SISE Conference

    I have been meeting with site supervisor throughout the internship. So, our last meeting did not last too long. She has helped with completing activities and pointing me the right direction for whom to contact on certain activities. It was nice to have our one last conference to discuss my internship experiences. It really did feel like the culminating event of my internship experience. We discussed what areas I needed more experience in before I apply for superintendent or assistant superintendent positions and what I could to do to gain those experiences.  We also discussed other leadership roles I could move to in the next couple of years.

Three Year Professional Development Plan

Developing a three year Professional Development Plan is an important step in becoming a superintendent in the future. Developing a plan for how I am going to improve areas I need to gain knowledge in to become the most effective and knowledgeable superintendent and district employee I can become is especially important for my growth. I developed my plan by reviewing and examining a variety of assessments, especially the SBEC Superintendent Competencies Post Self-Assessment and Supervisor Internship Summative Evaluation. According the SBEC Superintendent Competencies Post Self- Assessment and my Supervisor Internship Summative Evaluation it was evident I needed to focus my professional development plan on Competency Areas 4, 5, 8 and 9.

Competency areas 4 and 5 are all areas that are need of improved knowledge and skills for me to become an effective superintendent. I put this competency as an area of needing knowledge and skills because at this time I have had little exposure to working with a board of trustees. I have attended several school board meetings this school year and I will continue to attend these meetings. By attending these meetings I have gained much more knowledge of the working relationship of the superintendent and the board. 

Competencies 8 and 9 are areas I consider fields of need. In both of these areas, I had the highest number of need to gain knowledge and skills to be a strong superintendent. Competency 8 is an area where I do not have a lot of experience. As an assistant principal and in my current position, I have only had a small exposure to leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management and technology application. As an assistant principal, I did aide my principal in hiring and doing the campus budget. However, I do not believe I have enough knowledge to apply procedures for effective budget planning and management or how to facilitate and evaluate effective account auditing and monitoring that complies with legal requirements and local district policy. I would like to gain more knowledge on the whole process on developing a budget.

Another area I need to gain more knowledge and skills is applying procedures for planning, funding, renovating and/or constructing school facilities to support the district’s mission and goals.  Also, I would like to learn how to apply procedures for ensuring the effective operation and maintenance of district facilities. It is extremely important for students and staff to be safe to ensure effective learning environment for all. Lastly, in Competency Area 9 I would like to learn how to implement an evaluation process for appropriate procedures to ensure efficient, effective district transportation, food and health services. This competency is extremely important. Students cannot learn if the facilities are not safe, transportation is not running efficiently or not receiving proper nutrition. The superintendent needs to provide a safe and effective learning environment for all.

By completing my professional development plan it will allow me improve my knowledge and skills in areas I do not consider myself competent yet. From analyzing the data, I needed to focus my professional plan on competencies 4, 5, 8 and 9. Area 9 is where I wanted to especially focus my plan. I believe by completing my three year professional development plan it will allow for me to become the most effective and knowledgeable superintendent and district employee I can become.

Year One

Goal Increase the use of technology	TExES Competency and Domain Competency 5 Domain 2	Objective (What do you want to improve?) Improve my integration of technology into my current position and to learn of technology to improve student learning.	Course Work/Book/ Workshops (How do you want to improve?) Workshops on technology applications such as Google Docs, IPads and apps for student learning. -Seeking Education Blogs on the use of technology in schools	Mentor Professional Support (Who will help you improve?) -Director of Technology Learning. -Lead of Assistive Technology	Date of Completion May, 2013	Evaluations (How will you know you have improved?) -Certification of Attendance - Being able to suggest use of technology for special education students -Joining Education Blogs - Developing a Google Docs site for my team.
Goal Increase my knowledge of the health service program in schools	TExES Competency and Domain Competency 9 Domain 3	Objective (What do you want to improve?) Improve my understanding of how to implement and evaluate appropriate procedures to ensure an efficient, effective district health services.	Course Work/Book/ Workshops (How do you want to improve?) -Texas Education Code -Texas Administrative Code -Workshops on health services	Mentor Professional Support (Who will help you improve?) -Lead Nurse	Date of Completion May, 2013	Evaluations (How will you know you have improved?) Self Report Certification of Attendance Completed report (binder) of codes related to school health

Year Two

Goal Increase my knowledge in the area of school facilities and school bonds.	TExES Competency and Domain Competency 9 Domain 3	Objective (What do you want to improve?) Be able to apply procedures for planning, funding, renovating and/or constructing school facilities to support the district’s mission and goals.	Course Work/Book/ Workshops (How do you want to improve?) Texas Education Code Texas Administrative Code Bond Workshops Community Input Sessions	Mentor Professional Support (Who will help you improve?) Facilities Manager Deputy Superintendent of Business & Support Services	Date of Completion May, 2014	Evaluations (How will you know you have improved?) Self-Report and Reflection Certification of Attendance Reference Binder of Codes that relate to bonds.
Goal Increase my knowledge in the area of the school food service programs.	TExES Competency and Domain Competency 9 Domain 3	Objective (What do you want to improve?) Increase my knowledge in the area of regulations and codes to be able to implement and evaluate appropriate procedures to ensure effective and efficient food service program	Course Work/Book/ Workshops (How do you want to improve?) Texas Education Code Texas Administrative Code Child Nutrition Workshops Observation of food service and director of child nutrition.	Mentor Professional Support (Who will help you improve?) Director of Child Nutrition	Date of Completion January, 2014	Evaluations (How will you know you have improved?) Self-Reflection and Report Certification of Attendance of workshops

