Final Blog: Mock Interview and Reflection

This has been an amazing learning process.  Throughout the course of this program I have had the privilege of meeting many wonderful people who were enduring the admin. credential program with me.  It has been a joy to meet, work with, and build relationships with those in the Sanger Cohort, and with those whom I have just met.   I also feel very blessed to have gotten to know Dr. Wise and and Dr. Buster through the classes.  I think it was great to have had them for more than one class, as it has given us the opportunity to build relationships.

I also really appreciated the mock interviews that we participated in today.  This was a great opportunity for us to 'practice' interviewing because it allowed us to experience what an actual interview would be like, get tips and suggestions from professionals, and then to reflect on the entire process.

I am very excited to be done with my classes and to see where my new leadership skills take me in the future.  I hope that I have an opportunity to work with you all again soon.  Thank you Dr. Buster and Dr. Wise for all of the guidance, encouragement,  and support you have given me throughout this program.

Capstone and growth reflection

The growth reflection activity was great to do.  I really enjoyed sitting down with my administrator and reflecting on where I thought I needed growth.  I found it very beneficial to hear her thoughts on what I could do to work on my growth plan and to hear her ideas.

The capstone paper was also a great experience as it gave me another chance to reflect on my school site, analyze some of the data, and think about where improvements could be made. 

The analyzing and reflection pieces have become an essential part of our classes, and have helped me to realize how much we can do when we take the time to really see where our sites have deficits.  This will be extremely important for me to continue as an administrator as it will not only help me to make changes in the school, but it will also help guide the staff.

Budget Reflection

Analyzing the budget at our school site was a very interesting process.  To be honest, I was quite surprised to see where some of the money that our site has comes from and how it is used.  I was shocked to see the amounts of money we put towards certain content areas, activities, and incentives.  I really wanted to know who decided how the allocations would be divided between the different areas and how they were divided.

It was also interesting to see what areas of the budget have not been touched yet this year and which ones are already depleted.

I really wish we had been able to look at this a little more in-depth as I felt that this was a only a little 'peek' into the entire budget.

Face To Face Reflection

This weekend's classes were full of information that is very important to us as we are entering into administrative positions.  On Friday night both sections, HR and leadership, provided very interesting information.  It was nice to have a chance to hear the HR perspective, get ideas on hiring, and to get overall general information.  It was also wonderful to get to ask questions of the speakers who were there.  As always, the speakers did a wonderful job providing insight into their worlds. 

The leadership segment was a wonderful experience.  The listening activity, although difficult at first, was very insightful.  It showed us how truly important it is for us really listen to others and get the whole story before jumping in.  It also liked the fact that it was an activity that could be used with students or adults and modified to meet your needs.  Another facet to the leadership activity that I thought was important was all of the facts they gave about the importance of activities in schools. I think that administrators are so busy worrying about the budget and what needs to be cut that sometimes they lose sight of what is important outside of the CST's.

Putting it all together

This text has allowed us to take a close look at 6 leadership connectors: communication, support, safety, competence, continuous renewal, and trust.  It showed us different aspects for each connector and allowed us to see the importance as each one as an individual unit and more importantly, the significance for the need of all six connectors to be intertwined together to help us be more effective leaders.

Although all of the connectors are important for us as educators and leaders, I found that they are also important for us outside of work as well.  Learning to focus on some of these aspects and balancing our lives can make a difference in who we are at work and in our personal lives.

Reflection 7

Leadership Connector, Trust

"Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great" Ralph Waldo Emerson

Trust is an important foundation for any relationship.  It is something that we need to build with family, friends, and peers; and it is definitely something we need to develop as leaders.

We have discussed trust in many ways throughout this program.  Reading The Speed of Trust in a previous class gave us insight into the different facets of trust.  We also heard an important message about trust from various Sanger leaders who came to our classes. Most of them emphasized how crucial it was to trust your staff and your peers.

In this chapter, I really enjoyed the section about building a caring environment. There was a great list of ways to build that caring environment that will also help to build trust.  The ideas are simple things that we can easily implement in our daily routine, but that can make a huge impact.

Reflection 6

Leadership Connector, Continuous Renewal
 
Finding balance is extremely important for us, especially as we are entering into our new positions. We have heard many times, from many leaders in our district, the importance of caring for ourselves and staying healthy.  Our superintendent has also expressed the importance of prioritizing our lives and putting things in check: God, family, then work. 

As I was reading, I was thinking about my life currently and to be honest I feel like I am robbing my kids and myself.  I go to work, I stay late, I bring work home...when do I spend time with my kids or with my husband?  It has become very clear to me that I need to make some changes and prioritize things, but that is easier said than done. 

