EDU 6630 - Graduate Seminar Reflection

Brett Santo

EDU 6630 - Graduate Seminar

Dr. David McGough

May 13, 2015

Course Reflection

            At first, being able to personally design much of this Master’s program seemed to be a rather daunting task. However, after having completed my first Graduate Seminar, (in which I feel is rather analogous to an Independent Study of sorts), some of my anxieties have been assuaged.

            I would like to start by touching upon my own revelations as they relate to my personal studies in leadership. Firstly, I have gained a better understanding of how to become a better learner as it relates to many facets of my life, not just in educational paradigms. According to leadership theorist James MacGregor Burns, leaders must aspire to become perpetual learners, as this task should not be difficult, due to the experiential nature of our lives. He believes that leaders are constantly “learning from experience, learning from people, learning from successes and failures, and learning from leaders and followers” (Burns, 2010, p. 63). I have definitely learned a plethora of concepts during this class time. Specifically, this class has taught me the importance of listening, being able to agree to disagree, and time management prioritization.

            With regard to listening, I found it intriguing to listen to my classmates varying perspectives. As a gregarious individual who often jumps at the opportunity to answer a question, I found that sitting back and listening intently sometimes provided me with invaluable lessons both related to content and personal growth. By holding my tongue, I was able to hear a person’s full perspective, and often become enlightened by their own original ideas. Additionally, as an aspiring leader, it is crucial for me to learn not to interrupt, because by doing so, I would belittle my fellow colleagues, and thus not uphold the ideals of being a true leader. Robert Greenleaf, another leadership theorist, feels that as leaders, we should empower others to be part of the process, and provide them with as much responsibility as the next person, irrespective of title or position. Greenleaf succinctly and directly states, “No one should be powerless!” (Greenleaf, 2002, p. 98). Based on my experiences in this class, I will work to ensure that my future conversations will revolve around the importance of listening.  

            Learning to agree to disagree is certainly a skill that is appropriate in the field of leadership as well as life in general. By being part of this class - in fact, by being one of the few non-teachers in the class - provided me with an opportunity to see into a world in which I was unfamiliar. Furthermore, there were often times when I would completely disagree with my classmates’ perspectives, and those conversations proved to be instrumental. I recall several instances when discussing the concepts of standardization, children’s inherent motivation, and executive functioning where I disagreed with the majority of the class. Although I held true to my own beliefs regarding those matters, my classmates felt strongly about the opposing arguments. As a leader, it is important to hold true to your beliefs, but it is even more important to be willing to hear the beliefs of others as well. These classes proved to be instrumental in my own growth as it relates to leadership as I gained insight and understanding in how to be okay with others’ opinions differing from my own. Due to the protean nature of our society, answers are no longer concrete, but rather ambiguous and multifaceted. Accordingly, as leaders and as citizens, we must be willing to - excuse the colloquialism - roll with the punches, and move forward irrespective of our differences.

            Time management is one of the most important characteristics among leaders and many people in this fast-paced world. Accordingly, this semester proved instrumental in my growth as it relates to re-prioritization and multitasking. I have been adjusting to being enrolled in a Master’s program while working full-time at a college, and I have to be honest - this is an arduous task at times. In the beginning of the semester, when tasked with constructing my own plan of study, I was truly at a loss. Thus, I resorted to the only method I had become accustomed to related to schoolwork - organization. Specifically, it was recommended that I read at least 3 seminal works on leadership theory, and subsequently provide a literature review at the conclusion of the semester. Accordingly, being a 12 week semester, I broke down my time to 2.5 weeks per book, and almost 2 weeks at the end to write the paper. At first, this seemed like the pragmatic course of action, however, logic sometimes falters while life jumps forward. Halfway through the semester, I had only read half of 1 book, and 70 pages of another. I believed that my leadership endeavor was going to end there. However, I came to realize that my mistake was that I was actually following my schedule to a tee too specifically. Rather than allowing my brain to flow through books at a pace it deemed comfortable and enjoyable, I was scheduling time, which made my exploration more obligatory than enlightening. Upon realizing this, I immediately altered my ways, and was able to complete my 3 books, an article, and write a cohesive paper two weeks before the deadline. Leadership theorist Warren Bennis believes that mistakes are not detrimental to leaders, but rather necessary. Bennis sees true value in mistakes, and in fact explains that leaders “Not only believe in the necessity of mistakes, they see them as virtually synonymous with growth and progress” (Bennis, 2009, p. 89). This class has taught me to become more malleable, and this will certainly prove conducive in my future studies.

            Initially, I was rather apathetic to the idea of coming to class and hearing about other people’s projects, as I felt the myriad of topics would have no connection to my own work. Contrastingly, I was certainly mistaken, as these conversations and debates in class proved to be rather useful. I feel that this class, although not geared toward a common goal as it relates to content, allowed for such diverse dialogue to commence that it was nearly impossible not to touch upon everyone’s topic at least once in a conversation, and my topic of leadership was certainly covered. As stated above, this class helped me to understand the ubiquitous nature of many leadership characteristics that I have studied thus far. I am very excited to have completed approximately half of my necessary credits needed to complete this program, and I look forward to my future studies.

Bennis, W. (2009). On becoming a leader (20th anniversary ed.). New York, New York: Basic Books.

Burns, J. (2010). Leadership (First Harper Perennial Political Classics Edition ed.). New York, New York: HarperPerennial.

Greenleaf, R. (2002). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness (25th anniversary ed.). New York, New York: Paulist Press.