In Module 1 we were asked to think about the people who have been inspirational in our working and learning life. Over my career, I have taught in three schools in a wide variety of roles. Wherever I have been, there has always been a person who has severed as an informal mentor. The attributes that I think have made them effective leaders are:
- passionate
- creative
- peacemaking
- humble master of the craft
- servant attitude
- listener
- sense of humor
- willing to try new things and own mistakes
- reflective
- open and generous
After reading through the module, one of the things I am realising that I appreciate about these mentors is that most of them were not in formal leadership. I find that encouraging as I think about how I can be an informal leader in my position as a teacher librarian. I think they have “lead from the middle” although I didn’t know what that was at the time. One of the things I love about my job is that I get to work with all the students from Kinder to Year 12, as well as all the staff. I have not thought about how that has positioned me uniquely within the school. Those relationships along with my role give me a ‘birds-eye’ perspective of the school which put me in a position of influence (Cox & Koroday, 2019). I am interested to think and learn more about how I can use that situation to serve the community.
Cox, E. & Korodaj, L. (2019). Leading from the sweet spot: Embedding the library and the teacher librarian in your school community. Access, 33(4), 14-25.