Competency Reflections

1. Competency Reflections Internship Leah Trahan

2. Competency 001The principal knows how to shape the campus culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the community. This year I am the kindergarten representative for CIP/CPOC. Our meetings are held once a month to discuss campus expectations and strategies. Attending these meetings are administration, staff, district personal, and parents. Our first committee meeting held included a review and editing session on district data concerning our campus. It was reported errors were prevalent with district data. Once district data was edited, a campus wide meeting was held to report data to staff. Included in the CIP/CPOC meetings were reports on Title 1 funding. It was discussed our campus had more Title 1 funding which could be allocated toward material resources for students. Also included in these meetings were data results from our campus parent survey. Results from the data survey indicated 75% of our parents wanted more inclusion with discipline. We were instructed as a committee, via e-mail, to ‘bring innovative thinking” as to ways for parents to become more inclusive with discipline. Other discussions held during our meetings were allocations of library materials, technology distribution, and planning for the safety and welfare for all staff members and students if an intruder were on campus. Shaping the campus culture is vital to the success of a school. I believe it is imperative the Principal is supportive, inclusive, informed, goal oriented, and professional.

3. Competency 002The principal knows how to communicate and collaborate with all members of the school community, respond to diverse interests and needs, and mobilize resources to promote student success. On November 27, 2012, I had the privilege of collaborating with another campus facilitator to coordinate a presentation for the second grade and third grade Winter Festival Curriculum Night. Collaboration began with assessing student data collected from second grade and third grade teachers to determine immediate academic needs. It was determined the immediate academic need at the present time was the grammatical use of commas. It was also determined the immediate need for grammatical use of commas differed for both grade levels. The next step in preparations was to align the presentation with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Once alignment was achieved, we then took measures for an effective presentation for parents. We determine the presentation would only be effective if presented in a time frame of 3 minutes. This would meet the expectations for five hundred people on a continual basis. We further collaborated on a simplistic power point and a reward for those parents who spent time listening to our presentation. I believe as a Principal it is important to think of innovative ways to involve a community for all people at stake. At these times risk taking is imperative and having a sense of what the community interests may involve can be utilized for proactive measures. In this case, a festival type of atmosphere for families with extrinsic motivators, such as rewards, worked to get parents interested in the curriculum.

4. Competency 003The principal knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical and legal manner. In February 2013, I had the privy of working with one of my colleagues to ensure fair and legal procedures were adhered for bus dismissal. As a new teacher on campus, legal procedures may be daunting or overwhelming. After hearing assistance was needed by one of our kindergarten teachers, our kindergarten team leader asked me to assist with dismissal. When arriving to assist I noticed my colleague was distraught, her students were confused and other grade level teachers were patiently waiting for her to load her class onto the buses. To my colleagues dismay, she was uncertain of which students were loaded previously with her partner teacher. I was able to assist her by providing bus numbers previously called, lining up her students, and modeling how to load students on the bus. We further discussed future procedures for preparing for dismissal. For example, what time to begin preparation for dismissal, lining up students according to bus numbers, and taking preventive measures for students missing bus calls. Although bus procedures may seem trivial, the bus system for our district has guidelines it must maintain. I was further informed legal actions were taken against one of our assistant principals by a parent due to a child missing a bus.

5. Competency 004The 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. As a returning teacher to the kindergarten curricula I was determined to implement a curriculum different from my previous kindergarten years of experience. This determination was fueled by my experience as a second grade language arts teacher. During my years as a second grade teacher I had learned of a grade level reading deficit prevalent within my classroom. My students were not achieving reading level gains as needed. Much time was allocated for word work in my second grade classroom that was designated for comprehension lessons. To minimize this gap forreaching higher reading levels at earlier grade levels, mygoal set for my kindergarten students to reach end of the year reading levels by the end of the first semester. This was achieved at 90% by implementing phonemic awareness strategies and word work activities throughout reading and writing lessons every day. It was also achieved by targeting lessons in the curriculum pacing guide which would serve as an immediate reading need such as reading strategies. What I learned about this competency is that a principal must be extremely intuitive of the curriculum implemented on campus. If all stakeholders invest time to implement immediate campus needs and take an initiative to research sound based resources which best meets the academic needs for all students ,then academic gains can be met by everyone.

6. Competency 005The 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. In this 2012-2013 school calendar year our campus has implemented the John Samara’s Model Classroom Project as directed by the district. This particular professional development program’s objective is to align grade levels amongst the campus with high order thinking strategies conducive to student learning. One of the three projects I considered for my internship was to align the John Samara Model Classroom Project with Eric Shepherd’s Bloom’s Taxonomy. Prompted questions using Eric Shepherd’s Bloom’s Taxonomy were analyzed and then categorized under the appropriate hierchary of thinking levels for the Model Classroom Project. These questions were given to my mentor for campus use for teachers. Although several hours of professional development for staff has occurred on my campus for the John Samara Model Classroom Project, not all teachers have complete “buy in” for this program. Although the Model Classroom Project objectives and hierarchy of learning are posted daily in the classroom setting, most teachers I know on campus do not practice the opening and closing lesson. One suggestion I could give administration is to provide data of successful campuses using this program, as well as, provide data showing growth from classrooms using this program throughout the year. This would lend to a supportive climate on campus and validation for the success of the program.

