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Identifying Leader Positions

Irving Barraza

College of Education, Grand Canyon University

EAD 533: Developing and Empowering Instructional Leaders

Barbara Erwin

January 17th, 2024

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Identifying Leader Positions

The responsibility of school administrators often includes the need to distribute

leadership responsibilities to others. If done without purpose, the person assigned may be

unsuccessful. To begin planning for assigned leadership roles, this assignment asked for me to

create an organizational chart of non-administrator leadership positions occupied by staff at my

school setting.

Leadership Positions and Attributes

Lead Teacher

 Must maintain communication between admin and their team/grade level band. The team

lead is responsible, has good communication, can relay information, and be an advocate

for the needs and concerns of their team.

Instructional Coach

 Provide feedback on lesson plans, research best practices, and strategies then teach them

for PDs, facilitate PLC, and work collaboratively with all teachers. Coaches should have

strong communication, be personable, have a deep understanding of the curriculum,

understand technology, and work efficiently in a short amount of time

Community/Partnership Outreach

 Find local businesses, programs, or organizations and foster partnerships with them. This

person must know how to speak, understand the school’s goals, wants, and needs, and be

an active member of the community

Content Specialist
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 ELL, Math, Reading, Writing, Science, and Social Sciences specialists are the go-to

people for their respective content areas. They often lead PD training in their area to their

respective groups or to the whole staff when applicable.

Athletic Director (school site/district)

 Each school has its own school-based athletics director, and the district-wide director also

happens to work at my school, both of which are teachers. The school-based position is in

charge of sports, having staff/parent volunteers at games, ensuring team members have

grade checks, creating practice schedules, and ensuring the coaches have the equipment

they need. The district position schedules all games between schools, communicates with

schools and the transportation department for busing, and oversees the school site

directors.

Assistive Technology

 Each campus has a designated person who has a “trial tote” full of sensory items that are

categorized under low-level assistive technology (wiggle seats, chewer, fidgets, etc.).

They check items out to teachers and if the item helps the student then they place orders

to the district to get a more permanent one for students who need them

Mentor Teacher

 Each new teacher (first year or new to the district) has a mentor who works with them,

provides feedback on lesson plans, does informal observation to provide positive

feedback, and guides them on school policies and the ins and outs. They also meet

monthly and discuss parent-teacher conferences, testing, behaviors, etc.

Summary
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By assigning leadership responsibilities to non-administrative staff a school principal

shows their dedication to building their staffs’ skills. It communicates trust between staff and

administrators while building a positive school culture. The administrator can exemplify

appropriate dispositions by leading by example, being supportive, empowering others, and

encouraging communication and teamwork. Using the school’s mission and vision statements as

guides, the administrator can build a team or lead teachers who have strong leadership abilities,

set examples for others, and support one another. As teachers build leadership skills and more

and more teachers have these opportunities, the administrator will build teachers’ self-efficacy

skills.

The benefits of distributed leadership, when done purposefully, are extremely beneficial

for all parties. The principal will have less on their plate by designating others to oversee some

things, the teachers will gain new skills and better their leadership practice, and students will

benefit from having strong teachers who work collaboratively.

To gain the most benefits from distributed leadership, assigning responsibilities is

important because the person who gains these responsibilities will be a sort of symbol for what

the administrator envisions for the school. If the selected person for a role is not fulfilling the

role appropriately, the responsibility will fall back upon the administrator. For example, I

mentioned a mentor teacher as a non-administrative leadership role. New teachers are assigned

mentor teachers who help them before the start of the school year and throughout the school year

to ensure they are meeting all requirements, know when to find the resources they need, and have

guidance for any questions or concerns that may arise. If a chosen mentor does not fulfill their

responsibilities the mentee could be put into a position of feeling unsupported, unwelcomed, and

set up for failure. With such high teacher turnover rates we want to ensure new teachers have the
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best possible experience and most success possible in their first year. This will help reduce the

turnover rate, increase teacher retention, and benefit students who are in that teacher's current

and future classes. Selecting a mentor who didn’t fulfill their responsibilities, the administrator

may be put in a position of having to fill that teacher's role again the following year, along with a

class of students who may not have received the best education, and may include upset parents.

Selecting the correct mentor could mean the teacher quickly learns classroom management skills,

understands the curriculum, can create chapter and unit plans, communicates with parents, and

loves their first year of teaching. Now as a second-year teacher, they could continue the cycle by

being an asset to another teacher and eventually becoming a mentor themselves.