week 4 Reflections

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 one of the most powerful tools we have as educators.  We need to always reflect on what we have done and what we should do better.  I try to keep a folder for each activity or event that we do and after the activity or event I get our team together and we reflect on what worked and what needs to be improved for the next time.  This has been a great process for me because when the time comes around for the event all I have to do is take out the file and read the reflection notes so that we can improve the activity.  I have also found that as I have gotten older and more mature it is easier for me to listen to others rather than trying to always impress my view on others.  This has made things run so much more smoothly.  I feel that as an administrator I need to lead the team by constantly facilitating reflection and feedback and then implementing the changes as needed. 

Provide examples of reflective practices throughout this program citing examples from:

·         Course assignment activities

·         Blogs

·         Course and campus supervised logs

·         Assessments

·         Other intern reflection experiences

Course assignment activities- During this program most assignments have required us to use our reflective practices to review and think back on the experiences we have had as administrators.    We reflected on 10 competencies, our Vita, and our internship plan. 

                       

 Blogs- I enjoyed reading about other people’s experiences and learned from others.  I often felt worried though that what I wrote to complete the assignments was not confidential.  This concerned me because in order to complete the assignment I often had to write about events that had occurred.  My main concern is that someone not in our class could read my thoughts and opinions and that someone within the class could share it with others.  I hope that everyone in our class has the integrity required to be an effective administrator and wouldn’t do such things but it stills makes me feel uneasy.  I think we should sign something that guarantees that we keep other people’s information that is posted confidential.  I also wonder why we have to post the same thing in three different locations.  I would prefer a simpler method of just posting once and when the course is over we can post the completed information on TK20 as needed.

Course and campus supervised logs- The internship logs helped me to see the big picture in order to make sure that I had a variety of experiences and that I spent most of my time in the my areas of weakness.   

Assessments- The assessments that helped us prepare for the certification test were very helpful.  I didn’t feel that the other assessments were necessary.

Other intern reflection experiences- I was confused about the web conferences.  I never got the information about when and where these were occurring in the later courses.  I do remember participating in them earlier in the program.  The reflection activity I’m doing with Dr. Creel has been very helpful although it is difficult to find the time to get it done.     

   

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

I will continue to use reflective practices in my everyday life and in my career.  I will remember to put past activities on my meeting agendas so that we can discuss the prior activity and reflect to see where we need to improve the next time.  I am currently working on my doctorate in Educational Leadership and I have devised the following plan to keep me on track in order to complete my program in a timely manner. 

Sundays  - find articles - goal is 50 -these should be research based articles (peer reviewed)
Monday - print 1 article, read and highlight - note key words
Tuesday -  write - it is the findings that is important - put this as first paragraph and second paragraph is how I will use the information in my research or how it relates to the research
Wednesday - add information to paper or figure out how where it fits
Thursday - review format - APA, dissertation handbook, read as needed
Friday - homework
Saturday – homework

My dissertation topic is currently the correlation between school climate and job satisfaction.  I haven’t decided yet if I’m focusing on the campus level climate or the district climate.  As I research in this area I will constantly be reflecting on my own practice and the practice of our superintendent.