Unleashing the teacher in the superintendent.

At the conclusion of a graduate course on human resources management I was teaching last spring for the University of Virginia, I was doing what I normally do as students exit a class for the last time. I stand at the door, wish them well, thank them for the opportunity to be with them and express my willingness to help them launch their educational leadership careers.

Two of the 38 students stood back, clearly hoping to get more conversation time with me before they departed. As adult learners completing their master's level coursework, the two aspiring administrators wanted me to know that their best instructors during the two-year experience were sitting superintendents.

I said "thank you" on behalf of my colleagues who have answered higher education's call to serve, then suggested that the quality they perceived in the instruction provided by superintendents may have come from the superintendents feeling "unleashed" when we have the opportunity to teach.

Superintendents who serve as professors may feel a sense of freedom in a graduate teaching role because we are readily equipped with and eager to share so many examples of how practitioners apply theoretical understandings to a host of situations.

For example, in the human resources class, I could show how motivational theory supports the importance of educational leaders responding calmly and constructively when followers make mistakes. Usually I need look no further than the events of the current week to validate that theory.

A Well of Experiences

During this course, I shared how I responded to a major technical snafu just the day before that resulted in 300 of our students receiving someone else's report card in the mail. My immediate focus had to be on damage control, including profusely apologizing for this very sensitive and unfortunate mistake.

The graduate students were able to see that I first sought to manage the immediate issue by correcting the mistake and making it right in the customers' minds. I saved for another class the discussion of the appropriate response to our employees' error.

As a teaching superintendent, I can draw upon a nearly bottomless well of experiences that are clearly applicable to most theories around which I am expected to teach.

Mixing Theory and Practice

As former classroom teachers, teaching superintendents have the opportunity to not only return to our roots as educators but also to apply our increasingly refined understanding of what constitutes effective teaching and learning through our own form of modeling and conceptual understanding.

Some students make it clear they do nor expect the superintendent, who is often years removed from full-time teaching, to be effective in the classroom. I see that skepticism--expressed by students in evaluations and in conversation--as an opportunity to show how, as a teaching superintendent, 1 truly can be connected to best teaching practices.

For example, at the beginning of each course I teach, I ask students to submit in writing two burning questions they would like to examine during the course. In a course on school law, a student might ask, "Can we obtain more information on the do's and don'ts of search and seizure law as it relates to the responsibilities of school administrators?"

A pertinent question such as this could cause some instructors to simply point to a chapter in the book or provide the latest court brief on the matter. Teaching superintendents who use this opportunity to demonstrate effective teaching and learning may choose, instead, to design a response through large- or small-group discussion, research, Web-based activities, role playing, pair/share teaching strategies, case studies or some other method.

By using a variety of instructional strategies, teaching superintendents can demonstrate that they are attuned to meeting students' needs in ways that can be far more effective than the traditional teaching methods others may suspect we rely on.

A Legitimate Challenge

Finally, we may feel energized as superintendent professors because we may perceive the lower risk of interacting with professionals in an academic setting, especially if the setting is outside the community in which we serve.

Granted, we are always in a fishbowl as long as we serve in the role of superintendent. However, the professor role can afford us new avenues of problem solving in our superintendent duties. I recall one semester, while teaching school law, a family in my district desired to enroll a child on a part-time basis while homeschooling the child the rest of the time. This was creating quite a stir with my school board. Tensions were elevated and I knew the board expected and needed decisive leadership on my part.

I needed to find some way to think out of the box, so I threw this real-life challenge as a hypothetical assignment to my students in the law class. They examined the numerous legal, instructional and public relations issues behind the case and were able to help me review this issue in an anonymous, non-threatening, academic environment two hours from home. As a result, I was able to present the board with some solid suggestions to address this sticky situation.

The role of a teaching superintendent can lead to self-actualization because it ties together the learning and experiences that so richly define our unique set of responsibilities. If we capitalize on the opportunity that this special role affords us, we can effectively challenge and prepare the next generation of educational leaders.

Stewart Roberson is superintendent of Hanover County Public School District, 200 Berkley St., Ashland, VA 23005. E-mail: [e-mail]. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia.