Name: Aisha Christa Atkinson

Title: Campus Instructional Leader

Organisation: Stafford Municipal School District

Aisha Christa Atkinson is a PK-12 school administrator as well as a consultant for Be A Change, LLC. Valedictorian of her graduating class, Atkinson earned an undergraduate degree in secondary English education from the University of Mount Olive in 2013.

In 2020, she graduated from Texas A&M International University with a master’s degree in educational administration. Serving in several leadership roles, Ms. Atkinson is not only a board member for the Texas Council for Teachers of English Language Arts, but also a committee chairwoman for the Texas Alliance of Black School Educators.

A contributing writer for Education Week, Edutopia, and Teacher2Teacher, Ms. Atkinson advocates and leads with the inclusivity and representation of all learners at the heart of her work.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Educational Leadership!

I hope Aisha's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as an Educational Leader?

I have found that the most challenging, but also the most fascinating facet of being an educational leader is finding a way to bridge connections between the myriad of human lives encountered along the way. Over time, I have found that at the heart of disagreements and misunderstandings is the misconception that our diversity in thought, experiences, and accomplishments sets us so far apart from one another that we fail to see the common threads that link us together.

It is through the act of deep, authentic listening, as leaders such as Margaret Wheatley, Brene Brown, and Karen Walrond discuss within their respective works, that we can find the connections that exist between us. We can leverage those same connections to help us grow closer together and closer to achieving our collective goals. Discovery of those connections and seeing how the circumstances of my life align to the lives of those I serve is what makes the challenge fascinating.

2. How did you become an Educational Leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

Despite having the opportunity to serve as a leader in different ways, I do not believe that I became an educational leader until the year 2017 when I realized that I wanted to give more to the community I served.

During the Spring of that year, I had the chance to serve as a Visiting English Language Arts Teacher as part of the teacher exchange agreement made by my employing school district and a campus in Foshan, China. During my "adventure" there, I was able to remember my "why" through the exchanging of language in the form of anecdotal stories, music, and of course words of affirmation. As I poured love and light into nearly one thousand students (I taught 21 classes each week!), these same students poured the same into me.

I learned how to live without the boundaries of fear. For if these children can rise to excellence and pursue their dreams from the burdens of poverty, then so can I. Later on, within that same year, I would give birth to my son, Aries, prematurely. His journey as a micro preemie born with the rare brain condition known as hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and Autism spectrum disorder would rekindle that fire within and eventually serve as one of the starting points of my leadership journey from an advocacy lens.

From that point on, I would return to school for my master's degree and go on to serve as an Elementary Instructional Coach and Campus Instructional Leader/Acting Assistant Principal in my present school district. Today, I am proud to say that I strive to give the best of myself to continue to raise the bar of instruction by serving as a board member for the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts, a committee chair for the Texas Alliance of Black School Educators as well as several other professional organizations.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

My workdays begin and end with my son. We wake up and I assist him with getting dressed, applying his ankle foot orthotics and using my words to get his day started off with positive energy. From there, I commute to work for about thirty minutes and assist with arrival alongside our campus staff. From there, my duties tend to span across a broad spectrum from supporting teachers through modeling and coaching encouragement, communicating with families about student needs and opportunities, and just trying to grow in my own understanding of school leadership by watching and learning from the best leaders I know. The school day ends with me saying goodbye to our students for the day by assisting with dismissal duty.

While waiting for transportation to arrive, one might see me singing "happy birthday" to students on my megaphone, or challenging students to share with the students what they've learned during a current unit of study. The bottom line, we end the day the way we endured the day - with joy as well as a love of learning and a love for others. As mentioned before, my day ends with my son.

If I am able to get home in time to put him to bed myself, I help with getting him changed and check in with him about his day. Although he is a nonverbal communicator, I still give him the opportunity to share in his own way. 99% of the time, it is in the form of a hummed song - typically "If You're Happy And You Know It." If I'm not able to, I always swing by his room and kiss him goodnight.

