AMESCUA EPORTFOLIO
Rachel A. Amescua
The content presented in this portfolio represents my leadership experiences during my internship through the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at East Tennessee State University. Project artifacts are presented and organized by the standards of practice set forth by the Tennessee Instructional Leadership Standards (TILS) Rubric. Furthermore, each artifact is aligned to a specific indicator and given context through a brief description.
Strengths-Finder Results:
In August 2021, I completed the Gallup Strengths-Finder Assessment. My results indicated that I am strong in the following five themes. Included in this section are the characteristics of individuals strong in each theme and recommendations for leadership behaviors shared by author Tom Roth in his text, Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams and Why People Follow.
Strategic
Characteristics: Persons strong in this area can determine different possible strategies for completing a task by recognizing patterns and related problems. Recommendations for Leadership: Review possibilities honestly and methodically. Examine thinking for biaa. Enlist the support of a thinking partner. Examine the strategies of other influencial leaders. Describe the research that supports presented ideas to others. Explain to team members that many options will be considered. Participate new initiatives, lead team members to consider all possibilities to avoid a break down of vision and be available to others to help them overcome strategic problems.
Learner
Characteristics: Persons strong in this area love to learn and progress. Recommendations for Leadership: Celebrate the knowledge of others in their areas of expertise. Invite others into the learning process. Celebrate the learning of others. Voice support in the growth of team members. Be patient with team member progress and provide assurance.
Ideation
Characteristics: Persons strong in this area can connect incongruent content and enjoy new notions. Recommendations for Leadership: Explain the driving forces of shared ideas. Simplify ideas simple and express connections between present circumstances and future possibilities. Ask peers to participate in collaborative brainstorming sessions. Partner grounded peers making sure to celebrate their contributions.
Achiever
Characteristics: Persons strong in this area can work long hours and enjoy productivity and challenge. Recommendations for Leadership: Work along-side team members and follow through on promises to build trust among the team. Place one personal relationship goal on my to-do list daily to demonstrate compassion. To provide stability, describe how hard work feels and help followers value their approach to work. Determine the goals of team members, help them create checklists to break the project down into smaller steps and check in on progress to foster hope.
Input
Characteristics: Persons strong in this area always desire to know more and tend to collect information. Recommendations for Leadership: Ensure collected information is reliable. Help others to separate opinions from facts. Be a resource for information and support. Build relationships with others through mutual interests. Share research methods and provide supporting content for new initiatives. Share collected information and discuss with others.
Philosophy of Educational Leadership
Inclusive, Innovative, Inspiring
Purpose. In education, the shared goal is the alignment of student learning to the changing demands of society. School graduates should be critical thinkers in a world where knowledge is readily available and whole human beings capable of leading successful and content lives. For school systems to achieve these goals, educational leaders have the task of facilitating the creation of school environments that promote student development of strong cognitive and social-emotional skills.
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Structure. School leaders should support the development of schools as professional learning communities; in this construct, all stakeholders will feel empowered to share knowledge, guide the implementation of tasks and innovate with new learning. School leaders would provide meaning to the tasks of the professional learning community by aligning its outcomes to the aims of student success and teacher efficacy. Systems in which teachers can work collaboratively to design units based on student needs would be established along with support teams that are aligned to professional development experiences.
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Learning. School leaders should focus stakeholder attention on how the analysis of student performance data can help teachers be more effective leading to better outcomes for students. Leaders should also manage the effectiveness of implementation by collaborating with teachers to create action plans based on faculty strengths and needs. Action plans should be monitored to build accountability, and to provide needed support. Finally, the philosophy of communities of learning should be infused throughout the school through school displays, meeting aims, and structure and physical organization.
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Culture. This work will be accomplished if the school culture is inclusive, and built on trust. Professional learning communities promote inclusivity through shared vision, collaborative work among stakeholders and strong systems of support. A culture of trust is created when school leaders are consistent in their message, strive to align their decisions to core personal values, recognize that decisions affect all involved parties, model the shared mission and vision through their words and actions, and continue to build strong emotional intelligence skills.
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