Celebrating Servant Leaders in
the Classroom
Matt Stephen, Ed.D.
www.ServantLeadersInEducation.com
Servant Leaders in Education
Helping Others Create Their Best Future
Who is Shannon Wright?
The Westside Middle School massacre was an
incident of a school shooting that occurred on
March 24, 1998, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. A
total of 5 people were killed: 4 female
students and a teacher. Ten were injured: 9
students and 1 teacher. The perpetrators
were two students, 13-year old Mitchell
Johnson and 11-year old Andrew Golden.
They were shooting in an ambush style from
the woods in camouflaged clothes.
The funeral for Shannon Wright, 32, the English
teacher who was fatally shot while trying to
shield her students from gunfire, was held at
the church she attended in Bono, a small
town outside of Jonesboro. She leaves behind
a husband and a 2-year-old son.
“To Each Of Us, A Mrs. Wright”
News, Commentary And Analysis From Dan Rather
(CBS) There is little comfort in the news from Jonesboro, Arkansas,
this day.
Two boys are accused of a gun attack at their middle school, where
four students and one teacher died in the violence. In Jonesboro,
as in any community touched by tragedy, the questions resound
- and many of them will never be answered to anyone's
satisfaction. How did this happen? What could we have done to
stop it? What could we have done to PREVENT it?
And yet we take this time to pay tribute to one among the dead. Her
name was Shannon Wright. According to police reports and the
testimony of witnesses, Mrs. Wright, a sixth-grade English
teacher at the Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, saw one of
the shooters aiming at a girl student. Mrs. Wright interceded,
protecting the child - and was killed instead. The girl has told
others she has no doubt: Mrs. Wright saved her life, at the
expense of her own.
Shannon Wright is being remembered today as a hero. She is also
being remembered as a teacher. Somebody who wanted all her
life to do exactly what she was doing, and where she was doing
it. Teacher at Westside Middle School: that was her dream job,
and she was living her dream.
It would be facile to say that to save a child's life is exactly what
every teacher is supposed to do - and nobody wants America's
teachers to NEED to go anywhere near such lengths in the
pursuit of their professions.
Most of the debate you will hear for the next several days will focus
on the violence, not the teaching: How to keep violence out of
the classroom, how to keep our schools safe.
That is unquestionably the first, most pressing issue in this
case.
And yet the symbolism keeps coming back to this reporter.
Shannon Wright saved a student's life. Shannon Wright was a
teacher. And to be a teacher is to give a young person the tools
with which to build a life. This reporter feels strongly about such
things, not only because I studied at a teachers college, but also
because I feel so strongly the debt I owe to my own teachers.
They never took a bullet for me. They were never called on to do so.
It would be exaggerating to say they SAVED my life. And yet they helped me make something of my life. Most American
teachers are trying to do exactly that, every day, whether or not
anybody ever notices.
Can you wonder that that's what Shannon Wright wanted to do with
HER life? She was a hero - before she took that bullet.
She was a hero –
before she took that bullet.
The Call to Teach
Can you remember your K-12 teachers?
Were you inspired by a teacher?
How did you decide to become a teacher?
Your Mission
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When you first started teaching, what
was your mission?
What did you envision teaching would
be like?
What did you envision the ideal
workplace to be?
How did that play out in reality?
Since you started teaching….
 How has society changed?
 How has public education changed?
 How have you changed?
What is your mission now?
Has it changed?
Problems in Public Education
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Texas Statistics
 2003-04 short 45,000 certified teachers
 350,000 teachers chose not to teach
U.S. Statistics
 20% new teachers leave within 3 years, 50% leave within 5
years
Teacher Turnover
 17% in 2003-04
 8% transfers
 9% left the teaching field
(NCES - National Center for Educational Statistics)

American School Board Journal (1999)
“The average teaching career may
some day be 5-7 years.”
Reasons for burnout
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Student apathy/disciple problems
Paperwork/work load
Parent apathy/opposition
Administrators’ lack of understanding
Low pay and lack of benefits
Standardized Testing
Lack of administrator back-up with student discipline
Lack of feeling valued
Lack of influence in decisions (American School Board
Journal – 1999)
Dumbest Words Ever Spoken
“Those who can, do….
