What do leaders and teacher have in common?
They rhyme?
Yes, they do, I mean kind of right?
Anyway, that is not the point of this blog to discuss whether the two words rhyme (depending on how you say it) but as a teacher myself to wonderful kiddos I find that being a leader, and how you motivate your followers in my case my kids to accomplish particular goals is very applicable to my teaching career (lesson 6).
Now I have the privilege in teach little 2 year olds. Many times I get the question or the stare “now you can not possibly TEACH 2 years olds”, or the famous “ISN’T it like babysitting all day?” The answer is. NO. In fact teaching two years old is rather challenging, and requires a strong leader. At such a young age, their minds are like sponges, their minds are captivated and inhale every piece of information around them even if we do not see it. In my classroom I have what may seem like simple “goals” for the kids to us adults, but rather complex goals for a two year old. Some of these goals include, recognizing colors, recognizing animals, stating the name of each animal with words or by sounds, and eating with forks or spoons correctly.
Now in order to get each child to accomplish these goals before they are ready to move up to the next classroom, I must remember that there is a process (path) to go through. According to the path goal theory, leaders must motivate their followers to accomplish goals”. Although 2 year olds are difficult to motivate, due to their attention spans being 5 seconds long; there are always something that they love. Whether it be that special Elmo toy, or the block bin they want to build with, or the Old McDonald song CD that is almost unplayable because of their love for it, things such as that are kept on hand daily to motivate learning. Alongside repetition and commitment, and occasional rewards being a teacher requires leadership ability even if the tiny humans are only two years old.
Due to the understanding of the path-goal theory, I recognize that my ways of doing things in my classroom has allowed me to have a class of two year olds that now recognize their colors, animals and ability to eat with proper silverware.
rkw5148 says
I absolutely agree teachers are leaders. The ones that put up with me were also saints.
I see you have the motivation part of this theory down. You have all sorts of treats to offer the children if they complete their
tasks. But that is only part of the theory. Penn State (2017) prescribes different leader behaviors and how they work with
different followers. So the goal is earning the treat and the path is completing whatever task is assigned, but how do you walk
them down that path?
I know two year olds very well. I have two kids and they are drastically different. I’m sure you have to deal with some real
characters. You probably have some really sweet kids that just want to please you. They probably are more motivated by that
than the Elmo toy. That said, I definitely understand offering rewards, but I am not getting a good feel for the kind of leader you
are and how that dictates your interactions with the kids.
An example is my background as a leader. I am a directive/achievement-oriented leader at work. My guys work in highly
dynamic environments with unclear rules and are highly motivated to succeed (Penn State University World Campus, 2017).
When I come home, I cannot act the same way with my kids. I shift to a supportive/participative leader (Penn State University
World Campus, 2017). My two year old wants to control everything, but she does not know enough about the world to
complete tasks on her own, meaning most tasks are unclear and ambiguous (Penn State University World Campus, 2017). I
have to be participative to make sure she is remaining on the right path. My kids love affection and every task is repetitive since
they are still learning how to do everything. I have to be a supportive leader with that in mind. While I still offer them trips to the
park and chocolate coconut water as a reward, I have to get on my knees and hug my son when he gets frustrated. I have to
talk to him face to face while telling him not to put both legs in the same pant leg.
I can tell you this for sure: I can run a Rescue Swimmer Shop very easily and I have no problem jumping out of a helicopter
for a living, but I would not last two days teaching two year olds. Hats off to you.
Works Cited
Penn State University World Campus. (2017, Jan 9). PSYCH 485: Lesson 6. State College, PA.
jtt5045 says
Hi Abigail,
Glad to see that we have some educational people in the class. My brother and his wife both work in education. He is a Principal and she is a teacher for elementary school children. They have an adorable two year old girl named Aubrey so I know exactly what you are dealing with. She goes to day care while both of them are at work. We were getting ready to go out one day but first Aubrey had to clean up the mess of toys she left in her path. I tried to politely get her to clean up. I was attempting to exhibit a delegating behavior that we learned in lesson 5 where “the followers are in charge of accomplishing goals”. (PSY485-L06, 2017) This did not work. I tried to me more directive and “give specific instructions on how goals are to be achieved.” Still she did not move. I tried to coach and show here what need to be done by cleaning up the toys in an effort that she would follow. Nope, still nothing.
What I quickly found out is that she was conditioned at her day care with more of a style approach. Her dad came into the room and told Aubrey what she needed to do but he also implemented a relationship behavior that the day care taught the children. He started to sing a clean-up song that was taught to her by the teachers at day care. Almost immediately, she was cleaning up her toys. I was shocked at what I was seeing. All it took was a different style approach and a pre-learned behavior to get a two-year old to do something.
Just today I was out will all of them and Aubrey’s mother used an achievement oriented behavior. All she had to do when she would slow down and not eat her food was mention dessert and automatically he recognized the reward and proceeded to eat her food. This goes to show you that even at a young age, they can learn and develop their skills at a rapid rate.
Good Post – Thanks – JTT5045
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2017). PSYCH 485: Lesson 5: Lesson 5: Style and Situational Approaches. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1834747/modules/items/21827840/21827874
Shawnee Marie Wilson says
Abigail, I completely agree with you that teaching 2 year olds is a challenge. I applaud you for doing it as a job and taking on more than 1 at a time. (I’d be exhausted).
