Course Description:
This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the study of educational leadership. The following principles have been utilized in the development of this course:
2. Individuals within the class will have specific interest areas within the broader context of educational leadership. Therefore, the course components have been organized to honour the interests of individual participants.
3. Understanding a variety of perspectives enables learners to understand each topic more deeply. Therefore, a strong emphasis has been placed on participant interaction to enable each of us to learn from each other.
Instructor: Dr. Jacqueline Kirk
Reflection:
This course pushed my to my creative limits! When I saw that there were many "diagrams" required for this course I was very nervous. Creativity with diagrams was definitely not in my comfort zone so I knew that I was going to have to push myself, especially when 40% of my mark was riding on it! I don't even dare to guess the amount of hours that I spent learning new programs where I could create visually appealing diagrams that illustrated each theory. Sometimes I would get so close to making one but I couldn't get the "pieces" to connect properly so I had to start over in a different program. This happened more often than I would like to admit. I thought I would lose my mind, but I did not give up!
Once I found Canva, near the end of the course, I became engrossed in all of the possibilities that it had to offer. I found myself actually enjoying creating the diagram for Transformational Leadership. Go figure!
I thought the book talk was a great way for us to share information with fellow students. Again, as I had mentioned for another course, the freedom to choose ANY leadership book was a blessing and a curse. It was nice to have the freedom of choice, but there were so many books from which to choose, the decision-making process became another hurdle for my brain to jump. I went back and forth between two books for weeks. I finally decided on the one that had the most impact on me as a leader.
Learning about the various leadership theories was an important step in understanding who I am as leader and who I aspire to be. Reflecting on the different styles allowed me to see how my current practices aligned, or did not align, with each of these theories. I found that I could see examples of many of these theories in my leadership style as many of them share some of the same basic principles. I was particularly pleased to learn about Situational Leadership and I had noticed that I seemed to provide differing amounts and types of support to teachers depending on their level of expertise, and it was reassuring that that was okay. Different situations can call for different approaches.
The only theory that I didn't fully understand was Systems Theory, and I even presented an article on that topic! Ugh! I'm not sure how I got through that evening. I'm just thankful no one had questions!
I appreciated the format of this course because almost every week students were presenting articles or book talks. This made the evenings go by much quicker than other courses when it was just the instructor sharing information. Being given time to talk in the breakout rooms was also always appreciated.
I did find this course particularly stressful because the two major assignments were only due at the end of the course. I like to know that I am on the right track and use the assignment feedback as either reassurance or guidance on how to improve for my next assignment. Jackie was always flexible and open when it came to how we completed our assignments, probably the most flexible of any course I had taken. This was a stark contrast to the courses that I took with Marion. My brain works best under clear, concise guidelines, but I know it is equally important to be a flexible and creative thinker. This course gave my brain the balance it needed (like it or not!).
I chose to include the Theory Diagrams assignment because of the blood (figuratively), sweat (literally), and tears (literally) that went into it. When I accomplish something that I feel pushed me to my limits, the feeling is indescribable. I was so proud of my final diagram assignment. This course didn't kill me, and it definitely made me stronger.
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