Shauntel Manning

EA 8820 Webster Case Guide

November 11, 2019

1. How do you distinguish between telling the principal what she needs to do and
guiding or coaching her to discover what needs to be done? How are these
practices different?
Coaching is about the principal and telling is about short-term actions with
limited results. There is a huge difference in telling a person what to do and
when to coach them. If I tell her what to do, she cannot take ownership in the
process and might lead to disengagement. Telling a person should only be used
when urgency is required. If we are building a strong leader we need to coach
her. Coaching is when you engage your coachee in the process by tapping into
their personal experience and knowledge. Coaching grows their capabilities by
allowing them to think, solve, and own it. This is a great investment that will
turn around the culture of the school.

2. What are the questions you would ask the principal to get her to think about
improving the effectiveness of the staff?
When thinking about the effectiveness of the staff she must first understand
what an effective teacher looks like. I would ask the principal the following
questions:
a. Do teachers understand the pedagogy and how to effectively use
the instructional materials?
b. What assessments will clearly define the profile of student ability
and trajectory?
c. What are your assessment data telling you?
d. Have you incorporated the right instructional materials for each
student’s individual needs?

3. How does a leader work to change the culture of a school? How will you frame
the questions to guide her thinking, as opposed to tell her what she must do?
In order to change the culture of a school, we need to take the pulse of your
current climate and culture. Part of my job is to coach/mentor the new
administrator as she transitions into her new role. When dealing with the
culture of the building, we will set along some time for us to analyze the student
discipline data of the school.
Coach her on how communication is very important and we should start there.
By coaching and asking the right questions allows her to see where she needs to
go and she can take ownership of it. Her staff has to see that she owns it and
believes in the changes she wants to take in order to improve the culture of the
building.
4. How can you guide the principal to assess the community and the parents?
Working with the principal to think outside the box in getting help from outside
resources. First, we will create a survey for the parents and the community. The
purpose of this survey is getting a feel of the people. In order to make change in
the school and with the students, we need as much support as possible. The
school budget will see a sigh of relief by having parental and community mentors
in the building. By having the extra help, we can use them to help assist with the
behavioral students and help curve the discipline that we are seeing in our
students. Having bi-monthly meetings with the parents and community to keep
them in the loop of changes being made and soliciting their assistance to help
with the change as we move forward. As the new administrator it is her job to
go the extra mile and make sure your community understands the goals of our
learning environment. Parents want to be aware of what is going on in their
children’s’ classroom and assist with what the school is doing. Communication is
very important in laying out all the ground work for the school to be successful.

5. Are there ‘landmine’ issues that you should warn the principal about with
regard to Webster or the larger school district?
At Webster there are so many small fires that the principal has to figure out
where to start first in order to change the culture of the building. The main
‘landmines’ we should focus on are: student behavior, disgruntle teachers, and
working to build on the 5 positive teachers in the building to help create change.
When it comes to the larger district, she has to be prepared for the community
members who are upset and want the change to happen now. We all want a
culture of change but we have to be patience and work together to get it.

6. What do you think are the most serious challenges to moving forward and how
would you work in a supportive relationship to help the principal?
The most serious challenges in moving forward at Webster is getting all
stakeholders on board and start to see the positive in the school and the changes
that are taking place. The new principal would need to establish some goals and
procedures at the beginning and stick with them. She has to understand that
she will get some push back from the staff but don’t waiver because they want
to frazzle you. I would work side by side with the principal as she moves
forward. My goal is to build our relationship and our trust level and help support
her through this process. We will continue to meet once a week to go over how
things have gone that week and where we are going the next week. We will
create a timeline to keep up and help her stay on track with the things she needs
to accomplish.

7. What are the listening skills that would make a difference in your work to
support the new principal?
 I believe that relationship listening is one of the most important factors in order
to develop and sustain our relationship.
Therapeutic listening has a purpose of empathizing with the principal but also to
make this deep connection in order to help her understand, change, and/or
develop. Empathetic to seek a truer understanding of how others are feeling.
When we combine the different type of listening we are supporting her while
building a strong relationship moving forward.

8. Develop a framework for goals this school year along with the principal,
realizing that not everything can be done in one year, and that it is important
to triage the areas that are most essential. List up to five goals and what
would convince you that success had been made in these areas.
Goal 1: Creating a Culture
We will work together to create a culture that promotes improvement of
learning and teacher for students and staff. Success: When our culture changes
for the good. We have created a shared leadership from top down. We
constantly have conversations for ongoing improvement. This is a process that
will come naturally for us. We will not make any changes unless we go through
our entire process. We will focus on our shared mission and clear vision for
improving learning and teaching.

Goal 2: Ensuring School Safety

Making sure that all students and staff are safe daily. By collecting data from
staff, students, and parents twice a school year we can check our progress. We
will make sure the building is secured and all equipment is safe. Constantly
checking with all stakeholders to ensure our students feel safe.

Goal 3: Planning with Data

In order for change to happen we need to look at the data of the building. We
will develop, implement and evaluate by creating a plan to increase student
achievement.
Success: Over time we will provide evidence of student growth using the school
improvement plan. With this plan we shall see significant improvement through
the school year. Constantly working with staff to use the data to guide, modify
classroom instruction. Teachers will analyze the data with their peers to see
steady improvements in the classroom.

Goal 4: Aligning Curriculum

Assisting teachers with the alignment of their curriculum, instruction and
assessments.
Success: In order for us to move our test scores up and see improvement with
our numbers we have to show that we can compete with other schools in our
county. Working with staff monthly at PLCS’s to align best instructional practices
that go along with state assessments and local assessments. Our assessments
should guide all of our instructional practices.