Part II: Leadership Disposition Reflection

Part II: Leadership Disposition Reflection

The Leadership Disposition for this course was “LD #5 Promote a positive school culture”. When approaching this Leadership Disposition, I was not immediately drawn to this as an area of focus, because at GALS, the school culture is very prominently a feature that is celebrated. However, as I dug deeper into the context of this disposition, it was clear that a goal area did exist that needed to be addressed (Strike et al., 2024). My goal was, “By May 31st, 2026 GALS will implement a 4 week school wide culture initiative "GALympics" that will include participation over the course of the initiative by 100% of students and staff, reflecting an environment of trust, respect and rapport that improves student survey results on their feeling of "belonging" at school by 20%.” The feeling of “belonging” was not felt by all students, and in fact the need to make our culture more inclusive of all students of all identities and backgrounds is a need area at my school.

I created a plan in order to accomplish this goal, that included the involvement and input of my school staff. I began by collaboratively designing the program elements, competitions, and team-building events with input from students, staff, and community members to ensure the experience reflected the needs and interests of all stakeholders. To establish a strong and inclusive culture from the start, I organized an opening ceremony where administrators and staff modeled vulnerability, participation, and the core values of the competition. I intentionally worked alongside students and staff to create teams and experiences that celebrated the unique strengths, identities, and contributions of each student, helping foster a sense of belonging and engagement. I developed and managed the master schedule of events and ensured consistent communication with all stakeholders so expectations, timelines, and opportunities for involvement were clear. Throughout the process, I cultivated stakeholder buy-in by co-designing aspects of the initiative with participants and actively seeking feedback to refine and improve implementation. I also utilized final “7 Mindsets” SEL survey data to analyze student growth and measure the overall impact of the initiative. Through these actions, I helped create a collaborative, student-centered experience that strengthened community, engagement, and social-emotional development.

The successes of this plan have been many, and some surprising. Students who participated in my culture initiative experienced an engaging, student centered multi-week program. This program was successful at utilizing the 7 mindsets platform as a baseline for measuring student growth in social emotional skills, and the overall sense of “belonging” at school. Having a tangible form of measurement for an initiative was a successful and integral part of determining what “success” would even be for this program (7 Mindsets, n.d.). From this success, I can break down the aspects of this initiative that made it successful: a well planned, structured program that directly targeted a seemingly hard to measure but crucial outcome (belonging in school) with a tool that would do just that. The presence of data to support the analysis of success of the culture initiative made success even possible in this case. I learned that without such a tool, even the most important initiatives cannot succeed. 

I will continue to develop my leadership abilities  in this disposition through continued culture initiatives and progress monitoring at my school, and through continuing to seek out resources and insights from my own professional development and coaching. The pursuit of my licensure within this program has continued to push my thinking and skills in developing an inclusive positive school culture at GALS and beyond.

EPortfolio Link:

www.smemoedleadership.com

References 

Strike, K. A., Sims, P. A., Mann, S. L., & Wilhite, R. K. (2024). Transforming professional practice: A framework for effective leadership (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.

7 Mindsets. (n.d.). 7 Mindsets insights. 7 Mindsets