Taken from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/248740
What does Being a Leader for My Students
Imply?
A Brief Reflection on Leadership Styles
By Prof. Jonathan
Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.
School of English
Faculty
of Social Sciences
Universidad
Latina de Costa Rica
Friday, October 21, 2016
Post 302
Should an educator be a classroom leader?
It would be no surprise that almost every single teacher, instructor, and
faculty member would state a resounding yes!
Still others, -I am almost sure of this-, will question whether they are or not
effective leaders in their weekly teaching and will question whether their
students are good followers. In spite of all these possible answers, an
undeniable fact of our teaching profession, either in primary or high school,
college, or any other teaching setting, is that we become the leaders of our
own teaching and how that teaching impacts our students. For me the initial sentence
for this introductory paragraph cannot be a “should you” question but a “you
should” statement; we teaching
professionals should be the leaders of our teaching scenarios.
When one gets to reflect
upon one’s teaching practice, this reflection gives us the chance to see how
one experiences the kind of leader one is in the classroom, whether this is in
a digital or F2F setting. As a teaching professional with more than twenty
years in college settings, I strongly believe I have the responsibility to lead
my students to deep learning and the development of working skills and
competencies they can eventually apply in their current jobs or in future
teaching positions they can hold. If we extend this to other teaching fields,
learners will construct their learning and competencies as well. As a
consequence, being a leader in the classroom is the chance to exercise one’s power to lead others towards learning
objectives, which add to an exit profile a student is meant to attain by the
time s/he finishes a study program in higher education or elsewhere.
If I am right on my
understanding of what leadership in education is, no doubt one has to be the classroom leader one’s students
need. Reorganizing the information shared by BusinessDictionary.Com (2016), one
can conclude that as a classroom leader, one is meant to “establish a clear
vision” for one’s students to attain the required learning in one’s course(s).
One’s task as a classroom leader also implies the sharing of “that vision with
[one’s learners] so that they follow willingly” in the attainment of learning
objectives that are part of a course outline; moreover, the provision of “information,
knowledge and methods to realize that vision” and the coordination of “and
balancing the conflicting interests of all [class] members” are two other areas
one must concentrate on.
Once I observe my
interpretation of leadership in the classroom, metacognitively speaking, I also
see myself doing the following to exercise my “power” as the class leading
person. When the course outline is discussed with learners the very first day
in F2F courses, my main intention is to “establish a clear vision” of what
needs to be covered along the course, and how it is going to be covered.
Sharing my vision of what I expect from my learners and listening to what they
expect from my class is a way to smooth the path to have students follow me
willingly towards what needs to be achieved by the end of our course. And part
of the exercise of my leadership power is the provision of information and the
balance needed when conflicting interests pop up in a class full of WASs
(working adult students) coexisting with traditional learners. As someone who is
in charge of four more people at one of my two workplaces where I am the head
of Curriculum Development and someone who is aware of his expertise acquired in
leadership and personnel management, these elements -vision, information provision, and coordination- are a necessity to
have everyone “pulling the learning oxcart” towards the same direction.
This exchange with peers,
students, and colleagues needs to be based on vision, information provision, and coordination, but also on
compassionate communication for an effective leadership. Based on Dr. Marshall
Rosenberg (2005), Nonviolent Communication (compassionate communication) is the
integration of four constructs: “consciousness, language, communication, and
means of influence. As a classroom leader this implies the following:
1.
Consciousness is “a set of principles that support
living life of empathy, care, courage, and authenticity.” As educators and
course leaders we turn to our learners being empathic, caring, encouraging, and
authentic to provide them with the confidence we want them to have to follow us
willingly.
2.
Language is “understanding how words
contribute to connection or distance.” As teaching professionals and leaders we
want to create a community of learning where every single student feels at ease
and willing to take risks and exchange ideas; we do not want to be offending
anyone with language that creates distance and a feeling of hatred. A good
leader brings the class together as a unit not as individual members.
3.
Communication is “knowing how to ask for what we
want, how to hear others even in disagreement, and how to move toward solutions
that work for all.” A good leader and a good instructor (especially the one
working with WASs) is a good listener and negotiator in search of the golden
means of communication where everyone is a winner in terms of what needs to be
learned and what students want to be taught to be more effective at work.
4.
Means of Influence is “sharing ‘power with others’
rather than using ‘power over others.’” The good teacher/leader always shares
his/her “power” with learners to give them responsibility over their learning
and over the course of action in a class/course. Imposition is so negative that
the whole community of learning can get on a rampage against the “dictator.”
What does being a leader for my students imply? The implications, based on Dr.
Rosenberg’s conception of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), are threefold. First
of all, NVC will “increase our ability to live with choice, meaning, and
connection” (Rosenberg, 2005) . As leaders, if we can teach our
learners to “live with choice, meaning, and connection,” they will find
learning a fun task and fully rewarding for their current or future jobs.
Secondly, NCV will help us “connect empathically with self and others to have
more satisfying relationships” (Rosenberg, 2005) . For the student this can mean that
having more solid relationships with the members of the community of learning
(including the faculty member in charge of the class), learning is built in
peaceful and fun social contexts where respect is nourished and strengthened.
Finally, NVC implies for our leadership the “sharing of resources so everyone
is able to benefit” (Rosenberg, 2005) , and so all students in class, traditional
or working adults, are always in a win-win situation among themselves and with
their professor/leader.
As a final and concluding
remark, leadership in teaching implies different but supporting factors that
help teachers to become a solid leading figure for learners. Vision, information provision, and coordination are crucial to start
building a good leader-follower (teacher-student) relationship. However, if
Rosenberg’s integration of his four constructs, consciousness, language, communication,
and means of influence, is not present, the leader may not be that effective
when trying to materialize learning for his/her students.
References
Leadership.
(2016). Taken from the BusinessDictionary.Com webpage at http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/leadership.html#ixzz4EPl3FIKe
Rosenberg,
M. (2005). Nonviolent Communication A Language of Life. Encinitas, CA:
PuddleDancer Press.
Friday, October 21, 2016
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