Are There Commonalities In The Works Of Fiction Identified By Superintendents

Methods and Procedures

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Novels, short stories, plays, and poetry can help us understand the character traits, abilities, and contexts of leadership in ways that didactic methods cannot” (Eastwood, 2010). A review of relevant literature in the previous chapter affirmed that readi ng fiction can impact leadership in a number of ways, whether contributing to more empathetic behavior, fostering improved communication skills, exposing leaders to fictional scenarios that might have real

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life applications, or even reducing stress. Leade rship itself is an interactive process between leaders and followers that involves action and reaction in response to seemingly limitless scenarios, and thus it is not easily defined or categorized. The

Are there commonalities in the works of fiction identified by superintendents as impactful for their own leadership experiences?

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Is there support among superintendents for the inclusion of fiction as a resource in the leadership instruction of teachers and school administrators and why?

Several hypotheses are being tested in connection with this research. The first is that K

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12 su perintendents or directors will affirm that their educational leadership practices have been impacted by their experiences reading fiction; the second is that are certain leader

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related behaviors which have been commonly influenced by the reading of fictio n; and the third is that those school leaders will concur that the study of fiction be included in the academic development of educational leaders.

READING FICTION AND LEADERSHIP PERFORMANCE

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Research Paradigm

While the literature concludes that certain leadership behaviors are influenced by read ing fiction, no specific study of this kind devoted solely to K

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12 school superintendents has been found. Given that they are tasked with implementing both state and local curriculum initiatives and serve as an important bridge between educators and those that set policy and shape the

This study will a ttempt to at least partially fill in the research gaps by directly surveying school superintendents and directors from across the State of Tennessee, from both rural and urban areas, large systems and small, in an effort to understand their reading habits.

Data from this survey will be used to evaluate how often they read as well as their reading preferences. The most important goal for this study will be to examine whether these educational leaders perceive the influences from reading fiction in their own leadership experiences in a manner that is similar to those of leaders in other fields. The assumption is that participants in this research will respond in much the same way and that support will be expressed for expanding the use of fiction as a teachi ng tool in the training of future school leaders.

Research Design

This study will include both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the reading habits of educational leaders. An estimated 100 school system superintendents or directors will be asked

READING FICTION AND LEADERSHIP PERFORMANCE

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