MentorLink
Connecting UNI, Mentors, and Future Educational Leaders
The Educational Leadership Faculty at the University of Northern Iowa develop and nurture reflective Leaders of Learning, Service, and Change who positively impact school improvement and student achievement.
Welcome to the first edition of UNI MentorLink!
As a mentor to an aspiring school leader, you represent the vital link between theory and practice. Our goal is to help you to be better informed about the in-class learning experiences, projects, and topics your mentee is engaged in. You may find that the experience, project, or topic lends itself to a focused conversation with your mentee. As always, if you have specific thoughts, comments, or questions, feel free to contact the instructor.
This quote from New York Yankees great “Mr. October” always stands out to me when thinking about leadership, coaching, and mentoring.
"A great manager has a knack for making ballplayers think they are better than they think they are. He forces you to have a good opinion of yourself. He lets you know he believes in you. He makes you get more out of yourself. And once you learn how good you really are, you never settle for playing anything less than your very best."
- Reggie Jackson
We thank you for the work you do on behalf of education in Iowa.
SUPERINTENDENCY PROGRAM
Students currently enrolled in Dr. Else’s Funding the Educational Program for Improved Student Achievement are:
· Interviewing the superintendent/business manager/board secretary on
the enrollment certification process. Students will then write a two page paper that reflects on the process and explores ideas for making the process more efficient.
· Projecting enrollment for your district and explain the basis on
which the projection is made.
· Developing a "Maximum General Fund Spending Authority" for a school district using collected data on taxable valuation, district cost per pupil, enrollments, weighting factors and other critical fiscal data and writing an executive summary for the board of education.
· Constructing a budget calendar for the fiscal year.
Aspiring superintendents in Dr. Decker’s School Business Management course are:
· Creating a district financial health report for the board and developing a comparative cost analysis of a district service for an eventual board presentation.
PRINCIPALSHIP PROGRAM
Students currently enrolled in Leadership and Orientation to Educational Leadership with Drs. Gilson and Pace are:
· Developing a semester-long evaluation of a mythical principal, Grant Sterling.
· Interviewing a host of people, including board members, parents, students, and community members, on the role of the principal.
· Formulating their Philosophy of Educational Leadership.
· Summarizing and Reflecting on each of the Iowa Standards for School Leaders.
Dr. Robinson’s Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment students are:
· Creating a learning opportunity for teachers to expand their instructional strategies. This could be a brochure filled with engaging instructional strategies, a short PowerPoint presentation, or some other creative format to share with teachers. They will also create either a whole faculty study or a workshop presentation focused on linking curriculum, assessment and instruction with emphasis on assessment for and of learning that is connected to engaging instructional strategies. Mentors who are also the building principal of the mentee might expect a request from the student to actually share these materials/presentations with their colleagues.
Future principals enrolled in Capstone with Dr. Gilson are:
· Examining specific case studies and school leadership dilemmas and suggesting possible courses of action.
· Looking back on their Philosophies of Educational Leadership, which were developed during their first semester in the program, to determine how their ideas may have changed during the past two years and developing an overview of their current philosophy.
Students currently enrolled in Evaluator Training for Improved Student Learning with Dr. Jones are:
· Reviewing their own school's evaluation process and reflecting about their own beliefs about teacher evaluation.
· Observing a teacher in the classroom and writing a summary of this observation.
· Interviewing teachers and mentors on the mentoring process for teachers.
Dr. Jones’ students in School Governance, Law and Intersystem Relations are:
· Researching landmark education cases that have changed the face of public education and producing numerous case briefs on major cases.
·Interviewing, researching, and writing about the various agencies that are involved with our public schools.
·Interviewing a principal and summarizing how building budgets are structured, monitored, and maintained.
·Researching, developing, and writing a model building policy from a school board policy, including administrative rules and regulations.
·Responding weekly individually and as a group to scenarios and simulations surrounding law and school governance.
Comments and Input to Dr. Nick Pace at nick.pace@uni.edu
Educational Leadership Website
The Educational Leadership faculty at the University of Northern Iowa develop and nurture reflective leaders of learning, service, and change who positively impact school improvement and student achievement. |
