When I began my teaching career, I never thought about any type of leadership beyond the classroom. I was very comfortable at the front of the class and had no issue speaking with supervisors, giving workshops to colleagues and conferencing with parents. Leading a school though, I believed, took an additional skill set: decisiveness in decision making, fluency in speech and relentless determination when dealing with missteps from anyone: staff, students or parents. Such principals were respected, but not always liked. If that was what it took to be an effective leader, count me out, I thought.

It was shortly after I had transferred to another school that my principal there suggested I take on some administrative duties. She saw in me some qualities that she thought fit her vision of what a leader was. We obviously had different visions, but whatever. I was at a point in my career where I was looking for something different to do. After so many transfers, a sameness had crept in where current students reminded me of ones I had already taught, the teacher down the hall was just like a friend I’d worked with previously, and creative untried ideas became fewer and far between. I was ready for a change and change, it turned out, was ready for me.