Year Three

Goal Increase my knowledge of building and maintaining board relations.	TExES Competency and Domain Competency 4 Domain 1	Objective (What do you want to improve?) Improve my skills with communicating and working effectively with board members in a variety of contexts, including problem solving and decision making.	Course Work/Book/ Workshops (How do you want to improve?) -Continue to attend monthly school board meetings -Attend the TASA/TASB Annual Convention -Attend Board workshops in my district	Mentor Professional Support (Who will help you improve?) Superintendent of Schools	Date of Completion September, 2015	Evaluations (How will you know you have improved?) -Self-Report -Certifications of attendance -Reflection after activities
Goal Increase my knowledge in the area of developing a district budget.	TExES Competency and Domain Competency 8 Domain 3	Objective (What do you want to improve?) Be able to apply procedures for effective budget planning and management and work with board to develop district budget.	Course Work/Book/ Workshops (How do you want to improve?) Garner, C. William (2003). Education finance for school leaders: Strategic planning and administration. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Texas Association of School Boards, ( 2010). A Guide to Texas School Finance. Austin, Texas. Local Board Workshop on Budget	Mentor Professional Support (Who will help you improve?) Deputy Superintendent of Business & Support Services Director of Financial Services	Date of Completion May, 2015	Evaluations (How will you know you have improved?) Completion of Report (binder) of codes related to school budgets Attendance of board workshops Self-reflection of books read

 

Reflective Practices

Without reflection you cannot grow as an individual or as professional. Reflection allows us learn from our experiences. This is an extremely important skill in leadership. As a leader every situation will be different because there are different conditions, but we can still apply things from other situations to new situations. That is the skill of reflection. It allows us as leaders to step back and look at a problem more globally and understand the different parts of the problem before and after a decision is made. It allows for adjustments in our leadership and decision making skills. The greatest gain from reflection is learning from our mistakes and prior actions. For me personally, reflection has allowed me as leader to grow, especially in the area of recognizing the perspective of others and how my decisions impact others.

Throughout the superintendent program I have had many opportunities to reflect and use reflection to grow as a leader. I was able to reflect throughout the program through course assignment activities, blogs, course and campus supervised logs, assessments and other intern reflection experiences. I truly believe without reflection a person cannot grow personally or professional. So, I always take some time each day to reflect on decisions or discussions I have had throughout my day.

With the use of the course assignment activities I was able to use reflection to grow as a leader. Being able to read comments from my other cohort classmates allowed me to recognize the perspective of others, which to me is an important part of reflection. Even though each of us in the class did the same assignment each of us walked about with different experiences and knowledge. By reflecting on my own assignment and then reading others in my class allowed for me to gain even more knowledge in that skill set.

I also had the opportunity to reflect though the use of our blogs. Prior to this class, I had heard of blogs, but never used a blog. The use of a blog has become a very helpful tool in allowing for reflection. It gives us an outlet to share our ideas and experiences. We are able to communicate with our classmates in an informal setting, which allows for more open communication. By being able to share ideas with each other it allowed me to grow as a leader.

The course and supervised logs was probably the area where I reflected the most. After each internship activity I took some time to write a reflection on each activity. I would reflect on the actual activity, what I learned and how I could use this experience in the future. I also would reflect on how I could apply these skills to my current position.

After each assessment during my coursework I would take some time after the test to review the items I missed. I would then research each test item I missed so, that I could learn from my mistakes and apply it to future. This is a skill of reflection. Part of reflection is to learn from our mistakes and prior actions and apply it to future decisions. The assessment in our coursework allowed me to do this.

There were numerous other times I reflected during my coursework. To be honest there were times I just reflected on why I was doing this coursework and why I wanted this certification. I truly needed to understand why I wanted to be a superintendent to move forward on my coursework, blogs and internship activities. With a better understanding of why I wanted to be a leader the more knowledge I was able to gain in this program.  

I will continue to use reflective practices to improve my leadership skills by stepping back and taking a few moments to reflect on the possible outcomes of a decision before a making a decision. Also, after a decision has been made take some time to reflect on that decision and is there something I could have done differently in that situation. Also, I believe in reflecting in conversations with people, especially ones you are leading. Did I listen to everything they said? Did I take into account their emotions, suggestions, etc? I truly believe reflection is one of the most important skills to have as a leader and will continue to use that skill set to grow as a leader.