Brad Delauter

FSU
Internship
7/31/15

Administrator Response Essay

In reflection there are many facets and behind the scenes work that administrators
directly and indirectly engage in every day. Each of my six administrators had many similarities
and differences in their leadership approach however all had a common theme of creating a
positive school culture and making decision based on what is best for students.
The first question I asked these administrators was to describe a couple ways you assist
students in your building on a regular basis? Immediately, the emphasis on positive school
culture was exposed because most responses pertained to being visible for student and engaging
theme routinely. Listening to student responses and addressing their needs was another important
aspect because it builds meaningful relationships. In addition to the student communications,
promoting staff interaction and meaningful professional development that builds a shared vision
of a positive school culture was also evident. As my interviewees responded to the first question
they also began a natural transition into the next question: Describe a couple ways you assist
teachers in your building on a regular basis?
These administrators allowed me to reflect on the relationship between a perceived
student positive school culture and the staffs perceived and projected idea of school culture.
Mentoring teachers so they can reach their potential as well as evaluating them as a means of
feedback rather than illuminating what is wrong. The managerial aspect was also mentioned
because schools needs to keep the bureaucratic aspect operating efficiently for benefit of the staff

member. The questions as well as the responses lead to describing the "behind the scenes" job
requirement that administrators perform on a regular basis.
As administrators describe behind the scenes they provided valuable insight for new
administrators. The various duties of communicating with, parents, committees, Human
resources, faculty, staff, and vertical alignments of curriculums were all mentioned as regularly
behind the scenes duties. This is a very enormous task that is only an aspect or portion of the
administrators duties in a regular day. Learning how to balance the large and varying job
requirements seems to be a clear indicator of why there are multiple models of education.
Knowledge of these models only serves to improve an administrators response and efficiency as
a leader.
In reflection of their advice for new leaders my local administrators reflected several
common ideas. Taking time to reflect on every situation before responding and ask the advice of
other professional to not only build collegiality but to use it as leadership tool. They also
emphasized not to take feedback personally and try to learn from every experience whether
positive or negative.
In summary I found that these administrators responses provided me with two important
reflection lessons. The first reinforce the idea that multiple models of educational leadership will
need to be utilized at various times as an administrator. The second reflection lesson is to take
advantage and incorporate the collegiate model from conversations too seeking advice.