EDLD 5399: Week 4 Part !

Part D : Reflection On Reflective Leadership

Reflection is a vital for improvement.  As I look back at my internship, there are some areas I feel that I need additional support.  I am still very overwhelmed by the budgetary aspects of a district.  I am only a second year assistant principal, so I am just becoming familiar with how the budget works on a campus.  The district level is still somewhat foreign to me.  Even though I worked closely with my site supervisor and district supervisor, it will still take some time to grasp the financial workings of a district.  While going through my evaluation with my site supervisor, he encouraged me to work with others in central office to get a better grasp of what needs to be done in this district.  My duties next year will have some campuses budgetary assignments.  This will greatly benefit me over the course of my career.   He also explained how I need to work with other administrators in the district to develop policies that affect schools.  Mr. Hull explained that this would allow me to collaborate with others to address issues that all campuses face. Just discussing my internship with my site supervisor was very beneficial to me.

Reflection should be an ongoing process, in order to evaluate and self-correct.  I find that reflecting on past activities allow me to be much more proactive.  One policy our principal has implemented is immediate reflection.  At the end of every planned event or crisis, we immediately reflect as an administrative team.  The suggestions are made and placed in a binder.  The person responsible for that activity is responsible for making changes within a week to that particular protocol.  This has be really helpful when it comes to Prom, Homecoming, traffic accidents, and etc..  Our team rarely makes the same mistakes over and over.  It is also helpful for the next person who takes on that task.  Initially, I found this process intimidating, but now I believe it is essential to good leadership practices.

The courses during the program have been highly thought provoking.  Each course provided an opportunity to self-assess learning after each course.  I really enjoyed the blogging aspect of the courses.  It allows you to share your thoughts with the world, and it opens up a channel to engage in professional dialogue with other educational leaders.  The wiki page that I created allowed me to get a good grasp on some technology aspects that I was previously lacking in.  The readings and activities were extremely rigorous at times.  EDLD 5342 was the most rigorous online course I have ever taken.  It forced me to work collaboratively with other people in a distance situation.  I definitely learned a lot from this experience, especially patience.  The assessments really paid off at the end, because they really helped during the LCE.

Reflective practice has become a part of my life already.  I currently serve as the lead person for crisis events on our campus.  I am responsible for creating plans to manage crisis issues in an efficient safe way.  I am constantly required to update plans, in order for to effectively do my job.  I have to adjust to issues in the news.  For example, the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, has forced me to revise how I currently lock down our building.  This type of reflection will allow me to be completely prepared in case an emergency situation does arise.