What It Means to Be a Principal : Your Guide to Leadership

by John C. Daresh

• ISBN13: 9780761921578
• ISBN10: 0761921575
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-09
• Publisher: Corwin Pr

Summary

"Becoming a principal involves more than merely applying for a job. It means taking part in a long voyage toward becoming the most effective leader you can become." Author, educator, and leader John C. Daresh leads you on that journey in a unique and important book that combines self-exploration and career planning in a powerful new way. Now you can look at every facet of the most important career decision you can make. You?ll ask yourself if you really want to be a principal . . . you?ll discover what the job truly entails and how it matches up with your real career goals and personal plans. By examining a series of critical issues, this book can help you make that all-important decision by showing you what it?s really like to be a principal on a day-to-day basis. Issues include: Differing views of administration The role of superintendents and district personnel Visions of leadership Conflict as part of the job The frustrations of leadership What it means to be in charge Options for principal professional development What It Means to Be a Principal is a work of insight and action ? a challenging real-world framework that will help you make one of the most important decisions of your career. John C. Daresh has worked as a professional educator for more than 30 years in public schools in Iowa and Illinois and in universities across the country, and has served as a consultant to school districts, state departments of education, and universities. Currently he serves as a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations at the University of Texas at El Paso. Daresh has been a frequent contributor to the literature on principalship, and is the author of the best-seller Beginning the Principalship from Corwin Press.

Author Biography

John C. Daresh is currently Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
About the Author	x
Introduction to the Journey	1	(16)
What Do Beginning Principals Need?	2	(1)
Do Beginning Principals Feel Ready to Lead?	3	(4)
Beginning Principals' Critical Skills	7	(2)
The Current Field of Administration	9	(3)
Another Perspective	12	(2)
Summary	14	(2)
Suggested Activities	16	(1)
Personal Philosophies to Guide Action	17	(19)
The Value of Clarifying Personal Assumptions	19	(1)
Developing a Personal Educational Philosophy	19	(2)
Individual Action Planning	21	(11)
Reflective Practice and the Action Plan	32	(2)
Summary	34	(1)
Suggested Activities	34	(2)
Building-Level Administrators	36	(19)
Building-Level Administrative Jobs	38	(15)
Summary	53	(1)
Suggested Activities	53	(1)
Additional Reading	54	(1)
Superintendents and Central Office Administrators	55	(20)
Central Office Administrators	56	(3)
Superintendents	59	(13)
Summary	72	(1)
Suggested Activities	73	(1)
Additional Reading	73	(2)
Differing Views of Administration	75	(18)
Alternative Historical Perspectives	76	(8)
Current Perspectives	84	(7)
Summary	91	(1)
Suggested Activities	92	(1)
Additional Readings	92	(1)
Visions of Leadership	93	(22)
Alternative Definitions	94	(2)
Descriptive Versus Normative Views	96	(1)
Historical Development of Leadership	96	(11)
Emerging Leadership Perspectives	107	(4)
General Comments About Leadership	111	(1)
Summary	112	(1)
Suggested Activities	113	(1)
Additional Readings	114	(1)
What It Means to Be in Charge	115	(9)
Alternative Definitions	116	(2)
Characteristics of Power	118	(2)
Compliance Theory	120	(1)
Characteristics of Authority	121	(1)
Implications for Someone Becoming an Administrator	122	(1)
Summary	123	(1)
Suggested Activities	123	(1)
Conflict as Part of the Job	124	(12)
What Is Conflict?	125	(2)
Sources and Types of Conflict	127	(5)
Conflict-Handling Styles	132	(2)
Summary	134	(1)
Suggested Activities	135	(1)
Additional Readings	135	(1)
Who Runs the Schools?	136	(15)
Teachers' Groups	137	(3)
Parents and Community Groups	140	(4)
School Boards	144	(5)
Summary	149	(1)
Suggested Activities	149	(1)
Additional Readings	150	(1)
Frustrations of Leadership	151	(15)
Major Challenges	152	(1)
Frustrations of Principals	153	(11)
Summary	164	(1)
Suggested Activities	164	(1)
Additional Readings	164	(2)
Keeping the Journey Alive	166	(11)
Principal Professional Development	167	(1)
Administrator Inservice	167	(4)
Personal Learning	171	(4)
Summary	175	(1)
Suggested Activities	175	(1)
Additional Readings	176	(1)
References	177	(6)
Index	183