The Gioia of Education Leadership

            The commitment of supervision is being dedicated to a process that provides an accommodating and flexible opportunity for individuals to succeed. Also allowing individuals to participate in critical reflection in order to mutually explore challenges and discover new ways of handling both the situation and the individual. Providing an atmosphere that allows teachers to engage in a dialogue on the improvement of teaching and learning. Educational supervision must include scaffolding that can adjust attitudes, knowledge, and behavior. Lastly, being flexible in their style that it can accommodate different teaching and learning styles.

This can be achieved by the supervisor by clearly defining goals for the teachers and providing opportunities for the teachers to implement the direction of the district and meet local, state, and federal requirements.  A successful supervisor must also provide support to teachers through effective professional development that introduces techniques that provide the tools necessary for effective teaching. The specific tasks include providing access to workshops, speakers and completing walkthroughs and clinical supervision that reinforce the direction and provide the basis for growth.  Furthermore, a supervisor that truly works toward getting all stakeholders on board with their vision must also work with parents and teachers to keep up-to-date on the community’s desires. This will have the natural effect of providing the communities students with an educational experience that will provide them with the necessary skills for numerous career paths. 

The development of a supervisor’s platform begins with their personal beliefs of work, collegiality, communication and accepting responsibility for one’s own career development.  My personal belief is strongly rooted in providing the tools to the individual to actively take the lead in their development. This begins with clearly defining what is expected of the teacher ensuring both their individual success but achieving the ultimate goal of student success. Effective instructional supervision involves motivating others to follow your lead and goals. If they are not confident in your clearly defined goals and vision it will be an uphill battle for any supervisor. This also means that prioritizing and filtering directives from the district will aid the teacher in the sometimes-overwhelming duties being asked of today’s educational staff members. Additionally, I am a strong proponent of modeling the techniques and behaviors that are a part of my vision and what I would like to achieve. Modeling the behaviors, policies, and techniques leave little ambiguity of what is expected from the teachers. With that being said, I am also a strong proponent of adjusting my policies to those of teachers who have achieved success in the environment we are working in. The atmosphere must be one of open dialogue with give and take from both supervisor and supervisee. I truly appreciate that differentiating my approach to the individual is vital to my success and the teachers. My style includes having situational awareness and to accommodate and adjust my supervisory behaviors to the teacher’s preparation, level of self-confidence, emotions, and the situation itself. However, the supervisor’s absolute mission (goal) is to improve instruction and to lead the students to an enriching and prosperous learning experience (Glickman, 2018).

I do believe that the field of education supervision has room for incorporating other fields of supervision and their techniques and methodology.  My approach is to draw upon my multiple life experiences of varying types of supervisory roles, to bring in what I have learned. My personal view has always been to think outside of the accepted norms and to utilize all areas of supervision as a source of improvement.