Reframing the Path to School Leadership: A Guide for Teachers and Principals

By Terrence E. Deal and Lee G. Bolman

Book Overview

"Here is a rare blend of storytelling and analysis, brought together in a book that is both insightful and inviting. Lee Bolman and Terry Deal allow us to see our schools, and ourselves, through the lens of imagination rarely found in educational literature, offering embattled and discouraged educators the precious gifts of vision and hope."

Parker J. Palmer, author
Let Your Life Speak and The Courage to Teach

"I love this book Reframing the Path to School Leadership is full of great spirit, liveliness, and energy. Bolman and Deal are master storytellers, and this tale will inspire every school leader, whether administrator, teacher, coach, parent, or student."

Jim Kouzes, coauthor
The Leadership Challenge and Encouraging the Heart

The key to becoming a highly effective leader is to develop powerful habits of mind

The best leaders use multiple frames or lenses to view common challenges and to solve their most difficult problems. Through a series of dialogues between a novice and a master teacher, and between a new and a seasoned principal, best-selling authors Bolman and Deal demonstrate how framing--and then reframing--challenges brings clarity, helps to anticipate problems, and leads to more comprehensive and powerful leadership strategies.

The four frames most commonly used by teachers and administrators are:

The political frame--conflict and compromise are a constant source of renewal The human resource frame--sharing individual needs and motives nurtures a sense of ownership The structural frame--clear organizational standards and goals lead to greater productivity The symbolic frame--culture, rituals, and beliefs cultivate shared values and meanings

By reframing situations, educators ultimately gain more confidence and certainty in their decisions, and reduce the anxieties that can arise with difficult choices. In Reframing the Path to School Leadership, Bolman and Deal provide an optimistic view of what can go right in schools today, and what possibilities lie ahead for classroom and school leadership

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761946071
• ISBN13: 9780761946076
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Corwin
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Good book for teachers to read, new or veteran

I would recommend this book to any teacher. It is inspiring and has a good educational base. It teaches the reader many things while you read it. I had to read this for a master's course and really enjoyed it. It is like a novel in that it has a plot to it, but also has a reference guide aspect to it as well. It was helpful to me to read.

Great book, quick read!

Bolman & Deal's Reframing the Path to School Leadership is an interesting read. They use four frames of reference--the political frame, human resource frame, the structural frame, and the symbolic frame--to discuss leadership, both on the classroom and school level. They use a fictional cast of characters that includes new and veteran teachers, and new and veteran principals. At first I was wary of the fictional narrative, but I found it interesting and it kept me reading. At the end of each chapter, which includes a number of fictional scenarios on familair themes (beginning of the year, discipline, tracking, special education), there is a discussion part that I found very helpful. I'm a beginning principal, and I found this book informative and enlightening. It's also written for teachers, and I think I would've found the book just as useful if I'd read it when I was still in the classroom.