May
2009
Individual Reflection- Week 8 Organization and Administration0
What do you envision to be the pitfalls that you might face as a first year principal, and how will you implement the strategies learned to overcome the pitfalls?
I think one pitfall is going into a new school with the expectation that you are going to change everything. This is something you don’t want to do because it sends a message that you don’t value what they’ve already done. I believe that you should go in and form a leadership team. Then let the team tell you what they think is working and not working. This shows them that you value their opinion and are interested in having a collaborative relationship. Another pitfall might be trying to get everyone on the same page working together. Our group worked well because we all thought the same way. This will definitely not be the case when working in a school. That is why effective and timely communication is crucial. This is something I definitely learned in this course. Every piece of your plan must have a communication component. Everyone is happier if they know what is going on. The final pitfall is making decisions that don’t work back to your vision. Everything you do should work towards achieving your vision. This pitfall can be avoided by making the vision organic. Constantly checking to make sure that you are in fact achieving it.
How has this course prepared you to use twenty-first century leadership skills as you model a new culture for collaborating, analyzing student performance, and continually reflect on instructional practices, school climate, and quality decision making?
The course has been great in preparing me for 21st century leadership. This occurred in the way that my group collaborated together. Within eight weeks we were able to put together an administrative action plan without ever meeting face to face. This showed that one does not need a physical space in order to work together. With tools like Blackboard, Moodle, Skype, and Google Docs, collaboration becomes much easier. Utilizing these tools in class has shown me how I can use them with teachers in my building.
Educational leadership and coordination are not the sole responsibility of school principals: They can and should be exercised at all levels of the school organization. What opportunities for collective leadership have you provided in your plan?
Every aspect of my plan is collective in nature. All parts of the plan have come from the school leadership committee. To include all stakeholders, the plan specifically allows for multiple groups to provide feedback to the committee through surveys and PTA meetings. In addition, teachers are sharing successes with other teachers, the district and the parent community. My plan specifically states that we all share in the successes and we all share in the failures because it is no one person’s responsibility.
