Running

Head: VISIONARY LEADERSHIP

Visionary Leadership
Virginia E. Rogers
Iowa State University

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Visionary Leadership
Every marathon runner knows that while emotions are important, in the long
run, it is preparation, monitoring signals, and making midcourse corrections and
occasional changes in pace that are essential not only for victory but for simply
finishing the race (Reeves, 2006, p. 48). As a fellow runner, I was drawn to this
analogy. In this Race to the Top marathon, we must take each and every element of
learning as an essential part of our race. Real educational leaders are similar to
marathon runners. They must be able to see the big picture without focusing on
running as fast as possible. No two people come away from the same experience
with the identical perspectives (Baker, 2010, p. 2). My perspective of education or
my theories, if you will, have been founded in the understanding that technology,
though vast and powerful, is the key to providing our students the necessary
literacies to thrive in the 21st Century. Not just throwing technology or money at
education, but training teachers how to transform their instruction far beyond what
they ever imagined possible. My final piece of evidence (artifact #4) is an
introductory course designed for teachers and administrators surrounding
standards-based grading. This course not only shows my ability to work with others
but it also shows my willingness to provide learning opportunities for fellow
educators.
A list of accomplishments and associations could not clearly define my vision
of leadership in education. I spend hours reflecting upon the future and current
reality of our education system on all levels. Reflection is the key to success in the

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classroom as with many other professions (Marzano & Boogren, 2012, p. 4). If we
are not willing to admit our flaws and professionally develop our thinking, we will
continue to heed the same results. Being an agent of change is something that I am
very passionate about. I try to involve myself in as many opportunities to improve
the culture in my building and most importantly, the lives of my students. These
roles have allowed me to advocate for students on multiple platforms. Here are a
few of my roles outside of teaching art:
Fine Arts Team Leader
As the team leader, I strive to make sure that the elective teachers have all
necessary communication. It can be quite complicated with so many different
schedules going on concurrently. I try my best to act as the spokesperson for
my team. I am also responsible for mentoring and assisting new teachers to
the team.
Middle School Visual Arts PLC Facilitator
Working alongside the curriculum coordinator and the other facilitator, we
have created a long-range plan for our professional development. Our main
goals are to ignite creative capacity in our art teachers by turning traditional
professional development into a hands-on, collaborative experiences that
ignite the passion that our teachers thirst.
DMEA Union Representative
Through the Des Moines Education Association (DMEA) I am also able to
advocate for change. Not as unions are usually depicted, the DMEA is an

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organization that helps both the district and the employees ensure best
practice. Having a positive relationship among administrators and teachers is
another key component to a successful learning environment. By being the
DMEA representative in my building, I am able to be the communication
channel between administration and teachers.
Technology Specialist
My final and most crucial role outside of my classroom is the building
technology specialist. We are at a crucial moment in education, where
educational reform is an absolute necessity. Just like with my change from
traditional to choice-based learning, traditional teaching styles must be
transformed to fit the needs of our 21st Century learners. I am extremely
passionate about showing teachers the value in using technology as a way to
make this transformation. By being the building technology specialist I am
able to express my passion for meeting the needs of the 21st Century learner.
Classroom
Inside of my classroom, I take every opportunity to reflect on instructional
choices for my students. With a whatever it takes attitude, the change and school
improvements that may have seemed impossible are completely obtainable. That
whatever it takes attitude is just what it takes to be an agent of change in
education. We must stop making excuses for students, teachers, and administrators
and start to hold our learning to the highest standard possible. This year I have
really taken this motto in as my mission. All kids can learn at the highest standard

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possible, if the educators are given the necessary skills to facilitate that learning
(Marzano, 2003, p. 78). After completing the M.Ed. program, I am confident that I
can not only create this type of learning in my own classroom but that I can
effectively provide my colleagues with the skills needed to do the same.
Building
At a building level, changes in policies, practices, and organization are
needed but by themselves are insufficient to gain and sustain improvement in
student achievement and other measures of success (Parrett & Budge, 2012 p. 61). I
am committed to constantly improving my own teaching practices for student and
adult instruction. This is proven by my willingness to learn both inside and outside
of school. I am also certain, by teaching other teachers how to innovate and change
their own practices I am impacting more students than I could ever within the four
walls of my own classroom. In the building, I not only fight for innovation but I also
seek to advocate for the fine arts to be seen as an extremely important component of
a quality education. This means that classes that are normally thought of as
electives are the cornerstone of creating success (Reeves, 2006, p. 114).
Just like in the classroom, if we expect teachers to infuse technology into
their learning, we must ensure that administrators model and support the
expectation. In the last three years I have been working to change the technology
climate and culture of the building and in the district. This is accomplished by
demanding that our professional development model what we want instruction to
look like. All professional development is given to me ahead of time. I choose

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different types of technologies to infuse into the professional development. This
helps the administration learn and show important technologies. This also allows
teachers to participate in learning while using these technologies with the hope that
they will take them and use them in their own instruction.
District
If I have had one major aha! moment from the MEd program, it is that
instructional technology professional development takes a great deal of time to be
successful. That time should not be diminished or underestimated (ISTE, 2011). My
initial reasoning for beginning this program was to load my own instructional
toolbox with cool tools. Beyond that I have developed a realization that I have a
strong passion for filling other peoples tool boxes. I have presented in many
different facets on various technologies and I have learned that one cannot just
throw together a set of cool tools to demonstrate to educators and hope that it will
affect change. Artifact #4 is an example of transforming professional learning to
meet the needs of the audience. Not only is the platform online, but the course uses
various tools that the educators can translate into their own instruction. Online
professional learning opens up new doors for education. No longer are we confined
to the school building, as it allows us to reach out across the vast world and connect
with our learning networks.
Conclusion

Through all of these artifacts, reflections, and most importantly experiences I

am nearing the end of my process with curriculum and instructional technology. I

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can truly say that I feel comfortable sharing and reflecting my knowledge with other
educators surrounding these topics. With my whatever it takes attitude and my
knowledge of instructional technology there is nothing that will get in the way of my
crusade to transform education. This program has been one of the most rewarding
choices that I have made in my professional career and I cannot wait to use this to
guide my choices in my next endeavor.

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References
Baker, E. (2010). The new literacies: Multiple perspectives on research and practice.

New York: Guilford Press.

Greaves, T. (2012). Revolutionizing education through technology: The Project RED
roadmap for transformation. Eugene, OR.: International Society for Technology in
Education.

Marzano, R. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action.

Alexandria, VA.: ASCD.

Marzano, R., & Boogren, T. (2012). Becoming a reflective teacher. Bloomington, IN.:
Marzano Research Laboratory.

Parrett, W., & Budge, K. (2012). Turning high-poverty schools into high-performing

schools. Alexandria, VA.: ASCD.

Reeves, D. (2006). The learning leader how to focus school improvement for better
results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2011). Technology,
coaching, and community: Power partners for improved professional development in
primary and secondary education. (ISTE White Paper).

https://www.iste.org/resources/product?ID=2157