Analysis of A Fine, Fine, School by Sharon Creech
1. Give overview and summarize book explaining how leadership or follower ship is displayed in the book.
A Fine, Fine, School is the story of Mr. Keene, a gung ho principal any school would be lucky to have. This exuberant administrator loves his school so much he wants more and more school: first on Saturdays, then on Sundays, then on holidays, then in the summer. The students and teachers do not want to go to school on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or in the summer, but no one knows how to tell Mr. Keene that. He is so proud of the students and the teachers. This is also the story of Tillie, a young girl who attends this fine, fine, school. It is up to Tillie to show Mr. Keene that even though this school is a fine one, it is not fine to be there all the time.
This book displays leadership and follower ship in many different ways. As you read the first pages of this book one could say that this school is a "healthy school - one characterized by student, teacher and principal behavior that is harmonious and works toward instructional success." (Lunenburg & Ornstein, 2004, 99) Every morning Mr. Keene strolled down the hallway and saw children in their classes. He saw what they were learning and he would always say, "Aren't these fine children?" Aren't these fine teachers? Isn't this a fine, fine, school?" Mr. Keene being the leader of this school makes a point of being actively involved in visiting classes and complimenting the excellent job the students and teachers are doing in this learning environment. Mr. Keene adores education and is so proud of his students and teachers he wants the children to learn even more. He gathers all the students and teachers to communicate his new idea that since this is such a fine, fine, school, "lets have school on Saturdays, too"! The teachers and students didn't want to go to school on Saturdays but they did not say anything to Mr. Keene.
"Through effective communication, relationships are built, trust is established, and respect is gained" (Green, 2005, 85) I guess Mr. Keene had all of this since nobody groaned, moaned or spoke up. Neither students nor teachers wanted to go to school on Saturdays but they trusted and respected their leader.
Gorton and Alston (2012) pointed out in Chapter One that effective leaders “provide direction and meaning, generate and sustain trust, display an eagerness to take action, and spread hope”, through motivating and empowering others to reach the desired goals (pp. 7-9). Thus administrators must be skilled communicators, attentive and responsive listeners. Meanwhile they must also be able to build relationships with others, multitask, prioritize, delegate wisely, relate to, and motivate others. Reading that both the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the American Association of School Administrators have noted the importance of communication to the school system's success (p. 101), has affirmed for this student that the need for outside assistance with communication is indeed a serious concern for administrators.
I had the pleasure of being able to shadow Superintendent Shirley Hall of the Maplewood School District. Ms. Hall took the reins of the district over in 2012 from a very popular superintendent who was credited with making great strides within the district. Although Ms. Hall had very large shoes to fill, she seems to be doing it with grace and enthusiasm. She credits the previous superintendent with making systemic changes and establishing the overall forward momentum of the district, but recognizes that she cannot rest on past success. Her goal is to take the district to the next level of educational excellence by focusing her and her administrative team's efforts on the P.E.L.P. coherence model from Harvard University. This model focuses the leadership's attention on the interdependence of the various aspects of their school district and how they reinforce one another to support the implementation of an improvement strategy. One of Ms. Hall's mantras was change, but not just for change sake, deep change for sustained improvement. Therefore, although Ms. Hall's predecessor was able to put the district on the right path, Ms. Hall has taken the baton and run with it; establishing her own style and path to excellence.
The average human would think that going to school and getting an education are the two key items needed to make it in life. Another common belief is, the higher someone goes with their education, the more successful they ought to be. Some may even question if school really makes anyone smarter or not. In order to analyze it, there needs to be recognition of ethos, which is the writer 's appeal to their own credibility, followed by pathos that appeals to the writer’s mind and emotions, and lastly, logos that is a writer’s appeal to logical reasoning. While using the three appeals, I will be analyzing “Against School” an essay written by John Taylor Gatto that gives a glimpse of what modern day schooling is like, and if it actually help kids
In the text, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, author Diane Ravitch explores her ideological shift on school reform and the empirical evidence that caused this shift. Once a proponent and contributor of testing, accountability, choice, and market reforms, Ravitch’s support began to diminish as she realized that these current reforms were not viable options. She came to realize that the new school reforms focused entirely on structural and managerial adjustments and that no focus was given to actual learning.
