EDLD 5398 DOMAIN I - SCHOOL COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

Competency 001

The principal knows how to shape campus culture by facilitating the development,

articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared

and supported by the school community.

I do a good job with competency one and feel like it is a strength because of some of my natural abilities such as having a vision and implementing it.  That is something that relates very strongly to the art world and I have been creating art all of my life and have never been short on ideas or a vision and the ideas that I have for my art work come from my observations and dealings with things that go on in life including the school environment.

I learned through my internship that I am disappointed with the visions of most schools.  I believe that they can be more aggressive and visionary for what is yet to be known.  That is where my art background gives me a greater advantage because I know how to prepare students for the unknown.  Unfortunately, I can’t say that my vision is shared by my administrators and colleagues but that is not because I am wrong it is because people are afraid of what they do not understand and most people are stuck in the present.

I did learn however, that I am good at communicating ideas through a survey I administered.  I also believe that I have communicated a strong vision for the integration of art and technology where most people seem to believe that the art room is the last place that that they need to place technology.

I will acknowledge that my Asperger’s is somewhat of an inhibitor in this area.  I do best when I work alone but I can work well in small groups.  While I am not afraid of specking to large groups I cannot read the facial reactions in large groups.  I am much better if I speak in large groups to be able to get reactions from small groups.  Therefore, I can process the information I am receiving more easily.

I have an excellent background for diversity and inclusion of people of all abilities and ethnicities.  I have worked with all kinds of different people with different abilities throughout my career and I have worked with international and domestic collaborations.  I have absolutely no issues with including everyone into the decision making process and effectively working with them on all levels of the school community.

 Competency 002

The principal knows how to communicate and collaborate with all members of the school community, responds to diverse interests and needs, and mobilizes resources to promote student success.

As I have stated in competency one I have an excellent working knowledge and ability for working with and communicating with diverse groups and enabling them to feel and be involved.  Even with people whose first language is not English I am able communicate successfully by having good command of the English language it helps to put words into various contexts and definitions when communicating with non-English groups.  I believe in an all inclusive environment.

I have had many opportunities to work with web 2.0 tools and have learned a great deal about the how to and the use of technology in implementing ways to promote ideas and get the information out to all stakeholders in diverse ways.  I have also worked on projects that have put me in the position of working with the news media in order to promote school initiatives.

In regard to working with the community at large, I have had the opportunity to work with the community at large in supporting school initiatives, and was quite successful at working as a liaison between school and community.  I was also a successful liaison when it cam to working with the international community and the school district.

Competency 003

The principal knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical and legal

manner.

This is my greatest passion.  I don’t know how to behave unethically and ethics and fairness are the nearest and dearest thing to me.  This is part of my Asperger’s but I’d like to think that it would still be a personal strength even if I did not have Asperger’s.

I know that I am capable of being a real role model when it comes to ethics but I do not believe that my internship allowed me to shine in this area.  Instead it enabled me to learn a lot about what other principals are doing that is totally wrong and unethical.

I have experienced this when my own principal told me that he could not deal with me in an unbiased manner and when the assistant principal/ new principal did his best to stand in the way of me completing my internship tasks.  As a matter of fact the whole district after a time would not help me.

However, my tenacity pushes me forward and I always work toward what is absolutely fair and just.  I may not have learned ethics through my internship, but I certainly learned and experienced a lot of unethical behavior from other people.  Sometimes I am shocked by this behavior but I have learned to expect anything and how to offset the negative and unethical behavior.

Overall, I believe that domain one is my greatest strength in all of the domains of principalship.  I don’t think I will not show as much strength in domains two and three.  Especially when it comes to budget which I believe is my greatest weakness.

EDLD 5398 DOMAIN II—INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

Competency 004

The principal knows how to facilitate the design and implementation of curricula and

strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment of curriculum,

instruction, resources, and assessment; and promote the use of varied assessments

to measure student performance.

With the exception of a district or school strategic plan this competency is a big time strength of mine.  I have written curriculum on the state, district, and school level.  I have worked on curriculum alignment at the district and state level.  I set up resources for many teachers to use on a website, which was something I did during my internship.

Also during my internship I worked on teacher assessments and student testing assessments.  In Delaware we worked to have varied assessments for all areas of teachi9ng and learning as well as assessments for support staff.

I am an architect by nature and I love curriculum design and implementation.  I could design curriculum every day and never be bored by it.  Again that comes back to the creativity and forward thinking of the arts.  Although I have to say that it is arts mixed with a bit of science because not all artists are that organized for curriculum development.  However, we do have that non-linear way of thinking that allows us to embark on journeys that others might not take.

Competency 005

The principal knows how to advocate, nurture, and sustain an instructional program

and a campus culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional

growth.

I think I know something about this but was not given proper opportunities to try out some ideas.  I really think I have a solid understanding of technology integration because I focused on that in my research and in ideas for my own classroom but there is room for more growth.

