ways will implementing remediation classes for math and science increase our student achievement? In what ways will implementing the ICU program increase our student achievement? In what ways will our literacy plan across all disciplines increase our student achievement?

Passion 9: Social Justice

Importance: Social justice in an important concept to understand by every teacher, administrator and human. Diversity is necessary for change and growth but we must understand how to foster the differences and cultivate them for beneficial purposes. Each person belongs to different “groups.” Focusing on “closing gaps in opportunity and academic achievement between groups of students” (Dana, 2009, p. 63) is important for student achievement and growth (Dana, 2009, p. 62-64).

           

Example: How can we help meet the needs of our economically disadvantaged students? In what was can we assure that our economically disadvantaged students are gaining knowledge and experience of life outside our community? What can we do to lessen the gap between our economically disadvantaged students and our overall student population?

Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.