Working with teenagers requires discipline and patience to keep them from losing track of their attention. Lack of motivation is a vital factor that plays a significant role when trying to persuade teenage students to do something. The path-goal approach would be proper to use if applied sufficiently in the right moments. In other words, the principle of Path-Goal is about how leaders inspire followers to achieve designated goals (Northouse, 2016). In comparison to the situational approach, which implies that the leader must respond to the development of the followers, the path-goal theory highlights the connection between the leader’s style and the followers’ attributes and the organizational environment (Northouse, 2016). In an educational setting, one can become an effective teacher if they know their students’ obstacles and know when to interfere with guidance and motivation purposes. When I was a teacher in a local Muslim Community Center on the weekends, I had about five to six students all between the ages of 10-12 in my classroom. While I experimented on maintaining their attention and having them complete appointed assignments, I believe I oriented back and forth between directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented behaviors.
Every Saturday, my first two hours would be spent having them one by one come to me to read a page of the Qur’an while I corrected their mispronunciations, and then I would teach them the rules of how to read the verses in the Qur’an correctly. Since I would assign homework about practicing how to read the verses with the rules I taught in class, those moments would be when directive leadership would take place. Directive leadership behavior requires me to remind my students of what is requested from them, how they will accomplish their assignments, and the timetable for completing each task or homework (PSU WC L.6, 2020). While directing them, I have to bear in mind that they are teenagers and can easily defy the rules I set. So directive behavior is the only the leadership behavior that will lay down the expected framework. In short, as a directive leader, one must demonstrate a clear set of rules and regulations for successful performance (Northouse, 2016).
Once the classroom’s structure has formed, I can demonstrate supportive and participative behaviors. Supportive leadership behavior comprises being friendly and accessible as a leader and acknowledging followers’ well-being and human needs (Northouse, 2016). The opportunity to apply supportive behavior is during the first two hours of my teaching time, which is the Qur’an recitation class. Assigning memorization of verses throughout the week can be difficult when there are social and academic demands expected of my middle school students. To make the task of memorization easier, I would try to talk about the meaning of the verses assigned to give a head start and make the process more meaningful for my students. At the end of the year, when it was time for me to leave the teaching position, my students explicitly stated that learning the meanings of verses helped them enjoy the process and memorize verses faster. During the last two hours, I spent discussing and debating topics my students chose throughout the week before each class. We would discuss Islam topics that included Prophet stories or have reflection moments about questions my students might have encountered about religion in their social environments. By inviting them to select topics freely, I demonstrated participative leadership because I incorporated their recommendations into how our classes’ planning will progress (Northouse, 2016). Leaders can display participative leadership by encouraging subordinates to engage in the decision-making process (Northouse, 2016).
Supportive behavior also consists of treating followers as peers and acknowledging their roles (Northouse, 2016). While answering my students’ questions, I would often give examples of similar situations from my childhood when growing up in Florida. Comparing my childhood helped me build a stronger bond with my students because they knew I experienced most of the things they were going through when I was their age. Teaching my students tactics I used at their age to memorize Quranic verses encouraged them a lot.
At the beginning of the semester, I would announce the plan of competitions held at the end of each month. Again, the act of announcing plans ahead of time would go back to the portrayal of directive leadership behavior. For example, if a student answered correctly the most questions I would ask during the competition, they would get a prize. Since I was aware that teenagers could be picky with prizes, I would let them choose ahead of time what they wanted to win. By doing this, I demonstrated achievement-oriented leadership because I ended up challenging my students to perform the best they could to win what they wanted. Northouse (2016) states that achievement-oriented leaders display a high amount of confidence that followers can set and achieve demanding tasks. I was aware of my student’s capabilities, so I would encourage them to push their limits. Throughout the month, I would occasionally remind students about the competition, which would ignite their motivation towards learning more during class time.
