celebrating servant leaders in the classroom matt stephen, ed.d. servant leaders in education...
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Celebrating Servant Leaders in the Classroom
Matt Stephen, Ed.D.
Servant Leaders in EducationHelping Others Create Their Best Future
www.ServantLeadersInEducation.com
Matt Stephen, Ed.D. Retired Educator Studies on Servant Leadership
www.ServantLeadersInEducation.com Resume Copies of all PowerPoints Resources for Servant Leadership
Why am I here?
Administrators Message that teachers are servant leaders who want to be led by
other servant leaders Teachers
To say, “Thank you” for dedicating your lives to serving children Introduce Servant Leadership as a formal leadership style for the
classroom…move servant leadership from the heart to the mind Ask for help in identifying servant leadership actions in the
classroom
Please send feedback to: [email protected]
Who is Shannon Wright?
The Westside Middle School massacre was an incident of a school shooting that occurred on March 24, 1998, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. A total of 5 people were killed: 4 female students and a teacher. Ten were injured: 9 students and 1 teacher. The perpetrators were two students, 13-year old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year old Andrew Golden. They were shooting in an ambush style from the woods in camouflaged clothes.
The funeral for Shannon Wright, 32, the English teacher who was fatally shot while trying to shield her students from gunfire, was held at the church she attended in Bono, a small town outside of Jonesboro. She leaves behind a husband and a 2-year-old son.
“To Each Of Us, A Mrs. Wright”News, Commentary And Analysis From Dan Rather
(CBS) There is little comfort in the news from Jonesboro, Arkansas, this day.
Two boys are accused of a gun attack at their middle school, where four students and one teacher died in the violence. In Jonesboro, as in any community touched by tragedy, the questions resound - and many of them will never be answered to anyone's satisfaction. How did this happen? What could we have done to stop it? What could we have done to PREVENT it?
And yet we take this time to pay tribute to one among the dead. Her name was Shannon Wright. According to police reports and the testimony of witnesses, Mrs. Wright, a sixth-grade English teacher at the Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, saw one of the shooters aiming at a girl student. Mrs. Wright interceded, protecting the child - and was killed instead. The girl has told others she has no doubt: Mrs. Wright saved her life, at the expense of her own.
Shannon Wright is being remembered today as a hero. She is also being remembered as a teacher. Somebody who wanted all her life to do exactly what she was doing, and where she was doing it. Teacher at Westside Middle School: that was her dream job, and she was living her dream.
It would be facile to say that to save a child's life is exactly what every teacher is supposed to do - and nobody wants America's teachers to NEED to go anywhere near such lengths in the pursuit of their professions.
Most of the debate you will hear for the next several days will focus on the violence, not the teaching: How to keep violence out of the classroom, how to keep our schools safe.
That is unquestionably the first, most pressing issue in thiscase.
And yet the symbolism keeps coming back to this reporter. Shannon Wright saved a student's life. Shannon Wright was a teacher. And to be a teacher is to give a young person the tools with which to build a life. This reporter feels strongly about such things, not only because I studied at a teachers college, but also because I feel so strongly the debt I owe to my own teachers.
They never took a bullet for me. They were never called on to do so. It would be exaggerating to say they SAVED my life. And yet - they helped me make something of my life. Most American teachers are trying to do exactly that, every day, whether or not anybody ever notices.
Can you wonder that that's what Shannon Wright wanted to do with HER life? She was a hero - before she took that bullet.
She was a hero –
before she took that bullet.
The Call to Teach
What do you remember about your K-12 teachers?
Why did you decide to become a teacher?
Your Mission
When you first started teaching, what was your mission?
What did you envision teaching would be like?
Since you started teaching…. How has society changed? How has public education changed? How have you changed?
What is your mission now? Has it changed?
Problems in Public Education
Texas Statistics 2003-04 short 45,000 certified teachers 350,000 teachers chose not to teach
U.S. Statistics 20% new teachers leave within 3 years, 50% leave within 5
years
Teacher Turnover 17% in 2003-04
8% transfers 9% left the teaching field
(NCES - National Center for Educational Statistics)
American School Board Journal (1999) “The average teaching career may some day be 5-7 years.”
