Leader of Service Reflections and Summary

Jake Youngkent
6/17/14 Career Services and Entry Plans
Today we had a presentation from UNI career services. The presentation
mostly focused on resumes and cover letters. I was glad to hear that not
much has changed in the past 15 years. I havent even looked at my resume
in several years. I probably need to update that. Today was a nice refresher.
One thing that did stick out today was that there were just so many more
things to consider going into an administration position. Preparing for a
teaching position is pretty straight forward. You know what the job is going
in, highlighting experiences that indicate qualification is pretty easy.
Leadership positions are so broad! It is hard to isolate skills and experiences
because school leaders have so many hats to wear.
Dr. Jones also presented entry plans today. I enjoyed this presentation. It
really got me thinking about all the work that goes into just applying for a
leadership position. I have an interview coming up does a lead teacher
need one? Im beginning to stress a little bit about the prospect of actually
landing this position.
6/18/14 Theater and De-escalation
Today we had a presentation from a theater professor at UNI. He discussed
how theater reflected life. He talked about many aspects of theatre that
were relevant in professional settings (confidence, appearance, voice, eye
contact, presence, charisma). One tip that I found surprisingly profound was
not attempting to something you aren't. To be you, trust yourself and be
honest.
We also had a presentation from a member of the Cedar Falls Police
department. From him we learned a little about de-escalation techniques. I
didn't really think there was any one thing that stood out from his
presentation. I will say that I appreciated that he suggested to end
confrontations that didn't seem to be moving toward resolution. I liked the
idea if the 10 minute rule. I also thought that the insight from Dr. Pace and
Dr. Jones was interesting. Dr. Jones talked about office procedures dealing
with notifying police and with ending contentious situations. I think I got
more out of the post-presentation discussion than I did from the actual
presentation. School safety has been a major priority and more public in the
past few years.
6/19/14 DITO

Today was interesting! Our cohort rocks! I was so impressed with how calm
and positive everyone was! The group really helped to affirm my beliefs that
a lot can be overcome with positivity and respectful treatment of others
(especially when those others don't seem to "deserve" respect).
My own experience was very interesting. I did my best to assure the parent
that I would be following through with resolving her concern. However, I also
got the sense that nothing I had to offer was going to be sufficient. At one
point I decided that the parent wasn't going to be satisfied and that I needed
to finish the conversation. I thought it went pretty well. I was fortunate to
have had experience dealing with an "inappropriately" dressed staff member
before. That said dealing with the parent was an altogether different
experience! At least I had my background to draw information from.
Many of my colleagues encountered "new" situations and handled them with
a great deal if grace. This experience was very valuable. Discussions within
our cohort were insightful. Generally we agreed that it was good to admit
when you didn't know something and that positivity usually wins the day.
6/24/14 Inclusion Conference
Saw amazing testimony from three disabled individuals who all struggled
with communication. Through facilitated communication they were able to
feel more human, be more creative, and achieve things nobody thought
possible for them.
As a school leader I wonder how it is that we ensure, to the best of our
abilities, that we put the right tools in students hands. In these individual
cases it seemed to take a miracle. I know that Ive met and worked with
miracle workers before, but what I saw today was truly extraordinary! The
biggest thing to take away from today was that you should never ever give
up on kids. You should continue to search for answers, even when you think
thetr are none. Peoples futures depend on our ability to keep fighting for
them.
6/25/14 Poverty Simulation
Today we participated in a poverty simulation. It was intriguing To see how
people's emotions were affected in the simulation. My "family" was on a
roller coaster of emotion. We started in panic mode as we tried to
understand how to survive one week. We ran out of transportation passes
and were unable to even cash pay checks. We had to borrow from
neighbors. The next two weeks we were better prepared to meet all of our
needs and feeling pretty good. Then we were robbed at gunpoint! The life
fell out of us! We were completely dejected and wanted to quit.

