Competency Reflection Alexandra Lavelle University of St Thomas

Competency Reflection Alexandra Lavelle University of St. Thomas Spring 2017

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. To address this competency I was involved in numerous campus wide activities which brought in the community and parent involvement. For me, the most important initiative I was involved in was bringing in parents and community members to access our Rosetta Stone software, free of charge. This was an ongoing initiative which helped bring involve parents and the community as well as build a campus culture that values parents and their needs. Another major event I helped facilitate was a Saturday conference at our school. For this particular conference, we brought in people from the community to do presentations on immigration help, voting, job search, and resume building. This conference was meant to bring in community members and parents to show our support in their goals and learning. While working these two events I have learned just how important it is for a campus to maintain a positive and interactive relationship with parents and the community. Both parents and the community have an enormous impact on campus, as well as the students. I would like to learn what to do in the situation where you put on activities for parents to attend yet continuously have low attendance. At my previous campus, we made several efforts throughout the school year to involve parents and the community, yet continuously had low attendance. This has always frustrated me; however, I never saw my administrators try and change the situation.

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. To address competency 002, I had the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with parents and colleagues on various occasions. I was responsible for leading all of my grade level Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings and served on various committees which provided me the opportunity to collaborate with my colleagues. To meet the needs of parents, I was in charge of distributing a survey to parents and communicating with them about their needs and wants for the school year. I am currently involved in the Awards Ceremony committee, which allows me to collaborate with my colleagues about how to best meet the needs of our students, staff, and parents. I have learned one of the most difficult tasks an administrator has is to communicate effectively with the community, staff members, and parents. I learned the best approach to these situations is to always stick to the facts and show data. I feel I still need to learn more about the how to handle political, social, and economic issues which may occur. I have not had the opportunity to experience situations in which the media was involved or needed to be contacted for one reason or another.

Competency 003 - The principal knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical and legal manner. Throughout my program and internship I have been fortunate to learn from amazing leaders who have integrity and are ethical in nature. They have served as great mentors for me to follow and learn from. During my internship year, I had the opportunity to coach several teachers and evaluate their teaching. Throughout that process, it was important for me to be fair and to keep my integrity. I also had the opportunity to help with testing materials, in this situation it was crucial for me to maintain my integrity, be ethical, and act in a legal manner. Working with the Special Education, I had the opportunity to learn more about the legal side for disabilities. I have learned how important it is to be ethical and maintain integrity with all staff members. Keeping a teacher’s information and observations private is extremely important to the culture of the school. Being a leader of a school also means decisions need to be made in the best interest of the students. I would like to learn more about the legal side of the principal duties. Many situations may arise with teachers that require legal action or which may require the principal to follow a certain set of laws and regulations.

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. During my Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings, I collaborate with my team to strategically plan how we will teach the curriculum, what students should know, and how we will assess them. Through these meetings I have facilitated training to implement new strategies in the classroom to help close the achievement gap between our general education and special education populations. I have learned the importance of collaborating with colleagues, not only in my content are, but outside of my content area to ensure we are meeting this needs of all students to enhance their learning. By meeting with my content area, we are ensuring our lessons, assessments, and resources are all aligned to the curriculum. Without these conversations, all students may not be receive an equal education. I would like to learn more about the principals involvement with curriculum at the district level. I feel it is important for the principal to stay in touch with what changes are being made with the curriculum and how to best support the teachers on campus.

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. Throughout my internship, I served as the instructional technology liaison. Part of my job description was to survey the staff about their instructional technology needs and provide trainings. After evaluating the teacher evaluations, I met with my principal and technology specialist to create a plan on which programs I would train the teachers on. Not only was it important to meet the needs of the teacher, we had to ensure those needs were conducive to student learning. I also had the opportunity to be involved in professional staff development throughout the past two school years. We pulled campus data to help guide us select which trainings would be most beneficial and which instructional programs would be most effective for our campus. I learned how important it is to explain to the teachers why a program is being implemented campus wide. Many times we encountered teachers who were not interested in the program because it did not involve their content area. When these situations arose, my principal would have private conversations with these teachers and explain to the why the program was necessary as well as show them the data which showed it is a beneficial program. I would like to learn more about the school organizational structure and staffing patterns.

Competency 006 - The principal knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system to improve performance of all staff members, select and implement appropriate models for supervision and staff development, and apply the legal requirements for personnel management. With my experience as instructional coach, I had the opportunity to observe my peers and provide feedback on their lessons and teaching practices. This experience walked me through the entire observation/evaluation cycle and allowed me to be an instructional leader. Through this process, I also had the opportunity to assist my peers in selecting professional development courses which would benefit them the most, based on the observations and feedback I had provided. I have learned the importance of being present in all classrooms on campus. By being present, a principal can provide teachers with frequent feedback and strategies on how to improve their teaching practices. Not only does this allow the principal to provide feedback, it allows them to see which teachers are shining and could potentially assist in a campus or district wide professional development. I would like to learn more about personnel management. While I have learned about how budget places a role in personnel management, I have not had the opportunity to learn much about this area of the competency.

Competency 007 - The principal know how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem solving skills to ensure an effective learning environment. As the science department head, I am responsible for organizing and managing instructional materials for all teachers on my team. Not only am I responsible for resources, I am also responsible for defining roles and delegating authority to my team members to ensure the department functions well and all necessities are taken care of. Through my involvement in test preparations, I was responsible for creating the small group assignments and ensuring all students were receiving their appropriate accommodations. I have learned the importance of having good communication and problem solving skills. Many times everyone looks towards the principal to help solve problems or come up with solutions. I have also learned it is extremely important, as a principal, to have a strong team by your side you can rely on and trust to take care of certain situations in the case you are not able to do so. I am interested in learning more about promoting and providing team building to ensure all teams are collaborating and making decisions which are beneficial to all students.

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. Over the past few years, especially as an administrative intern, I have had the opportunity to organize, or help organize several school wide events. These events gave me the opportunity to have experience with budget planning and management. As department head, I have also been in charge of handling the science department budget and allocating those resources appropriately. I have learned how important it is for an administrator to understand how the budget works and strategize how it will be used. The budget should always be used in an appropriate manner and resources need to be picked based on what will be most beneficial to all students on campus. I feel I need more experience with personnel hiring and campus budgeting. I have had experience with small budgets but not on a campus wide budget.

Competency 009 - The principal knows how to apply principles of leadership management to the campus physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment. For the past two years, I have served on the campus crisis management team. We are responsible for handling all major crisis on campus and conducting mock drills to ensure we are prepared for any situation. To improve our strategies, we send out a survey to staff and parents to receive feedback on how we can improve campus safety. I was also involved in the safe and civil committee on campus. We were responsible for discussing discipline and safety procedures on campus, as well as campus wide rules. I have learned the importance of being prepared and training the appropriate staff to handle all major crisis. It is also crucial to ensure these safety plans are being rehearsed and everyone is aware of their job. I would like to learn more about health and food services as well as transportation. Throughout the program, I have not had much experience in these areas.