Reasons for burnout
Student apathy/disciple problems Paperwork/work load Parent apathy/opposition Administrators’ lack of understanding Low pay and lack of benefits Standardized Testing Lack of administrator back-up with student discipline Lack of feeling valued Lack of influence in decisions (American School
Board Journal – 1999)
Dumbest Words Ever Spoken
“Those who can, do….
Those who can’t, teach.”
Everyone is a teacher Everyone knows how to teach Everyone has taught a child how to do
something
So, let’s teach our child to ride a bicycle in a school system…………
In Public Education:Mechanics vs. Art of Teaching
Of your 22 second-grade children 3 have no bike, no biking experience, and no
desire to learn to ride a bike 5 have no bike but desperately want to learn 3 have bikes with training wheels 7 have bikes with flat tires, broken spokes, or
rusted chains 2 have racing bikes and equipment and they have
been racing for several years
You have 15 minutes per day to work with them and……
In three weeks…
all of your children will be tested on safety rules and biking ability on a challenge
course.
Teacher Job Description
Educator and … Counselor Judge Entertainer Director Politician Negotiator Nurse Parent Lawyer
Why should we be concerned with
leadership style?
Leadership Style Determines Classroom Climate
“I have come to the frightening conclusion,
I am the decisive element in the classroom.It is my personal approach that creates the climate.It is my daily mood that makes the weather.As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or
joyous.I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.In all situations, it is my response that decide whether a crisisWill be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.”
Between Teacher and ChildHaim G. Ginott (1922-73)Teacher, child psychologist and psychotherapist
Leadership Style Provides Focus
One’s leadership style and guiding principles provide a focus for his or her thoughts and actions throughout the day.
Servant leadership is the leadership style that enables leaders to successfully serve children, parents, and community.
Servant Leadership is……
If you seek a definition for servant leadership, you will find many general statements from numerous sources.
Burkhardt and Spears stated that “While the term ‘servant-leadership’ was first coined in 1970, it is clearly a belief whose roots stretch back through thousands of years of both religious and humanistic teachings.” Servant leadership has existed since Jesus of Nazareth said, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28a).
Burkhardt, J. C., & Spears, L. C. (2000). Servant leadership and philanthropic institutions. Voices of Servant Leadership Series, Booklet 4. Indianapolis: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
Servant leadership is considered some to be more of a life-style than a
leadership style
Laub took servant leadership beyond a simple definition of leadership style when he stated, “Servant leadership is more than a style of leadership. It is a different way of thinking about the purpose of leadership, the true role of a leader, and the potential of those being led.” Laub also stated, “Servant leadership is an understanding and practice of leadership that places the good of those led over the self-interest of the leader.”
Laub, J. A. (1999). Assessing the servant organization: Development of the servant organizational leadership assessment (sola) instrument. Dissertation Abstracts International, 60 (02), 308A. (UMI No. 9921922)
"I am equally inspired by people I know who work in the church at great personal sacrifice - missionaries who face health problems, humble educators who labor for years without accolade or tangible reward, teachers who patiently do what needs to be done for as long as it takes without their efforts even being noticed by most. Their servanthood leads the way. Their example motivates and encourages others."
Carolyn Sims"Sergiovanni, Synodical Schools, and Servant Leadership"Lutheran Education, Winter 2002
"If the leader always asks, 'What is best for the students?' - he or she is leading by serving the students before considering personal needs and desires.“
"Servant leaders are primarily motivated by a desire to serve and to 'see life as a mission, not as a career.' The have a passion for their work, seeing it as a kind of calling. They understand and accept that they have a responsibility to others, and they see their gifts and endeavors as contributing to a larger whole, much greater than themselves.“
Ramona M. Wis"The Conductor as Servant-Leader"Music Educators Journal, Nov. 2002
Servant Leadership
Personal Character
Connecting with People
Service Attitude
Servant leadership is a calling for us to lead differently than we have led in the past.
It requires an attitude change.
Shelter in a Storm
From Student to Teacher: A Love Poem
There is a room of which I knowthat always has a fire aglow.
In it sits a chair all plush.The sounds within are all a hush.
There are blankets to make me cozy and warmand a bolted door to keep out harm.
The book on the table contains a happy ending.It makes my time well-worth spending.