After reading your post, It appears you are using a mix of all four types of path-goal leader behaviors that were listed in our lesson while teaching these children. 1. You are using directive leadership in that you are setting the goals for the children to accomplish, such as knowing their colors, animals, and use of silverware (Neely, 2017) 2. You are using supportive leadership because children need their leaders to be open and pleasant to feel comfortable with them (Neely, 2017) 3. You are using participative leadership in that you are letting the children determine what reward will most motivate them to do well (Neely, 2017) 4. You are using achievement-oriented leadership because you are offering a safe environment for the children to learn in, that offers rewards for their accomplishments, which in turn builds their confidence and encourages them to do even better next time (Neely, 2017).
Neely, B. (2017) Psych 485: Lesson 6:Part 2: Path-Goal Theory. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1834747/modules/items/21827840
Abigail Marie Sanchez says
Savannah + Lauren,
Thank you both for your reply on my blog post.
To answer your question, Savannah, I believe that as a teacher especially with my kids and the age group they are in I tend to lean more towards the supportive leader behavior as you mentioned above. Because of the tender age of just two years old, it is essential for me as their teacher to be as supportive as possible to help them obtain their classroom goals. Many times, as a two year old, they do not know everything about right from wrong hence there am I to help and guide them in the classroom. Each child wants to feel love, supported and comprehended, the supportive leadership behavior allows me to attend to their needs creating a pleasant environment for them in the classroom.
Best,
Abby
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2017). PSYCH 485: Lesson 6: Contingency and Path Theories. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1834747/modules/items/21827874
Lauren Nicole Munzenmaier says
Hi Abigail,
I commend you for your ability to teach and lead a class of 2 year olds. I personally know several teachers that are up for the challenge of guiding students at various learning levels and ages, including a Spanish teacher and an English instructor. They have shown me how difficult but reward teaching can be, therefore I share a deep appreciation for teachers. In relation to path-goal theory and our course material, I can see a potential connection between this concept and your teaching situation.
I agree with Savannah that you display an achievement-oriented leadership style (Northouse, 2016, p.118). Your students are provided with the challenge of working at high learning levels, they are presented with excellence standards that are high rather than low, and they are given great confidence in their ability to achieve difficult goals. I also agree with Savannah that you reveal a supportive leadership style in your teachings (Northouse, 2016, p.117-118). You tend to the emotional needs of your students, you recognize what they love most (e.g. a special Elmo toy, a block bin, the Old McDonald song), and you allow students to interact with what they love while also participating in the process of learning.
In addition to your leadership style, according to Northouse (2016) your student’s characteristics may affect how they translate your leadership behaviors (p.118-119). For example, since your students are young children, they most likely display a strong need for affiliation, thus your supportive leadership style satisfies the affiliation aspect of their desires (Northouse, 2016, p.119). Based on Northouse’s (2016) textbook, task characteristics are also important and may affect your student’s performance and your motivational influence (p.119). As you mentioned in your blog, these tasks can be comprised of color recognition, animal recognition, and appropriate tool use for eating. Moreover, these tasks may involve repetition, challenging work, complexity, and some ambiguity (Penn State World Campus, 2017). Thus, the information and chart in Northouse’s (2016) text suggests supportive and achievement-oriented leadership would benefit your students, for supportive leadership may be utilized in order to remedy repetition, and achievement-oriented leadership could be used to guide and motivate your students through the ambiguous, complex, and challenging nature of their tasks (p.120-121).
It is also possible to combine and/or switch these styles to fit a situation and satisfy children’s needs (Northouse, 2016, p.118). You have shown this idea to be correct, for you utilize both achievement-oriented and supportive leadership styles to motivate your students to achieve their learning goals rather than using one or the other. Thank you for your interesting application of path-goal theory to teaching, I will share these ideas with the Spanish teacher and English instructor I mentioned earlier.
References
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Penn State World Campus. (2017). Lesson 6: Contingency and Path Theories. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/canvas/sp17/21711–17327/content/06_lesson/printlesson.html
Savannah Howard says
I completely agree with you that being a teacher requires strong leadership ability. Teachers are leaders. With teaching, most teachers utilize most behaviors associated with the path-goal theory. I can see you definitely use the achievement orientated leadership behavior. This behavior helps you push the students. In class you, as the leader, have to keep “high standards of excellence and try to continuously improve” (PSU WC, 2017) your students. You have to constantly challenge them to get to the higher level of learning so they will be successful in their next classroom. I feel like this behavior is probably most efficient due to their smaller attention spans.
Due to the age of your students, I suspect you probably use the supportive leadership behaviors often as well. Supportive leaders “attend to the well-being and needs of their subordinates” (PSU WC, 2017). Which if you think about it, isn’t that what most teachers do? In some situations, you have to cater to each individuals needs. Even at two, humans have different likes and dislikes. In order to get them to their goals, you have to accommodate them. Especially with two year olds, making their “work pleasant” (PSU WC, 2017) is pretty important to ensure their success.
Which leadership behavior do you think you utilize most?
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2017). PSYCH 485: Lesson 6: Contingency and Path Theories. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1834747/modules/items/21827874