Tina Arbitter

Reason Response
November 6, 2016
Dr. Capel

Leading A Learning Organization, by Casey Reason

The book is comprised of nine chapters focusing on various themes that every leader
needs to consider and know when leading in an educational setting.
When we consider the fear, stress and learning overload in education, we can all relate
to such things.

Fear: Are we able to show student growth, how can we improve test scores, How will we
be rated in OTES observations?

Stress: DLT, BLT, TBT, OIP, SPED, SISR, SPGD, MHFA, unfunded mandates, lesson
plans, student success, keeping current with curriculum and daily reports and principal
assignments, upset parents, and struggling students.

Learning overload: keeping up current with changes coming from the state - OGT, EOC,
ACT, graduation requirements, TGRG, exemptions, SPED law and the constant
changes, moving grades and teaching new content.
Stress works on all facets of the body. As noted in the VoiceThread, mind, body,

emotions and behavior. It affects us far greater than we realize. Education and stress
unfortunately go hand and hand. We have lost the occupation of teaching in that it is, most of
the time, not joyous anymore. We have allowed the state to mandate our passion and steal the
excitement and desire to teach.
In order to change our visions, we need to come together as professionals and work
through many steps to come to a consensus. This is not easy, as we all tend to have our own
ideas and need to work together for the betterment of the whole.
Purpose driven inquiry is a process in which we can learn to talk to students in an
effective manner. We all know that it can be difficult to get to the root cause of the problem
when dealing with children and teens. I like the quote from the book, used in the voicethread

slide number five, The questions we ask shape our actions and significantly impact our
experiences (Reason, pg 71). This simple statement forces a lot of thought, in that we need to
think about how we can ask the questions that will provide effective answers. When dealing
with discipline or in the classroom to lead critical thinking discussions.
Creating a learning culture in our future buildings will, hopefully increase productivity and
employee moral. As a future administrator, we need to be sure that we create an environment
that is conducive to high moral and a where staff feels appreciated and valued. Therefore, they
want to come to work. This will not only create a positive attitude for teachers, but all staff and
definitely for the students.
Learning culture will also create motivation among the staff. When we consider
professional development we must be sure that we are able to connect meaningful and valuable
content so teachers are getting something out of it, and we are not wasting their time. When
they are motivated, new goals are set and it is much easier to stay positive in your job. We as
administrators need to consider all of these things to be effective and, if necessary, change the
moral in our new buildings.