Internship Final Reflection

The journey that this internship has put me on has been a fantastic

ride! I have been able to accomplish a lot of things for my current school as

well learn a ton of information that will help me become an outstanding

school leader. In addition to the information learned, I have also met some

valuable people that will serve as lifelong mentors to me and for that I am

truly grateful.

I spent a lot of time in standard 1. I believe this is just though because

a principles time should be heavily spent in instructional leadership as well. I

spent several hours observing teachers in the classroom. During these times

I seen many different styles of teaching. What I learned by these

observations is that although good teaching is hard to define, it is not hard to

see and instructional leaders know good teaching when we see it. I also did

my mini project in this category as well. I spent a few months looking at

every aspect of All in Learning, a clicker system designed for teachers to

make data based decisions as well as increase student engagement. In my

findings, I agree that All in Learning is a great tool for increasing student

engagement and student achievement. I also spent several days as an acting

principal during my internship. These hours allowed me to get a very good

look at what I am to expect as an administrator. I realized that children are

the main focus of being a school leader but they are nowhere near the

biggest issue facing administration. Adults often make a school leaders job

more difficult. I realize that getting buy in from staff is important so that I can
be an instruction first leader and make appropriate decisions that are in the

best interest of the students.

In standard 2, I was able to shadow Gaynel Jackson of Dallas ISDs

human capital management department. She showed me a lot about

certifications and how to do my homework in order to speed the process of

hiring teachers up. She also showed me what things would come back as red

flags on a background check, another tool I will be able use in prescreening

candidates before recommending them for hire. I was also able to interview

for administrative positions during my internship and gain valuable

experience on the steps of the hiring process. I also shadowed my mentor

principal as she interviewed several candidates as well as assisted in the

creation of the question pool my current school is using to interview

teachers.

In standard 3, I was able to attend a school board meeting that allowed

me to see some aspects of the central office operations and how these top

decision effect to lower tiers of a school district. I was also able to sit in on

some feeder pattern meeting with the executive director to see how his

expectations are moved from his office to the principal and out to the

teachers. I also sat in an observed a few teacher conferences dealing with

aspects that relate to the central office. In addition to those things, serving in

an assistant principal role also allowed me to experience some executive

leadership as well. I had to carry out several orders from the executive

directors office as well as make executive decisions for the campus. I

realized that the principal has people they have to respond to as well and

often times it is the campus leader that has the tough job of being caught in

the middle.

In standard 4, I was put in charge of creating a campus climate and

culture team geared towards increasing the climate survey results for the

school. The team put together several thoughtful gestures that we did every

few weeks in order to boost the morale of the building. We also made

suggest to the principal in regards to changing the discipline policy for unruly

students. The team gave a survey toward the end of my internship to see if

our efforts resulted in any progress. We made gains in all categories and

moral showed a 30% growth from the original survey. I learned that culture

and climate is the heart beat of a school. No matter how good a school

performs or looks a bad culture and climate will kill a great school quickly.

In standard 5, I spent time with our office manager looking at the

budget of the school and operating money. I also attend weekly meeting with

the board of patrol (student activities) to look at how approvals are

conducted for the extracurricular activities of the school. I also spent a lot of

time researching on ways to improve our morning procedures in order to

maximum instructional time for first period. After recording my observations,

I researched solutions and gave my recommendations to my mentor. She

then had me to meet with all morning duty personal, go over the changes,

and follow up with her on whether the changes increase instructional time. I

was happy to report to her that instructional time increased by 10 minutes

and that teachers were pleased with the new procedures. I learned that

procedures must be tight in order for a school to run effectively. As a campus

leader, it will be my responsibility to make sure our policies and procedures

are solid.

After all this valuable experience, I still believe that school

administration is the right career path for me. I enjoyed every aspect of this

practicum including the rough times because it is the hard times that shape

a human being into something greater. I look forward to what the future

holds for me as I look to improve myself and thus impacting more young

peoples lives.