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LaShondra Evans

Grand Canyon University

EAD 533: Developing and Empowering Instructional Leaders

Chandar Anderson

June 23, 2021

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Secondary

As the team lead, my expectation of Mr. Wong would be to initially coach Mr.

Blumenstock with the pacing guide. Once he noticed that Mr. Blumenstock was not able to keep

up with the pacing guide, Mr. Wong should have observed Mr. Blumenstock. After observing

Mr. Blumenstock, Mr. Wong should have met with Mr. Blumenstock to create goals for Mr.

Blumenstock. Once the goals were created together, Mr. Wong could guide and model for Mr.

Blumenstock with his lessons. Mr. Wong and Mr. Blumenstock should be included in

conversations to help the situation from happening again. The goal is to support Mr.

Blumenstock and as the principal, I would be responsible for supporting Mr. Wong. The

conversations would start off as individual conversations to get an overall picture of the

situation. From there, we would collaborate on the next steps that need to be taken so that

everyone in the situation is successful. Questions to consider when determining the next steps

would be:

 Did Mr. Blumenstock ask for help?

 Did Mr. Wong try to create a collaborative atmosphere so that Mr. Blumenstock

could participate in team meetings?

 Did the other teachers create an uncomfortable environment for Mr.

Blumenstock?

 Where did the anecdotal information come from? When was it noted?

 How can I help the situation?

When a teacher is an outlier to their team, it is important to find out the reasons why

while remaining ethical about the situation. Although I do not see any district or school policies

that will affect decisions for the next steps, it is important to get more information on the
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situation. I would start by looking at the subpopulations in Mr. Blumenstock’s classes. What is

his SPED, GT, and ELL populations? I would ask Mr. Wong when did Mr. Blumenstock get off

track with his pacing. I would want to find out if pacing issues were discussed in team meetings.

If they were, did Mr. Blumenstock hide the fact that his pacing was off? That leads to another

question. If Mr. Blumenstock’s pacing was off, how did his students do on common

assessments? Did the student data show that his pacing was off? Doing nothing about the

situation will only continue to hurt the students in Mr. Blumenstock’s classes. Getting Mr.

Blumenstock, the support he needs will make him a stronger teacher which in turn creates more

student success. Taking action can offend Mr. Wong and/or Mr. Blumenstock. Either educator

could think that they are in trouble and get defensive. In this case, it is imperative that action

must be taken.

First, I would meet with Mr. Wong to go over leadership expectations. I would help Mr.

Wong go through the coaching cycle. I would also make sure that Mr. Wong knows how to

analyze the data to see potential setbacks or adjustments that need to be made with the teachers

he is leading. I would remind Mr. Wong that he cited that the success of the team was because of

the teacher’s collaboration as well as assessments results. This can not be true if there is one

teacher left out. I would help Mr. Wong created a team that sees themselves as all in it together.

The team needs a culture of trust and helping each other. Mr. Wong and the team needs to know

that they are only strong as their weakest link. Next, I would meet with Mr. Blumenstock to see

where we failed him. I would want to know why he did not collaborate with the team. Together,

we would create attainable goals for Mr. Blumenstock. I would have Mr. Wong go over the

pacing guide with Mr. Blumenstock as well as his lesson plans. Together, Mr. Wong and I would

observe Mr. Blumenstock and collaborative on creating goals for Mr. Blumenstock. Mr.
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Blumenstock would have a voice in creating these goals as well. A potential challenge to the

situation is that Mr. Blumenstock feels he is being pointed out for his scores. I would let Mr.

Blumenstock know that we are here to serve him and not judge or criticize him. Once long term

and short-term goals are set, I would re-evaluate the situation in a few weeks at a time until the

long-term goal should be obtained. Both educators will have long and short-term goals. Mr.

Wong will be evaluated on creating a true team that can collaborate with all teachers and focus

on student achievement. I would have the grade level team create a common goal to work

towards together that includes action steps to obtain the goal. We would create a SMART goal

with each assessment and standard to create a focus among the team.
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References

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional Standards for

Educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author.

Andy Hargreaves (2019) Teacher collaboration: 30 years of research on its nature, forms,

limitations and effects, Teachers and Teaching, 25:5, 603-621

Antinluoma, M , Ilomäki , L , Lahti-Nuuttila , P & Toom , A 2018 , ' Schools as professional

learning communities ' , Journal of Education and Learning , vol. 7 , no. 5 , pp. 76-91 .