Reflection of Vision Assignment & Three Elements of a Vision

Leading School Vision: Promoting the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a school vision of learning supported by the school community.

Reflecting on the Vision Group Project and the Vision Assignment makes me realize how important shared decision making is, and how this component is necessary in the development and implementation of a school vision. During the Vision paper, we all were able to draft individual versions of what we believe a vision should be. However, being asked to draft a vision with our group was a totally different process. Our group had lengthy conversations where we shared our non-negotiables for a vision. We also had to plan out the implementation of the school vision as stated in ELCC 1.0. We created a realistic timeline to accomplish our goal and bring our vision to life. Another  way our vision project meets the ELCC Standard 1.0 is in the facilitating the articulation component. Embedded in our implementation are various forums for parents and members of the school community to contribute to as well as voice their concerns on the vision of the school. This is aligned with the notion of ongoing "development" as mentioned in Standard 1.0. These assignments were an opportunity to learn how a vision can become a reality through development, collaboration, articulation, and the importance of logisitics in the implementation of the vision.

The members of my group were extremely goal oriented and flexible as well. One problem we faced was a dealing with a disengaged group member so early on in the program. We had issues around communication, and work ethic. One of our team members was not "pulling their weight." He was not communicating with the group members and ended up ignoring our emails the night before an assignment was due. I was frustrated, and so were my teammates. We went to our professor and asked for her support. She held a meeting with all group members to address the problems our group was having. Having this meeting was uncomfortable, but learning how to have difficult conversations is a useful experience. I used open, direct communication as a strategy to address our group issue.  Even though we confronted him with our concerns, offered support, he did not respond by becoming an active participant. Therefore, we effectively distributed his workload, and this was how we managed the situation. It ended up being an effective strategy, and one we would probably do again when faced with an adult that refuses to participate; the show must go on!

My favorite part of this assignment was learning how to work with other people without feeling like my views were compromised. The most useful part of this assignment was learning how to facilitate shared decision making. As a leader in my school, there are many situations in which I face resistance to change because it is viewed as more work. This cannot deter me from my vision, even though it can feel discouraging at times. This was a valuable lesson to learn in how to be tenacious.