7. Competency 006The principal knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system to improve the performance of all staff members, select and implement appropriate models for supervision and staff development, and apply the legal requirements for personal management. On August 29, September 5, and September 19 I made the initiative to meet with campus reading specialists in regards to district expectations for reading and language arts for the kindergarten grade level. During these meetings discussions were directed to the new curricular expectations across kindergarten through second grade. A consensus was made that the primary focus of phonemic awareness and reading strategies should prevail in kindergarten. I then made the initiative to further investigate credible researched based studies regarding effective practices for reading growth. As a result of these initiatives, my students have progressed to reading levels equivalent to middle of the year first graders. I believe a Principal must consider all staff members as lifelong learners. Professional development is an ongoing process and no teacher should be comfortable at a certain knowledge level for their grade. Staff members should be encouraged, supported, and understand their immediate work is part of growing an entire campus. I also believe data collected from teachers should be considered when summative evaluations occur. This would allow for alignment between formative and summative evaluations. For example, if a teacher is considered an exceeding teacher in her formative evaluations, then summative evaluations including growth data would confirm exceeding expectations.

8. Competency 007The principal knows how to apply organizational, decision making, and problem-solving skill to ensure an effective learning environment. As a kindergarten teacher I have had the privilege of utilizing the expertise of people resources as support to ensure an effective learning environment in my classroom. At the beginning of this calendar school year I was able to initially meet with two paraprofessionals to implement a goal set for instruction. After assessing and gathering data on my student’s beginning of the year academic standing, I was then able to address interventions to close any educational gaps needed between my students. As my data on my students fluctuated, I continually met with these paraprofessionals to further address student interventions. With this competency I have learned it is vital to use appropriate management techniques, have definitive roles for personal, and to maintain effective use of gathering and analyzing data. Distinguishing appropriate teaching methods for interventions and aligning with data, developing a system of weekly time management, and further assessing student progress allowed for my students to achieve a first grade academic standing in all areas of content. On a larger scale, applying such techniques to ensure an effective learning environment for all in a school community is a more daunting task. People resource is designated by Title money granted by the state and federal government, therefore management of such a resource would be something I would need to further explore. .

9. Competency 008The principal knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management to relation to campus budgeting, personal, resources utilization, financial management, and technology use. District policy requires all student in the kindergarten through second grade level must be monitored for reading and language arts through the use of the I-station program. The I-station program levels students into three different tiers. Tier 1 is the advanced students and Tier 3 is the at risk level students. Tier 3 leveled students must engage in the I-station program every day. Our campus no longer has a separate technology class available for these at risk student, therefore other measures to achieve every day engagement must be provided. In the past, on campus every grade level was provided with a computer cart containing 15 laptops, except for kindergarten. This year with the exclusion of a campus technology lab, more laptops have become available. This has lead to the availability of laptops for kindergarten. I have taken the initiative to ask for these laptops and additionally ask for “mice” for these laptops. Upon request our campus Principal has budgeted for the kindergarten “mice,” and has asked district to provided any if available. Strategies must always be implemented to make the best use of technology resources available for student growth. Effective budgeting, planning, and staying informed of the availability of technology around the district and campus is just one way to provide much needed resources at low cost.

10. Competency 009The principal knows how to apply principles to leadership and management physical plant and support systems to ensure and effective learning environment. In January of 2012, it was discussed in a previous campus CIP/CPOC meeting campus security measures for students and staff members. As the kindergarten team representative for CIP/CPOC it has been my responsibility to inform the kindergarten teachers of campus expectations and facilitate proactive measures for security of all kindergarten students and staff. It was agreed by all kindergarten teachers best measures for security in the case of an intruder breech would be to designated specific hiding areas around campus. It was also agreed, depending on area of intrusion, an evacuation of kindergarten students from the building would be possible. Furthermore, the kindergarten team agree to adopt the district policy of “Run, Scatter, and Hide,” when an opportunity would prevail. One of the most important factors of school leadership is the security of the campus. With recent threats on school campuses nationwide, we can no longer consider schools as the safest facility for children. It has also occurred to me in the recent months most Principals are at a lost as to what are the best measures to take to provide safety. I believe more training is needed for Principals. This can be achieved by law enforcement visiting individual schools and collaborating with the Principal for proactive measures.