Reference no: EM133727420
Case: Reflection 3 is a leadership reflection in which you will assess both your leadership qualities and the current leadership culture in your context. In this assignment, you will examine the roles of instructional leaders within high-performing systems, compare them with your own leadership qualities and those of other leaders within your context, and identify ways in which the identified role could more specifically focus on leadership of STEM professional learning. This examination will facilitate your ability to consider ways to strengthen your ability to serve as a STEM instructional leader who is able to promote high-quality learning opportunities for both teachers and students.
"Beyond PD: Teacher Professional Learning in High-Performing Systems" (Jensen et al., 2016) highlights the significant role of professional learning leaders and a distributed leadership model within the four high-performing school systems. These leaders are most often teachers who advance along a career track and assume responsibility for contributing to the professional learning of others. Both the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) call for the development and support of teachers as instructional leaders within K-12 contexts as support for high-quality instruction. Using resources from these organizations (NCTM and NSTA) as well as Jensen et al. (2016), complete the following steps to analyze STEM leadership potential in your context.
Read the following resources available in eReserves:
NCTM's position statement "The Role of Elementary Mathematics Specialists in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics."
NSTA's position statement "Leadership in Science Education."
Based on the characteristics highlighted in these two position statements, as well as this course content related to leadership, discuss:
The strengths and challenges you will bring to your context as a STEM instructional leader.
Connecting back to Nesbit's (2012) SDLD framework, what personal goals can you get to continue to move your leadership development forward?
Read chapters 1 and 2 in "Beyond PD: Teacher Professional Learning in High-Performing Systems" (Jensen et al., 2016, pp. 9-16).
Complete the STEM Instructional Leader Role Assessment based on a STEM instructional leader in your current context. (If you do not have a STEM-specific instructional leader in your context, complete this assessment based on another instructional leader and make note of this in your discussion).
Select a specific STEM instructional leadership role in your current context and complete the table STEM Instructional Leader Role Assessment to identify the ways people in that role serve as STEM instructional leaders (or leaders, generally) in your context/school/district. It is important to use evidence, when possible, to support your assessment, but you may find that you do not have specific evidence and must reply on professional judgement or experience rather than specific data to support your assessment.
Using the criteria and rating in the table, assess the viability and potential impact of the instructional leader role for transforming STEM teaching and student learning.
Based on the overall effectiveness score and the score for the individual criterion:
What recommendations do you have for strengthening the effectiveness of this instructional leader role for promoting high-quality STEM teaching and learning? Be as specific as possible with your recommendations.
Which of the recommendations are top priorities for action? Be sure to connect to course content and readings to support your analysis and recommendations.
Based on your self-reflection in Step 2 above, what aptitudes would you bring to your context as a STEM instructional leader that would help you take action on these top-priority recommendations? Again, connect to course content and readings to support your analysis.