Personal Leadership | leadership

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY

Organizations I Have Worked With

"The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly."

—Jim Rohn

Analysis & Reflection:

Personal Leadership is a competency that I have found to be most important to me. By developing personally, I have been able to develop in other aspects as well. As I transform personally, I am able to grow into a better teacher, a better mentor, a better colleague, a better student, and significantly a better leader. Working with organizations that are most important to me has provided me the avenue to grow personally. I have learned how to reflect on my experiences to maximize my strengths while turn my weaknesses into opportunities to learn.

For example, I realized to best serve others, I need to take care of myself. Work-life balance is truly important. I learned that I must do what it takes to be my best, to be my healthiest, to be my most optimistic so I can lead by example. It is just as important for me to learn how to take care of myself as it is for my students or my colleagues to take care of themselves. Taking care of oneself does not mean you do not care about others. If anything, it means you care so much that you want to make sure you are at your best on a daily basis to serve others.

Maintaining contact with Teach for America has been important so I can develop my networks but also reinvigorate myself while I find my place in the education system and while I confront obstacles. It has helped me realize I am not alone in the struggles to transform students' lives and close the current gaps that exist.

Joining the Black College Tour has had a tremendous impact on me in various ways. I realized I could not judge a school by its acceptance criteria or by its graduation rates as they still provide opportunities for students to go away and have the full college experience, although they may be confronted with struggles. Interacting with chaperones from different walks of life that came together for a common mission, I got a chance to have moments of introspection. This experience affirmed for me why I decided to stay in education. It also made me think about what I want to do in the future as an administrator. I want to be able to provide other students with such opportunities like this tour or mentoring programs. I want to be able to create a clear pathway with extra supports for students interested in the sciences from middle school or high school through college so they do not give up on their dream. Specifically, I want to combine my interests in medicine with my interest in education.

Working very closely with College Summit as a Peer Leader advisor at my school has helped me realized the importance of investing in our rising leaders: the next generation of students. By investing myself in the mission of transforming students into leaders, I as a leader had to learn how to teach how to lead. It is not an easy job but is extremely important for building capacity. As a result, I have helped my school earn "School of the Year" and "Peer Leader Team of the Year."

Elements of Personal Leadership Competency

A school leader fosters a culture of excellence through personal leadership. This culture of excellence is demonstrated in the following elements

01

Believes all students can achieve at high levels. Articulates a clear vision and goals for high students achievement.

Artifacts

Feedback from Peer Leaders about having high expectations about their leadership capacity

During the 2013-2014 school year I served as Peer Leader Advisor, where my role was to select and train high school seniors as leaders in spreading college going culture at our school. Through a rigorous process I helped create to mimic the college application process, we selected a group of 10 peer leaders who had the opportuniy to train for 4 days, 3 nights at Yale University. Above is there feedback after having participated in the training.

02

Holds self and others accountable for student learning.

Artifacts

I created these checklists as a means of creating consistency school-wide for teacher pedagogy that we believe helps all students learn. This helped our school to receive a Well-Developed for our most recent Quality Review in March 2015, which is featured above.

03

Strategically aligns leadership behaviors with stated values and goals to drive required change. Develops strategies plans with effective solutions. Adapts appropriately to situation, audience, and needs

Artifacts

2014-15 School Comprehensive Education Plan (SCEP)

Alongside our school's Cabinet, I helped to draft our 2014-15 School Comprehensive Education Plan (SCEP) which outlines our current school goals and action plan to achieve those goals.

04

Influences others to achieve results. Builds strong relationships based on mutual respect, trust, and empathy.

Artifacts

I have aided in creating structure for our School Implementation Team (which was lacking). With the other two special education teachers in my school, we now have organized, efficient structures in place for gathering information on students with disabilities from both the students and teachers, conducting Committee on Special Education meetings, creating quality IEPs, and tracking our progress of completion. Due to mutual respect and trust, teachers have stepped up to aid in the creation of templates that are being continuously used by our School Implementation Team.

05

Communicates clearly and appropriately for the audience and message.

Artifacts

College Summit Visit

High School Recruitment

COLLEGE SUMMIT SITE VISIT

Notable Testimonial

"I just wanted to thank you so much for hosting the event today and giving us the opportunity to showcase our partnership. I hope that the passion that you all showed for building a college-going culture, the leadership and example of your Peer Leaders, and your great results will inspire more schools to join the College Summit family! Thank you again for today, for your continuing partnership, and for your commitment to your students."

— Executive Director of College Summit NY

I am often tasked to create PowerPoints presentations and other materials for marketing purposes due to my skill to communicate clearly and appropriately for the audience and message. The College Summit Site Visit was tailored for a room filled with various attendees from principals to teachers to superintendents and network leaders as well as donors to the College Summit organization. To increase our high school enrollment, I redesigned our brochure and school's website to showcase our programs and created a PowerPoint movie about our school. I also organized "Buddy Days" for middle school students to experience a day in the life of an HSGC student.

06

Demonstrates self-awareness and a commitment to ongoing learning. Welcomes and acts on performance feedback.

Artifacts

For my own professional growth, I have attended various workshops, trainings, and school visits. The agendas and PowerPoints of the most significant ones are featured above.

07

Demonstrates emotional fortitude and perseveres in the face of obstacles.

Artifacts

Although there are not any physical artifacts, I think this online portfolio is a testament of my emotional fortitiude and perseverance as I gained experience in the various school leadership competencies.