Who Do You Become When You Lead?

Send us Fan Mail

We’re recording from the NCASA Conference in Wellington, North Carolina, and we sit down with Ashley, a fifth grade teacher from Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools who’s stepping into a new season of education leadership. After 14 years in the classroom, she’s now a principal fellow through North Carolina Central, preparing for an administrator internship next year. That transition brings a big question: how do you move from being responsible for one room of learners to leading adults, systems, and school-wide success?

Website: spotlight4success.com

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:06):
Welcome to Spotlight for Success with American Book
Company.
I'm your host, Derek Pentozi,and we're here at the Anne Cassa
Conference in Wellington, NorthCarolina.
We're here with our specialguest, Ashley.
Ashley is a fifth grade teacherat the Chapel Hill Carborough
City Schools.
So it's so great to have youhere with us today.

SPEAKER_00 (00:23):
Thank you.
Yeah, I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 (00:25):
Yeah, and what brings you to this um to this
conference?

SPEAKER_00 (00:28):
I'm currently here with North Carolina Central.
I'm a principal fellow for NorthCarolina for my district.
I am a teacher and I'm trying tobe um learning how to be a
really good administrator.
So I start my internship nextyear, and this was the spot they
wanted to send us to to learn asmuch as we could.

SPEAKER_01 (00:47):
Great.
And tell me about um how yourexperience has been inside that
principal program.

SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
Um it's been really great.
I have opportunities that I feellike I am fortunate to have, to
travel, to um learn from so manydifferent people and keynote
speakers that uh other peoplewho are in a program might not
be they might not haveopportunities.
I feel like I've grown as aleader, as an educator, um, and

(01:14):
with everything that I'velearned, I feel like I'm gonna
be successful.

SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
Absolutely.
And uh how'd you get hooked upwith that program?
How'd you find out about it?

SPEAKER_00 (01:24):
Well, we had to apply for the program and it was
a very rigorous uh process whereyou had to complete an
application and then you had tointerview, um, and they only
selected the best.

SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
Yeah, I think it was eight, right?
It was only eight, right?

SPEAKER_00 (01:38):
Um, I think no, we have a cohort of 14.

SPEAKER_01 (01:40):
14, 14, okay.
Yes, but a lot of people veryrigorous.
It is.
Yeah.
Wow.
So uh what what do you hope toget out of this conference?

SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
Um, I hope to but the most thing I the most
important thing I hope to getfrom this conference is um how
to be a leader.
As a classroom teacher, I'vebeen a classroom teacher for 14
years.
Um I haven't been a coach or umany another leadership role like
other people, so I am learning,I just want to know how to lead
and how to lead effectively tomake the most impact for this

(02:10):
teachers and for students and umany processes that's gonna help
me get to that success becauseI've only unfortunately been
only able to see the classroomteacher lens, and so having all
these different um sessions thatI get little insights helps me
build the knowledge that I needthat's gonna help me be
successful next year.

SPEAKER_01 (02:29):
Absolutely.
And what is something you lookforward to bring bringing to
your classrooms next next year?

SPEAKER_00 (02:36):
Um something I'm looking forward to from learning
here for my internship nextyear.

SPEAKER_01 (02:40):
Yeah, or just anything.

SPEAKER_00 (02:42):
Or anything.
Um I love knowing people andbuilding connections, and so the
social aspect of this conferenceand being able to build my
network is really importantbecause people are resources and
people are especially ineducation, can be allies, and so
when I'm in a situation, whohave I connected with?

(03:02):
Who can I get information from?
And so I'm looking for I'mlooking forward to that in
building my network, myeducational network.

SPEAKER_01 (03:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
And do you have any last wordsfor the NCASA community?
Any last words for the NCASAcommunity?

SPEAKER_00 (03:17):
Um, thank you for this opportunity.
I felt like I just did a littlereflection and made me just
center my why and why I'm here.
So I really appreciate that.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (03:26):
Well, it was a pleasure to have you on our
podcast, Ashley.
Woohoo! Yep.
Well, see you next time.