There is a cup of hot chocolate by the chair,and the smell of fresh baked bread in the air.
How long I stay, I need not worrybecause time slows down, there is no hurry.
Shelter in a Storm (continued)
This room is in my mind.
The times I enter it are few.
I am mostly in this room I find
when I am close to you.
History of Servant Leadership Theory
Robert K. Greenleaf (The Father of Modern Servant Leadership) Greenleaf is widely recognized as the one who coined the term, servant leadership.
Greenleaf spent 40 years at AT&T as a manager of research, development and education. Upon retirement, Greenleaf spent the next 25 years in a pursuit of creating a better, more caring society. Greenleaf remarked that he had great concern for leadership in America, “the outlook for better leadership in our leadership-poor society is not encouraging.” Greenleaf founded the Center for Applied Ethics in 1964 which was renamed the Robert K. Greenleaf Center in 1985 (www.greenleaf.org)
Greenleaf stated in his 1970 ground-breaking essay for servant leadership entitled, The Servant as Leader, “The servant-leader is servant first…It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.” Blanchard (1999) agreed with Greenleaf that servant leaders are first servants before they become leaders when he stated, “Strong natural servants…will assume leadership only if they see it as a way in which they can serve.”
Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. New York: Paulist Press.Blanchard, K. (1999). The heart of a leader. Colorado Springs, CO: Honor Books.
History of Servant Leadership Theory
Larry C. SpearsSpears became CEO of the Greenleaf Center shortly before Greenleaf’s death on September 29, 1990. Spears defined servant leadership as a leadership style based upon teamwork, sense of community, participative decision-making, strong ethical and caring behavior, and concern for growth of people.
Spears, L. C. (1996). Reflections on Robert K. Greenleaf and servant leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 17, 33-35.
Ten Characteristics of Servant LeadershipSpears (1996)
1. Listening – Servant leaders’ communication skills are enhanced through a deep commitment to listening intently to the followers. Servant leaders seek to identify and clarify the will of the group. Receptive listening and reflection are essential to the growth of a servant leader.
2. Empathy – Servant leaders strive to understand and empathize with others. They accept and recognize followers for their unique spirits; and they assume others have good intentions, even if they disagree with behavior or performance.
3. Healing – Servant leaders are adept at healing others as well as themselves. They help make others whole by facilitating the healing of broken spirits. Servant leaders share with followers the search for wholeness.
4. Awareness – Servant leaders exhibit a general awareness of what is happening in the organization. They possess a keen sense of self-awareness and an understanding of issues involving ethics and values. Servant leaders are often described as disturbers and awakeners.
5. Persuasion – Servant leaders employ persuasion rather than position authority when making decisions within the organization. They prefer to convince rather than coerce followers. Servant leaders are very effective with building consensus within the group.
6. Conceptualization – Servant leaders do not deal only with short-term goals and thinking. They are able to stretch their thinking to encompass broader-based conceptual thinking. Servant leaders can nurture the abilities of others to “dream great dreams” and to think beyond day-to-day realities.
7. Foresight – Servant leaders are capable of understanding lessons from the past, seeing the realities of the present, and predicting likely consequences of decisions. They are adept at intuitive thinking.
8. Stewardship – Servant leaders are dedicated to holding their institutions in trust for the greater good of society. They are committed to serving the needs of others.
9. Commitment to the Growth of People – Servant leaders believe in the intrinsic value of people beyond their tangible contributions as workers. They feel responsible for nurturing the personal, professional and spiritual growth of employees.
10. Building Community – Servant leaders are dedicated to rebuilding the sense of community that has been lost with the shift to large institutions.
Other researchers have followed Greenleaf and Spears in supporting servant leadership as a viable style of leadership. Burkhardt and Spears stated: Public interest in the philosophy and practice of servant leadership is now higher than ever before. Many books and articles on servant-leadership have appeared in the 1990s, and dozens of organizations have begun to incorporate servant-leadership internally. Servant leadership has slowly-but-surely gained thousands of practitioners over the past thirty years.
