by Laura Renard, Upper School Spanish Faculty and Spanish Coordinator at Heritage Hall in Oklahoma City, OK
As part of the University of Pennsylvania Master’s in School Leadership program, we engage in school visits in the Philadelphia area. I attended a visit last week, and our group had the opportunity to meet with both the school leaders and teachers at the end of the day. One educator talked about how they work hard to “teach with” the students rather than “teach to” them, emphasizing their student-centered approach.
That phrasing stuck with me as being one that can be used to describe my leadership style. Reflecting on my experiences as a leader and my current learning, I think that “leading with” is how I approach my work, because I value the opportunity to collaborate and learn together. By leading from within and amongst, I aspire to be community-centered and to help support the growth I want to see for my students and our school.
My gcLi experience in 2018 was powerful, and I am grateful to the people I met and the group I was with for their engagement and investment in our collective learning. I still keep in touch with my buddy, which speaks to the relationship we developed that week, as it was impactful to be paired up with a like-minded educator to consider what leadership means to each of us. For me, gcLi affirmed the importance of being authentic, vulnerable, and open minded, and challenged me to reflect on my experiences and consider how I show up for my students and my colleagues.
As an educator, I believe I am always teaching leadership implicitly through the way I facilitate my classroom, how I model interactions, and by sharing my story with students. Learning is messy, and I value the focus on growth through active listening and curiosity, using windows and mirrors to encourage cultural responsiveness and sensitivity. The Leadership Lab emphasized the importance of being more explicit with that work, and it challenged me to be courageous, connect with others, and commit to my best self. It was truly about leading from within in a personal sense through its emphasis on emotional intelligence and self-understanding as central tenets for effective leaders.
Since gcLi, I have changed roles and schools, and most recently have gotten the opportunity to collaborate with our Dean of Faculty through the Peer Leadership program. This program marries experiential learning with readings and reflection to challenge seniors to evaluate where they are, what strengths they possess, and what they need to do to reach their potential. I’ve relished the opportunity to help coach these students and to see them navigate group challenges, pushing them to storm and norm as a class. Co-teaching has highlighted the importance of being vulnerable and humble; I too am constantly learning and experiencing teachable moments that help me uncover how my style and strengths best complement the lead teacher to support our mission. As I learned at gcLi, students seeing my process is itself a powerful lesson, and it is one that I have embraced this year too through my own studies.
I chose to pursue the Master’s in School Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education to take the next step in my leadership journey and to deepen my learning. Like my experience at gcLi, this semester has been incredibly validating, challenging, and rewarding. It is a different type of hard work; balancing my teaching responsibilities, graduate school, and my personal life has been a lesson in prioritizing and time management, and I am proud of how I have grown both personally and professionally this fall. As part of the experience, each of us were assigned to a team, and, like my buddy, my teammates have been key to my learning and growth this fall. I’m grateful for their collaboration and partnership as we worked together to apply our class learning to our school contexts.
The School Leadership Program engages us not only in learning about leadership pedagogy and theory, but also in an intentional exploration of our own practices through the internship experience, the group projects, and individual reflection. I value the strong emphasis on culturally responsive leadership and the opportunities we have to interrogate our personal philosophies and beliefs surrounding what we want our schools to be and how we create space for voice. The mentors and faculty challenge us to lead together and individually, to reflect on how our leadership skills balance and complement others, when to follow and when to lead, and what our specific leadership interests are.
For me, it has reaffirmed how one’s values are intrinsic to leadership and made me consider how we empower those around us so that we can lead together. That learning guided my choice for my research focus; I will be looking at how new faculty induction programming and mentorship supports the needs of veteran teachers who are new to a school. I am excited to learn from the teachers’ experiences and to look at how we can further improve the experience for incoming teachers in the future. As a leader, I am passionate about collaborating with faculty to support their practices so that they can better support their students, and I am curious as to what I will learn through this process. For me, this is my opportunity to lead forward through empowering my colleagues’ voices to inform our work together and to give back to my school community.
So, how do all these experiences connect back to – and build upon – the idea of leading from within? I think gcLi, my professional experiences, and the UPenn program are important reminders that leadership is both a deeply personal and professional journey. It is about connecting to who I am at my core and ensuring my values drive my actions. It is also about making an impact within my zone of control and through the way I interact with my colleagues and students and model my values. I am excited to see how my learning deepens during the spring semester and how I can continue to share and give back in my own community.
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Laura Renard is entering year 17 as an educator and her third year at Heritage Hall, where she teaches US Spanish, co-teaches Peer Leadership, acts as the Spanish Coordinator, coaches XC, and assists with Pep Club. Previously, she was at Hyde School (2008-2015) and Saint Mary’s Hall (2015- 2022), and she served as Spanish faculty, Dean of Academics (Hyde), and World Languages & Cultures Department Chair (SMH), amongst other roles with academic leadership, student leadership development, community service (SMH), and residential life (Hyde).