On leadership is a book which deserve to be read by us. Although this book use a precise formation to help us to examine a widely comprehensive aspects of the leadership, there are some drawbacks. Gardner cited different examples to talk about leadership, but just in a particular area, that is political area. So,
Sister Aloysius, the principal of the school, builds her values upon a foundation of tradition, fairness and control which is an unacceptable and outdated method for presiding over
For years, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, has been a staple in college, high school, and even middle school classes. The eloquent story follows a group of young boys stranded on a jungle island. They are left thousands of miles away from civilization and are left to survive by themselves. Throughout the story, many insights in leadership are seen through the power struggle between Ralph and Jack. Both have extremely different styles of leadership with varying levels of success. Lord of the Flies teaches me about leadership in the initial selection of the leader, how they solve problems, and how they motivate others.
Schools are where we spend half of our lives at, our kids are spending time and energy in these places to become better people in the future. There is absolutely no reason why budget cuts should ever happen in a school. If the country is taking taxes from all of the citizens than they should be conscious to spend that money on things that matter like our children. Making budget cuts takes away programs for kids to excel in and makes a child harder to express himself. Arts are usually the first programs to be cut.
Northouse, Peter G. Leaderhip Theory and Practice. Ed. Fifth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc, 2010.
The leader by its meaning is one who goes first and leads by example and then the other will followed him after being motivated. The above diagram can be explain as; with the three combinations, the person or the leader will influence the other people or the follower to achieve the purpose or goal. In order to achieve the goal, the leader must have a deep rooted commitment to the goal that he will strive to achieve even if nobody follows him (Wong, 2007). The follower also can influence the leader in order to achieve the goal.
What is your definition of gun control? In the essay “There is a reason they choose schools”, you will discover what gun control means to Timothy Wheeler. Wheeler is a major part of the organization, Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership. He has written an essay in which he is trying to prove that without being able to use self-defense, guns pose a public health risk. Wheeler has worked with many physicians, medical students, and scientist who support his theory. By doing extensive studies in previous gun violence cases, they want to prove guns are more than just a health issue, they are a health crisis. Not only to those who carry them, but also to those who don’t. In many of these studies, they used schools as the primary target of gun violence.
“Fremont High School” an essay written by Jonathan Kozol presents a high school in need of transformation and support with educational advancement. Kozol writes about the limited educational opportunities available to the students that attend this lower class institution. Kozol addresses the overcrowding of this institution and lack of consistent staffing. The purpose of Kozol 's essay is to illustrate that lack of opportunity based on social class is an active crisis in the United States educational system, whereas addressing this crisis in the essay, Kozol would hope to achieve equal opportunities available to all socioeconomic class institutions.
The superintendent and principal are stymied in their efforts to reach a compromise as Mrs. Durnitz refuses to change her position that the policy must be followed to the letter. She appealed to the teachers’ association for support when it appeared that the administration and board might not uphold her position. The local newspap...
Lawton, M. (March 1999). “For Whom the School Bell Tolls.” The School Administrator Web Edition. Retrieved from http://www.aasa.org/publications/sa/1999_03/lawton.htm
Some scholars have categorized followers based on their behaviors and roles under different leadership styles. The benign followers serve their leader without questioning their actions, which can have a destructive outcome. If subordinates blindly follow bad leaders, it defines that they lack the insight to distinguish between good and bad leader. While some followers are there to serve their leader 's ego, malevolent followers are seeking opportunities to defeat the leader and take over his role out of greed and envy (Uhl-Bien et al., 2014). The followers play different roles to improve the follower-leader relationship. Some followers play the interactive role by supporting the leader. This role can have a positive or negative impact depending on the leadership. The followers who play the independent role are independent with high level of competency to complement the role of the leader. During the leadership process, the role of the leader and the followers can change depending on the situation, which has been defined as a shifting role. The followers play a key role in the leadership process, which can be very influential and powerful. The followers have to be aware of their leader 's practice and use of power to avoid pitfalls as a result of misuse of power by the leaders. Uhl-Bien et al. (2014), identified four types of leadership