Those who can’t, teach.”
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Everyone is a teacher
Everyone knows how to teach
Everyone has taught a child how to do
something
So, let’s teach our child to ride a bicycle
in a school system…………
In Public Education:
Mechanics vs. Art of Teaching
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Of your 22 second-grade children
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3 have no bike, no biking experience, and no
desire to learn to ride a bike
5 have no bike but desperately want to learn
3 have bikes with training wheels
7 have bikes with flat tires, broken spokes, or
rusted chains
2 have racing bikes and equipment and they have
been racing for several years
You have 15 minutes per day to work
with them and……
In three weeks…
all of your children will be tested on
safety rules and biking ability on a
challenge course.
Teacher Job Description
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Educator and …
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Counselor
Judge
Entertainer
Director
Politician
Negotiator
Nurse
Parent
Lawyer
Why should we be
concerned with
leadership style?
Leadership Style Determines
Classroom Climate
“I have come to the frightening conclusion,
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or
joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decide whether a crisis
Will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.”
Between Teacher and Child
Haim G. Ginott (1922-73)
Teacher, child psychologist and psychotherapist
Leadership Style Provides Focus
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One’s leadership style and guiding
principles provide a focus for his or her
thoughts and actions throughout the
day.
Servant leadership is the leadership
style that enables leaders to
successfully serve children, parents, and
community (in my humble opinion).
Servant Leadership is……
If you seek a definition for servant
leadership, you will find many general
statements from numerous sources.
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Burkhardt and Spears stated that “While the
term ‘servant-leadership’ was first coined in
1970, it is clearly a belief whose roots stretch
back through thousands of years of both
religious and humanistic teachings.” Servant
leadership has existed since Jesus of
Nazareth said, “the Son of Man did not come
to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28a).
Burkhardt, J. C., & Spears, L. C. (2000). Servant leadership and philanthropic
institutions. Voices of Servant Leadership Series, Booklet 4. Indianapolis: The
Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
Servant leadership is considered some to
be more of a life-style than a
leadership style
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Laub took servant leadership beyond a simple
definition of leadership style when he stated,
“Servant leadership is more than a style of
leadership. It is a different way of thinking about the
purpose of leadership, the true role of a leader, and
the potential of those being led.” Laub also stated,
“Servant leadership is an understanding and practice
of leadership that places the good of those led over
the self-interest of the leader.”
Laub, J. A. (1999). Assessing the servant organization: Development of the servant
organizational leadership assessment (sola) instrument. Dissertation Abstracts International,
60 (02), 308A. (UMI No. 9921922)
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"I am equally inspired by people I know who work in
the church at great personal sacrifice - missionaries
who face health problems, humble educators who
labor for years without accolade or tangible reward,
teachers who patiently do what needs to be done for
as long as it takes without their efforts even being
noticed by most. Their servanthood leads the way.
Their example motivates and encourages others."
Carolyn Sims
"Sergiovanni, Synodical Schools, and Servant Leadership"
Lutheran Education, Winter 2002
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"If the leader always asks, 'What is best for the students?' - he
or she is leading by serving the students before considering
personal needs and desires.“
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"Servant leaders are primarily motivated by a desire to serve
and to 'see life as a mission, not as a career.' The have a
passion for their work, seeing it as a kind of calling. They
understand and accept that they have a responsibility to others,
and they see their gifts and endeavors as contributing to a larger
whole, much greater than themselves.“
Ramona M. Wis
"The Conductor as Servant-Leader"
Music Educators Journal, Nov. 2002
Servant leadership is a calling to lead
differently than we have in the past.
It requires an attitude change.
Shelter in a Storm
From Student to Teacher: A Love Poem
There is a room of which I know
that always has a fire aglow.
In it sits a chair all plush.
The sounds within are all a hush.
There are blankets to make me cozy and warm
and a bolted door to keep out harm.