It was a good experience. As a school leader or teacher it is difficult to even

comprehend the chaos that some families live in just to pay the bills and
make sure they are safe. Coming from Carver, Ive seen plenty of examples
of the hardships of students living in poverty. However, Ive never known for
myself what it was like. Today was a tiny taste of that chaos, it was eyeopening to say the least!
6/30/14 GLBT, Boyd, and DITO reflection
We started todays session reviewing some lessons learned from our day in
the office. We also distributed our feedback sheets from that experience. It
was very interesting reading the feedback from my cohort members. The
general consensus was that there was no consensus. For every bit of
positive feedback there was a member of the cohort who listed the same
thing as something to strengthen. I think this just drives home the point that
it is just best to be yourself. In our discussions in class there did seem to be
some agreement that any kind of preparation was mostly moot. You just
never know what is going to take place or be said, the best bet is to do your
best and know when to say that you dont know.
We then debriefed with Dr. Pace about his experiences working with gay and
lesbian students. The thing that stuck out to me in this discussion was that
context makes all the difference. Handling potentially sensitive situations is
usually dictated by the community and context of the situation. Some
schools will handle things better than others, some will be more accepting or
forgiving. The community and the school itself will be a great guide with how
to handle things.
Amber Boyd shared her experiences working with African American females.
One thing that I have always enjoyed about Amber is her willingness to
share her own self-reflection. Very little about her research was surprising to
me. However, I found it interesting how Ambers own assumptions were
found to be wrong. She was dealing with a group of students that she has
always had a great ability to identify with. Yet when she assumed that her
girls would best identify with other black teachers, she found that in many
cases it was white males that the girls talked about positively.
7/1/14 Stress and Family
Today may have been the single most important day of seminar for me. I
have a lot of anxiety about how starting my new leadership position will
affect my relationship with my wife. Im not sure that anything I heard today
was mind blowing but I did hear some valuable testimony about being able
to work your tail off, enjoy your job, and still have a life outside of school. As
a teacher I found that my job was never really finished. In previous
leadership roles I have actually had an easier time leaving my work at work

and not bringing it home with me. However, I know that a new position, in
a new building, at a different level than Im accustomed to will be a
challenge. I know Ill be stressed. That said, it was good to hear principals
talk about leaving things for tomorrow! I appreciated that the panel we
listened to all were positive about their ability to be themselves, although
maybe more guarded than they previously were.
As Ive worked on and thought about my wellness plan I have tried to include
family time as an element to help sharpen the saw. I still worry that my
idea of family time and my wifes are not the same; at least she has some
idea of what weve gotten in to! It should be an interesting experience!
7/2/14 Presentations and Politics
Dr. Jones did a great job talking about community politics. He gave us a
multi-step plan to identify, meet, and mobilize community leaders. It was
impressive! During his presentation, he actually used me as an example. He
said that he doubted that Lou Henry had its own Key Communicators list
and that it might be a good project to undertake. The scary thing is that
if/when I mention this to Liz she is probably going smile and say, go for it.
Am I ready for this, Ive had plenty of experience with teachers, parents,
students, even school board members, but community members? I guess
Im going to have to do it sooner or later might as well be sooner.
After Dr. Jones presentation we did our Leader of Service gallery walk. It was
very interesting to see the creativity everyone brought to the project. In
many cases you could really see peoples personalities in their projects. I
thought it was interesting that so many people highlighted the same
characteristics of a Leader of Service. I only wish I could have seen more of
my own cohorts projects!
Reflections on Seminar
It is kind of amazing how much was thrown at us in 9 days! As usual, our
cohort rose to the occasion, worked hard, and had some great interactions. I
took a lot away from the seminar experience. One thing that I really
appreciated and that really reassures me is that a recurring theme in many
of the presentations we heard was be yourself. I often have a unique
perspective so I am encouraged that the best advice was repeatedly to be
yourself.
We were asked to present what Leader of Service meant to us in the form of
a gallery walk. I chose to bring in my dragon. In my classroom the dragon
represented obstacles. We talked often about the need to be aware of
obstacles. We also talked about being prepared to deal with the obstacles
that we face. Another recurring theme in seminar was that things happen.

You never know what you may face on a day-to-day basis, but you are going
to have to deal with everything that comes up. Leaders of service need to
always recognize and do their best to understand the obstacles. After
understanding leaders can identify ways to best attack the issues.
Sometimes it will be head-on, sometimes it will be in more of a supportive
way, and still others it may just be the recognition of the problem that
enables others to take action. A Leader of Service needs to be prepared to
serve. I know I can do that!