Week 4 Assignment ED5399

Week Four Assignment, Part 1 and Part D of the Comprehensive Final Report:

You have had many opportunities for reflection in this course and throughout this program. In writing Part D on the value of Reflection as a Leadership Skill, we ask that you read from your program text, School leadership internship, 2^nd edition.  Read Reflection in Action, pp. 104 – 107, and answer the following:

·       Describe why reflection is an important skill in leadership.

“Reflection is a skill that is not taught in one lesson and learned instantly, but one that comes after much time and contemplation” Peter Dricker

Reflection is an acquired skill that comes, in my opinion, with experience, time, and the desire to improve upon oneself. As life long learners, when we are reflecting, we must choose to: look at the situation, see areas for improvement, identify areas to celebrate and finally to be able to plan for future events to make them even better using this information. As one passes through different events in life, one learns how to deal with situations and reflect on how things went, could have gone and how to improve things for future reference. I have learned throughout this course that it is important to take time to think things through, be it before or after

Blogs

Blogs taught us a lot about looking at a new and upcoming form of communication that our children will be using very much in the future. I had to learn to blog, learn to use this as a tool for my education and I will be honest, it as a new experience. I can now reflect on this and say I have learned to use blogs, and found another way to post my thoughts and maybe even a way to express my ideas in a new format.

Courses and campus supervised logs

In preparation to be a superintendent, it is imperative that the leader can be the visionary and see the big picture for the future of the school district as well as take stock of what we have done, successes, failures or shortcomings and use this information to plan for the future. As principal I have had to slow down and do these things with my staff. The courses have forced me to look at the programs i have In place and learn about all my superintendent must know, understand, how to seek for help if you don't know or have limited experience in certain areas. I have also learned to keep informed on all that is going on statewide and see trends to see if they are appropriate for my district

Assessments and all other intern experiences

Reflection in the activities we carried out during our internship

I had to determine activities that I felt would help me grow as a leader, so it was important that upon completing these activities that I took time to reflect on the effectiveness of these activities, how they could make my school or district better, to see what I learned from some of these activities and more important if changes are necessary or what we have in place is working for us. During my year of study these activities really opened my eyes as to the other duties a superintendent must keep informed on for example bonds, construction, politics, just to name a few.

Other intern reflection experiences

Throughout the course we have been charged with finding out about so many of the responsibilities of the CEO of a school district all the while pointing out that they must remain calm and poised throughout the learning curve, when given the most challenging obstacles, the superintendent must remain calm and in control. I have learned even when I am feeling stress, no one needs to know this and it is my job to make everyone feels safe, heard and a part of the team. I must remember that theteam is a reflection of me and it is my responsibility to keep our team focused, on target and progressing.

Describe how you plan to use reflective practice to improve your leadership skills – provide some specific suggestions for applying the skills of reflection.

Reflection has helped me as a leader in so many ways .I plan to continue to use reflection in my growth as a leader in many ways. Personally I will continue to use reflection in the activities I complete, when I implement new ideas and new programs. Professionally I will work with my staff to learn how to use reflection for growth. We will reflect as a group on the things we feel are working and identify what is not. With the loss of funding across the board, we must really look at everything we have in place and determine whether it Is worth keeping these programs or moving on. Lastly, I will work with student so they too start to reflect not only on their results on assessments, but on the choices they are making and how they are preparing themselves for college.

Blog Follow-Up: Be sure to post a reflection on the value of the skills of reflection to your blog, and read and comment on at least two other students’ assessment reflections.

Reminder - 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).

We completed our final conference this past Wednesday and recorded on direct connect adobe.

Dr. Creel and I met during week three and completed the course evaluation. We are complete and it was nice to finally meet and discuss all that had been done over this year!