I have had the opportunity to both
witness and also be a participant in a great learning opportunity at the school
that I am currently employed with as a teacher’s assistant. The school as a
whole has decided to back and participate in Rachel’s challenge, a program that
is designed to help diminish bullying in schools by creating a culture of
kindness and compassion. Last school year I was a substitute in this school
nearly every day and I got to hear some of the very beginning talks about
possibly bringing this program to the school. Over the summer a few of the
guidance counselors, the school’s activity coordinator and some teachers
attended training and presentations about Rachel’s challenge. At the beginning of
school this year these teacher leaders presented the idea to the faculty, where
it was discussed and decided upon that we as a school would like to participate
in Rachel’s challenge. I’m sure that there were many meetings and lots of
behind the scene planning going on to bring this program to us. The entire
school came to an assembly and heard about Rachel’s challenge but this was not
a one day thing for our school. Students and teacher’s here participate daily
with this program. Every morning there is a Daily reminder or quote that
accompanies the challenge on the announcements. There are also many
opportunities for both students and staff to participate through clubs, and
kindness weeks. One of the great things has been creating the chain links, when
you or anyone witnesses an act of kindness they can write down what they saw on
a colorful link and it gets added to the chain. Students are also responding to
prompts from the program in our school-wide writing initiative once a week.
I believe that the main reason that
this school bought into this program was due to the fact that everyone could
identify with the need to address bullying and the emotional presentation about
the Columbine High School shootings, the personal stories that people told
about Rachel and how her kindness had affected their lives. The teachers and
staff that presented this to the faculty had a real passion for the program and
how it could positively affect our school and everyone in it. Had the teachers
presented this program in a different fashion to the faculty without building
the trust that it would be an easy program to implement and for everyone in the
school to easily be a part of, then I do not think that the faculty would have
agreed to participate quite as easily. They voted on the program and made
everyone feel like their opinions and contributions to the program were
important. They also presented this to the community on a parent evening at the
school so that the community would help to support the program. Watching this program
come to be has been a great opportunity for me to witness how a school works
towards making a positive change in the overall climate for everyone in the building
and the surrounding community.
On the leadership assessment I got a
66. My strongest areas were emotional intelligence, motivating people to
deliver the vision, being a good role model, and managing performance
effectively. My weakest areas on the assessment were self-confidence and
providing a compelling vision of the future. I believe that these are a valid
description of my strengths and weaknesses. I am very good at reading people
and being able to talk with them and identify with them on a personal level, I
also feel confident in my ability to motivate or convince others that they can
be successful with whatever they are working on. I feel that I am a good role
model and that I do what I say I will. I also feel like I am very good at
keeping people on task and managing the classroom or work environment so that
tasks are getting accomplished. As for my weaknesses I do sometimes lack self-confidence
and begin to doubt my own abilities especially during stressful situations. And
in terms of creating a compelling vision for the future, I view myself as more
of a helper to work towards a common goal rather than the one to lead everyone
in a certain direction. I know that I need to work on building more self-confidence
in certain areas and that I have the potential to become more of a leader than
a follower.
My results on the collaborative
leadership assessment were all in the stronger score range with the exception
being assessing the environment section, where I scored in the opportunities
for growth scoring range. My strongest areas were sharing power and influence and
developing people, and self reflection. My weakest areas were assessing the
environment, and creating clarity: visioning and mobilizing. I believe that
these results went right along with the results from the first leadership
assessment. Again my results show me that I am very good with people but have a
harder time taking full control in certain environments and knowing how to
mobilize others.
My leadership aspiration is to
become much more confident in my own abilities and to learn to assess the environment
for changes needed and not be afraid to step forward with my ideas. I hope to
become a leader that inspires change and affects people in a positive manner.
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