Life Story of a Reluctant Leader (Identity Formation in Educational Leadership)

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Sandra Efird Carter (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Kathleen Casey

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to offer insight into the life of one ordinary person whose leadership persona exhibits both reluctance and confidence in varying educational settings. By presenting this woman's life story, I show the influence that culture, social experiences, and family traditions play in developing a person's leadership abilities as well as the role of compassion and reflection in the development of leadership qualities. My research question is why this person exhibits both reluctance and self-confidence in different settings. The narrator in this study is a third grade veteran teacher of twenty-eight years. During 2007, I collected and analyzed this woman's life story in a rural North Carolina community. In conducting narrative analysis, I used selectivity, slippage, silence, intertextuality, and subjectivity to analyze her life story (Casey, 1993; Casey, 1995 -1996). What I learned from this study is that compassion and reflection are components in leadership. The narrator exhibits leadership when she is compassionate about her topic, which promotes confidence in herself. The narrator's reflection was a powerful tool in gaining self-awareness and promoting confidence. Future educational leaders as well as teacher and administrative induction programs will benefit from this study by providing narrative dialogue and reflection opportunities to seek leadership strengths within potential educational leaders."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2007
Keywords
identity, narrative, reluctant, educational, leadership

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