PERSONAL VISION OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP Yochanon Stein

Personal Vision for Educational Leadership Statement To become an educational leader who influences all stakeholders in my community toward practicing principles of Responsibility, Integrity, and Equality; creating a paradigm that all students will use as they mature into their roles as integral members of our community.

History of Vision Becoming a Master Teacher General Education Pre-K Teacher Graduate Level Professor Oakland Mills Middle School The Jemicy School Baltimore County Community College (BCCC) Johns Hopkins University School of Education Becoming a Master Teacher General Education Special Education Technology Flexibility in variety of positions and roles Teacher Vision My personal vision for myself as a teacher was to generate the highest level of pedagogical knowledge I could to reach all children in the classroom. This eventually led me to seeking advanced degrees in Special Education and mastering many reading programs, as well as gaining certification in a number of content areas: English, Social Studies, and Special Education. I kept current with trends in educational technology and pedagogy. And sought positions that would bring me to share this knowledge with students and colleagues. This vision allowed me to accept positions working with students from Preschool, Elementary, Middle, High, and even graduate level at numerous Universities. At one of my recent schools, the principal asked me to switch from the 7th grade special education position to a 6th grade English/Special Education position to fill a vacancy after only three weeks into the school year. I welcomed the opportunity as it continued to allow me to bring positive researched based instruction to students; I said, as long as I had administrative support in the transition, I felt comfortable working with any group of students.

Expanding the Scope Role of Educational Leader to influence decisions and policies Greater impact on larger group of stakeholders Respect for importance of each stakeholder Teacher Parent/Guardian School based Administrator Central Office Community Businesses and Organizations Expanding the Scope As a teacher, I feel I have, to some degree, arrived at my original vision. Now it is my desire to share my experience, knowledge, and passion in a manner that will allow me to have even greater bearing. During the past two years working as a resource teacher in a central office position has allowed me to see the effect of educational leadership and their role to influence decisions and policies that can change lives of all stakeholders in the educational community in a positive manner. I have seen the importance of the variety of professional instructional leaders and to a larger degree the importance of the teacher leaders who directly engage students and colleagues toward educational success.

Assets of an Educational Leader Understanding of Impact of data and research Familiarity with people’s desire to constantly improve Philosophy of the school being a partner with the parents, families and community in development of child I feel my collaborative nature, my understanding of the impact of data and research, familiarity with people’s desire to constantly improve, and my philosophy of the school being a partner in the development of the child with the parents, families and community the school serves makes me a prime candidate to lead others toward these same goals. I have therefore developed the Vision for Educational Leadership listed above to describe a future state that I would like to bring about when given an opportunity to share in the leadership of a school. This vision is not limited by any position of leadership whether that be as a teacher leader, an assistant principal, principal, Director, or even Superintendent. I desire to bring this vision to fruition as I sense it is an attainable one that can append to a pre-existing school based strategic plan, or contribute to a creation of a new-shared vision yet to be developed.

About the Vision This vision is not limited by any position of leadership It is an attainable It can append or contribute to creation of a shared vision

Communicating the Vision Sharing the Vision Effective communication through intentional language Explore the following slides to view definitions of key terms used in the personal vision statement Communicating the Vision A vision for leadership, like leadership itself, needs to be shared; the leader must communicate this vision effectively to hope for its attainment. To that end, I would like to define the terms within the statement so that there is a clarified interpretation of the intentionality behind the language.

Educational Community Stakeholders Common, vested interest in success of all students Parents, teachers, administration, and families Community organizations, businesses, local and state government

Principles The ethical, moral, spiritual, or religious foundations or beliefs that guide and center one’s actions. 

Responsibility Each stakeholder must accept responsibility: to provide academic challenge to all students to plan and design all elements of their instruction with intentionality to bring academic success to students’ conscious to advocate for the well-being of all students

Integrity Consistency in actions, expectations, and ethical behaviors Thrive in a safe environment. Affords children an opportunity contribute to their their community through their academic and social growth When an individual demonstrates consistency in their actions, expectations, and ethical behaviors they demonstrate integrity. All individuals are more receptive to thrive in a safe environment. When stakeholders show consistency and model this in all they do to the students, it affords the children an opportunity to learn to become contributing members of their community through their academic and social growth.

Equality Respect, Concern, and Hope for all Honor Diversity Welcome alternative viewpoints and perspectives in a shared learning environment No tolerance for harmful relationships or lowering of standards All stakeholders and students will be recognized for the contributions they offer. I strive to treat each student and stakeholder with respect and concern for their needs and hope for others to do the same. Diversity in culture, learning ability, financial capacity, and other defining category will be identified as opportunities to welcome alternative viewpoints and perspectives in a shared learning environment. They will not be used as excuses for harmful relationships or lowering of any standard.

Students as Members of the Educational Community Success when environment welcomes each student to feel safe, encouraged, and hopeful for future opportunities after schooling is completed. The etymology of the word educate comes from Latin, ‘educo,’ meaning to lead, raise up, or draw out. Education without the goal of empowering every student to join the educational community is inherently stunting their potential to grow into productive members of society at large. We as educators can only claim success when we create an environment that welcomes each student to feel safe, encouraged, and hopeful for future opportunities after schooling is completed.

Contact Yochanon Stein Yochanon currently works for the Department of Special Education in Howard County Pubic School System as Program Head for the Howard County IEP and Resource Teacher on the Instructional Access Team Yochanon is an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Education yochanon_stein@hcpss.org