A Fourth Element Of The Position Of Leadership-Straddler

Achieving a school district’s mission and vision requires the commitment of its stakeholders. In order to involve them in the process, it is necessary for educational leaders to “motivate staff, parents, students, board and community members” (Educational Leadership Constituencies Council, 2002, p. 4). The transformational leadership theory emphasizes the importance of educational leaders acting as role-models in order to motivate and inspire the school community. This approach has the potential to involve all stakeholders, leading to increased student success (Bush, 2007). The Assistant Director of Special Education in Northwest ISD directly supervised the school district’s assessment staff. Her education, experience, and passion set an example for her subordinates, stimulating them to achieve more, leading to her promotion to Executive Director of Student Services.

Who school leaders are – what they do, attend to, or seem to appreciate is constantly watched by students, teachers, parents, and members of the community. Their interests and actions send powerful messages. They signal the values they hold. Above all else, leaders are cultural “teachers” in the best sense of the word. (Deal & Peterson, 1990, p. 201)

When you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” men and “colored”. (p. 4)

It usually starts with an event or an encounter that causes the child to become aware of their ethnicity and what it means for them. This encounter causes most to examine their racial identification and how their future will be affected. Tatum uses her ten-year-old son as an example. If he were to describe himself, he would talk about the things he likes to do and the fact that he is tall for his age. He would probably say this because when he tells people his age they tell him he is tall for his age. He knows he’s tall because that’s what everyone tells him. Likewise, he knows he’s Black because people are telling him so, just not directly. Tatum explains by asking if her son were to walk down the street whether or not women hold their purses tighter, or if people try to avoid him, or if security watches him more closely. Maybe people automatically assume he plays basketball. This all sends a racial message.

Too black for the White kids, yet somehow too white for the Black kids, oh the perils of a cappuccino mixed race kid. But it’s true. My life since I was young, at least younger than my eighteen year old self, has been about which group do I most fit in with. Between the four school changes over the course of twelve years, all in white suburban towns I’ve molded myself into an array of characters.

Being nominated for the Joanne Woodard Leadership Award has been one of the highlights of my semester thus far. I am truly honored to be nominated for an award that is a demonstration of my ability to lead ethically, serve as a role model, and use my influence to advance African and African American culture on campus. Having held different positions in various campus community centers, my goal is for my leadership style to reflect the missions of the African American Cultural Center, Multicultural Student Affairs, and the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity.

In her school, Dr. Johnson made known how her work towards equity has been to use professional development with her teachers to challenge deficit thinking of her black students. Dr. Johnson states that part of the equity training involves, making “sure that we are not looking down, especially on our black males, that this is how they are and they are never going to get better.” Dr. Johnson has engaged in Courageous Conversations about Race (Singleton & Linton, 2006) with her staff. The following details the demand engaging in race dialogue in schools.

Gloria Ladson-Billings, author of The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children shares the same sentiments:

Blacks kids do not associate education as acting white, but see being educated and being able to speak properly as being white. In ‘You Talk White:’ Being Black and Articulate’, Keith Powell states in, “Being smart, black, young and American had become a liability. People seemed to think I was some kind of walking oxymoron. I was often asked to be more “urban and it never seemed like the right time or place to launch into a diatribe about how I was born in West

Initially, Gaines uses the characterization of Grant’s view on his job to exemplify that when one has no sense of justice, they can not make a difference in their given world. After receiving a college education, Grant returns to his hometown to teach,

Throughout this book, Sergiovanni is attempting to reframe the role of leadership in a school from an old paradigm focused on management and control and the view that a school is a formal organization, to a new paradigm of empowerment through caring, acknowledging the expertise of teachers and students, and facilitating their active participation in the school.

Leadership is something that we are all born with because we are all born. Therefore, who is a leader and who is not depends on who really wants to be a leader and who does not. Leadership is a skill and so it can be learned. As anything that is learned it demands practice and practice to be the best. It would not be something that will happen in a matter of a day. There are multiple elements that make a leader. Collaboration is a key element for successful teamwork. Therefore, a leader must always be in the look for ways to foster collaboration. Creating trust within the team, support face-to-face collaboration, transfer responsibilities when making decisions, and ultimately teach other how to be leaders. All of this is not done if it is not done from the bottom of your own heart.

Through my leadership experiences at SCSU, I have grown into a strong, independent, and courage woman. This past spring semester, I took the opportunity to apply and be accepted to present at M.E.Ch.A.’s national conference about my independent studies course that I developed. I never imagined to share my cultural experiences on that level and have professors comment afterward about how they enjoy my presentation. There have been opportunities where I was able to discuss with administrators among other students and our concerns on campus issues facing students of color directly to them. I have met strong, academic leaders and students at conferences that have exposed me to love and embrace my cultural identity, indigenous roots, femininity, strength, and personal struggles. The education program gave me the opportunity to continue learning in another location for student teaching, which again has exposed me to new experiences, people, environments, and academic challenges. I no longer view challenges as obstacles, rather I view them as tests to help me remember how worth it, the path I am on and pursing, is to me. When I first started my freshman year in fall 2012, I could have never imagined that I would do and come as far as I have. I remember when I began this journey, I said to myself that I would graduate

My leadership can be seen in my experience as the Director of Resource in my school of 600 students, Preschool through the eighth grade. I supported parents, teachers and administrators as they maneuvered the obstacles involved in identifying learning needs as well as the challenges that follow after identification. I worked directly with teacher and families to complete the necessary paperwork and advocated on their behalf with the public school system. Under the role as director, I was solely responsible for

Gadbow believes it is the duty of adult educators to instill a life-long love of learning into their students, "helping adults learn how to learn is the most important thing a teacher ever does" (p. 53). The first responsibility of educators working with adults is to help them identify their learning styles and differences as well as other special learning needs, and then provide effective strategies to adapt to these individual learning needs (53). The author's contention that all learners are special means seeing the possibilities as well as the problems or particular needs of each student as they present themselves.