# EDUC 7620 Empowerment Early in my career, I was leading a school as the principal. There was a teacher who had great ideas after every building leadership team meeting. And when I say after, I mean 3-5 days after! She needed me to involve her better, but I didn't know how. When she would finally come to me with her thoughts or concerns, it was typically after the fact, often too late to make an impact on the decision. I learned how to be "authentically invitational of [her] voice" (Berkowitz, 2021). I started giving her the agendas two to three days before our meeting. This provided two different ways to help her. First, it gave her time to think. Second, it gave her time to practice her ideas in her own head before sharing them with others. This was a powerful learning experience for me, because this same approach would not have been beneficial for me in her shoes. I do better in the moment, and with little preparation. In fact, had I been given the agenda early, I would have already moved on beyond that conversation. Another example that was a humbling learning experience in my leadership development came when Twitter [got me in trouble when I was a teacher](http://mrjonesed.blogspot.com/2008/04/twitter-backfires.html). To be clear, it wasn't Twitter that got me in trouble, but me being stupid that got me in trouble. I could have skated through unscathed, but I had to post something about my class on Twitter. Not a good idea. What made this event solvable, though, was having a class meeting and empowering my students to say what was bothering them. As Lickona states, "The class meeting provides an experience in democracy, making students full partners in creating the best possible classroom" (Lickona, 1992). The powerful reflection for me was this: > "I **don't** think that I am doing right by telling them they are the worst. It is a horrible way to manage a classroom and it all started with calling those girls out for cheating. That was a big mistake, and I should not have done that. It undermines everything that I have been working for this year" (Jones, 2008). ## References - Berkowitz, M. W. (2021). _PRIMED for character education: Six design principles for school improvement_ (Kindle ed). Routledge. - Jones, J. (2008, April 30). Twitter Backfires! _Have a Good Life_. [http://mrjonesed.blogspot.com/2008/04/twitter-backfires.html](http://mrjonesed.blogspot.com/2008/04/twitter-backfires.html) - Lickona, T. (1992). _Educating for character: How our schools can teach respect and responsibility_ (Kindle ed). Bantam Books. [[EDUC 7620|educ7620]]