Sunday, September 11, 2011

ED 5399 Week 3 Reflection


Week Three Assignment, Part 2 – Part C of the Comprehensive Final Report
Describing Recommendations and District/Campus Improvement Initiative/Action Research Lessons Learned
Review the above analysis, and write at least one page thoroughly describing recommendations and lessons learned from experiences with the improvement initiatives or action research plans.
Blog Follow-Up: Be sure to post your above reflection on your Recommendations and Lessons Learned to your blog, and read and comment on at least two other students’ assessment reflections.

To carry out any type of change, there must be a need and willingness to change. The people in charge of the organization must acknowledge the need and then listen to others who are also involved in the decision making and be open minded to making a decision that will positively impact the children and community we serve. Sounds great on paper, in a plan, but making this come to life is the hardest part and should be driven by the superintendent and supported by the board. Many times we would like to say we want shared leadership, but when it comes time to change some need to be directives and if they were involved in the planning and gave feedback before the decision was made, they can understand and accept the directive and support the leader as we implement these changes.
My recommendations include improving the relationships with area businesses, the need for change to meet AYP mandates and finally to make principals the lead trainers to run staff development. As the deficit is growing, as funding is lowered from all sources and as this impacts all Americans, we as leaders need to take all of this into consideration and make wise decisions regarding our budgets, make better decisions regarding our relationships and look for ways to engage our public, but most importantly we MUST find the best training for our educators from the ground up to ensure we are giving the children the best education during these changing times. Even with limited budgets, we can not limit what we teach, neglect the abundant changes in technology and always remember we are preparing them for an unknown future where they will have to be at the top of their game to compete globally. Many times we are only thinking of the present and education is really about preparing them for the future. We have to be realistic that money will not be there and to do any of the items I am proposing we must think outside the box and use the limited funds we have to make things better. So we must work with small businesses and even large financially stable organizations for financial backing. We know AYP requirements will only get harder to meet, so we MUST work with the federal government to ensure we do not lose any more funding. Finally, we know tests will change, we know expectations will continue to grow and if we want our children to be successful it starts by preparing our teachers and campus leaders with powerful staff development, with the limited resources we already are bound to, to teach and learn albeit the limitations outlined above.
Can we do this? Can we meet the challenge? We have to. As I write this I think about our most at-risk children and the excuses I hear from them “I can’t do this, I’m poor, I live in the hood, I don’t know how, Its hard, etc” but there are always those who even among these powerful forces that surround them still make it and reach their dreams. What is our dream? We have to have the vision and not make excuses and continue to maintain that vision even on the darkest days. That is the role of the leader and this is what fuels my fire every day!



Week Three Assignment, Part 3 - Scheduling a Conference with the District Site Supervisor to review the SISE
Please schedule a conference with your District Site Supervisor between now and Week 5 to review the Supervisor’s SISE (Superintendent/Supervisor Internship Summative Evaluation). To confirm this scheduled conference, please describe your efforts below – this may include “sending an email request for a scheduled conference, visiting with the supervisor to schedule a conference, or any other efforts describing your efforts to schedule this conference.”

My site supervisor was my immediate supervisor until August of this year. Therefore, we had almost daily communication and worked closely throughout this internship. Now, we have to make appointments to see each other as neither of our schedules permit us to work together as much as we had in the past. At the onset of this course, I sent her the evaluation tool and waited for her response. She responded two weeks later and we finally met this week. She completed my evaluation and we submitted it to Dr. Artebury this Thursday. She has always been so supportive and easy to work with and under our new positions; it has been a major shift for us to go to different people for assistance. She and I still talk and find time to work together, though it is in a very different arena.

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