[Ous-lp-rp13] EDAD 6020, Answer to Question #2

[Dustin Tyler]

Having been in three different school districts and having a total of six
different principals in my teaching career, I began to reflect on the
different amount of structural concepts I have worked under. The exact
structure of several principals were very apparent  however, some
principals had a mixed structure where there were some intersections
between characteristics of several structres.

My most recent principal had a professional structure one in which
substantial decision making is delegated to the professional staff.  The
best way to explain the structure was that it was loose, fluid, and
sometimes informal. As a member of this staff the rules and procedures
served to guide us in everything we did as educators.  We were able to be
creative which I found beneficial. I was treated as an expert and felt the
principal had entrusted in me to be highly effective. A teacher under this
structure felt like their voice was being heard.  I could sit down with our
principal and make well thought out decisions to improve instruction not
only for myself but for the entire staff. I felt as if I was valued as a
teacher, where I have had some principals where that wasn´t as obvious. Our
principal had gone from a middle school principal to an elementary
principal which may or may not have contributed to decisions being made by
the most knowledgeable people that had the expertise to do so. One
situation I can recall was when we were making decisions on a common
schedule, moving from block scheduling to an elementary based schedule was
hard for him to understand.  We sat for a few hours and knocked out the
schedule together, keeping in mind what was best for kids and within
contractual guidelines. Our principal delegated the decisions and the
majority of the decision making to the teachers this allowed our staff to
feel valued and appreciated. The professional structure of my school is a
natural system where human needs are being accounted for and considered.
This type of structure has been my favorite to work for thus far. I can
also understand where educators might feel differently about being lead by
this type of structure, it was one that I was able to excel with.

The structure that least resembles the professional structure would be a
chaotic structure.  The chaotic structure is one that has a low degree of
professionalism. This type of structure causes confusion and conflict.  The
inconsistencies and contradictions of this structure could cause the
schools to be ineffective. Personally, this structure would cause my faith
in a leader to diminish rapidly.  Although, not inevitable the change from
a professional structure to a chaotic structure could be the most
turbulent. The board of education would quickly come to the conclusion that
it is challenging for a healthy learning environment not to be clear,
consistent, and maintain high expectations for students and staff.  In my
school district we have a lot of children that have had trauma and chaos
already enter their lives at such a young age. School could be the only
organized and ¨safe¨ location for our children, having anything else we
would be doing a huge disservice.
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