Name: Daniel Rosen

Title: English Teacher

Organisation: The Frisch School

I have been teaching English in high school for 30 years. I have been a Coordinator of Admissions, a Director of General Studies, and a department chair, but now I'm just a teacher.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Educational Leadership!

I hope Daniel's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as an Educational Leader?

It isn't about buy-in. Buy-in is theoretically easy, but ensuring follow-through by staff without alienating them and recognizing that any initiative will meet even unconscious resistance, as people are generally comfortable in their routines. People like new ideas, but don't like the startup work required to bring innovations from paper to practice.

2. How did you become an Educational Leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

My move into leadership began when I was asked to serve as a department chair and a coordinator of studies. My penchant for making lists and breaking processes down into bite-sized chunks worked for people, I guess. I wish my journey were more revelatory, but it was more a matter of being willing and able to do the work that needed to be done.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

During the school year, my workday is framed by my class schedule and impacted by the flow of the year. I get to work about an hour before things start up (this is a regular cultural feature in public schools, but is unheard of in the circle of schools in which I work). I love to sit in the office when no one is around, planning, writing, and thinking. Then classes and the various meetings with students, plus whatever administupidity I am tasked with on that day, and an awareness of the steps in textbook collection, tracking, ordering, and distribution that are required, will keep me busy. When the day is over, I go home and decompress. Then I make quizzes, send more emails, and often watch a mediocre movie in which bad guys blow up and good guys walk off into the sunset holding the detonator.

4. What's a recent lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of as an Educational Leader?

In this school's cultural world, the best lesson is "roll with the punches" because no matter how much and how well you plan and prepare, God laughs. And he laughs BIG.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your journey as an Educational Leader so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted you?

Maybe this is not the kind of book you have in mind, but I think every teacher should read Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Appreciating the joy of teaching and learning, understanding the challenges of learners at every stage, and the difficulty of teaching others to let go and explore, and blurry black and white photos are very affecting.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young educator who aspires to be an Educational Leader, what would you say to them?

Don't forget what it means to be a classroom teacher. Every decision needs to be made considering a variety of stakeholders, and every initiative needs to make sense to all people, and that's tough. Slow your roll and beta test.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as an Educational Leader, so far?

I worked with a leader who said that it wasn't his job to be a cheerleader. He saw his responsibility was to inspire fear and tell people when they were doing things wrong. He hired me and criticized me for not having my faculty fear me. If I ever become like him, punch me in the head, please.