Autobiography of
Benjamin D. Brueggen
In the fall of 2008 I began the process of becoming an educator. That same year I was hired as a music intern at Hartford Union High School. The following year I was hired as the long-term substitute and eventual high school band director at Iowa-Grant High School. After being there for three years and experiencing great success, I took on a larger position as the high school band director for the Clinton Community School District. All of these experiences have helped me grow into the educator that I am today. Through my experiences I have developed principles that focus on a student first mentality, which encourages relevant and rigorous instruction, while also fostering personal relationships with each student. These principles are vital to my success as an educator and to the emotional, social, and intellectual development of my students. These areas will be a focus of mine as a future learning leader.
In my time in education, I have seen many administrators and how they perform their duties. I have agreed with some decisions and disagreed with others. The reason I chose to advance my career to administration was because I wanted to have influence on more students in my school. As a band director, it was difficult to connect with every student in my school when I only had about 15% of the student body in my class. As an administrator I want to be a leader that helps to make decisions to positively affect the educational experience of students.
I was attracted to the administration profession because it is a challenge. I am a person who takes challenges head on and isn’t worried about what could happen. I know that whatever challenges I face, as long as I am ethical and clear with my expectations, I will keep driving forward until I solve problems. An example is my year so far at Clinton High School. I took over for a retiree that has worked in the district for 43 years. She helped to establish a fantastic band program and had almost a cultish following. Since the community felt she was forced to retire, my job has not been easy at all. At the beginning of the year, the classroom was chaos because the former band teacher had become relaxed on classroom discipline. Every decision I made in first 7 months in this position was criticized and questioned by supporters of the previous teacher and members of the community. Though it was the most stressful seven months of my life, I continued to push through while maintaining the idea that things would get better. My perseverance paid off and things did get better. The difficulty of the experience and the fact that I never gave up has given me a feeling of confidence that I have never felt before. “The hard is what makes it great,” and worthwhile.
There are several people who influenced my decision to work towards an administrative degree. These people are my mother, former coworkers, an administrator and a lifelong friend who is also attaining an administrative certification. My mother is a teachers’ aid in the school district that I attended K-12. Her understanding of who I am and how passionate I am about education through many discussions we have had pushed me in this direction. I gain an interesting perspective when discussing education with her because she has role in educating students. This perspective gives me insight into identifying and solving problems. My coworkers saw that I was becoming a leader within the school and the success I was having with my band program, they encouraged me to work towards this degree. The administrator I had at Iowa-Grant for one year and my lifelong friend had some of the most influence over me. The administrator made me believe that I was a great teacher and that I could positively affect the lives of more students than just music students. My friend influenced me because he also shared a passion for educating allowing us to share our experiences with each other. We both made the decision to take this journey and though we are in different programs, I know I am not alone in this process.
The most outstanding qualities that I have seen in administrators were to always put students first and have the ability to identify problems while also making effective decisions quickly. While observing administrators, I have found that I admire those who are decisive in their decision making and supportive of their staff. I respect them for this and for also standing by their decision even if it was the wrong one. The best administrators are the ones who can admit when they made the wrong decision and work for a resolution until the problem is solved. Administrators I have admired also possessed a well-rounded knowledge of the school and what it takes to make a culture for a safe and high academic school and who also is able to clearly define expectations. Decisive administrators who know where they stand on issues that can also articulate their vision for learning are the most affective learning leaders.
There are many ideas about administration that guided me into this profession, but there are a few that are prominent. I know that teachers want to be supported and enjoy being recognized for their efforts. Teachers have a tough task of maintaining high standards for students while also being organized, and great planners. Teaching is a very difficult profession and they need to be supported, rewarded, and recognized for their work.
Throughout my experiences in education, I have grown to understand more about how students learn and grow. As a future learning leader, I need to make sure that I always have a student first mentality. All decisions need to be made with the students’ best interest in mind. By fostering relationships with students I will be able to stay focused on their needs and to maintain this student first principle. I also need to make sure teachers are creating experiences and relating concepts to real life so that instruction is relevant to the students. Once relevance has been established with instruction, rigor can be increased, creating strong intellects and leaders. A great administrator will have a clear vision for learning and will be able to articulate that vision with clarity by defining expectations. I will work to maintain these principles while clearly defining my expectations to students and staff.
