Educational Leadership

Paper Summary:

This paper studies how teachers, the primary deliverers of education, foster the learning experience. The paper also examines what qualities contribute to effective instructional leadership. First, the paper discusses how an effective teacher creates a safe environment within which students can learn. Second, the paper evaluates how teachers serve as positive role models for their students when they radiate a sense of purpose. Third, the paper examines the facilitator role for teachers and how it translates into student-centered educational experiences. Fourth, the paper evaluates two of the most positive instructional theories: Constructivist learning, through which curricular activities provide a general feeling among all involved parties that learning is essentially an interactive process and differentiated learning, in which lessons and units reflect students' diverse backgrounds, needs, abilities and interests. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of learner autonomy.

From the Paper:

"First and foremost, an effective teacher creates a safe environment within which students can learn. This means demonstrating to students that they can be vulnerable and take risks without experiencing humiliation or denial. It requires teachers themselves to engage in risk-taking situations in order to prove such activities are possible and positive outcomes likely. For example, a teacher, in trying a novel teaching technique, can present the lesson with a preface indicating the risk involved while also exuding a positive attitude. A crucial component in role modeling such behaviors is showing students that the outcome of the experiment is not as important as the willingness to take a risk. By taking the initial step in trying something new, the hope is that students will follow suit in their own learning experiences. The modeling of risk-taking behaviors naturally leads to the likelihood that students will not only attempt such endeavors but will also have a frame of reference in how to conduct themselves and the types of beliefs and attitudes that are appropriate under such circumstances."

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