As a leader, I will empower others by encouragement, providing the right tools,

cultivating a vision that includes everyone, individually and collectively to ta

ke ownership. I will admit to my short comings when needed. I will inspire other
s to act through my actions and words, both oral and written. I will constantly
seek to challenge myself and develop as a leader, at the same time, I will suppo
rt and mobilize others to do the same. In becoming a more proficient SPL, I hav
e learned how to motivate others using examples and excitement. When applied to
an older adult learner it is sometimes easier to have them see how something wor
ks rather than tell them to do it. The leadership theories that support my plan
are both Transformational and Transactional. In education they are not exclusive
and to train future citizens, I use both. My leadership strengths and weaknesse
s are clear after taking the required assessments and they required me to become
transparent. I am now a leader constantly learning and growing into the leader
I envision in the future. My action plan for accomplishing my future leadership
goals, are specific, realistic, and measureable. I will use my plan to accomplis
h my future goals as a leader and constantly assess my progress through a compre
hensive plan as outlined here. Transformational leadership tends to focus on the
culture and learning experiences of
people. In addition, the goal of transforming the values and priorities of follo
wers and motivating them to perform beyond their expectations (Avolio & Yammarino
, p.
69) is a goal of all leaders. As a teacher I provide real life examples to supp
ort what I am teaching in the classroom. By using these examples the material is
brought to life for the student and gives them a connection to associate their
learning with and perform better on assessments. In transactional
leadership I focus on the exchange of rewards for compliance (Avolio & Yammarino,
p. 69).
Transactional leadership is task-oriented and requirement oriented with rewards
that are anticipated for the performance of the individual or group. I expect th
e same outcome by the student in this case, the difference is the student receiv
es a reward for success or a punishment if unsuccessful. Both of these leadershi
p styles are effective in my profession and will continue to be of use as long a
s they are successful. Bass (1999) stated that transformational leaders seek new
ways of working. Transformational leaders don?t react to the circumstances; they
attempt to
shape and create them. I may use transactional leadership strategies when approp
riate to increase effort by raising mental awareness about the outcome. By incre
asing self- awareness and investing in the student, his or her success is height
ened. My teacher student relationship allows both leadership styles to be of us
e. It is dependent on the student and the desired outcome. At times either trans
formational or transactional leadership styles are effective for multiple studen
ts concurrently. During these last five days I have strived to understand the go
al of the scholarship, practitioner and leadership (SPL) Model as it focuses on
our ability to lead. Our continued development in the field of education allows
us to pursue lifelong learning, contribute effectively to our community and gro
w socially by working with our peers. In doing the exercises this week I can see
the positive influence we were required to maintain while being pushed to the e
xtreme. In working with the two different groups I learned that we must locate,
evaluate, and use information to complete a respectable presentation of a topic
for which we may know nothing about. Our ability to gather information about glo
bal problems allowed us to pull from the literacy. We also were required to coll
aborate and give feed forward to show the relationship to our SPL. Most of the f
eedback I received was positive and not very constructive. The only person who
felt a need to give constructive feedback was Cheryl. She related it back to my
ability to wait until the last minute to turn assignments in and how this may ma
ke others uncomfortable. In our future classes I will strive to put my best foot
forward and turn in assignments earlier so that others may contribute or give r
elevant feedback. The self-assessment of my conflict, power, and leadership styl
es display I am capable of effective collaboration that meet the goals necessary
to accomplish the known mission and for the success of my class or team. I unde