Burkhardt, J. C., & Spears, L. C. (2000). Servant leadership and philanthropic institutions. Voices of Servant Leadership Series, Booklet 4. Indianapolis: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
Seven Virtuous Constructs of Servant LeadershipPatterson (2003)
Patterson, K. A. (2003). Servant leadership: A theoretical model. Servant Leadership Roundtable. Regent University School
of Leadership Studies, Virginia Beach, VA.
1. Agapao Love – Love is the cornerstone of the servant leader-follower relationship. Servant leaders see followers as whole persons with different gifts and talents. They are able to focus on followers first, then on their talents and how those talents benefit the organization.
2. Humility – Servant leaders are able to keep their accomplishments and talents in perspective. They focus on others rather than themselves. Servant leaders have an authentic desire to help others, and they search for ways to serve others through staying in touch with their followers.
3. Altruism – Servant leaders help others just for the sake of helping. They have an unselfish concern for others which often involves personal sacrifice. Servant leaders’ behaviors are directed toward the benefit of others even when those behaviors are against their own personal interests.
4. Vision – Servant leaders have a vision for their individual followers. They help others to see the big picture by enabling them to develop a clear sense of purpose and direction. Servant leaders develop within others the mission to serve and encourage followers to become more than they thought possible.
5. Trust – Servant leaders develop trust through demonstrating integrity and concern for others. They create open environments where everyone has a voice and they work collaboratively.
6. Empowerment – Servant leaders empower others with the best interest of those being served in mind. They teach and develop people as leaders through shared decision-making and shared responsibility. Servant leaders make it a priority to grow new servant leaders.
7. Service – Servant leaders choose the interests of others over self-interests. They see leadership as a calling - a life mission. Servant leaders accept the responsibility for serving others; and they are committed to an authentic, personal involvement with followers through the giving or their time, energy, care, and compassion.
Page and Wong’s 7 Servant Leadership Traits
1. Empowering and Developing Others
2. Vulnerability/Humility
3. Serving Others
4. Open, Participatory Leadership
5. Visionary Leadership
6. Courageous Leadership (Integrity/Authenticity)
7. Inspiring Leadership
Spears’ 10 Characteristics of Servant Leaders (1996)
Patterson’s 7 Virtuous Constructs of Servant Leadership (2003)
Page & Wong’s 7 Factors of Servant Leadership (2003)
Commitment to Growth of People Empowerment Empowering and Developing Others
Empathy Humility Vulnerability/Humility
HealingStewardship
Agapao LoveService
Serving Others
ListeningBuilding Community
Open, Participatory Leadership
ConceptualizationForesight
Vision Visionary Leadership
Awareness Altruism Courageous Leadership (Integrity/Authenticity)
Persuasion Trust Inspiring Leadership
Master vs. Servant Leadership
Master Leadership Servant Leadership
“I make the decisions” “Together we will make the decisions”
“I know best” “Together, we do our best thinking”
“My needs are most important” “I operate based on others’ needs”
Employ fear and intimidation Cooperation and trusting atmosphere“Listen to me” “I will listen to you”“I have the vision” “We create a common vision” “Do it my way or leave” Cooperative decision-makingKeep information a secret Share informationReactive ProactiveFocus on speaking/telling Focus on listeningLectures Discussions
Master vs. Servant Leadership
Master Leadership Servant Leadership
Seeks personal success Seeks success for others and the team
Superior HumbleTrusts self Trusts othersDelegates with hesitation Delegates with confidenceDraws strength from self Draws strength from God and
othersJudges others/ criticizes Helps others/motivates“Gotcha” mentality Helps others grow and
forgives mistakesControls others Grants freedoms/choices“I will do it for you” “I will help you”“Follow me” “Let’s move forward together
Why Servant Leadership?
Climate strong relationship between servant leadership
and positive school climate. Academic Success
schools with greater practices of servant leadership achieve at a higher rate than schools with lower degrees of servant leadership practice.
Job Satisfaction strong relationship between servant leadership
and job satisfaction.
Why Servant Leadership?
Teachers are servant leaders themselves, and they prefer to follow other servant leaders.
According to Greenleaf, servant leaders want to be led by servant leaders. He stated, “Those who choose to follow this principle (servant leadership) will not casually accept the authority of existing institutions. Rather, they will freely respond only to individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven and trusted as servants”
Questions to Ask Ourselves
Teachers: How can I best serve my kids?
