Transformational Leadership - JHU Week 2

• How do you define transformational leadership based on your reading?

Transformational leadership is an adaptive process in which school communities work together to build a cohesive understanding and collaborative actions to ensure the attainment of the school’s purpose, collective goals, and shared vision through the development and sustainability of a successful learning environment thereby promoting and supporting highly personalized, differentiated, student-centered, self-directed, educational learning experiences for all of its members.

• How can transformational leadership impact the way an administrator leads a school?

In order for administrators to lead a school community into a 21st Century reculturing, it is critical for them to create a democratic professional bureaucracy within the school environment. He or she must consider the collective intelligences of all school members and stakeholders. It is up to the administrator to identify how each school agent plays an essential role in student learning, achievement and success. An administrator will not lead anyone anywhere if he or she can not enroll others in the school’s shared vision and purpose. Through open dialogue and collaborative discussions, an administrator can begin to educate school community members to promote understanding of the school’s core values, purposes and vision. By allowing stakeholders ownership of a collective plan, they will more willingly enroll and openly commit to steps in moving their school forward. Administrators need mobilize people to accomplish tasks. A team concept is necessary for school and student success to be achieved.

Within the transformational leadership concept there are five linked attributes that are significant in fostering school environments that have the capacity to change. There is a true need for diverse interrelationships that can co-evolve through rigorous interchanges. Relationships between students and teachers, teachers and departments, departments and school and so on can heighten the level of communication and foster an environment where growth flourishes. A school can capitalize on its own diversity promote and support global awareness, understanding, tolerance, and relationships. Diversity is a school asset not a hindrance, and most often it is not seen in this way.

School environments should also be nonlinear in nature as change will become more rapid and innovative in these types of environments. Interactions in nonlinear environments are multidirectional and mutual and are key catalysts for transformation of student-centered schools. Through richer, diverse, more unstable learning conditions there is more potential for continual growth and learning to occur. Status quo mentalities and environments do not promote the necessary change or growth for effective learning to take place.

Student and teacher learning must also be given the opportunity to be more independent in nature. Student centered classroom environments allow for rich self-generated and self-guided learning opportunities. Assuming responsibility for ones own learning will attract a real desire to learn and grow. Promoting independent learning will foster growth and ultimately achieve the shared vision and goals. Administration, at any level, should support the continual school improvement towards district benchmarks, values, vision, goals and core technologies. (Burello, p. 41)

• How can transformational leadership impact the school administrator as he/she leads integrating technology with instruction?

As an administrator develops a continuous 21st Century transformation, they must take into consideration time and resource availability. Technology can assist with the overall democratic practice in sharing information with school community stakeholders. Innovative collaborative online networks could open up more dialogue and discussions about the school vision, goals, needs, accomplishments and overall progress. Technology can also make meeting synchronously or asynchronously much easier. Everyone can contribute at their own pace or conviction. The network can enhance open communications and build trust within the community. Administrators must be proactive in their own learning and need to develop skills to be superior users of innovative technologies. While modeling how to integrate these tools into real world situations, administrators will lead others to do the same. They can empower teachers to build open communications and create more democratic diverse learning communities within their own classrooms. It only takes a few teachers, parents and students to become excited about connecting, collaborating and sharing to create an environment that begins to inspire others behave the same.