The book on the table contains a happy ending.
It makes my time well-worth spending.
There is a cup of hot chocolate by the chair,
and the smell of fresh baked bread in the air.
How long I stay, I need not worry
because time slows down, there is no hurry.
Shelter in a Storm
(continued)
This room is in my mind.
The times I enter it are few.
I am mostly in this room I find
when I am close to you.
History of Servant Leadership Theory
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Robert K. Greenleaf (The Father of Modern Servant Leadership)
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Greenleaf is widely recognized as the one who coined the term, servant leadership.
Greenleaf spent 40 years at AT&T as a manager of research, development and
education. Upon retirement, Greenleaf spent the next 25 years in a pursuit of
creating a better, more caring society. Greenleaf remarked that he had great concern
for leadership in America, “the outlook for better leadership in our leadership-poor
society is not encouraging.” Greenleaf founded the Center for Applied Ethics in 1964
which was renamed the Robert K. Greenleaf Center in 1985 (www.greenleaf.org)
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Greenleaf stated in his 1970 ground-breaking essay for servant leadership entitled,
The Servant as Leader, “The servant-leader is servant first…It begins with the
natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings
one to aspire to lead.” Blanchard (1999) agreed with Greenleaf that servant leaders
are first servants before they become leaders when he stated, “Strong natural
servants…will assume leadership only if they see it as a way in which they can
serve.”
Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. New York: Paulist Press.
Blanchard, K. (1999). The heart of a leader. Colorado Springs, CO: Honor Books.
History of Servant Leadership Theory
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Larry C. Spears
Spears became CEO of the Greenleaf Center shortly
before Greenleaf’s death on September 29, 1990.
Spears defined servant leadership as a leadership
style based upon teamwork, sense of community,
participative decision-making, strong ethical and caring
behavior, and concern for growth of people.
Spears, L. C. (1996). Reflections on Robert K. Greenleaf and servant leadership. Leadership &
Organization Development Journal, 17, 33-35.
Ten Characteristics of Servant Leadership
Spears (1996)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Listening – Servant leaders’ communication skills are enhanced through a
deep commitment to listening intently to the followers. Servant leaders seek
to identify and clarify the will of the group. Receptive listening and reflection
are essential to the growth of a servant leader.
Empathy – Servant leaders strive to understand and empathize with others.
They accept and recognize followers for their unique spirits; and they assume
others have good intentions, even if they disagree with behavior or
performance.
Healing – Servant leaders are adept at healing others as well as themselves.
They help make others whole by facilitating the healing of broken spirits.
Servant leaders share with followers the search for wholeness.
Awareness – Servant leaders exhibit a general awareness of what is
happening in the organization. They possess a keen sense of self-awareness
and an understanding of issues involving ethics and values. Servant leaders
are often described as disturbers and awakeners.
Persuasion – Servant leaders employ persuasion rather than position
authority when making decisions within the organization. They prefer to
convince rather than coerce followers. Servant leaders are very effective with
building consensus within the group.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Conceptualization – Servant leaders do not deal only with short-term goals
and thinking. They are able to stretch their thinking to encompass broaderbased conceptual thinking. Servant leaders can nurture the abilities of others
to “dream great dreams” and to think beyond day-to-day realities.
Foresight – Servant leaders are capable of understanding lessons from the
past, seeing the realities of the present, and predicting likely consequences
of decisions. They are adept at intuitive thinking.
Stewardship – Servant leaders are dedicated to holding their institutions in
trust for the greater good of society. They are committed to serving the needs
of others.
Commitment to the Growth of People – Servant leaders believe in the
intrinsic value of people beyond their tangible contributions as workers. They
feel responsible for nurturing the personal, professional and spiritual growth
of employees.
Building Community – Servant leaders are dedicated to rebuilding the
sense of community that has been lost with the shift to large institutions.
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Other researchers have followed Greenleaf and Spears in
supporting servant leadership as a viable style of leadership.
