Bridget Bender

My Leadership Role
This next school year will be my eighth year at Boscobel Elementary. I have taught
reading, 4-year-old kindergarten, and I am currently in first grade. Our district has gone through
some hard times with leadership in the past. This has caused our school climate to not be very
positive at times. In the past, I have put blame on our positional leaders, but Bean and Dagen
(2012) put emphasis on leadership distribution. Leadership should be distributed across
individuals in the school. It is important to call upon individuals according to their expertise and
experiences for the benefit of the students and staff. This has changed my thinking and has made
me want to become more involved.
Last week, my principal came to me and asked me to become the new leader of the
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) team. We will be implementing this full
force this next school year. Rath and Conchie (2008) stress the importance of creating hope and
optimism with followers. I will need to be sure to help my staff members see the opportunities
and benefits this new initiative will offer. I will need to remind staff that we are here to fix
problems and not punish them. I need them to think of teaching behavior just like they teach
reading and math. I will provide them with strategies to help re-teach skills to students.
Katzenmeyer and Moller (2009) stress the importance of building relationships among
followers in order to influence them and gain trust. I have a very good rapport with my
colleagues because I make an attempt to talk to them and reach out on a personal level. I have
found the staff I have done this with are more willing to listen to my ideas and are willing to try
new ideas. I will use the relationships that I have built with staff to get them on board with the
PBIS initiative. Once I get more people to buy into the idea, then they can help educate the other

staff and help show the benefits to others. I will be sure to keep in mind the steps to influencing
others according to Katzenmeyer and Moller: state my position, use data, seek and understand
others perspectives, identify what is at stake, generate options, and reach an agreement. This
process will take some time, but it will be crucial in the effort of getting people to see the
benefits in the future. I foresee this being a process, but I plan to stay positive and call on the
strengths of myself and teammates to make this as successful as possible.

References
Bean, R. M., & Swan, D. A. (2012). Best practices of literacy leaders: Keys to school
improvement. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Katzenmeyer, M., & Moller, G. (2001). Awakening the sleeping giant: Helping teachers develop
as leaders. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths based leadership: Great leaders, teams, and why
people follow. New York: Gallup Press.