I have been told that I am a good advocate and I believe that is true when I really believe in what I am advocating.  I am not good at it if the topic or issue is one that I have not done proper study in.  So In order to advocate and nurture I would have to use the skills that I have learned doing action research.  If I get myself properly informed then I feel like I can go ahead and do what is by student learning and professional growth.  It is not something that I can do without the initial study.  Unless of course it is something that I already know.

Campus culture is a greater strength because I am , by nature, open minded and I have worked with so many different people throughout my internship and career.  I understand differences in culture and I also understand what it takes for a positive school culture.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not wishy-washy, and I do not get steamrolled easily.  When it comes to making the tough decisions or bring people in to focus on what it necessary, I can do that easily and with respect to each individual culture or need.  I have actually had a lot of experience with that.

Competency 006

The principal knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system to

improve the performance of all staff members, select and implement appropriate

models for supervision and staff development, and apply the legal requirements for

personnel management.

I’ve worked in management before.  I do know how evaluate personnel effectively and fairly from that experience.  I don’t think that any of my campus supervised internship items allowed me to explore this area.  I do know that the interview with Dr. Cannon was tremendously enlightening.

Because of that I feel I have some insight into evaluating teachers since I have absolutely no experience in that area.  My real life experience was in retail which has some different criteria in evaluating employees.  Because of Dr. Cannon and School Law, I feel I have somewhat of a handle on what needs to be done.  I also remember the three types of contracts and how they work.

Because of Dr. Cannon and Dr. Jenkins, I believe I can select appropriate models of leadership and supervision.  My campus let me down tremendously in this.

I worked on my research project which was designed to improve performance of staff members in relation to technology integration and that went over like a lead zeppelin.  I can’t say my internship experience has helped me at all in this area.

Competency 007

The principal knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem solving skills to ensure an effective learning environment.

This would be something I need more work on.  I believe there are aspects that I am fine with like decision making and analyzing data.  We got good training in that regard through both course embedded and campus supervised.  But the course embedded tasks for analyzing data were very valuable experiences because this is something I have never done before.  Therefore, I cannot say that I am great at this but I have learned enough to be comfortable through research and analyzing AEIS data.

While I am naturally a problem solver, and I am a strong ideas person, this doesn’t mean that I will have the right problem solving technique all of the time.  But again I have learned enough through my research project, dealing with uncooperative administrators and through various courses and professors such as Dr. Jenkins and The interview with Dr. Cannon.  That was a tremendously valuable experience.

I used to be good at delegating responsibility but I do know that when other people do not follow through I have the tendency to pick up the slack and do the work myself.  This happened to me with a major project that I was in charge of.  However, I must say that all of the people on my team held positions higher than mine so it was difficult for me to continually but them about completing the tasks.  It would probably be different and like it was when I was in retail and the one in charge.

I think I am good with change process because I am good with ideas and developing and presenting a vision.  I am also good with the collaboration that is involved with change because I would want to know what other people think and how we can make everything fair and equitable for everyone and still make the school and students the top priority.

EDLD 5398 DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP

Competency 008

The principal knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to campus budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology use.

I believe that I am strong in working with teachers and other stakeholders because I have the ability to care about their needs and ideas.  I am also good at assessing the needs of a campus.  I have had experience with that in previous jobs.

I am exceptionally strong in the use of an allocation of technology.  I am creative and I have very big ideas for the equitable distribution, and implementation of technology in all subjects.  I believe that all teachers should be well on their way to working towards open classrooms where students have access to and the ability to use technologies in ways that will enable them to attain their goals in the fulfillment of assignments.

My weakest area is anything that has to do with money.  I was better at budgeting when I was young.  I think I need to think more deeply about budgeting and be exposed to large scale budgeting issues that will help me to learn to be able to handle a fixed amount of money that needs to be allocated for many departments and issues within a school.  The good news is that I am open to working with stakeholders which will be a great benefit for me.

Competency 009

The principal knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the campus physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.

Certainly the safety of students and personnel is an important issue and I think I would be good at that but overall competency 9 is a weakness.  I did not have the opportunity to get exposure to this aspect of principalship during my internship.

I have had very little exposure to the physical operation of the school.  The only time I got any insight into that was when I followed one of the custodians but that was only a sneak peak at that aspect of school operations.  This along with food services, health services, and transportation are all things that I barely got a glimpse of.

Overall, domain 3 is my weakest link with competency 9 being the absolute weakest area as a whole competency.  I really need more experience with these things.  Here in Delaware there are administrative internships within districts that would enable me to get that experience.  I believe I would have to do one of these internships before I become an assistant principal.  If not I would be able to learn these things as an assistant

EDLD 5398 - Field Supervisor Assignment

I have found the entire program invigorating and challenging.  I have learned so much and most of the courses are fun.  There has been so much that I have learned from all aspects of the program.  I cannot say that any one thing is more important but the tech classes have been the most fun and challenging.  

