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.