Leadership in my world is the ability to convince a community of people to share in my vision and goals for my classroom and to inspire and motivate them to work together in order to accomplish these goals.
My leadership style uses my ability to demonstrate effective social skills that would maximize the efforts of the people I work with, while delegating responsibilities on an everyday basis in the capacity of supervisor. My ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds, while making them feel comfortable enough to perform the job tasks that they are equipped to do is what makes my leadership style unique. It is giving orders without sounding like a dictator. It sometimes means expressing restraint with one’s tongue, when one prefers to say something.
In my capacity as a teacher, I have three teacher aides from diverse backgrounds that I work with on a daily basis. The task of delegating responsibilities, and dealing with each one on a personal and professional basis can sometimes be a monumental task. It takes a great deal of skill to deal with conflict resolution in order to keep harmony within the classroom. Touchy subjects and different views on things have to be handled very delicately. This necessitates taking the time to listen and answer questions that may arise. I have to show them that they are appreciated, and that their contribution to the daily running of the classroom is important. I try to build trust among us by treating them with respect, because I feel this is a necessary ingredient in creating effective teamwork. In our environment it is necessary to network our activities to maximize the potential of each student. This is the common goal of each one of us in the classroom.
I try to draw on the strength of each individual, to encourage him/her to be as creative as he/she can be with the kids. Sometimes this means being sympathetic, and showing a genuine interest in their concerns or apprehensions. The ultimate goal is to create a learning environment that maximizes on their individual strength, and maintains organization of materials to enhance this learning environment. To achieve this, it is necessary to maximize on each of their efforts.
In using my leadership style, I try to lead by example, listen with understanding, have confidence in the creativity of the people I work with, be open to ideas and communicate openly and honestly with them.
In my opinion, as a leader these are some of the main ingredients that constitute my leadership style. I believe to be a successful leader, it has to be a part of your personality. There will always be challenges when working with different people,but I try to create an environment where every feels as though they are part of a family group. This makes a big difference in the acceptance level of opinions in the classroom, and inspires my assistants to achieve more. You need to have a genuine interest in people and command the utmost respect by being an example yourself, and being open, honest and fair in your leadership decisions. I am always full of enthusiasm in what I do, and I noticed that this enthusiasm inspires and motivates people. I am very satisfied with my leadership style and try always to lead by example. A leader is a person that represents a purposes, and strives ever constantly for success and improvement of that purpose, and can encourage others to believe in that same purpose. I believe that I am that person.
