Zach Boness

EDAD 633

SCHOOL ADMIN AND LEADERSHIP

Course Reflection

The purpose of this class is to examine the role of a school principal. The course goes in
depth with a principal as a visionary, building manager, instructional leader, creator for a
learning environment, and decision maker. There is a lot that goes into being an administrator.
There are a lot of countless hours that typically go unnoticed. Administrators have to have a
strong rapport with a variety of people to be able to impact the culture of a school in a positive
way.

The course consisted of forums and case studies that I had to research. One of the case
studies that I analyzed was how an administrator helped ignite passion back into the school
system. Educators can get in a rut and lose their passion. So the administrator made an
institution that brings in teacher from all over the United States to talk about the important
issues that are plaguing our youth. The purpose is to give these educators the tools to deal with
the issues and ignite that passion back into them. At the same time the goal is to have those
inspired teacher go and ignite that passion back into the schools where they reside. The
purpose of the institute is quite powerful and can make a difference throughout.

Another key topic that was discussed in this course was making sure all students have
the best opportunity to learn. This means even minorities. There are times where some
minorities can struggle in school and it is vital for schools to be able to provide the necessary
resources. There have been issues in the past where minorities weren't given the best
opportunity to be successful, especially on National Standardized Tests. If students aren't able
to understand the question or how it’s worded it can be rather difficult to analyze what they
actually know in the content. This is why laws have been passed to reach out and help these
students in hope that we can get a better idea of where they actually are in the academic
realm.

When reflecting on this course it really stood out to me how much an administrator has
to deal with outside of just the norm. If students don't feel connected to the school or a sense
of belonging it can be a struggle for them academically. Students need to know that you care.
Why will they go out of their way if they don't feel that you, as an educator, care about them? It
is vital that administrators focus on other aspects of the students besides just their academic
scores. If this is done where an administrator cares about the student’s well-being it will in turn
improve those academics, as well.