My Philosophy of Educational Leadership:

Collaboration, Climate and Culture

-Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership
and Postsecondary Education
University of Northern Iowa
-In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the
Master of Arts in Education or Advanced Studies Certificate
-by
Neal D. Bentley
North Fayette Valley High School
West Union, IA
(November 15, 2014)
-Dr. Nicholas Pace

Let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
I am an Industrial Technology teacher, a fancier title for what is more commonly referred
to as a shop teacher. As such, I have seen my share of worn out tools, engines, and parts. I have
an appreciation for these worn-out items. It speaks to the usefulness of the object, harkens to the
toil and hard work shouldered, that the object has an intimate knowledge of doing and has
rightfully earned its worn-out look. Rust, in contrast, indicates uselessness. Rust points to
carelessness, shoddy workmanship, and an inglorious end. Rust crumbles and flakes away in the
wind.
President Roosevelts quote inspires me as a potential principal candidate to tackle newer
and bigger endeavors. I wish to see the full balcony view of a high school, to engage a teaching
staff in aggressively pursuing continued learning. I wish to excite more than shop students to
chase down their education. The opportunities to lead as a principal may challenge me, frustrate
me, and could possibly wear me out...but I choose to embrace the journey. I fear rusting out.
Rusting out is what some of our students unintentionally are doing in regards to their
education. Within conversations I have had with fellow educators, there appears to be an inactive
approach to education, a chance for rust to grab hold and grow (R. Holthaus, T. Nuss, personal
communication, November 11, 2014). The view of education comes across as less of a quest, and
more of a gift - as if education is given. The educational model in which the teacher is the giverof-knowledge and the student is the receiver-of-knowledge suggests passivity on the part of the
student.
I challenge this model, our students, to actively quest after their education. This will be
difficult and different for all. I do not have an easy path towards this goal. There is no clean,
concise, sterile pathway. Education is messy. Yet we need to tackle the complacency head on, to

cut away that what has begun to rust, patch in new, and run the chance of wearing out. To do this,
I will need to focus on collaboration, climate, and student grittiness.
Collaboration
In my vision of collaboration, there are three entities: the community, the student, and the
school. Members of this tripod must actively participate in their interactions with the remaining
two members for the model to stand securely.
The community must support the students efforts in a challenging classroom, and
likewise support the instructors work in challenging students. The community must also help
accommodate teacher requests in connecting real-world experiences to the classroom (ISSL 6,
Wilmore, 2002). In return, the community can expect the school to support its initiatives and
demonstrate a reasonable intent of spending locally. For instance, my class designed and created
artistic bicycle racks for a community revitalization project.
The student must actively and aggressively pursue her learning as a journey, similar to
Demings idea of kaizen, a model of continuous improvement (Marzano, Waters & McNulty,
2005, p. 16). She needs to explore her possible connections to community through school
offered options. She must also strive to participate fully in various activities offered through the
school intended to broaden her perspectives, and collaborate on community projects, returning
the favor to her community (Robbins & Alvy, 2014).
The school must guide the student within her studies to question and seek her current and
future role in the community beyond school (Robbins & Alvy, 2014, p. 168). To help accomplish
this, the school must host a safe and supportive culture that encourages the student to accomplish
this exploration. Once the school has established a safe culture, the next step is to reach beyond
the palace grounds into the community and establish authentic audiences for which the students

can perform. This role does not solely fall on the shoulders of athletics and fine arts. All
academic areas must create an opportunity for students to perform in front of community
members, particularly those members who have some expertise in that particular academic area
(ISSL 4, Wilmore, 2002).
In the middle of all the movement stands the principal, conducting the two-way traffic
between the three entities. If this sounds chaotic, it certainly should be. Education is messy.
Certainly there will be accidents; however, with a mindful principal playing the part of traffic
cop, the major accidents should be minimized.
Climate
Whitaker singles out climate, I care most about staff motivation, teacher morale, school
culture and climate, and student behavior, (Whitaker, 2013, p. 65). In School Leadership that
Works, culture placed 6th out of 21 aspects most strongly correlated with improved student
learning (Marzano et al., 2005, p. 63). The climate necessary for student growth is one where
students feel sufficiently safe and secure enough to attempt educational risks. It essentially is a
climate of trust; one that encourages students to push themselves beyond what is comfortable.
Within a safe climate, educators can encourage and allow students to develop a personal style of
resilience called grit.
Grittiness
This idea of pushing beyond what is comfortable, for students, is an important factor in
building future success. In her article, Perkins-Gough (2013) interviewed Angela Lee
Duckworth, highlighting the significance of what has been termed as grit. In Duckworths own
words from her recorded TEDtalk ...one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of
success. And it wasnt social intelligence, it wasnt good looks, physical health, and it wasnt I.Q.

It was grit. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term goals, (Duckworth, 2013). If
resilience is the positive response to failure or adversity, then grittiness is resilience in the face of
failure/adversity (Perkins-Gough, 2013). Another way to look at this is through the historical
quote Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts
(Churchill, 1944).
The significance of Churchills quote is that hard work and perseverance can overcome
sheer talent, and when paired together they are seemingly an unstoppable force. The most
successful people in life are both talented and gritty in whatever they have chosen to do (PerkinsGough, 2013).
How do we encourage grittiness? It is important to first understand Duckworth when she
says, When youre learning, you have to make mistakes (Perkins-Gough, p. 19, 2013). The
company synonymous to the Internet, Google, seems to have embraced this idea. At the Project
Lead The Way (PLTW) summit this year, I listened to Googles Head of Solution Strategy, as he
related to our break-out session a company belief: Fail quickly, learn from it, and move on (A.
Swidler, personal communication, November 4, 2014).
Failure is a part of life; it is about how we respond to failure that counts. If we can
cultivate an educational culture that teaches our students the first solution reached may not be the
best, to continue to innovate beyond, to push for better, we will have imbued our students with
grittiness. Grittiness will help our students accomplish complex projects. One of my favorite
lines to use in the classroom, and one I feel will be pertinent when leading teachers, comes from
Elmore (2014) I have very high expectations and I know you can reach them (The Secret
That Enabled Me to Improve section, para. 3).

As a potential principal candidate, I am willing to put forth the energy needed to build a
school with a climate and culture that allows my students to safely fail. In my eyes, failure is just
another opportunity to tweak something into a success. When adding in aspects of the
collaboration model of authentic audiences, students will be motivated through grittiness to fix
those failures. The combination of collaboration, climate, and student grittiness in education will
undoubtedly require quite a bit of long range planning and energy. Yet, I do not fear the task of
implementing any one of the components. I accept I may wear down, but I will not allow myself
to rust out.

Duckworth, A. (2013, April). Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? Grit. Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit?language=en#t-177601
Elmore, T. (2014, July 25). The secret that increases effort 40%. Retrieved from
http://growingleaders.com/blog/secret-increases-effort-40/#disqus_thread
Marzano, R., McNulty, B., & Waters, T., (2005). School leadership that works: From research to results.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Perkins-Gough, D. (2013). The significance of grit: A conversation with Angela Lee Duckworth.
Educational Leadership, 71(1), 15-20.
Robbins, P., & Alvy, H. B. (2014). The principal's companion: Strategies to lead schools for student and
teacher success (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Whitaker, T. (2013). What great principals do differently: 18 things that matter most. New York, NY:
Routledge.