rstand that communication, accommodation, and motivation are important for trans
formational leadership practices. My strengths lead to the intellectual nature o
f leadership and my concern for people indicates a strong transformational leade
rship style. In the transformational leadership model,
the leader provides influence (charisma), inspirational motivation, intellectual
stimulation, and individualized consideration
(Avolio & Yammarino, 2002, p. 111). When reviewing my leadership style in the pa
st, I tended to avoid conflict by communicating with others for understanding of
goals as a team member. I found this to be a problem. In avoiding conflict by a
ccommodating and compromising, I sacrificed the task at hand and the mission. Si
nce beginning of this program I have improved my ability to resolve conflict and
not accommodate or compromise unless the situation warrants it. I have a strong
er concern for people then for task, but have worked towards making it an equal
balance between the two. My original observation was that I am
more effective
(Jui-Chen & Silverthorn, 2005, p. 280) in charismatic leadership. From the begi
nning to the end I have a balanced approach to taking care of people and taking
care of the task. I am capable of convincing people to complete the task by mot
ivating them through charisma and rapport. As a teacher I am an expert in a wide
range of areas, I share this everyday with students, athletes, coaches, co-teac
hers and administrators. I understand that expertise and content sharing provid
es intellectual stimulation to others while motivating them to higher levels of
achievement.
In the military and in the education field every activity requires teams and tea
m building. I strive to understand and build upon the ability to guide classes,
teams, and individuals to a common goal of completing the task at hand. In the c
lassroom the goal is to learn the material as is guided by the standards. I am r
equired to manage my time and resources in a controlled environment to accomplis
h this goal. I can accomplish this by having the students understand and apply h
is or her effort to their education. As a coach I strives to bring the team toge
ther and make the team cohesive but still having the athlete striving for his or
her personal goals. The success of the class and the team, are dependent on my
ability to lead effectively. In order to do this effectively I must lead the gro
up to the belief that they can focus, and have the desire to complete the same t
ask as a team. To accomplish this, I must set the example by continually learnin
g and growing myself. As a leader I am still struggling with a lack in confidenc
e and organizational skills. My biggest problem is my daily plan which keeps me
focused and on task. I take my time for granted, and do not have a set vision f
or my future, rather a wide range of things I want to do. In the past two years
I have made great strides in becoming more organized and realizing my leadership
style is of value. I may not think like others, but there is a place in the wor
ld for me. To continue my growth I will have the right mindset and teach the gro
wth mindset principles to my students, athletes, and son.
Heath and Heath stated (2007), Your brain is like a muscle that
can be developed with exercise everything is hard before it gets easy.
I will continue to pursue my education as long as I am capable of reading and w
riting. My plan is becoming a reality, I have made great strides in accomplishin
g it and staying focused through continued follow through. For example, I have u
sed a weekly and class spreadsheet to track what I am doing on what day. This ha
s allowed me to set aside time to spend with my family and understand when somet
hing must be completed. One of the biggest advantage to my time management is sl
eep. I now go to bed by 11 pm which is something I was not doing before my time
management. I have set aside Sunday to complete the upcoming week
?
s assignments in advance in order to allow me to learn and engage with my fellow
students. I still need to be more cognizant of the here and now, to keep my foc
us on the small things in life and not to focus on the bigger picture of tomorro
w. The biggest thing I have learned is to focus on the present, do little things

now that will lead the bigger thing later I believe that attending this doctora
te program has given me enough time to nurture my plan. I have learned so much
from the facilitators and other students. I have and will continue to develop re
lationships with mentors and experienced individuals over the course of my studi
es. The primary responsibility of an education leader is to put in place learnin
g that engages students intellectually, socially, and emotionally. I will contin
ue to work at my emotional intelligence striving to keep my intellectual, social
, and emotional skills at the highest level by reading scholarly books and inter
acting with experts in my field. In my daily tasks, I will evaluate how I am lea
ding my students, athletes, assistant coaches, and representing my fellow teache
rs. At the completion of every school year and every track season, I will contin
ue to write down my reflection and action plan for the next year. I will reasses
s this plan at the beginning of the new school year and track season. As I progr
ess through my education, I will continue to implement my learning in my daily a
ctivities. My dissertation directly relates to my professional goals and is a gu
ide to my future leadership in the 21
st
century schools. As the schools grow and change, I will make every effort to st
ay ahead of the learning curve to ensure the success of my students and staff. M
y focus for the next year is to continue reading and writing until the completio
n of my dissertation. At this time I have a chair and will correspond with him i
n a timely manner as well as find the rest of my team. Leadership must know what
it wants, be able to communicate it, and empower others while staying on the co
urse (Wren, 1995). I have stayed the course with a few adjustments along the way
. My strategy for maximizing my leadership effectiveness was outlined from the
beginning and I have reiterated it in this paper. I have taken the feedback I ha
ve received from this course and will apply it to my growth in the future. I hav
e defined the theories I will use and maximized my leadership effectiveness. I h
ave integrated transformational and transactional leadership where needed and in
the appropriate situations, with the focus now shifted more towards a citizensh
ip leadership model. I will continue to use the lessons learned in the last two
years to grow my leadership and understand that it is never a completed process.
My action plan has been realistic and achievable. The process of learning is ne
ver finished and as such I will always be relevant and cognizant of the fact tha
t I must always strive to become a better scholar, practicionar, and leader.