Sub-Platform 10/8/2015 1 Comment Instruction/Curriculum I believe that a relevancy and well-rounded curriculum is the foundation for all learners. This will insure the development of the next generation of leaders. I believe this because as a professional relevancy of the curriculum hits the heart of the student. When students connect to realties in curriculum they take ownership of their learning as it pertains to their future. There are many negative issues that can develop if students find school irrelevant, they can make hasty decisions without understanding the full scope of long-term opportunities they relinquish. There are several methods that foster a relevant and well-rounded curriculum. For example changing the prospective of student engagement, academic skills should be viewed as the foundation for gainful employment, while students learn to take advantage of those skills in the classroom. I have seen so many positive outcomes from students who once had no interest in school turn their educational journey around when they find the relevancy of school. For example, one of my students in front of a full class had an ahha moment. He announced to the class “what we are learning right now is what I need to be successful at my job. I can see the point of school now.” Parent and Community Involvement I believe a highly effective school is one that has the involvement of parents and community for the betterment of the students. I believe this because as a professional I have seen the effectiveness of parents, schools and the community working together. I work at a school where the city has grown in leaps and bounds but still has a small town feel, I believe this comes from the parents, community and teacher involvement. When properly done, these collaboratives improve schools, strengthen families and neighborhoods. Poorly implemented partnerships can end up being another reform effort that promised a lot, did nothing and sometime causing more harm than good. There are many obstacles to receive the involvement of all three sections but with hard work and making your school available to the community we can overcome them. Discipline and School Culture I believe that students and staff should feel safe at school, there needs to be an environment where students and staff feel safe the moment they step onto the campus. I believe this because if you have an environment where students and staff don’t feel safe the instruction and learning is hindered. This has to come before anything else. I worked at a school where staff and students were always uneasy due to the school population and violent acts. This caused many issues when it came to learning, like acting out, no respect for others and so on. Having worked for school with environments of well-being and environments that were not safe. It’s easy to conclude that discipline and school culture is what students need to be successful in life. Technology I believe that technology is the key to making every student a success. I believe this from my own personal experiences. If it was not for technology I would not be able to get a post-secondary education. I would not have the writing and math skills to be successful in life and school without technology. Technology has be a tool in my hand for the last twenty years and I believe it is a great tool for students now. Technology gives students a sense of empowerment and an equality with others. I worked at a community school for five years and we had no technology in our classrooms. I believe if we had the proper technology we could have propelled our students into post-secondary education. Instead we had a high dropout rate and the students that would graduate where not equipped to handle any jobs/school with technology. Education has started changing drastically in the early 1990's with the advancement of the Technology. Now more than ever schools should be introducing new technology in their teachings. Students should have access to computers and tablets. They should have classes on how they work and how programs within them are created. This would develop a generation of employable workers and can only benefit the next generations. Leadership Style
My leadership style is Laissez-faire for the most part. I am a very relaxed person, giving people the benefit of the doubt. I believe we are all professional and we don’t need to be told and reminded what to do every day. I as a leaders I can’t control every situation that happens, but I can move forward and focus my time and energy on what’s going to keep us successful as a whole. I have learned from many leader in my life and I have always gravitated to the ones that trusted me as a professional. I believe when you are in an environment where trust is established and you don’t always have to look over your shoulder your creativity, mood, professionalism and all round job performance is elevated. I like this style of leadership because staff are welcomed to share their views and provide suggestions which produces ownership from everyone. This leadership style does not work for everyone but it can work when the employees are skilled, loyal, experienced and intellectual. Which in my opinion describes the school setting we are all apart off. My non-negotiable as a school leader is for students and staff to feel safe at school. There needs to be an environment where students and staff feel safe the moment they step on to the campus. My second non-negotiable is giving the students the tools to be successful in life. Whether that be academics, basic needs and anything that would help propel them to be global citizens. My last non-negotiable would be having myself and staff be relevant to our students, school and community. One of the main problems I see with some schools is the leadership is not relevant and they are so out of touch with this every changing society.
I have been working in education for nine years. Out of the nine years I have been in education eight have been teaching. I taught my first five years at Merced County Office of Education. There I taught Agriculture to troubled high school students in the court system. My day was split between two schools, one in Los Banos and the other in Merced. I loved teaching in the court community schools system, there I meet many students and educators that would have a profound effect on my life. As an Agriculture instructor I was able to go outside the classroom into the community and help different social project in our area. This lead to a great partnership with Habitat for Humanity and different food pantry’s in our community. Some of my cherished memories have been seeing my court ordered students that were outcasts of society donating eggs that our chickens produces and fruits and vegetables that were harvest from our school farm. The last three years of teaching have been for Delta Charter High in Tracy Ca. This has also been a great challenge for me. I was hired to create an Agriculture program from the ground up. In just two years at Delta I manage to build a great program, we now have three Agriculture instructors and a school farm. At the end of last year I entered the Master’s program for San Diego State emphasizing on leadership through technology. My leadership team asked if I was willing to take on another challenge working with online students and to help populate the program. This year has been amazing working with technology and building other fragment of your school.
Most of my memories from kindergarten through high school was playing sports with my friends. I used to hate school and if it wasn’t for playing sports all through high school I would have dropped out. I always missed school due to family hardships. I remember having to miss school countless times throughout Jr high and high school because I had to go to work with my father. Missing so much school made me fall behind on my studies which made it very hard for me to grasp my education. I was well liked with most of my teachers because I played sports and did well on the field. The teachers that could care less about sports I felt looked down on me. Not all of them but enough for me to feel uncomfortable in their class. It was like I was a bad person because I missed so much school and I was getting sub-par grades. Throughout all of my educational years from grade school all the way to high school only one teacher took the time to ask if I was ok physically, financially and mentally. Don’t get me wrong I have had some great teachers throughout my life but only one took the time to really dig deep into my life. Her name was Mrs. Wilcox, she was an older English teacher. She made me feel like I was one of her children. She made sure that my basic needs were met on a daily basis, Mrs. Wilcox would always ask if I was hungry, cold or anything that a child would need to feel comfortable at school. I feel that we have been burdened down so much with getting our students to pass tests, get good grades and so on. We have lost the common touch with our students, we need to make sure above all else that our students are safe physically, mentally and have their basic needs met. A students well being must come first.
Belief Statement
I believe the main purpose of education is to provide children with a safe and nurturing environment that prepares them to be global citizens. The responsibility for education is an active partnership among the schools, students, families, and all stakeholders of the community. Education should prepare students to succeed scholastically and socially so they can compete for quality professions and become productive members of society. Due to the needs of our ever-changing society, education is an innovative and evolving process. Visionary leader- As a visionary leader I need to share my vision to my sphere of influence. A vision that is clear, unique and will cause excitement coupled with anticipation. A vision that is long term with attainable benchmarks. Leaders also have to create an environment for their team where the vision can be accomplish with complete assurance in the task at hand. A visionary leader also has to foster his vision to the next generation of leaders when the time is right. Instructional leader - As an instructional leader communication is the key to increase commitment. A great instructional leader leads by example to the masses as well as in private conversations. We need to be well rounded in our approaches in instruction so that we can touch as many lives as possible. Finally a great leader inspires change and creatively to all they educate. Community leader- Is someone that has integrity and is transparent. This in turns creates open lines of communication, this is vital in serving your community. Being committed is also a trait a leader must have. Putting in time goes without saying when working and leading in the community. Empathy with the community you serve is just as important as others traits, a leader that can laugh and cry with the public is a plus. Lastly community leader is someone that has not lost the common touch and can walk beside the people they lead. |
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