This final Internship Reflection is a document that represents my growth during the past two years while pursuing my Masters in Educational Leadership at Oakland University. I found this work to be extremly meaningful while performing the role of leader, as it allowed me to immediately put to practice what I was learning. I kept a log of the work I performed that illustrated my efforts toward each goal withing the Educational Leadership Standards (ISSLC). Writing this reflection is a great tool for summarizing where I have been and where I hope to go as a leader of Madison Prep.
Internship Reflection
The goals I set throughout my internship, in my Plan of Work, were goals that I felt would enhance my growth and development as a leader. As I reflect on the time I spent on my goals, as well as the time I spent with my mentor, I am pleased and satisfied that I have made the progress I had hoped to make in most areas. I feel fortune that I have had the coincidence of becoming a leader at the same time I was learning at OU how to be one!! Learning while “on the job” has been most rewarding for me!
Standard 1
I know that when I became a school leader, I felt strongly about having a vision and working collaboratively to be sure it was a shared vision in our school. I believe that I have accomplished that and have additionally be able to implement plans to achieve my vision and goals. (New school image) I believe I have revised and evaluated our plans in order to promote continuous improvement. My vision is my philosophy and I feel secure in my work here.
Standard 2
This is an standard that I feel very accomplished and sure of myself. I began by assessing the current school climate and culture. I put together a plan for improvement and, I believe, I have nurtured a climate and culture that has high expectations, trust and collaboration. I believe that, together with my staff, I have created a stronger and more rigorous curriculum that has also created accountability and motivation for students to succeed. I believe I have built a culture that demands we are all reasonable, respectful and responsible to ourselves, others and our academic endeavors. One area in this standard I would like to enhance is building my skills to provide more relevant and job-embedded professional learning for my staff.
Standard 3
I feel that I have grown in this area since my inception as a school leader. This was an area that took some work for me, as I realized all the pieces involved in managing the operations in all ways (opening school/attendance policy/reporting). I developed an attendance and behavior policy to ensure improvement and accountability. I worked to understand all staff roles and duties so to ensure the most efficient and safe learning environment. I learned the strengths of each staff member in order to enhance my capacity to distribute leadership opportunities.
Standard 4
This is my most comfortable area and yet I still have much work to do! I developed and implemented many initiatives to enhance relationships with parents, stakeholders and other community organizations. I truly enjoy the time I spend building positive relationships with families and caregivers. However, I would still like to do more to enhance the engagement of parents and volunteers. I have worked to develop partnerships with community organizations in hopes of bringing more experiences to our students. (Butterfly Foundation/Women of Tomorrow) I feel good about my work to enhance our at-risk students’ awareness and significance of having community membership.
Standard 5
Though I have a more flamboyant personality with often colorful language, I have very high standards when it comes to being ethical and working with integrity. I model those skills daily for our students and staff and believe I have done so in all my years of teaching as well as my years as a school leader. As a leader, I integrated a policy of due process that allows me to have a structure for conducting conflict resolution among students (and staff). I spent many hours working to create district expulsion documents, a petition for reinstatement form, and other legal/ethical documents. I work diligently to be equitable and fair when applying consequences to students for violations of school conduct.
Standard 6
This is a standard that I can continue to find growth. I involved myself with the Madison District Youth Assistance Program by participating in many of their meetings, luncheons and recognition events. I have made several presentations to the BOE regarding our school image as well as school updates. I would like to find a way to utilize data more to inform our instructional work and also find better ways to gather the data.
Standard 7
Though I truly appreciate what technology brings to instruction in today’s world, I do not feel like I have made a strong enough effort to push a technology initiative here at Madison Prep. We currently offer online courseware where 40 students can log on simultaneously and take an online course during the regular school day. However, we often have difficulty with port availability and I feel like we ‘put out fires’ too often rather than make the time to provide a permanent fix. I have made strides to improve and enhance our technology with our technology director and I have taken part in some technology based observation and instructional programs. I need to do more assessment, planning and delivery of 21st century technology for educational success.
Standard 8
This standard will be one in which I believe I will always be working to satisfy, as we continue to find that Best Practices are ever changing and developing. I feel lucky to have been enrolled in class during my early years of being a leader, as I have already been able to gather and utilize some best practice strategies and initiatives with staff and students. I know that continuing to seek out ways to enhance my work as a leader can only be a win-win for everyone. I will continue to seek out current educational material and find vehicles to share standards-based work in an authentic setting.
I always try to take time to reflect on my growth as a leader on a daily basis. I am proud of my leadership growth from my first year as principal, to this, the end of my third year. I continue to grow with more confidence. It is interesting how my vision of leadership has shaped and molded to become wider and deeper than my original vision. I am discovering a more defined image of who I am as a manager, leader, and stakeholder in my school, district and the community.
