About Yourself-Framing Your Leadership Flashcards
Why you are interested in becoming a school leader?
I wanted to go into school leadership for the opportunity to work with kids in all grades throughout the entire school and not be limited to my classroom. I enjoy being around students in multiple grade levels and having an impact on those students. In a classroom role, you are limited to the kids in your class, as a leader, you can connect with every single student and make a difference. That was most appealing to me and ultimately made me pursue a future in school leadership.
What strengths would you bring to this position?
Collaborative- Shared vision with staff, parents, and students to enhance school improvement.
Approachable and Passionate about working with kids.
Communication- I can effectively articulate and communicate facts and ideas with a wide range of audiences whether it be spontaneous or at planned speaking engagements. Including planning, organizing, and conducting effective IEP meetings.
Resilience- you are going to fail in life it happens to everyone. Students will fail, teachers will fail but what you do after you fail is what is critical in being effective.
What approaches do you do to manage your time effectively?
I intend to pre-plan as much as possible. Pre planning involves setting large and small goals, It also involves setting dates, getting teams organized, responding to emails, etc. Now pre-planning is easier said than done. However, my ability with technology (google certified/etc..) really helps with pre-planning. I prioritize my schedule and tasks. Whenever prioritizing, you want to evaluate the importance of various tasks. Then identify the most pressing tasks. I’m also very flexible, as things always tend to change. Staying organized involves being able to break complex tasks down, Time consuming tasks are the ones you want to break down first, Divide these larger tasks into smaller tasks with deadlines for completion. I also seek out help from others.
Summary: Schedule priorities, get important things done first, & use technology to organize.
What do you see as your greatest weakness and what have you done to address them?
Always saying yes. Hard for me to say no to requests or if I’m needed for help. I could improve on concentrating my energy in areas where it’s needed the most.
I could use more experience with a variety of curriculums and educational programs and student schedules.
Provide an example of when you worked in a team.
I enjoy working in a team environment, and I get along well with people. … Different team members contribute different perspectives, and the synergy between team members can produce creative and productive results. I have worked in a team environment with my fellow two kindergarten teachers for the past seven years. Together we collaborate to form a shared vision and set academic and social goals for our students each year. This allows us to start fresh each year and gives us a common direction to work towards. Throughout the year we meet to discuss progress and modify goals if needed. At the end of the year we disaggregate our data and compare results. We then share what went well and what did not. This helps us build our teaching practice and ensure the same content is being covered throughout all classrooms.
When I first started Kindergarten I had very little experience in the grade level. Working in a team environment really helped me learn techniques, strategies, curriculum, and tricks to be successful.
What are some forms of transparent decision-making?
One way is to invite representatives from the community to be a part of various decision making committees. I would utilize online tools for public awareness to the community. Schools need to get up to date with social media. Then use social media to get information out to the public. Next, I would solicit general opinions (using electronic surveys) for upcoming school decisions. Soliciting opinions will bring awareness to the decisions that schools must make, and give a voice to the school community. Schools must share and distribute school data in an unbiased manner. Sharing data is another form of transparency. Just make sure the data you share is not confidential. Be sure to share the data accurately to the public. You want to break the data down for the community as well. Constantly update our school’s information publicly. One of the most important places to update school information is on the school’s website. And lastly, communicate with the community on a regular basis, to establish trust.
Summary: Invite representative to take part in decision making, utilize online tools for public awareness, make use of social media, solicit general opinions (using surveys) for upcoming school decisions, share and distribute school data, update schools information regularly and publicly, and communicate on a regular basis.