In the technology classes I was able to teach myself to do things that I never thought I would learn.  I also have been exposed to so many things like open source and how to use open source effectively.  Teaching with technology was especially enlightening and that is where I want to place my career focus.

Beyond that even though my research project was an absolute disaster I came away with a real learning experience and some good data. As a matter of fact through all of the negative experiences I have had on my campus I learned a lot about to do from the courses and what not to do for from my principal.  This was evident in many of the classes. 

School Law was another very informative and enlightening class that made the ethical and unethical behaviors I have witnessed all that much more evident.  I do not plan to become a principal but if I were to become a principal I am sure I know what to do and what not to do better than what I have witnessed over the past four years.

EDLD 5333 - Site Based Decision Making

I wasn’t able to interview the campus principal so I interviewed a person at the DE Department of Education and a person on the school leadership team.  Because I this I was able to get a broader perspective of how things work throughout the state as well as the perspective of the individual school. While I can’t say that anything has surprised me I can say that I learned how interconnected RTTT is with the actions of schools and districts including things like RTI and law along with the processes of SBDMs.  It seems that throughout the state people who serve on the SBDMs have been chosen in much the same way as at my school.  Although, I am hopeful that other teachers have more input in other schools.  However, at my school the person who serves on the committee that I interviewed does feel that her voice is heard.  So at least on that level teachers’ voices are being heard.  Statewide there are members of the outside community that also serve on the SBDMs but I don’t believe that is so in our school committee.   Most of the information does align with what I have learned in this program throughout all of the courses that I have taken.  The one thing that does not is the members of the SBDMs.  There should be a broader perspective on the SBDM committees and I like Ms. Richardson’s view of rotating members to serve the community at large and gain a broader perspective of the school. (Richardson, 2005) By doing that the committee will have fresh views when things might become stagnant. Richardson, M. (2005). Consensus leadership. Principal Leadership, 6(4), 32-35.

EDLD 5333 - Action Planning and Professional Growth

I learned how to use better processes for analyzing information for school needs and putting that information to good use in order to help the school main gains in areas of weakness.  I believe I have have a better understanding of how to use that knowledge for creating powerful professional development activities for teachers so that they can better help our students.  It was really great to use actual school information I felt like I really had to do justice for the students of Archer City HS.  I was somewhat concerned that I would not be able to meet the task because their weakness of mathematics is also my weakness.  However, I was able to find great research and I really connected with the things that Dr. Wu had to say about real world mathematics and the ways that mathematicians can help K-12 educators. (Wu, 2006)  I feel confident now in my ability to tackle any issue with any subject and my next steps will be to continuously analyze data for improvement in all areas.

 

Wu, H., (2006, February 26). How mathematicians can contribute to K–12 mathematics education, retrieved from   

             http://math.berkeley.edu/~wu/ICMtalk.pdf on June 22, 2013

EDLD 5345 - Mediation

·         Describe the mediation process. How did the process work?   The mediation process is a way to resolve disputes between two parties.  We sat down, and the mediator layed out the ground rules.  We agreed to the rules, and followed the prescribed format.  Each person told his/her side of the story which was then paraphrased by the mediator.  Everyone understood the conflict, and each others’ points of view.  We proceeded to imagining and role play, after which, we talked about possible solutions to the problem.   However, it was difficult for me to pretend about this whole scenario since I am not an actor.  I would have done better with a real problem, so I applied something real to the pretend problem.  In the end the process worked well and we reached an agreement.   ·         Did the parties reach a mutual agreement to resolve the conflict? If not, what barriers prevented the resolution of the conflict?   We based our scenario on an adopted dog.  The conflict was that I wanted the dog but did not do my share caring for it.  My husband did not want the dog at first but grew to love it and was stuck with all of the responsibilities of caring for the dog.  We reached a compromise because it made good sense that the dog cannot be neglected and I was the one who wanted to adopt it in the first place.  I admit that I am not the best when it comes to following through on household duties because my mind is so full of other things, especially school and work.    However, there was the barrier of me having to pay into the dog fund.  At first it seemed a bit excessive but I can agree that I need some extra motivation for these kinds of chores.   I also thought that he should be more sympathetic to my excessive thinking about work and school.  But he countered with the fact that he does most of the chores around the house as well as working a physically challenging construction job full time and then comes home to additional house work.  Who can argue with that?   ·         How might you be able to use this skill as a leader?   I can adapt this to my work environment now by suggesting that we use this as a way of resolving conflicts among team members.  Our department chairperson can incorporate this into our meeting norms in the event a conflict might arise.   In the future, as a leader of a school, this mediation template can be taught to guidance counselors and interventionists to mediate between students and I can use it to mediate between staff members, staff members and parents, students and teachers.  The applications of this process does not have limits when it comes to problem solving disputes between two people or groups.  As with all things, the key is in communication.