Final Reflection

my identity as a social justice leader

I applied to UCLA’s Principal Leadership Institute (PLI) with the idea that I could learn to build advocacy for special education (SPED) stakeholders in administrative spaces.  I remember being intimidated by the social justice accomplishments of prior PLI graduates and wondering if anyone would even care about my experience in the field of special education.  

As I have been given the space to ponder and explore marginalization and social justice mechanisms, my passion and confidence has grown to understand that there is a critical need for advocacy for students with disabilities and their related stakeholders.  It is a group that affects all other groups, and yet, is targeted and cut off from so many resources in educational spaces.

I see the educational structures more clearly as a result of our studies this year and I can see a path towards building advocacy for all SPED stakeholders in all educational spaces.

my leadership skills and knowledge

I started this year with a solid understanding of the needs of SPED stakeholders, as well as a strong background in process management.  This program has helped me to develop my ability to see systems more clearly and how the decisions at the administrative level connect with every space on campus.  This program has helped me to synthesize a lot of information and develop a vision of how to build advocacy for marginalized populations in a systemic way.  I have also been affirmed in my desire to enter leadership roles with compassion and humanity.  I have spent many years in leadership positions outside of the school system and any leader in those circles would be laughed at if they pronounced a desire to build caring into management mechanisms.  I am elated to find that so much research and collaboration has focused on building culturally responsive educational spaces where individual humanity is affirmed and celebrated.

my perspective on leadership

I have witnessed many dysfunctional bodies of leadership in my career.  I have seen the damage these bodies can do when the well-being of their stakeholders is not valued or protected.  PLI has shown me how a framework of caring, affirmation and community building can transform stakeholders within a system.  Seeing how many readings are founded upon caring for our students, their families and community members has shown me that leadership is a stewardship of care, when it is enacted correctly.  Leaders need to build systems of inclusion and humanization to further transform communities and society at large.

Additionally, the example of my fellow cohort members has been invaluable.  I have listened to all of them express passion about their students, colleagues and their communities.  I have seen their care for each other in this program as we work to understand our educational spaces with a lens of culturally responsive leadership.  I have watched as they have watched over each other through personal and professional tragedies.  I see them come together 2-3 times a week and hug and smile and listen to each other.  I am in several group chats with many members and we follow up with each other and bolster each other up.

I believe it is important within organizations for leaders to know everyone’s name.  I believe every name should be called.  Every individual should be thought of.  Every person should be seen as a valued individual.  I believe I have witnessed that in how the professors and cohort members treat each other.  I didn’t know leadership circles could value these things that are so close to my heart.  PLI has taught me, not only that they can, but they must be centered around the growth, care and affirmation of every member within the organization.

challenges and successes of my leadership journey

One of my ongoing challenges is my struggle to network with non-SPED stakeholders.  The design of educational systems intentionally or unintentionally keeps SPED stakeholders separate from general education systems and spaces.  I have built some allies over the years, but it is a challenge for me to build those bridges.  I have worked on that this year as I was the GATE coordinator, National Honor Society (NHS) advisor, Unified Champion Grant coordinator and a member of our Local School Leadership and Instructional Leadership Team.  These roles allowed me to interface with staff and students outside of the SPED circle.  I was able to build relationships with general education teachers, students, parents and coordinators.  I know that if I continue to enter other spaces in the educational system and in the community, I will be able to develop those important relationships so that we can cooperatively build inclusive systems.

I believe one of my greatest successes was in being able to bring multiple groups of people together to create inclusive and meaningful activities for our students with disabilities in special day classes.  We coordinated with sports teams including the soccer team, baseball team, basketball team and cheer squad.  We also collaborated with the Leadership students and the members of NHS.  These groups came together to play sports and games at lunch.  They volunteered with our students and they enjoyed an inclusive field trip to Shane’s Inspiration Playground at Griffith Park, a facility designed to include participation for students with disabilities.  The students in the special day classes were given more opportunities to engage with their general education peers than in at any point in the five years I have been teaching at Mendez.  Programs like this are meaningful for everyone who participates.  Families of our students get to see the joy and growth they get from the new friendships.  Teachers and administrators get to see how inclusive activities build important relationships and skills amongst all our students.  I believe that building activities like this into the DNA of a school organization is vital to embedding inclusivity into school culture.

my areas of growth

As I work outside of the classroom, I hope to coordinate with other campus leaders to learn to become an effective coach where I can support other teachers in developing self-reflective practices while being open to supportive feedback and support.  I have worked on this as a SPED department lead at my school, but I hope to spend more time with general education teachers in supporting a shared vision to help all educators grow and become more inclusive in their pedagogy.  In my empathy interviews and surveys of staff on campus, I learned that so many of our general education teachers feel completely ill-prepared for inclusive pedagogy in their classrooms.  This is completely understandable as just changing the master schedule doesn’t mean the school is equipped to handle the complex challenges of implementing inclusion as an educational strategy.  I hope to use this information to help me build teachers into being more prepared and equipped to master the challenges of inclusive classrooms.  I believe this will help me in my journey to implement inclusion as a mindset rather than just a scheduling strategy.

my next steps

My next steps are to leave the classroom and work to build systems of advocacy for SPED stakeholders as a coordinator.  I hope to play a vital role as a team member with other school leaders to support teachers and students with instructional and environmental accommodations.  I want to build coaching relationships with teachers.  I aim to equip general education teachers with tools to scaffold their instruction to meet the needs of all types of learners in their classrooms.

I also plan to work to create innovative opportunities for students with disabilities to engage with their general education peers.  Both groups have a lot to learn from each other.  I want to create a shared vision that our community should be an affirming and inclusive space and they will have the responsibility of developing that space in their circles for future generations.

I believe that building true inclusivity into the fabric of school culture will help to identify and prevent marginalization of all types of groups.  Once all educational stakeholders learn to see every student as an individual with individual assets and areas of need, we start to become more culturally responsive and affirming of all types of students.