Burkhardt and Spears stated: Public interest in the philosophy
and practice of servant leadership is now higher than ever
before. Many books and articles on servant-leadership have
appeared in the 1990s, and dozens of organizations have begun
to incorporate servant-leadership internally. Servant leadership
has slowly-but-surely gained thousands of practitioners over the
past thirty years.
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Burkhardt, J. C., & Spears, L. C. (2000). Servant leadership and philanthropic
institutions. Voices of Servant Leadership Series, Booklet 4. Indianapolis: The
Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
Seven Virtuous Constructs of Servant Leadership
Patterson (2003)
Patterson, K. A. (2003). Servant leadership: A theoretical model. Servant Leadership Roundtable. Regent University School
of Leadership Studies, Virginia Beach, VA.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Agapao Love – Love is the cornerstone of the servant leader-follower relationship. Servant leaders see
followers as whole persons with different gifts and talents. They are able to focus on followers first, then
on their talents and how those talents benefit the organization.
Humility – Servant leaders are able to keep their accomplishments and talents in perspective. They
focus on others rather than themselves. Servant leaders have an authentic desire to help others, and
they search for ways to serve others through staying in touch with their followers.
Altruism – Servant leaders help others just for the sake of helping. They have an unselfish concern for
others which often involves personal sacrifice. Servant leaders’ behaviors are directed toward the
benefit of others even when those behaviors are against their own personal interests.
Vision – Servant leaders have a vision for their individual followers. They help others to see the big
picture by enabling them to develop a clear sense of purpose and direction. Servant leaders develop
within others the mission to serve and encourage followers to become more than they thought possible.
Trust – Servant leaders develop trust through demonstrating integrity and concern for others. They
create open environments where everyone has a voice and they work collaboratively.
Empowerment – Servant leaders empower others with the best interest of those being served in mind.
They teach and develop people as leaders through shared decision-making and shared responsibility.
Servant leaders make it a priority to grow new servant leaders.
Service – Servant leaders choose the interests of others over self-interests. They see leadership as a
calling - a life mission. Servant leaders accept the responsibility for serving others; and they are
committed to an authentic, personal involvement with followers through the giving or their time, energy,
care, and compassion.
Page and Wong’s
7 Servant Leadership Traits
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Empowering and Developing Others
Vulnerability/Humility
Serving Others
Open, Participatory Leadership
Visionary Leadership
Courageous Leadership
(Integrity/Authenticity)
Inspiring Leadership
Spears’ 10 Characteristics of
Servant Leaders (1996)
Patterson’s 7 Virtuous
Constructs of Servant
Leadership (2003)
Page & Wong’s 7 Factors of
Servant Leadership (2003)
Commitment to Growth of People
Empowerment
Empowering and Developing Others
Empathy
Humility
Vulnerability/Humility
Healing
Stewardship
Agapao Love
Service
Serving Others
Listening
Building Community
Open, Participatory Leadership
Conceptualization
Foresight
Vision
Visionary Leadership
Awareness
Altruism
Courageous Leadership
(Integrity/Authenticity)
Persuasion
Trust
Inspiring Leadership
Master vs. Servant Leadership
Master Leadership
“I make the decisions”
“I know best”
“My needs are most important”
Employ fear and intimidation
“Listen to me”
“I have the vision”
“Do it my way or leave”
Keep information a secret
Reactive
Focus on speaking/telling
Lectures
Servant Leadership
“Together we will make the
decisions”
“Together, we do our best
thinking”
“I operate based on others’
needs”
Cooperation and trusting atmosphere
“I will listen to you”
“We create a common vision”
Cooperative decision-making
Share information
Proactive
Focus on listening
Discussions
Master vs. Servant Leadership
Master Leadership
Servant Leadership
Seeks personal success
Seeks success for others and
the team
Humble
Trusts others
Delegates with confidence
Draws strength from God and
others
Helps others/motivates
Helps others grow and
forgives mistakes
Grants freedoms/choices
“I will help you”
“Let’s move forward together
Superior
Trusts self
Delegates with hesitation
Draws strength from self
Judges others/ criticizes
“Gotcha” mentality
Controls others
“I will do it for you”
“Follow me”
Why Servant Leadership?
