LEADERSHIP THROUGH

ENGAGEMENT:
TRANSFORMATIVE COMMUNITY
BUILDING IN A HIGH SCHOOL
ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER
SETTING

Amy Hewett-Olatunde, Doctoral Candidate
Synthesis Presentation June 13, 2013
HOW DOES MY INCREASING UNDERSTANDING
OF LEADERSHIP
INFLUENCE HOW I LEAD?

Topics to discuss:

Transformational Leadership is
multidimensional (Northouse)

Engaged Pedagogy builds community and
recognizes the gifts its members brings (Block
and hooks)

Professional background
High school English Language Learner (ELL)
teacher since 1999 at International Academy
LEAP High School
Adjunct professor for Hamline and the
University of St. Thomas Graduate and
Undergraduate Education and English
Department
Highly Qualified in American and World
Literature and Visual Arts
Teach Writing, Writing, and Oral Skills
Background in Poetry and Drama











Transformational Leadership is
Multidimensional














In Leadership: Theory and Practice, Northouse
explains leadership as multi-dimensional.
Everyone views leadership differently, so the
term leadership will always be in flux (p. 4)




Northouse contd
Leadership is quite different from power
because it is inseparable from followers
needs (Burns, p. 186).
One person forms a connection with others
and motivation and morality increase. It
focuses on the followers reaching full
potential.
Gandhi and transformational leadership
whereupon he raised the hopes and demands
of his people, he was changed himself (p. 186).

DRAMA CLUB
For three months, I worked with a group of 25
Level 4 students to create a play.
I had needs and the students had needs.
I allowed for the needs and growth of the
participants, so the view of what leadership
was in this club was unorthodox to a
transactional form of leadership.
Transactional Leadership-bulk of leadership
models/ exchange between leaders and
followers
Drama Club contd
Four original vignettes based on real-life
experiences of being new to America,
woven together with authentic poetry and
movement that evoked emotion from the
audience, between actors, and
introspectively.
I was changed./ They were changed.
Performance for St. Paul Public School
principals and superintendent
Lessons from Geese

www.youtube.com/watch?v=#22DDC
9
bell hooks
Through engaged pedagogy, a deeper
understanding of leadership emerges in my
classroom
Engaged = liberatory classroom practice
(p. 158)
stepping out from behind the desk
Creating a neutral classroom so all students feel
welcomed

bell hooks contd

If we are emotionally shut down, how can
there be any excitement about ideas? When we
bring passion to the classroom our collective
passions come together, and there is an
emotional response, one that can overwhelm.
The restrictive, repressive classroom ritual
insists that emotional responses have no place
(p. 155).
Community Building
How is this done in my classroom?
Writers Workshop (journaling, talking circles)

How does this build self-confidence?
(all voices are heard)

Why is empowerment crucial and effective in
the lives of my students?
(to assist them in finding their voice)
Transformation/Community
Building
It is by speaking their word that people, by
naming their world, can transform it, dialogue
imposes itself as a way by which they achieve
significance as human beings. Friere-
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 88

References
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6jW
QV-Hvek
www.leappoetrycaf.com
Northouse
hooks
onlineblog.bryantstratton.edu (leadership)