Leadership Imperatives

What are the leadership imperatives most pressing to address the needs of today's diverse learners?


In my opinion, there are four major areas for discussion; moral imperatives, "21st Century" imperatives, accountability imperatives, and support imperatives.

Moral imperatives - I truly believe that with each generation, you see a decline with values and respect. I set those standards against the beliefs and teachings of my faith. The things I see on TV even in some “children” programs often shock me. I believe that students are required and/or forced to "grow up" before their time. As an educator, I have to try to understand how these young minds deal with grown up situations on a daily basis. As educators, we cannot change the way the world is for our students, so we must find ways to bring those important issues to our students. The alternative feels like a future where violence, disrespect, and lack of tolerance will be the norm.

"21st Century" imperatives - Again, the world is a more advanced place compared to when I was growing up. I have discussed this in some of the previous blogs. However, there are so many advantages especially in the area of technology. We as educators must learn to use what works for students today to our advantage in the classroom. On the other hand, the advancement of such technology has also opened the child's world to material I don't feel is always suitable for a developing mind.

Accountability imperatives - We have had to deal with accountability for some time now, but accountability has been more in the hands of the teacher. Now more than ever we must find ways to teach our students that they are accountable for what they do in the classroom. That does not allow educators to sit back and say, "If the child is unwilling to do the work, then it is not my fault." I have seen several children in the past few years with a sense of, I don't have to do it if I don't feel like it and there isn't or shouldn't be any consequences. I think we are raising a generation of students who don't feel accountable for their work or actions. Dare I ask it; are we raising a generation of students who don't want it if it requires "work"?

Support imperatives - When I think about support, I am referring to support for students and teachers. I think the latter is the most important step in order to finally support our students and their diverse needs. Teachers need both personal and professional support now more than ever. We have discussed in class that our students have changed, but we continue to teach the same way. We have to first support our teachers so they have the tools to work with ALL students. In addition, we see more parents in need of support. It is not just the parents of "special need" students who need the extra support or even the basic educational support.

We have had many discussions that the students of now are different in many ways from when we were students. We know that there were approaches used with us that didn't work that are still being used now. We have to reflect on where our students are and make the changes needed to meet their needs.