Developing Leadership Skills in Special Education

This was another session presented by Dr. Laura Mohr of Mohr Educational Associates at the SC Council for Exceptional Children and it was very informative.

Here are my notes from this session:

Management focuses on :
1. Maintaining existing relationships
2. Maintaining existing order or comfort zone
3. Using tradition ways of doing things
4. Doing what people think they want
5. Working harder and longer but not smarter

Leadership focuses on:
1. Taking risks
2. Charting the course for anew direction
3. Creating visions
4. Changing way people think about what is desirable
5. Creating excitement about working with children
6. Building new relationships and structures
7. Changing existing cultures

Schools expect administrators to be managers and not leaders.

C’s of Leadership (from The 21 Indispensable Quality of a Leader by John Maxwell):
1. Character
2. Charisma
3. Commitment
4. Communication
5. Competence
6. Courage

Boss vs. Leader:
1. Boss drives people; Leader coaches them
2. Boss depends on authority; Leader depends on good will
3. Boss says I; Leader says we
4. Boss fixes the blame for a breakdown; Leader fixes the breakdown
5. Boss knows how it is done; Leader shows how
6. Boss says Go; Leader says Let’s Go.

Competencies for Special Education Administration:
Council for Exceptional Children has a CEC Knowledge and Skill Base for All Beginning Special Education Administrators

1. Leadership
2. Planning and Improving Curriculum & Instruction
3. Policy & Procedures
4. Community Relations
5. Personnel Practices
6. Fiscal Management

My thoughts:

The administrators that I have worked under have been most effective when they were leaders and not bosses. Sometimes they have had to be bosses though so I believe a mixture of both is necessary. I hope as a teacher that I can be a leader in my classroom and as a role model for my colleagues.

What do you feel makes a good leader? Please share!

Original Image by Pat Hensley