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Climate
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Academic Success
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strong relationship between servant leadership
and positive school climate.
schools with greater practices of servant
leadership achieve at a higher rate than schools
with lower degrees of servant leadership practice.
Job Satisfaction
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strong relationship between servant leadership
and job satisfaction.
Why Servant Leadership?
Teachers are servant leaders themselves, and they
prefer to follow other servant leaders.
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According to Greenleaf, servant leaders want to be
led by servant leaders. He stated, “Those who
choose to follow this principle (servant leadership)
will not casually accept the authority of existing
institutions. Rather, they will freely respond only to
individuals who are chosen as leaders because they
are proven and trusted as servants”
Questions to Ask Ourselves
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Teachers: How can I best serve my
kids?
Principals: How can I best serve the
servant leaders who serve my kids?
Support: How can I best serve the
servant leaders who serve the servant
leaders who serve my kids?
Next Study
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Accumulation of Suggested Servant Leadership
Actions for Teachers in the Classroom
Send suggestions to the website:
servantleadersineducation.com
Suggested Servant Leadership
Actions for Teachers
Courageous Leadership (Integrity and
Authenticity)
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Be aware of my calling to teach.
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Know who I am and understand the principles for which I
stand.
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Where, how, and why was I called to teach?
Develop a personal mission statement.
Determine and follow personal guiding principles every day.
Build a purposeful reputation with students and
colleagues.
Draw upon moral courage to stand up to adversity.
www.ServantLeadersInEducation.com
Suggested Servant Leadership
Actions for Teachers
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Empowering and Developing Others
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How do I empower students in the classroom?
How do we develop new teachers at our school?
www.ServantLeadersInEducation.com
Suggested Servant Leadership
Actions for Teachers
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Serving Others
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How do we serve parents in our school? How do we deal
with controversy?
Serving Colleagues
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Support colleagues’ spirits. Keep one another’s “buckets” filled.
Determine and act upon ways to meet a colleague’s needs.
When dealing with challenging students, how do I/we
examine root causes for misbehaviors and plan for long-term
solutions?
www.ServantLeadersInEducation.com
Suggested Servant Leadership
Actions for Teachers
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Inspiring Leadership
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How do I inspire students to give their best
effort in the classroom?
How do I inspire students to plan their best
future?
www.ServantLeadersInEducation.com
The Lighthouse
She is larger than life and awe inspiring
as she stands firmly on the ground.
She slings her light out into the darkness
turning the lost into the found.
Dependable, patient, stalwart and sturdy
are some words used to express her charm.
She is a beacon of light guiding ships in the night
providing direction and protection from harm.
She guides others on their adventures
some never to return, their futures skillfully erected.
She never abandons her post, she always remains behind
with no accolades expected.
It is often a thankless job.......
Yet, she is ever faithful to her mission of serving others.
Please forgive me for getting deep or profound
like some philosopher or preacher,
but it seems to me that you could drop the word “lighthouse”
and insert the word “teacher.”
The Lighthouse (Revisited)
She is larger than life and awe inspiring
as she stands firmly on the ground.
She slings her light out into the darkness
turning the lost into the found.
The Lighthouse (Revisited)
Dependable, patient, stalwart and sturdy
are some words used to express her
charm.
She is a beacon of light guiding ships in
the night
providing direction and protection from
harm.
The Lighthouse (Revisited)
She guides others on their adventures
some never to return, their futures
skillfully erected.
She never abandons her post, she always
remains behind
with no accolades expected.
It is often a thankless job.......
Yet, she is ever faithful to her mission
of serving others.
“I am just a teacher.”
Definition of “Famous”
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Webster’s Dictionary
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Well-known
Wide-spread Reputation
Celebrated
Are You Famous?
Resources
Resources for Servant Leadership:
www.servantleadersineducation.com
Go online and check out servant leadership
for educators. Please share your ideas about
servant leadership actions for teachers.
Send ideas to:
mattstephen@servantleadersineducation.com
Don’t Quit