my story

once upon a time, there was a mom without a job. she cooked and cleaned and drove her youngest daughter to and from school every day. she was bored. her daughter's teacher - like all teachers - needed help in her classroom. someone to read with the kids. someone to correct papers. someone to take a bit of the heavy load off her back. so the mom began helping out in the classroom. and she fell in love. with the kids. the teacher. the books. the work. the excitement. the learning. and the teacher said, "why don't you go back to college and get your degree? you'd be such a great teacher!" the mom was shocked. she had never considered being a teacher. one of her sisters was the teacher in the family. an amazing teacher. the mom was just a mom. but she started wondering if she could-should-might go back to college. she found out that the closest state university had an off-campus program. she would have to go to school at night and take extra courses at the local community college. she didn't apply for the program. instead she applied for a job in one of the county school systems. she was hired as an instructional assistant. and then she applied for the program. and she was accepted. she worked days and fell in love. with the kids. the teachers. the books. the work. the excitement. the learning. and she went to school at night and fell in love. with the books. the ideas. the philosophy. the pedagogy. the learning. the everything. she barely slept. she worked herself into exhaustion and illness. she ached to the marrow of her bones. and she didn't stop. she graduated with high honors. summa cum laude. 4.0 average. and she became a teacher. and she fell in love. with the kids. the books. the work. the excitement. the learning. and she lived happily ever after.

power

i just took a personality test and it revealed that *power* is the driving force in my life. i couldn't believe that result. i want to believe that i don't crave power at all. i shun it. i run screaming from it. i hide from it. i'm diametrically opposed to it. my personal philosophy centers on community and collaboration. i'm a social constructivist - knowledge is constructed by people (from little people to grown-up people) working together. everyone is an expert at something. sometimes many things. sometimes one thing. i like it when a group situation is made better by each person contributing something from their area of expertise and by each person learning something from the others, building new skill-sets. the project succeeds because of the united effort of the group and the separate contributions of the group members. but leadership is not necessarily power and power is not necessarily leadership. one can lead quietly and one can wield power without dominating. school leadership takes many forms, from modeling appropriate or desired behaviors or actions to hosting a workshop. leadership transforms the leader and followers. great leaders transform followers into leaders. i'm not power-hungry. but i think that i have leadership potential. as long as i can lead from the back of the room. behind a potted plant.