The question now becomes; what more can I do to continue to make a positive impact on both our community and school? I will continue to look for ways to motivate and encourage my staff to work with rigor and be relentless in finding ways to reach our students and engage our families and stakeholders.
The goals I set throughout my internship, in my Plan of Work, were goals that I felt would enhance my growth and development as a leader. As I reflect on the time I spent on my goals, as well as the time I spent with my mentor, I am pleased and satisfied that I have made the progress I had hoped to make in most areas. I feel fortune that I have had the coincidence of becoming a leader at the same time I was learning at OU how to be one!! Learning while “on the job” has been most rewarding for me!
Standard 1
I know that when I became a school leader, I felt strongly about having a vision and working collaboratively to be sure it was a shared vision in our school. I believe that I have accomplished that and have additionally be able to implement plans to achieve my vision and goals. (New school image) I believe I have revised and evaluated our plans in order to promote continuous improvement. My vision is my philosophy and I feel secure in my work here.
Standard 2
This is an standard that I feel very accomplished and sure of myself. I began by assessing the current school climate and culture. I put together a plan for improvement and, I believe, I have nurtured a climate and culture that has high expectations, trust and collaboration. I believe that, together with my staff, I have created a stronger and more rigorous curriculum that has also created accountability and motivation for students to succeed. I believe I have built a culture that demands we are all reasonable, respectful and responsible to ourselves, others and our academic endeavors. One area in this standard I would like to enhance is building my skills to provide more relevant and job-embedded professional learning for my staff.
Standard 3
I feel that I have grown in this area since my inception as a school leader. This was an area that took some work for me, as I realized all the pieces involved in managing the operations in all ways (opening school/attendance policy/reporting). I developed an attendance and behavior policy to ensure improvement and accountability. I worked to understand all staff roles and duties so to ensure the most efficient and safe learning environment. I learned the strengths of each staff member in order to enhance my capacity to distribute leadership opportunities.
Standard 4
This is my most comfortable area and yet I still have much work to do! I developed and implemented many initiatives to enhance relationships with parents, stakeholders and other community organizations. I truly enjoy the time I spend building positive relationships with families and caregivers. However, I would still like to do more to enhance the engagement of parents and volunteers. I have worked to develop partnerships with community organizations in hopes of bringing more experiences to our students. (Butterfly Foundation/Women of Tomorrow) I feel good about my work to enhance our at-risk students’ awareness and significance of having community membership.
Standard 5
Though I have a more flamboyant personality with often colorful language, I have very high standards when it comes to being ethical and working with integrity. I model those skills daily for our students and staff and believe I have done so in all my years of teaching as well as my years as a school leader. As a leader, I integrated a policy of due process that allows me to have a structure for conducting conflict resolution among students (and staff). I spent many hours working to create district expulsion documents, a petition for reinstatement form, and other legal/ethical documents. I work diligently to be equitable and fair when applying consequences to students for violations of school conduct.
Standard 6
This is a standard that I can continue to find growth. I involved myself with the Madison District Youth Assistance Program by participating in many of their meetings, luncheons and recognition events. I have made several presentations to the BOE regarding our school image as well as school updates. I would like to find a way to utilize data more to inform our instructional work and also find better ways to gather the data.
Standard 7
Though I truly appreciate what technology brings to instruction in today’s world, I do not feel like I have made a strong enough effort to push a technology initiative here at Madison Prep. We currently offer online courseware where 40 students can log on simultaneously and take an online course during the regular school day. However, we often have difficulty with port availability and I feel like we ‘put out fires’ too often rather than make the time to provide a permanent fix. I have made strides to improve and enhance our technology with our technology director and I have taken part in some technology based observation and instructional programs. I need to do more assessment, planning and delivery of 21st century technology for educational success.
Standard 8
This standard will be one in which I believe I will always be working to satisfy, as we continue to find that Best Practices are ever changing and developing. I feel lucky to have been enrolled in class during my early years of being a leader, as I have already been able to gather and utilize some best practice strategies and initiatives with staff and students. I know that continuing to seek out ways to enhance my work as a leader can only be a win-win for everyone. I will continue to seek out current educational material and find vehicles to share standards-based work in an authentic setting.
I always try to take time to reflect on my growth as a leader on a daily basis. I am proud of my leadership growth from my first year as principal, to this, the end of my third year. I continue to grow with more confidence. It is interesting how my vision of leadership has shaped and molded to become wider and deeper than my original vision. I am discovering a more defined image of who I am as a manager, leader, and stakeholder in my school, district and the community.
The question now becomes; what more can I do to continue to make a positive impact on both our community and school? I will continue to look for ways to motivate and encourage my staff to work with rigor and be relentless in finding ways to reach our students and engage our families and stakeholders.