Final Reflections of EDLD 5396

Course 5396 Final Reflection
Rebecca Melton
As I reflect upon this course, I realize that I have gained a wealth of information in a relatively short amount of time. It has been a rigorous five weeks. And although I was overwhelmed, frustrated and tired at times, I am grateful for all the lessons and skills I have learned. We addressed self-assessment, insight from our site supervisor, skills associated with writing a professional intern plan and a vita, and networking using technology. The lessons learned did not always come from just one activity. Lessons flowed through fluid lines creating a transfer of knowledge to help commit those lessons to memory.
In the beginning of the course, we were asked to critique our skills using a couple of different assessments. It has been a long time since I have implemented such a specific self-assessment. When I examined the SBEC Superintendent competencies and their quality indicators and studied the results of my Superintendent TExES pre-test, I learned that there are considerable aspects to being a good, well-equipped superintendent. There were several areas in which I found that I needed improvement. I especially wanted to make sure that I had correctly identified those weak areas but also wanted to determine my areas of strength. I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome of my TExES pre-test. I did well which gives me confidence in my leadership and decision making skills. There were also many areas in which I felt competent, but have ample room for improvement. I learned that being a good leader is a process in which one takes the strengths of his or her skills/character/personality and expands upon them. The process also includes identification of competencies and skills (as well as interpersonal skills) that are in a refinement stage and continues to cultivate those during the course of a lifetime. Self-assessment is a valuable tool that must be visited and revisited, especially in our professional lives in order to provide clarity and direction.
My site supervisor also provided me with new knowledge and understanding of the Superintendency. We met formally on two occasions, the initial interview and then again when we discussed my internship plan. From these meetings, I learned that a Superintendent has to be able to communicate well, is knowledgeable about current educational trends and has to have a vision for the future of the school under his charge. Vision is something we discussed during both meetings. He taught me that in order to get somewhere, you must know where you are going. Although this is almost a cliché in our society, I really understood its importance as we discussed shared vision in the school climate. I learned that getting all stakeholders on board with a common vision is unlikely. The important thing is that the vision is a vision of excellence and that it is flexible enough to stand up to changing times. When that is the case, the majority of interested parties will share the vision.
I think the greatest lesson I learned from these meetings and from having the privilege to observe many of the day to day activities of my superintendent is that a leader must maintain his or her ethics at all times. Knowing what you believe in is important. Keeping true to those beliefs, no matter what situation arises, is imperative. He shared that on occasion, a school leader will make news headlines for poor judgment or for an indiscrepency. He added that while everyone is going to make mistakes and even at times make poor judgment calls, it is not ok for a school leader to make the 5 o’clock news because he or she has poor ethics or morals.
My site supervisor also taught me that the Superintendency is also a service oriented position. The leader of the school must be willing to serve all students fairly and must be an advocate for them, which may mean championing their cause. Parents and families are another critical portion of the equation. The communities’ core value system is of essential consideration as well as families’ needs. Serving the community, which includes families, is not always glamorous. My supervisor related several incidents that required his service that while rewarding, were not always pleasant.
Two of the major assignments for this course included writing an internship plan and writing a professional vita. Through the writing of the internship plan, I used areas of weakness that I identified in the self-assessments to begin my plan. Choosing the activities from thirty-eight leadership areas taught me that there is an overabundance of undertakings by which I could learn. I was inclined to choose areas that I had adequate prior experience to accomplish, but was aware that it is necessary for my professional growth to choose some activities that will require me to step out of my comfort zone to achieve. Writing the intern plan also caused me to reflect upon the needs of my school and my students. I not only referred to my self-assessments, but to other documents including my District AEIS document and district and campus improvement plans. As the principal, I take pride in achievements and positive changes our school has enjoyed in the past and look forward to leading new activities that will lead to further accomplishments. It is my desire to see increased learning, overall school improvement and development of stronger leadership skills by me. The act of writing the internship plan helps me organize my thoughts and taught me the importance of recording my goals and examining resources that I will access to achieve them.
Writing a professional vita was a new experience for me. I have written resumes; however I soon realized a vita was a different document. Not only did I learn what a vita is and how to compose a vita, I learned that they are used much like a portfolio to highlight education, experiences and accomplishments. Both the internship plan and the vita are living documents that will be changed and/or added to as I progress through my certification program. I will continue adding to my vita even though the certification program and internship plan will come to an end.
I also learned a lot about technology while completing this course. While this was challenging, it was also gratifying to accomplish the task of building a blog and a wiki, learning to maneuver through Epic and TK20 and even to navigate through five weeks of web conferences. As I reflect upon this part of the course, I am excited about the opportunities that these new skills open up. The possibilities of using blogs and wikis are literally endless for educational purposes! I am already planning to host a blog for my faculty and staff. I want to initiate better communication of school happenings, but more importantly, to teach my staff to reflect upon their learning and teaching in a community of educators. I will also have a wiki that they can join that we will use to plan events, share information and maintain resources that may be accessed.
I enjoyed the interaction among the members of cohort 3 throughout these past weeks. Message boards were very helpful as we shared insight, information, frustrations, and critiqued each other’s’ work. Personalities have begun to emerge and we are beginning to feel comfortable asking for advice and assistance from the cohort. Meeting weekly on the web-conferences taught me not only the technical skills I used to access the meeting, but the importance of learning about and from my peers. Our combined experiences are a strength of our cohort. I learned that patience and perseverance were also lessons revisited in order for us to muddle through the use of some of our new technology skills. It is my belief and desire that all the lessons learned throughout this first course will be building blocks for those learned in the courses that remain in my certification program. I look forward to new experiences, new ideas and new challenges!