Principals: How can I best serve the servant leaders who serve my kids?
Support: How can I best serve the servant leaders who serve the servant leaders who serve my kids?
Next Study
Accumulation of Servant Leadership Actions for Teachers in the Classroom to be posted on the
Servant Leadership website
Send suggestions to me at:
Servant Leadership Practices in the Classroom
Humility
1. Characteristics of humility
2. Using self-reflection to determine who I am and what I believe
1. Am I a master leader or a servant leader?
2. Living by the “golden rule”
3. Teaching self-reflection and humility to students
Servant Leadership Practices in the Classroom
Serving Others
1. Mission to serve others
2. Moving one’s mission from the heart to the head
3. Mission as a motivator and stress reliever
4. Nurturing and healing students
5. Refueling colleagues and self
6. Serving parents
Servant Leadership Practices in the Classroom
Courageous Leadership (Integrity and Authenticity)
1. Self-reflection as a growth tool: values, beliefs, and guiding principles
2. Evaluation of strengths and non-strengths
3. Building a purposeful reputation
4. Modeling a life of high integrity for students
5. Protecting your students
Servant Leadership Practices in the Classroom
Visionary Leadership
1. Great dreams for students
2. Seeing the “Biggest” Picture
3. Providing direction and purpose for students’ lives
4. Bottom line – what is best for students
Servant Leadership Practices in the Classroom
Empowering and Developing Others
1. Making connections with people
2. Empowering students
3. John Maxwell’s “Enlarging Process”1. See potential2. Cast a vision for their future3. Tap into their passion4. Address character flaws5. Focus on their strengths
4. High expectations and accountability
5. Mentoring colleagues and passing on strengths
Servant Leadership Practices in the Classroom
Open/Participatory Leadership
1. Give power away to receive more
2. Promote kindness, trust, honesty, openness in all interactions
3. Communication skills
4. Approachability
5. Crucial conversations and confrontations
6. Building teams and a sense of community
Servant Leadership Practices in the Classroom
Inspiring Leadership
1. Vision + Courage = Inspiration
2. Being a person of influence: persuasion vs. position power
3. Building trust and positive culture
4. Gaining students’ loyalty
5. Living a life of fun and adventure
6. Inspiring students to create their best future
The Lighthouse
She is larger than life and awe inspiringas she stands firmly on the ground.
She slings her light out into the darknessturning the lost into the found.
Dependable, patient, stalwart and sturdy
are some words used to express her charm.She is a beacon of light guiding ships in the night
providing direction and protection from harm.
She guides others on their adventuressome never to return, their futures skillfully erected.
She never abandons her post, she always remains behindwith no accolades expected.
It is often a thankless job.......
Yet, she is ever faithful to her mission of serving others.
Please forgive me for getting
deep or profound
like some philosopher or preacher,
but it seems to me that you could drop
the word “lighthouse”
and insert the word “teacher.”
The Lighthouse (Revisited)
She is larger than life and awe inspiring
as she stands firmly on the ground.
She slings her light out into the darkness
turning the lost into the found.
The Lighthouse (Revisited)
Dependable, patient, stalwart and sturdy
are some words used to express her charm.
She is a beacon of light guiding ships in the night
providing direction and protection from harm.
The Lighthouse (Revisited)
She guides others on their adventuressome never to return, their futures skillfully
erected.She never abandons her post, she always
remains behindwith no accolades expected. It is often a thankless job.......Yet, she is ever faithful to her mission of
serving others.
Some people think and say……
“I am just a teacher.”
My question to you is……
“Are You Famous?”
Definition of “Famous”
Webster’s Dictionary Well-known Wide-spread Reputation Celebrated
Let’s talk one more time about burnout…
Mission is a motivator
Mission is a stress reliever
I can put up with the “stuff” that comes
at me as long as I stay true to my
mission of serving my students
Don’t Quit
Servant leadership is not easy, but it is worth doing right!
Resources
Resources for Servant Leadership: www.servantleadersineducation.com
Go online and check out servant leadership for educators. Please share your ideas about servant leadership actions for teachers.
Send ideas to:
Pencils, Paper, & Prayer: Christian Devotions
for Educators
Release Date: October 2010
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