Going to the Balcony: Two Professors Reflect and Examine Their Pedagogy

The purpose of this essay is twofold. First of all, we want to emphasize the value of taking time to reflect on the effectiveness of our teaching practices, especially when we sense that teaching and learning processes have become ‘stale.’ Heifetz and Linsky (2002) equate reflection with “going to the balcony from the dance floor” to view our actions from a different perspective, and this is what we attempted to do. Secondly, we want to highlight the professional and personal satisfaction that can result from collaboration with a colleague when investigating elements of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). To give you some background, let us describe how we evolved into this “balcony” place. We share a common history, having been elementary school principals in Illinois for many years. While leading our schools, we also completed our doctoral degrees at Illinois State University under the same advisor. We became friends through serving on the executive board of Illinois Women in Educational Leadership organization and nurtured our friendship by attending professional conferences together and conducting a joint research project. We both transitioned to teaching Educational Leadership at the university level in Illinois, but Linda moved to Alabama in 2005. Our research and collaboration on mentoring aspiring school leaders continued “across state lines” and has expanded over the last five years with additional national presentations and publications

Breaking Perceptions of Old Boys\u27 Networks : Women Leaders Learning to Make the Most of Mentoring Relationships

Women often perceive a disadvantage over similarly qualified males in professional advancement because they are not part of the old boys\u27 network. Based upon the assumption that women and minorities struggle to gain access into educational administration positions due to lack of professional networks and mentors, this phenomenological qualitative study sought to understand, from the protege perspective, how women develop the capacity to enter into mentoring relationships. Subjects in the study were 14 women participants in a mentoring conference sponsored by a statewide women\u27s administrative organization. Conclusions from the study address ambivalence experienced by proteges in seeking out a mentor as well as implications for women\u27s professional organizations seeking to develop strong mentoring cultures

United States Organization Working to Strengthen School Leadership Preparation

We have come into a time where there is of scarcity of resources, where colleges and universities are being pulled in different directions by many of its constituents, and state politicians are jockeying for which policies that they want to implement with limited or no resources to support them, which makes the support for higher education even more scant. If there was not a more urgent time to have a different mindset to transform a college or university this decade, then there likely will not be one. Knowing the obstacles in which higher education institutions need to overcome, the leadership of a college or university needs to be transformational in how it operates, thinks, and maneuvers

Redefining the Voice of Women Administrators

Voice has multiple meanings. Voice is individual and unique, while at the same timerequires another to listen and react. The journey towards an authentic voicerequires courage and persistence (Issacs, 1999). Voice in feminist literature refersto a way of being that defines female development and encompasses women'svalue for connectedness (Gilligan, 1982). Voice is compared to vision, a leadershipbuzzword (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986; Helgesen, 1990). Voicediffers from seeing (vision) which is a one-way process that can exist even if it isnot communicated to others. Voice and listening, on the other hand, suggestdialogue and interaction (Helgesen, 1990, Issacs, 1999). This paper chronicles thedialogue of an organization of women administrators as they redefined theircollective voice

Breaking Perceptions of Old Boys\u27 Networks : Women Leaders Learning to Make the Most of Mentoring Relationships

Women often perceive a disadvantage over similarly qualified males in professional advancement because they are not part of the old boys\u27 network. Based upon the assumption that women and minorities struggle to gain access into educational administration positions due to lack of professional networks and mentors, this phenomenological qualitative study sought to understand, from the protege perspective, how women develop the capacity to enter into mentoring relationships. Subjects in the study were 14 women participants in a mentoring conference sponsored by a statewide women\u27s administrative organization. Conclusions from the study address ambivalence experienced by proteges in seeking out a mentor as well as implications for women\u27s professional organizations seeking to develop strong mentoring cultures

Climbing the Ladder, Holding the Ladder: The Mentoring Experiences of Higher Education Female Leaders

Female administrators in comprehensive research universities were surveyed to gain their perceptions on their mentoring experiences. The females affirmed they had informal mentors in roles of sponsor, counselor, coach, and teacher, and they are also mentoring others. The findings both confirmed and contradicted former studies on females in higher education

Going to the Balcony: Two Professors Reflect and Examine Their Pedagogy

The purpose of this essay is twofold. First of all, we want to emphasize the value of taking time to reflect on the effectiveness of our teaching practices, especially when we sense that teaching and learning processes have become ‘stale.’ Heifetz and Linsky (2002) equate reflection with “going to the balcony from the dance floor” to view our actions from a different perspective, and this is what we attempted to do. Secondly, we want to highlight the professional and personal satisfaction that can result from collaboration with a colleague when investigating elements of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). To give you some background, let us describe how we evolved into this “balcony” place. We share a common history, having been elementary school principals in Illinois for many years. While leading our schools, we also completed our doctoral degrees at Illinois State University under the same advisor. We became friends through serving on the executive board of Illinois Women in Educational Leadership organization and nurtured our friendship by attending professional conferences together and conducting a joint research project. We both transitioned to teaching Educational Leadership at the university level in Illinois, but Linda moved to Alabama in 2005. Our research and collaboration on mentoring aspiring school leaders continued “across state lines” and has expanded over the last five years with additional national presentations and publications