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LEADERSHIP APPEARS IN MANY FORMS

" I found Juanita to be extremely organized and easy to work with. While her priority was the growth of her own theatre program, she ceaselessly supported the work of her colleagues...She is absolutely one of a kind. I recommend her highly." Doug Hundley - Shanghai American School. 

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I have worked as a department head, team leader, trip planner, event organizer, project manager and also a learning leader. For most of my working career, I worked as a Theatre director, Music Conductor or Art Director for Performances. The skills related to these roles are closely connected to the leadership skills necessary to work with a team - regardless of the context.

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"Juanita is an exceptional drama and performance instructor. When she arrived, she evolved a stagnant General Music Program into a dynamic Drama program. This required her to build a curriculum from scratch. Her classes became so popular we could not schedule all student requests....In Juanita McGarrigle you have a highly talented educator who is organized, knowledgeable with the ability to bring out the best in students... Juanita receives my highest recommendation and I cant recommend her enough for any position for which she is qualified." - Brad Latzke - Shanghai American School

LEADERSHIP AND TEAM DYNAMICS
PTC COURSE 1

The Principal Training center certificate in learning on Leadership and Team Dynamics. Skills and knowledge learned includes: Leadership style, self-evaluation, and awareness in strengths and areas of improvement, creating effective teams, addressing conflict, groupthink, and best practices for developing action-focused work.

ASSESSMENT LEADERSHIP
PTC COURSE 2

This certificate includes skills and knowledge such as: Changing beliefs into principles, purpose and alignment of assessment, choosing appropriate assessment styles, including feedback & observation in assessment, triangulation of common assessments and external assessments, criteria for grading, recording and reporting and making sense of the data

CREATING AN EFFECTIVE SCHOOL
PTC COURSE 3

This course from the PTC includes information on: Foundational documents such as the Mission statement, vision statement, core values, strategic plan and implementation of these documents as your anchor for all further decisions. It also focused on learning principles for teaching as determined by research and establishing essential agreements. This also focused on learning how to implement effective change, and engaging in relevant data to inform decisions.

INSTRUCTIONAL EVALUATION AND SUPERVISION
PTC COURSE 4

This PtC course focused on the role of the leader in supervision and evaluation - structures of observation that can foster professional growth in addition to better teaching resulting in student learning and success. Strategies were introduced in how to develop clear guidelines related to teaching standards that is the basis of quality teaching - to be able to identify teachers that are struggling, provide appropriate support and dismiss those that do not improve.

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCES

Roles & Responsibilities

August 2021 - June 2022

LEARNING LEADER - ACS ABU DHABI

Learning Leader Creative Arts Team
This role will have some traditional functional aspects of a department head helping the team to formalize decisions that SLT require - in addition to providing interests and requirements of the arts to the SLT. This position will have some learning coaching component to it aswell.

August 2010 - 2011

TEAM LEADER- CREATIVE ARTS TEAM/ CURRICULUM SUPPORT

The school was going through an evaluation year where the curriculum was being revamped and updated. My tasks were to help the K-12 Theatre arts and Performing arts team on two campuses to agree to common curriculum that was vertically aligned and robust in nature. This was an ongoing project that required signficant time throughout the year to coordinate and establish.

August 2001 - June 2002

CREATIVE ARTS TEAM LEADER MS-HS

The Art teacher left the school unexpectedly at the beginning of the year and I became the MS/HS Arts and Music department head to coordinate and create curriculum teaching of Art through K-10. I had to revamp the curriculum that general teachers in grades 2-6 could teach art. I also worked with the creative arts team and music to create several events throughout the year to celebrate the achievements of students.

August 1995 - June 1998

DEPARTMENT HEAD CREATIVE ARTS TEAM

The Creative Arts team had music, and art as its main component but also included part-time theatre and choir teachers involved. The team was quite large to serve the school. My role was primarily as a conduit between SLT and the arts teachers to help with decision making and documentation for school accreditation visits. I helped redefine the curriculum to add grade level rigor to the content studied.

For more information about my professional experience in Leadership, please get in touch.

Theatre Director as compared to Leadership

MOTIVATING WITH VISION

  • Directors are motivated and must inspire people to agree to the vision and come together to stage it.

  • are creative and often have to find new ways to approach things and work toward a better experience next time

  • know that nothing gets done alone and works to build a community and build bonds widely with everyone on the team​

  • by motivating with a vision - by encouraging the team to explore and assumes best intentions - to foster creativity and freedom to think

  • have a positive, engaged and calm presence to settle the team and help them understand that you are there to help them cope with any of the challenges that come your way

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

  • must use Emotional intelligence to be able to think before you act. 

  • must be reflective, thoughtful, flexible and comfortable with change

  • is able to find common ground  between people and learn how to approach directing and leading the team

CREATING TRUST

  • director creates a place of trust where actors can stretch themselves and learn from failure

  • director reinforces the drive toward risk taking, honest and open communication

  • fosters a team dynamic quickly by helping the team to collectively agree on goals to align the behaviours and attitudes that will help us get our stated goals. 

  • creates a safe environment where people are free from humiliation, encouraged to try new things and to take ownership of their work where healthy conflict is a driving force to create your best.  

  • celebrates the attempts - no matter the result

LEADING NOT CONTROLLING

  • by creating an environment where each member of the team is working hard to express themselves, experiment and take risks

  • have high self-awareness as many are looking to them for guidance - they must be grounded and honest

  • simple and clear effective communication of what is expected of them and the atmosphere that they work in

MANAGEMENT ABILITIES

  • must be able to plan effective rehearsal schedules to a timeline and deadline

  • must work within specific budgets and constraints with building or location

  • must be aware of laws and regulations with copyright, publication, marketing, sales, AV requirements

  • must be able to manage working with varied departments with highly specialized needs, timelines, materials and financial requests

  • creative problem solving in a fast and quick manner often using innovative or unique solutions

SKILLS AND APTITUDES

  • Exceptional oral communication skills

  • Creative Problem Solving Abilities

  • Willingness to work cooperatively

  • Doing things correctly & safely

  • Ability to work independently

  • Time budgeting skills

  • Promptness and respect for dealines

  • Ability to learn quickly and correctly

  • Respect for colleagues and authority

  • Adaptability and Flexibility

  • Ability to work under Pressure

  • Self-Discipline

  • Goal Oriented approach to Work

  • Concentration & Dedication

  • Ability to accept responsibility

RESOURCES

  1. 25 Life Skills learned in Theatre - Department of Theatre and Dance - Dr. Lous E. Catron

  2. What are the ideal qualities of a director? - Bradley Dylan

  3. Creative Leadership- Lessons from Theatre Directors - Blog

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