Educational Leadership
Leadership Experiences – A Reflective Essay
Sonya Mitchell
Augusta State University
Fundamentals of School Leadership
Section I – Particular Accomplishments, Behaviors, Beliefs, And Goals Indicative Of Leadership
After fumbling through life for nearly 20 years, I made a personal decision to complete my education and become a teacher. With a family of four and all of its many facets, I set off to reach my new-found goal for having a degree by the age of 40. After fulfilling the requirements for my first degree program, I continued on and earned a Masters degree in Education.
The ability to successfully manage all that was set before me, of course, has been done before but the daily tasks were often overwhelming. With an older son in a Magnet high school, a son in elementary school (both of who remained honor students) and a husband with weekly shift rotations, we all managed to maintain our standards of being a well rounded, goal driven family.
Hindsight has shown me that I took full advantage of several leadership styles. 1) Lipham’s definition of a leader “is concerned with initiating changes in established structures, procedures or goals….” (Lipham, 1964). Like many women, I am a self-described enabler, meaning, everyone was completely dependent on me…my efforts…and my existence. When I decided to return to school, my family was forced to take on many responsibilities for themselves and each other. This was such a pleasant awakening for all of us but especially for me. I learned that my husband could not only plan a well-balanced meal but also prepare one; my oldest son could manage to do the laundry on a weekly basis and without incident and my youngest son could actually complete his homework without my sitting next to him.
Each family member had a sense of empowerment, because each task was equally important. Referring to Conger’s definition of empowering members, the tasks should be structured so that staff/family members have...
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