Week 8: Admin and Organization

1) This course has given you an opportunity to practice a range of leadership strategies when making decisions that require you to think politically, orchestrate collaboration among all stakeholders, and remain steadfast in your original vision. What do you envision to be the pitfalls that you might face as a first year principal, and how will you implement the strategies learned to overcome the pitfalls?

I believe that being a first year principal there would be the possibility of many different types of pitfalls: Social, Political, Fiscal and Legal. Social: If a principal is new to a building and does not have a clue as to the climate and culture of their new buildings mistakes can easily be made. It is important to have a true understanding of your school before trying to make any large scale changes. You have to know your staff in order to establish buy in. Political: There are so many hidden political agendas in school districts. If you are not aware of who is truly on your side there is a good chance that you will trust the wrong people.You need to know who is on the side of your agenda and your school. Fiscal: There are so many loopholes when it comes to budgeting and very specific guidelines it would be easy to make the wrong choices with all of the best intentions if you are unaware of the historical budget items and issues. Legal: A principal is faced with so many daily decisions and if you are unaware of the legalities behind those decisions you can find yourself in a lot of hot water. In order to avoid these pitfalls it is imperative that you surround yourself with a team who you can trust, that has history with the district and can get your back if need be. It is especially important to remember that change takes time. You can not walk in as a new principal in a new building and expect everything and everyone to change to meet your agenda. You need to get to know your staff before making any major changes, you need to have buy in and a respected leadership team to help guide you through the rough waters.

2) How has this course prepared you to use twenty-first century leadership skills as you model a new culture for collaborating, analyzing student performance, and continually reflect on instructional practices, school climate, and quality decision making?

This course has taught me to reflect on every decision before making it. Rash decisions are soon regretted. I am ready to develop a leadership team and will have the expectation that they will communicate regularly using 21st century learning tools. We will look at the data and make decisions that are driven in part by the data. We will work as a team, not in isolation.

3) Educational leadership and coordination, are not the sole responsibility of school principals: They can and should be exercised at all levels of the school organization. What opportunities for collective leadership have you provided in your plan?

There are many opportunities for collective leadership within my Action Plan. The most prevalent one would be the Assessment Framework committee and the Curriculum committee. They will be involved in man levels of building leadership and decision-making.

Week 5: O and A Reflection

I chose to respond to this post in a video format because I think it's always nice to put a face with a name. Please excuse my voice, I have a terrible cold.

• How has the structure of this course (team discussion, individual assignment) helped you to better understand the concepts presented?
• How will the structure of this course better prepare you for your administrative roles?
• In what areas would you like additional content or support?
• What questions or comments do you have about either the content or the structure of this course?

Week 7: Assignment 5 (C&I)

Over the last few weeks we have analyzed multiple aspects of the Written, Taught and Tested Curriculums. As an educational leader, what do you see as the top 2-3 priorities with the W,T,T curriculums in terms of technology? What specific steps would need to be taken at your school or school district in order to enact these policies?

I chose to answer this with video again this week. I had a little bit of trouble when trying to record therefore I had to splice two recordings together please excuse the lack of expert editing.

C&I Reflection: Week 5

• As a school administrator and instructional leader, what instructional technology would you expect to see in the written, taught, and tested curriculum of a school or school district striving to meet the needs of 21st century learners?
  
• What instructional technology would you promote to differentiate instruction for all learners? Consider some of the Web 2.0 tools discussed in Week 3 and some of the tools/ applications suggested in the UDL discussion.
  

I chose to respond to these questions via video please excuse the horrible red hat, it's the only thing that keeps my family away when I am working : )

Week 2(C&I) Individual Reflection Blog

What are your philosophical beliefs about the purpose of school, about what subjects should be taught, and about how students learn? How does your work demonstrate your belief?

I believe that every child can learn no matter what their limitations or exceptionalities are. The purpose of school is to give a student the tools that they need to excel and survive in the post school world that they will live in. We should be preparing these children for the future. They are our future and if we send them out into the world unprepared then we are not doing our job. I feel that we can learn from history. Burello states "A differentiated approach is necessary to do what our democratic, moral purposes and our practical, social and economic goals require - that we educate all students to levels of excellence that sustain both their personal growth and our social fabric." I believe that the current school subjects are important, especially Reading and Math. Social Studies and Science are also very important. However I feel we do a disservice to our students when we focus so hard on the basic subjects that we ignore things like social emotional well being and survival skills. I believe that all students can benefit from survival and team building skills. I don't understand why that isn't just as important as the basic subjects. All the book learning in the world can not prepare our students for living in the real world. It gives them a great foundation and a place to start, but not an edge.

Our students learn in all different ways. I think that many students learn best by doing. Hands on experiences that reflect the real world. Everything in the curriculum should be tied to real world experiences and issues in my opinion. I was always the teacher that seized the teachable moment, if I was in a SEDOL (my district) classroom now, this would be frowned upon. I would not be able to use anything in my class that was not scientifically or research based. This includes websites and instructional technology software. I don't know when we moved to such extremes but I do not support it in my heart, but I forced to support it in my job position. I am an Instructional Technology Specialist, my job is to integrate technology into the curriculum, but even if I know an outstanding website to help with a skill, I can not share it with the teachers because it is "not approved" or supported by research. It is very frustrating and I have been questioning whether or not I am on the right seat in this bus. I keep hoping we will turn a corner and move away from these extremes but with all the unfunded mandates coming down from the government I know that this is only going to get worse. The scripted nature of our classes now makes me wonder if I even want to teach anymore. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was 5 years old and now I am not so sure. Does my work demonstrate my beliefs? I wish it could.