Questions and Answers on Leadership

Through the reading of Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development and A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota I have not only learned about the experiences of others, but have also gained a deeper understanding of my own racial and cultural identity and how that relates to other identities around me. In learning this information, I feel that I will not only be able to understand and relate better to my future students, but also understand their backgrounds and how they are affecting them presently. Therefore, I will be able to teach to individuals in the way they need me to, but also create a more welcoming and inclusive environment (racially, culturally, and otherwise) in my future classroom. The information I have read has helped me to understand my own racial and cultural identity, how it relates to the identities of my future students, and what I can do to make educational institutions more racially and culturally inclusive.

What insights have I gained about my role as an educational leader from these chapters?

Although I have made many positive changes these last few years, there is always room for growth. I found this apparent, as I have witnessed outstanding role models through the university. There is simply no ending point or “final” destination, when it comes to growing and working on your own faults. Therefore, I hope to take what I have learned from my past and college, and be able to continue to find ways of dealing with diversity in a professional manner. Knowing this, it is both exciting and frightening experience, especially knowing the many situations that are to come. However, I hope that I can take each encounter, and be able to learn to become the best role model a teacher can be for each student. I hope that each student, no matter their background, can feel as if they are welcome and accepted into the classroom. I also believe that the university has made tremendous strides to make this possible, especially assigning us classes that directly deal with diversity. In opportunities of mentoring, volunteering, and observations, I have been able to experience early on what it means to be a role model, in a diverse setting. The topic of diversity and this method of currere are extremely important, not only for myself, but also the students of the future. To understand diversity, you have to understand yourself. It is not a simple

The textbook states that, “the learning community cannot rely solely on informal approaches to diversity and equity; a concerted effort should also be put forth to address these issues” (Roberts & Pruitt, 2009 p.168). This statement speaks volumes, we fail as a school to address the issues of diversity within the staff and community because we do not actively bring awareness to the issues at hand. Improvement in regards to staff relations can be made by engaging the staff in activities that encourage staff to open up about their beliefs on education and their views on how other cultures should learn. Staff discussions are vital because “teachers may have unconscious assumptions about students who come from different backgrounds in relation to their schooling” (Roberts & Pruitt, 2009 p.170). Conversations like these can clear up teacher misconceptions and misunderstandings. Family and community relations can be improved by utilizing parents of ethnic background to act as translators and classroom volunteers, additionally the school can host a multicultural event in which parents are invited to the school to share their culture or ethnicity with members of the school

I learned early on that the bedrock of any organization, corporation, or military unit is the personnel who work or serve within. Understanding the skills, capabilities, and experience of the people within your group is vital to help them personally excel and the group to succeed. My first experience with the complexities of personnel management were as a teenager some thirty-five-years ago.

Leadership is the significant ability to gain followers and lead not only through providing instruction but by example as well. Requiring many micro-abilities and characteristics, great leadership is a rare appearance in society. Some characteristics I believe to be vital in leadership include perseverance, passion, and collaborative skills. The usage of these characteristics typically leads to the ideal image of a leader.

Upon completion the three leadership assessments, I was surprised to notice several data points which revealed particular aspects about my leadership style that I had not previously perceived myself to be. One of these instances was my low “balanced processing” scores during the Authentic Leadership Self-Questionnaire, which highlighted that I tend to glance over the opinions of others in lieu of my own. These findings accurately reflect my leadership skills as I tend overestimate my own ways of thinking and can sometimes ignore others who may provide me with a broader perspective. I plan to apply these results to grow professionally by taking actions such as actively listening to constructive feedback and recognizing the value of the opinions

In order to have a multicultural classroom, the teacher must be a multicultural person in their core. This is the only way to have a bias-free environment in the classroom. Our book states, “A good multicultural teacher must believe in social justice and advancement of democracy” (Robles de Melendez & Beck, 2013, p213). If we as educators believe in social justice and we live in a multicultural town, then we believe in justice for all. No matter their color, race, culture, social status… In other words we believe in progress for all and that everyone has the potential or capabilities of accomplishing success. If we in fact are that type of person we feel a responsibility as educators to offer equal opportunities to all students and their families.

