Educational+Leadership

=**Stephanie Taylor's Educational Leadership Page**=

=This Wiki page will showcase my achievements throughout my journey in the Educational Leadership program. You will find updates from the beginning, middle, and end. I hope to update this as often as possible and also use it as I reflect back to see where I have come from and where I am going.=

Hi my name is Stephanie Taylor and I am currently in my first semester of the Educational Leadership Program here at UW-Oshkosh. I recently accepted my first position here on campus this August as an Assistant Athletic Trainer. I grew up in Appleton, WI all my life and currently reside in Oshkosh, WI. In my free time I enjoy going to nature preserves, spending time with family and friends and just finding some way or another to relax.


 * Program Planning Sheet [|Program Planning Sheet.doc]**

**Leadership Philosophy Statement [|Leadership Philosophy Statement.]**
**Leadership Philosophy Statement ** One of the most important and successful aspects of working in the professional setting is having a leader who is transformational. I base my leadership mission off of the four I’s of transformational leadership. **Idealized influence**: I work to be a role model for others and build trust from those around me. **Inspirational motivation**: I work to inspire those around me to work toward the goals we have set in place and to inspire them to come up with new solutions to our current problems and then motivate them with even just a thank you for their hard work. **Intellectual stimulation**: I let the people around me know that it is ok to question the way things are being done and they know that they will not be ridiculed because they are questioning, everyone has a voice and is encouraged to be heard. **Individualized consideration**: I get to know those around me on an individual level, every person comes from a different background, has different ways of doing things, and I believe it is important to get to know each and every person I work with on an individual level. I strongly believe this style of motivation will push those around me and me to new levels of success. Everyone around me has a sense of significance and I encourage everyone to know that we are all equal. The following quote from Hoy and Miskel describes my vision as a leader, “Followers become leaders and leaders become change agents and ultimately transform the organization.” We all have a purpose and great things beyond expectation can be achieve with transformational leadership.

**Leadership Program Goals: Self Assessment [|Leadership Program Goals and Dispositions.docx]**
**Leadership Program Goals: Self-Assessment** 1. **Envision and guide organizational change:** At this point in my professional career, I believe I am very open to change and love all of the opportunities to envision it. I feel where I struggle is when it comes to guiding change and I am trying to not just watch it happen. Since this short time in the Educational Leadership Program thus far I have learned so much just in collaborating with my classmates, networking and I am excited to see where I am at with this program goal come mid and end of this program. Of the four program goals, this is the one I would like to see the most improvement in. 2. **Communicate effectively, engage constituents, develop people and build community**: I believe my communication skills are effective in both written and oral communication. I would like to see some improvement in my written communication skills particularly when it comes to formal papers and proper citation. I would like to develop the idea that I and my co-workers have value in our community and to also make our presence known in the community. One way we have already built the sense of community and personal development is being mentors in the Miracle League in Appleton as well as doing Junior Achievement in the Oshkosh schools. I still would like to continue to work on instilling this into my students and let them know the importance of just giving some of your time to volunteer. 3**. Advocate and promote equity for diverse populations, and respect for individuals**: According to my program goals assessment sheet, I feel this is the area I need the most improvement. It is not that I do not respect individuals and want equality; it is more that I have never advocated or voiced the need for it. In this self-reflection, I am able to really reflect on these goals and of all the goals, which I have never taken the time to self-reflect. 4**. Integrate theory, data, research and ethical standards into the context of one's practice through continual learning**: I currently integrate a lot of theory and evidence based research into my practice as far as it applies to Athletic Training. I do not however incorporate much of the educational theories or research into my professional life. I am working on learning all of the theories we talk about in my classes especially from the Educational Leadership 730 class and really trying to implement the theories I believe into my work. So far I strongly believe in two: the McGregor Y theory and transformational leadership. **Leadership Program Dispositions: Self-Assessment** 1. **Value change as the source of opportunity for improvement**: I do value change and see it as an area of improvement. Without change, we just stay content with the way we are and how things are going and so there is no opportunity for furthering ourselves. One way I can improve in this area though is to actually work on change and not be so caught up in other things. I feel like I say I am open and receptive to change but often times I find myself just barely above water and never implement change. Now that I am in this program I would like to focus on improving in this area. 2. **Display the ability to understand people and relations and be receptive to the ideas of others**: I would like to say that I am always receptive to others ideas, however that is not the case all the time. For the most part I am receptive to others ideas because I am still a young professional and so I am always looking for new ideas or ways of doing things. When it comes to my personal life, I am less receptive to ideas because that is where I like to have structure in what I decided to do. 3. **Show a willingness to implement non-discriminatory access, accommodations and assessments**: This is another area I feel I need improvement on. For the most part I am really easy on assessing other people, it is when it comes to assessing myself that I am my biggest critic. There are also times where I need to come up with my own assessments of things and not listen to what other people say about them. I am working on developing my own opinions. 4. **Demonstrate empathic understanding of diversity in all domains**: For this disposition, I can say I am sympathetic when it comes to a lot of things, I can’t always say I am empathetic. I would like to become more diverse so I can then become more empathetic. I feel you truly do not know the situation unless you have been in it yourself. This is another area I would like to improve on as well as being more culturally diverse. 5. **Regularly reflect upon the philosophical assumptions, ethical principles, and rationale that guides one's practice**: Prior to this program I rarely if ever did I do any sort of reflections. After being in two classes this semester I feel I will begin to implement more and more theories and ethical principles into what I do. I feel this will give my work more of a purpose and a meaning to what it is I do. 6. **Understand oneself as a learner, and value learning as a core capacity**: Again this is one area I need improvement in. Before this Educational Leadership program there was not much self-reflection and therefore I can honestly say I did not and still do not completely understand myself. I value the idea of continuing education and the need for constant learning, however I still do not understand myself fully as a learning. I know I am a visual learner, but beyond that I do not know myself.


 * Program Action Plan [|Program Action Plan.doc]**