Introduction
“Leaders don’t force people to follow, they invite them on the journey.” – Charles Lauer. Leadership is a never-ending journey. Leaders must always strive to be their best and continue to grow as professionals and learners. This reflection of my ID21 experience is just part of my journey to leadership.
I went into the ID21 very nervous about myself and my ability. The last year of teaching wreaked havoc on my self-confidence and having not been in the classroom for five months, I was doubting my capabilities to be a leader and to accomplish the tasks beforehand. The day went by very quickly and I walked out of the room excited, accomplished and ready to hear how I had done. Overall the experience with the ID21 was great. I left feeling confident and ready to take on a position. The feedback sessions with the assessors, while short and rushed, provided to be a great learning tool; not only for the…show more content… I knew going in that the focus needed to be on the parent’s child and not the other student. This task was the one I feel I did the poorest on. With the school’s mission statement written at the top of my notepad, I knew I wanted to highlight that for the parent as a reminder that the school district was there to serve ALL students in every capacity. I was definitely taken back with his use of “retard” and while I knew it would be one of the targets the assessors were looking for, I didn’t address it for fear of making the parent more agitated. It should have been addressed and I let my nerves and inexperience get the best of me. I know going forward, that I need to be more assertive in situations like that. The conversation with the parent also led to more talk about special education. When talking with the assessor, she gave me some great tips on how to keep the focus on the parent’s child and will be something that I will never forget and will always keep in the back of my