A leadership challenge identified in the story was communication challenges between team members. Nurse leaders may be frightened to stop practice which is not effective and may not know a way to drive forward that which is effective. As nurses who have worked in care for very long are often reluctant to change what they have always done (Andrews,2017).

Since I started this class, I have a learned a great deal about cultural diversity in the classroom and abroad. My perspective has changed slightly but my knowledge of this subject has improved. In my family, my father taught me about the civil rights movement and the evils of segregation in the U.S. My parents taught me to be tolerant of all humans, no matter what they look like, how they dress, or their sexual orientation. My family has always been liberal thinkers who taught me the dark history of racism and bigotry in this country. As an educator I would be accepting to all race, creeds, and religious peoples.

Once students and teachers are aware of cultural differences, they become aware of racism and can fight to eradiate it. Through their unbiased understanding of the differences between cultures and races, they are able to come to a point of acceptance of themselves and others. If you noticed in my previous paragraph, I mentioned the different types of diversity. Diversity emphasizes how different students and teachers are, but when explored in a classroom, can be used to reveal our similarities. Once students and teachers grasp the concept of diversity, displayed through everyday interactions with diverse groups of students and teachers, racism begins to disappear. In addition, positive sense of self can be developed once students and teachers have an understanding of their own uniqueness through experiences and understanding of diversity. Once teachers and students

By the middle and late 1980’s, other K-12 teachers-turned-scholars provided more scholarship in multicultural education, developing new, deeper frameworks that were grounded in the ideal of equal educational opportunity and a connection between school transformation and social change. Meanwhile, the cultural landscape of the United States continued to become less visibly white Christian and more visibly rich with cultural, racial, ethnic, and religious diversity, underscoring the necessity for everyone to develop a set of skills and knowledge that the present system was failing to provide all students. These included creative and critical thinking skills, intercultural competence, and social and global awareness. The education system was not only plagued by unequal treatment of traditionally oppressed groups, but was also ill-equipped to prepare even the most highly privileged students to competently participate in an increasingly diverse society.

18). Glazer goes on to say that the push for an inclusive system came from the growing number of black students and black educators in the white school system, where white educators adopted a more sympathetic attitude towards the idea (Munroe, 2000, p. 19). A recent study by Anita Bohn documented that the concern of multiculturalism is on the decline among both teachers and administrators (Sleeter, 2000,p. 156). Bohn stated that these are,” …early warning signs that the multicultural education reform movement is in peril,”(Sleeter, 2000, p. 156). When trying to understand all of this information, one must understand that multicultural education is not a program (Sleeter, 2000, p. 156). “It is not and cannot be addressed sufficiently by any set of state or national standards, or by any textbook series, so that it will no longer require our sustained attention as educators. Multicultural education is a critical forum for reforming schools in ways that support pluralism and equity,” (Sleeter, 2000, p. 157). Basically, these authors are telling us that this subject is not taken seriously by all, but the real difficulty lies in trying to create guidelines for multicultural education’s incorporation.

All individual has some dreams and goals for his/her betterment, improvement or successful future. But, unfortunately, only having ideas and objectives is not sufficient. We need to take practical steps, make a change, and works to get them in a better way, and these measures and actions demand a different kind of knowledge, skills and talent to become successful. After my encounter with the module, I was able to make some personal change. This module has changed my views, even my philosophy of life being a leader and how to manage change.

Cultural diversity: Throughout this semester, I have gained a better understanding about cultural diversity in classroom and why teachers should promote their cultural competence. Before I took the class, I was not aware of the issues of diversity play an important role on effecting the classroom. Students come to schools with different backgrounds, race, class, and cultural contexts, which lead to different learning styles. How a teacher incorporates teaching strategies for addressing differences is the key to students’ success, especially when facing minority groups. Ogbu mentioned that what is even more significant is the nature of the relationship between minority cultures/ languages and the culture and language of the dominant white Americans and the public schools they control (Ogbu, 1992.) This is why I need to foster cultural awareness by learning different types of cultural characteristic of minorities. I also conclude that effective teaching is also about teachers who embraces students’ cultural backgrounds. From the class, I also enjoy writing personal narrative history and family tree. It helps me to gain a new insight of what a multicultural perspective is about, that is, to affirm differences rather than deny them.