Reflection 5

Leadership Connector, Competence

"A leader must recognize that he will never know everything he needs to know" is an important statement for us to realize as we are going into leadership roles.  Often times we look up to those who are 'leading' and think they are perfect and know everything there is to know about the area they lead; however it is important for us to know that this is a continual learning process.  As we begin these roles we need to embrace this knowledge and learn competent ways to respond when we simply don't have an answer.  We can do this by working with other administrators and continuing to build our own capacity.

The list of skills that the text offers is also a very beneficial reflective tool that we can use to help guide us a new leaders.  It touches on many ideas that we have already incorporated into our day to day as teachers, but we can expand on them even more an administrative role.

Reflection 4

Leadership Connector, Safety

"Schools must become communities where caring, vigilant people create a culture where everyone belongs..."

This chapter discussed many different aspects of safety that are very important for us to think about as new administrators. However I found the section that discussed bullying to be very significant.  We think about kids being bullied all the time. We work diligently (at my campus) to stop bullying amongst the students by implementing 'no bully zones', having kids sign contracts, etc. but I've never really thought about the adults on campus that may bully a peer. I realize now that this is something that I will have to watch for and become more vigilant about, so that I can ensure safety for my entire staff.

Reflection 3

Leadership Connector, Support

"When leaders provide support, they are saying, "You are important to me; you are important to our school. You are needed, wanted, and valued"

Support is a critical aspect to leadership that comes in different forms: financial, material, emotional, etc.  As leaders, we need to realize the importance of supporting our staff to ensure that we are constantly building them up and supporting them.  This can be done in many ways and through many venues. It is  crucial for us to realize that support needs to be differentiated for staff members in order to meet their individual needs.

Being visible was one aspect of the chapter that stuck out to me the most.  This is something that we have heard echoed from SUSD leaders, leaders at my school site, and now in this book.  The visibility is important for students and parents because it shows that the leader is active in the school and with the students.  The leader should be out greeting kids and parents in the morning and showing support for them.  The leader should also be around to classrooms, visiting teachers during prep times, coaching, working with teachers, etc. to help build capacity and support for teachers. 

Reflection 2

Leadership Connectors: Communication

Previously, when discussing communication in classes, we seemed to focus on ‘courageous conversations’ and how they are inevitable.  We also discussed different ways to go about them and even practiced them on classmates.  We have also touched on other forms of communication, but not as in depth as we could have.

In contrast, Hensley and Burmeister discuss the importance of different forms (oral, written, and nonverbal) of communication in a little more depth than we have before.  They also discuss how it can affect us both positively and negatively and give examples of both.  I appreciated that they pointed out that communication is a key connector that, when in place, gives other connectors a chance to flourish (2).

Even though all areas of communication are important, the area that really stuck out for me was written communication.  In the past I have worked with administrators who have been great verbal communicators, but are simply appalling when it comes to written communication. In fact, I was astounded when reading one principal’s message for the monthly newsletter and seeing all of the grammatical and spelling errors.  It was also frightening when I was given a letter of recommendation from a principal that contained spelling errors (Can you still use it?  Do you tell them about the errors?).  

With that being said, I plan to make it a focus of mine to be as articulate as possible in both verbal and written communication.  I will use the ideas from the text of having someone edit my writing before submitting to teachers, parents, etc.  My written communication really is just as important as my verbal communication because it represents me— as a leader and a person.

Reflection 1

I found the first class session to be very beneficial.  I appreciate that we were able to spend some time getting to new our new cohort members and getting to know our new small group that we will be blogging with.  I am very excited about the fact that we are working with other districts.  This will give us a new perspective of what is happening in districts around us and hopefully will instill new ideas and foundations in us that we can employ as we enter into our leadership roles.

Now onto motivation:

Pink’s video on motivation showed that autonomy, mastery, and purpose are three of the leading ways to enhance motivation.  It also discussed how monetary rewards do not guarantee harder or more efficient workers.

Personal Quick note on motivation:

I plan to employ many different techniques in order to motivate my teachers and peers.  One technique that should be successful is using the tight-loose theory and allowing teachers to be self-directed on some of the ‘loose’ items.  If teachers are allowed the freedom to use their own techniques in these areas we will see a flourish of outstanding ideas, that we would not have seen if I was tight about everything.

My Life

My life consists of being a mother to two beautiful girls and a new born son, and a wife to my husband of just over a year.  I am loving life and have devoted myself to my family and to God.  I have been involved in many different hobbies, ranging from scrapbooking to snowboarding. I love to travel and would like to take my family to Italy.

This is my fifth year as a Language arts teacher, currently for seventh grade.  I got my Master's in Education five years ago, and now I am working towards my Administrative Credential.  I will be done this year and my goal is to further my work experience and become an administrator by next year.