Personal Narrative: This I Believe About Leadership

During this middle portion of my career, I continued focusing on data-based decision making and a strong instructional program, but I also began to value the importance of collaboration, building relationships, and effective communication. I still led by example, but my leadership style began to become more collaborative. As my quest for knowledge continued, and my desire to increase my sphere of influence grew, I decided to pursue a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Leadership. As I think back to that first evening, I realize that the John Wooden quote resonated so strongly with me because those words clearly articulated the vision that I carried within myself as I continuously sought to improve my practice in order to meet the needs of all of my

Leadership is a privilege that carries with it many responsibilities to inspire others, and to direct individuals to attain the vision and goals of an organization. As an effective leader it is my job to be flexible, be an excellent communicator, be a person who leads by example, and is an individual who is committed, resourceful, and reflective. Achieving the characteristics above, I have developed a definite purpose in mind; one that is shared and modeled in and outside of my school environment. With such growth mindset, I teach, present workshops and empowers others to make decisions that will develop future leaders. To lead by example, I became a mentor for first-year teachers. Furthermore, I orchestrate educational committees, encouraging

After reading the list of 34 strengths on page 101 in Strengths based Leadership; I decided to try and pick out the top 5 that I felt applied the most to me. Choosing; Analytical, Developer, Futuristic, Input and Relator I found consistently the top 5 had to do with research, learning, the bigger picture, and relationships. I always pride myself in my ability to really see both sides of a situation as well as reading a person or in other words it does not take me long to figure out what type of person someone is and I would guess 8 out of 10 times; I am usually dead on with what I discover in the first 15 minutes with a person.

There are a number of different leadership roles I have filled in the past and continue many of them still today. All of these have given me opportunities to increase my own professional knowledge and skills as well as the occasion to learn from others in my field.

When my third grade teacher suggested Leader as a game to play, I didn’t think that I would learn a lesson from one simple game. For me, games are fun because they are competitive. Learning life lessons while playing a game was kind of like doing math while hanging out with your friends. Fun? Probably not. As the game we played taught me, though, sometimes you have to look closer to see things as they really are.

One of the first concepts made in the book that I really connected to were the five practices of exemplary leadership. To Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. Throughout high school I was involved in many organizations all for which I had a passion for. However, during my freshmen year in one of the organizations I was a part of I had always pushed to assert myself as one of the leaders in the committee since I did not possess a position of leadership like being president or even vice-president of the committee.

The first leader that inspire me and motivate it was my first supervisor, Lucy. I was a brand new nurse and she make me feel as part of the team since the first day, she showed me empathy because she was concern about my feelings and expectations but at the same time she share her expectations as my supervisor. Lucy had great communication skills, she was always available to speak with anyone that has question or any issue; she communicate effectively the goals we need to accomplished but also the plan we need to follow. She was constantly in the unit asking to everyone how the day was going, and making sure we have all the equipment working properly. She was passionate about the care for the patients, she was able to teach me one

My love for Leadership is not something that I was born with, but grown in a family in which all the time was spoken about it in my presence. A character of leader thinking was built in me not intentionally, but it influenced my view to future and what I wanted to be.

As a sophomore at Valencia College I was part of the start of the school’s first S.T.E.M. Club. We were established to inspire, motivate, and educate the students completing STEM majors. I decided I wanted to take on an officer position and was elected as the clubs president. One of our first goals was to reach out to the community and begin volunteering for things we cared about. It was tough to find something since we were a new club and did not have any community connections at the time. We had to also gather a car pool and make sure we included as many members in the process. It was important for us as a club to make sure we focused on the community and volunteer since maintaining community relations and giving our time shows that we care.

I have chosen a leader from a past employer, under her leadership I developed tremendously both professionally and personally. In the world of non-profit we experience firsthand the urgency of people in need with minimum to no resources. There is often more people who are in need than there are resources available. The leadership trait that my leader exemplifies that has contributed to her success is intelligence. The intelligence leadership trait is defined as using good judgement, having good reasoning, and thinking capability (Manning & Curtis, 2003) by using her intelligence trait she has been able to recruit and build a network of individuals and companies to assist with providing resources to others. She has shown good reasoning by thinking

I have performed informally brief, and training of my office leadership on how WebTA, Judge Only Video hearings, Single Device Initiatives, DRAP 8, and JAVs and many other program changes would affect how the new changes would affect the current process and how the office would need to adapt to these changes within the system. Moreover, I have produced written training instructions multiple time for management and office staff to follow-up with to clearly convey the technical steps to take to ensure the desired results are archived. Furthermore, I have, on a daily basis, communicate with external contractors, and agency leadership in reference to the status of multiple projects, and ensuring that the all rules and regulations are followed.

The best way to help people work together towards a common goal is by being a good leader. My personal leadership approach is to take initiative, use good organization and time-management, be encouraging, supportive, adaptive, and creative. I strive to lead by example, to give others a model to follow and emulate. This method works successfully in my job at the County Rec. As a senior worker with years of experience, I’m often called on to oversee the success and administration of the camp I’m in. At these times, I have to help two groups reach a common goal: my own group of campers, and the other counselors and their groups. To accomplish this, I approach the goals of the camp in the same way as my group's goals. I model effective behavior

overseeing the compliance office, operations office or a senior or assistant athletic director within the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill athletic director office department.

According to Lew and Schmidt (2011) the role of reflection in education has created an upsurge of interest amongst educators and researchers since Dewey’s 1991 ground-breaking work, which emphasized the positive roles that reflection might play in fostering students’ self-reflection, critical thinking, and in the demonstrable development of professional values or skills.

Extraordinary teachers and leaders are a gift to the schools that they serve. Years of dedication, passion, and persistence make these individuals. No one is born with the intrinsic ability to be dynamic. Some people have a predisposition for leadership and teaching, but the very best leaders and teachers are those who have worked hard and who have learned many lessons on the road to success. Each of us can make the choice to become great leaders and teachers. We can embrace research-based strategies and take actions to become not only accomplished but exemplary.