All in all, it is apparent from my experience that different situations require the application of different types of leadership behaviors. First, when assigned tasks need to be structured in a classroom for students to understand what is expected, directive leadership behavior is used. Next, depending on the situation, an effective teacher will transition between supportive and participative behavior. Supportive behavior is to keep tasks worth challenging and nurturing students when they need help achieving set tasks. Participative leadership behavior encourages students to be involved feel part of decision making regarding classroom decisions. Lastly, achievement-oriented behavior is necessary when motivating and challenging students to complete tasks with the best performance. As a teacher, I need to make sure to choose leadership behaviors that fit my students’ needs during a variety of differentiating situations requiring direction, guidance, and coaching, all in the hopes of making sure they successfully meet set expectations of the classroom.
References:
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2020). PSYCH 485 Lesson 6: Contingency and Path-Goal Theories. Retrieved https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075467/modules/items/30110451
ced256 says
Hello,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog post in which you did an excellent job applying the path-goal theory to an educational environment. As both you and Northouse (2016) mention, the path-goal theory works to aspire individuals to achieve specific goals. I believe that being a teacher can be an extremely difficult job, as a teacher must work to motivate students to succeed in the classroom at subjects and tasks that can be challenging to the students.
My mother was a math teacher for many years at a small, Catholic middle school. Therefore, I took the opportunity to talk to her and better understand her interpretation of the leadership role that a teacher has in the classroom. My mother agrees with the need to inspire students to attain their academic goals. Furthermore, my mother believes that it is essential for teachers to adopt both a directive and a supporting leadership style. As Northouse (2016) discusses, directive leadership is extremely goal oriented. My mother thinks that teachers must utilize this leadership style a week before a test or a big assignment to ensure that the students are prepared to complete the task successfully. For example, my mother mentions that her teaching style shifted dramatically the several days prior to finals because she became less amicable with her students as she was focused on reviewing pertinent information to guarantee adequate test preparation. Most of the time, however, my mother remembers employing the supportive leadership style as a teacher in which she made sure that she always considered the well-being of her students and that students felt comfortable talking to her when any questions or concerns arose. Thus, my mother believes that the path-goal theory is a wonderful leadership theory to use when teaching students in a classroom environment.
Yet, my mother does not think that the path-goal theory is the only theory that teachers should consider utilizing. My mother also believes that the situational approach is a vital leadership tool in the classroom setting because it considers leadership in various situations. Northouse (2016) describes the premise of the situational approach, noting that different situations require divergent forms of leadership and an effective leader must adapt his or her styles to suite the demands of the specific environment. My mother is a huge proponent of adaptive leadership in which teachers assess the situation and then determine how they can best guide their students to achieve their goals. My mother goes further to explain her partiality towards the situational approach when she mentions her first year as a teacher. As a new teacher, my mother was very nervous to be in charge of 36, young students. Therefore, she spent the entire summer prior creating lesson plans, making activities and writing tests and assignments. My mother recalls entering the classroom the first day feeling well prepared and organized as her entire first semester was precisely planned out. Sadly, within minutes, my mother describes a complete change in feelings when she realizes that her students had forgotten much of the earlier math curriculum and she must spend a week reviewing concepts. Suddenly, my mother’s plans are in complete shambles. My mother says that the first day, she relied solely on the directing style. My mother gave the students commands and yearned for them to complete the assignments she had set aside for the day. Unfortunately, the students’ unpreparedness forced my mother to quickly adopt a new leadership style. Immediately, my mother turned to the coaching approach. Northouse (2016) suggests that the coaching approach is both a high-directive and a high-supportive style. My mother still focused on goal achievement, as she desired for the students to complete the work she had assigned. Yet, my mother understood that the students needed some support, motivation and help in order for the students to finish the assignments correctly and confidently. After the fiasco of my mother’s first year teaching, when all of her hard summer work had to be altered, my mother remembers learning an immensely beneficial lesson in that leadership cannot be completed in advance. Instead, leaders must mold their leadership styles to fit the demands of the given environment if the leader wishes for his or her followers to succeed in attaining their goals.
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.