In the fall of 2008 I began the process of becoming an educator. That same year I was hired as a music intern at Hartford Union High School. The following year I was hired as the long-term substitute and eventual high school band director at Iowa-Grant High School. After being there for three years and experiencing great success, I took on a larger position as the high school band director for the Clinton Community School District. All of these experiences have helped me grow into the educator that I am today. Through my experiences I have developed principles that focus on a student first mentality, which encourages relevant and rigorous instruction, while also fostering personal relationships with each student. These principles are vital to my success as an educator and to the emotional, social, and intellectual development of my students. These areas will be a focus of mine as a future learning leader.
In my time in education, I have seen many administrators and how they perform their duties. I have agreed with some decisions and disagreed with others. The reason I chose to advance my career to administration was because I wanted to have influence on more students in my school. As a band director, it was difficult to connect with every student in my school when I only had about 15% of the student body in my class. As an administrator I want to be a leader that helps to make decisions to positively affect the educational experience of students.
I was attracted to the administration profession because it is a challenge. I am a person who takes challenges head on and isn’t worried about what could happen. I know that whatever challenges I face, as long as I am ethical and clear with my expectations, I will keep driving forward until I solve problems. An example is my year so far at Clinton High School. I took over for a retiree that has worked in the district for 43 years. She helped to establish a fantastic band program and had almost a cultish following. Since the community felt she was forced to retire, my job has not been easy at all. At the beginning of the year, the classroom was chaos because the former band teacher had become relaxed on classroom discipline. Every decision I made in first 7 months in this position was criticized and questioned by supporters of the previous teacher and members of the community. Though it was the most stressful seven months of my life, I continued to push through while maintaining the idea that things would get better. My perseverance paid off and things did get better. The difficulty of the experience and the fact that I never gave up has given me a feeling of confidence that I have never felt before. “The hard is what makes it great,” and worthwhile.
There are several people who influenced my decision to work towards an administrative degree. These people are my mother, former coworkers, an administrator and a lifelong friend who is also attaining an administrative certification. My mother is a teachers’ aid in the school district that I attended K-12. Her understanding of who I am and how passionate I am about education through many discussions we have had pushed me in this direction. I gain an interesting perspective when discussing education with her because she has role in educating students. This perspective gives me insight into identifying and solving problems. My coworkers saw that I was becoming a leader within the school and the success I was having with my band program, they encouraged me to work towards this degree. The administrator I had at Iowa-Grant for one year and my lifelong friend had some of the most influence over me. The administrator made me believe that I was a great teacher and that I could positively affect the lives of more students than just music students. My friend influenced me because he also shared a passion for educating allowing us to share our experiences with each other. We both made the decision to take this journey and though we are in different programs, I know I am not alone in this process.
The most outstanding qualities that I have seen in administrators were to always put students first and have the ability to identify problems while also making effective decisions quickly. While observing administrators, I have found that I admire those who are decisive in their decision making and supportive of their staff. I respect them for this and for also standing by their decision even if it was the wrong one. The best administrators are the ones who can admit when they made the wrong decision and work for a resolution until the problem is solved. Administrators I have admired also possessed a well-rounded knowledge of the school and what it takes to make a culture for a safe and high academic school and who also is able to clearly define expectations. Decisive administrators who know where they stand on issues that can also articulate their vision for learning are the most affective learning leaders.
There are many ideas about administration that guided me into this profession, but there are a few that are prominent. I know that teachers want to be supported and enjoy being recognized for their efforts. Teachers have a tough task of maintaining high standards for students while also being organized, and great planners. Teaching is a very difficult profession and they need to be supported, rewarded, and recognized for their work.
Throughout my experiences in education, I have grown to understand more about how students learn and grow. As a future learning leader, I need to make sure that I always have a student first mentality. All decisions need to be made with the students’ best interest in mind. By fostering relationships with students I will be able to stay focused on their needs and to maintain this student first principle. I also need to make sure teachers are creating experiences and relating concepts to real life so that instruction is relevant to the students. Once relevance has been established with instruction, rigor can be increased, creating strong intellects and leaders. A great administrator will have a clear vision for learning and will be able to articulate that vision with clarity by defining expectations. I will work to maintain these principles while clearly defining my expectations to students and staff.