4. What's a recent lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of as an Educational Leader?

As a woman education leader recently shared during a "Leading Ladies" panel I attended at the 2024 National Alliance of Black School Educators Conference, "You can do anything, but you cannot do everything." As a divorcee with a child with special needs who also happens to serve as a school leader, it has become easy for me to see myself as "superhuman," but this is furthest from the truth.

I am very much human just like everyone else. I am deserving of rest. I am deserving of periodic release from the obligations of daily life. I do not have to have all of the answers at once; nor do I have to take on every responsibility that others cast to the side. I have a purpose and I have someone who is counting on me to live to the fullness of that purpose without it coming at the expense of my own health.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your journey as an Educational Leader so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted you?

I am a pretty avid reader, so this was a hard question to ask. For now, I'm going to say 'Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact" by Liz Wiseman. By Wiseman's definition, "Impact Players" are the highest-performing members of any organization primarily because of the multi-dynamic perceptions they hold about change, time, opportunity, and how these perspectives influence their role, the role(s) or their boss(es), and the organization at large.

The five practices that differentiate Impact Players from other employees are: (1) they figure out the real job to be done, (2) step up and lead, (3) move things across the finish line, (4) learn and adapt to change, and (5) make heavy demands feel lighter. Upon reading this book, I realized that even in times when perhaps I am not the lead on a project or when I am in a situation where I am "learning while doing," I still have the capacity to contribute in meaningful ways from wherever my seat at the table might be.

As I shared within a 3-2-1 review on my website, www.aishacatkinson.com, "This book helped me to understand the value certain individuals contribute to an organization and how to enrich my own professional life by adopting the best practices of Impact Players. Meaningful work, however, is not simply about the capacity of self. Rather, it is about the purposeful growth and extensive contributions of self and the ripple effect of implications these actions have on the dynamics and output of a working relationship, collaborative effort, or organization."

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young educator who aspires to be an Educational Leader, what would you say to them?

The advice I share with any young educator is to understand that educational leadership is a magnification of the classroom teacher experience. Whatever it is that you are great at within the classroom, is where you will likely shine the brightest as a leader. For instance, if you have a natural gift or developed your skills in facilitating conflict resolution with students, you will be able to transfer some of those very same skills while supporting students and even adults at the campus level.

However, the very things that you are not very good at, perhaps even disdain are going to be the things you will want to commit yourself to working on throughout your journey as a leader. For example, if you hate developing lesson plans - instructional leadership might be harder for you because the most effective, successful leaders have to be great planners as well. All-in-all, advancing into school leadership should never be viewed as a means to escaping the responsibilities of classroom management, for those same skills are what you will be leveraging as a leader.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as an Educational Leader, so far?

During the Summer of 2024, I had my first opportunity to serve as a Summer Learning Principal. It was one of the hardest roles I have ever held, but the challenge of it was what I loved the most. On the third day of the program, I felt like my entire world had come crashing down when I learned that my mother, Rose, had experienced a stroke in my home state of North Carolina.

I have never wanted to give up something so badly; to just quit and go back home to be with her. But when I opened my mouth to say those words, my mother said to me "You better not give up, Esha. You better not give up on those kids or those teachers. I will be okay. I just need you to succeed for me." My mother always wanted to be an educator, but the era in which she grew up was one that just didn't permit such opportunities to people like her, and when they did...the support systems just were not what they are today. So I did what any person raised in Eastern North Carolina does when their mother tells them what to do - I did not quit. I "kept it moving" as she often used to tell me.

This difficult season of my life; of my mother's life taught me the power of endurance through adversity as a leader in the hardest way imaginable. It also reinforced for me the heartmoving message my Chief of Schools and mentor, Dr. Dawn DuBose, would later share at the end of that calendar year, the gift of obligation. Because my mother was unable to fulfill her dreams, I am obligated to take my journey farther than even I can imagine.

Because my son is disabled and so dependent upon me to translate his needs to the world, I am obligated to help make the world a better place for him and children like him. Because of great leaders like Dr. DuBose who invested everything in me, I am obligated to double that investment by doing the same for others.