Personal Narrative: My Journey Within The Teacher Leadership Grant

Throughout my college and professional career I have gained many diverse and valuable experiences that have helped prepare me for a career in

Currently, I am teaching at my high school alma mater and my vision is to lead my school district as an administrator. Many youth of today are choosing teaching as a career and need leadership to guide them in their journey of education. I can serve my school and community by displaying leadership qualities of a positive attitude, a willingness to develop morale of staff and guide learning experiences of naiveté and experienced teachers

I have taught students ranging from five years old to nineteen years of age. Hence, being an educator, I have learned that learning is always shifting, therefore I must keep improving with the incessant changes. As a little girl, I have always dreamt of being a teacher and I have carried out that dream. My career journey started as a substitute teacher, a floater between classrooms, an assistant teacher, a teacher, a center supervisor, and an educational supervisor. I presently work as an Educational consultant for Danya International LLC. As an Educational Consultant, I able to review and aid with the learning environment of teachers and educational management in a school

In today’s standardized public education, pacing guides are becoming the backbone of teachers’ professional lives. According to Bauml (2015), “the notion that schools should provide teachers with curriculum materials to inform instruction has been around for centuries”. In this curriculum leadership platform I will discuss how these circumstances limit teachers’ autonomy and how do I, as a curriculum leader, “enable faculty and staff to work as a system focused on student learning”.

Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders. This quote by Tom Peters best summarizes my philosophy of teacher leadership. As a teacher leader, it is up to me to inspire, direct, and encourage others so that stronger teacher, administrative, and student leaders may be born from the process. Teacher leadership involves collaboration between teachers, administrators, and teacher leaders with the goal of positively impacting the student learning environment. With student learning as the ultimate objective, teacher leadership “becomes an indispensable avenue for school improvement” (Coggins & McGovern, 2014, p. 21). So how do I as a teacher leader begin this process? I believe that teacher leadership can be achieved through three means: modeling, mentoring, and collaborating.

The primary reason that I desire to become an educational leader is because I want to make a positive impact on the lives of students and teachers. I feel that it is very easy to lose sight of the goal of education, to provide students with the skills they need to be successful in their lives. This goal often becomes overshadowed with all of the other demands that are placed on teachers, students, and administrators. I want to be innovative in finding ways to work smarter instead of harder to relieve some of the stresses that are felt by the school’s students, teachers, and other faculty

I seek to join Teach For America because I would not be where I am today if it was not for caring teachers who pushed me into the right direction and validated the idea that I can be a successful student. Growing up my mother and grandmother were both teachers, and hearing their struggles of teaching, I had vowed to never become one. When high school came I was convinced that I was going to join the military and that college was never an option. That was until I met Ms. Mudron, my English teacher who planted a seed in me that grows till this day. My answers to questions that she asked regarding our readings were nothing like the other students, yet they were not wrong, she informed me that I thought outside of the box and that is why I should

This journey taught me to be persistent, patient, and open-minded but to also adapt, innovate, receive constructive feedback, identify problems, find solutions,

My experiences are comprehensive as it relates to my higher education administrative leadership abilities. My post-secondary experiences began as a community college student. My experience as a community college student led me to begin teaching for higher education institutions with two and four year degree programs. I taught traditional face-to-face classroom

The purpose of this “Purpose, Reflective Practice, and Career Goals” paper is to reflect on how the Education Specialist program in Leadership in Educational Administration will help me to build upon my leadership skills and provide me with the knowledge and tools necessary to effectively lead a school district dedicated to improving student achievement. In this paper, I explain how the program aligns with my career goals of becoming a school district superintendent and the importance of lifelong learning for educators. According to Rüprich & Urhahne (2015), teachers should set goals. I consider myself a lifelong learner with the ability to build leadership capacity and support instruction. Additionally, the Paper highlights the benefits of the program at Capella University as well as the usefulness of the available resources and the impact they will have on my learning during this journey.

Over the past two summers I have done quite a bit. In the summer of 2013-14 I went to the Summer leadership Academy. SLA is a one week boot camp for AFJROTC cadets. With approximately 10 schools including Dickinson high school. I was appointed guidon bearer. We woke up at 0430 and went to the field for PT, and had breakfast at 0600.throughout the rest of the day we did several activities from navigation class to the marksmanship course. At the end of boot camp I was awarded the Spirit award and Distinguished graduate award. In the summer of 2014-15 I stayed home to help my cousin in his home repairs. From redoing some of his deck to building a shed. We also worked on his car changing the oil, brakes, rotors, spark plugs

My principal, Mr. Darnell Payne, had such a presence in our school, it was almost impossible not to be in awe whenever he came into the room. The way he was the superb leader of our school, but also took the time to be concerned with every student. As a nine-year-old student, all I knew was I wanted to be like Mr. Payne. Someone who was a leader that set a great example for both my colleagues and students. I really felt like it was something I must do. A graduate degree in Educational Leadership is my next step in getting closer to completing my journey. In 2006, when I enrolled at Troy University, I intended to accomplish all the goals I had set for myself. As I was choosing my major, I would sit and think about what it was I should do with my life…what was I good at and what was the purpose of my life. I saw life as having no meaning unless you are constantly giving back with the talents and skills that have been bestowed upon you. Therefore, with this realization I knew that my life’s purpose was “giving back”. While at Troy, I worked to always leave a positive impact on any person I

Tuesday, September 12, 2017, I eagerly interviewed a fellow co-worker, Patricia Britt, a kindergarten assistant teacher at my school, New Hope Elementary. She has been a paraprofessional for almost twenty years. When asked to define the term 'paraprofessional', Britt replied, "An underpaid teacher who does just as much, if not more, in the classroom as the certified teacher but doesn't get recognized for it." In a sense, Britt is undoubtedly correct. Most of the time, assistant teachers are considered not as important or not as valuable as certified teachers. Assistant teachers can perform the same duties as certified teachers, but do not get compensated for it nor recognized for all the hard work put into the task.

Over the years, I have worn many educator hats such as a Director of Resource, classroom teacher, Head Start teacher, special’s teacher, and as a teacher’s aide. My leadership experiences have not been ones in an administrative role, but I have had leadership experiences both informal and formal in nature. My years as a professional educator with a Virginia Collegiate Professional license has allowed me to teach in public settings as well as Catholic schools, at many different grade levels and for me, all of those experiences have influenced my leadership skills.

Over the course of my studies I feel I have grown as a teacher leader. I no longer take leadership opportunities for granted. The courses here at Lamar have shown me that no matter if the leadership opportunity is formal or informal it still can have an enormous impact on student success. I also attribute my growth to the additional