Tonight's class allowed me to gain many insights about communication between the
administration and parents, teachers, and students. In particular, there were two aspects of
the lesson that I found especially useful as a future administrator/supervisor.
First, I learned first-hand how one could be a collaborative leader. Professor
Monheit demonstrated throughout the lesson how a supervisor can empower the teachers
to be involved in the decision making process and voice their thoughts and opinions, while
taking responsibility for the final decision. For example, the class was given the
opportunity to discuss their thoughts and concerns about the class assignments. However,
knowing the vision of the course and its purpose, Professor Monheit made sure to explain
to the class the importance of the various projects. In addition, although he was able to be
flexible on certain issues, there were other assignments that could not be changed and he
made those decisions. Also, by giving the class the ability to choose whether we want the
Wednesday classes extended and what dates we would like to cancel class, Professor
Monheit empowered us and made feel comfortable with the class.
As a student of a leadership program, I have learned about the characteristics and
actions for each of the different leadership styles in a theoretical manner. I did research on
the types of leaders and I learned a lot about a collaborative/distributive leader. However,
seeing this leadership style in person helped me realize how I would like to conduct myself
as a leader.
In addition, I learned from this class the importance of communication between the
administration and parents. During this class, I learned many interesting methods to
communicate with parents effectively. The system that I really enjoyed learning about was
the "Angel Program." I thought it was a wonderful idea to have teachers call a certain
number of students' parents each week in order to communicate with them and discuss
how their children are doing in attendance, grades, behavior etc… I think the "Angel
Program" helps make sure that the parents are having effective communication with their
child's school. It also holds the teachers accountable for opening the lines of
communication. I believe that if schools would implement a mandatory communication
system such as the "Angel Program," many issues could be addressed before they become
larger problems. I also think that this type of program is a positive method of
communication since the teachers communicate with these parents once each week
instead of just calling when there is an incident. This allows the school to be proactive in
communication rather than reactive. Also, when parents are called on a regular basis,
instead of when an issue arises, they are more likely to be receptive to the concerns of the
school.
