EDLD 5399 Capstone Superintendent Internship Week Four Assignment, Part 1 and Part D of the Comprehensive Final Report:
You have had many opportunities for reflection in this course and throughout this program. In writing
Part D on the value of Reflection as a Leadership Skill, we ask that you read from your program text,
School leadership internship, 2nd edition. Read Reflection in Action, pp. 104 – 107, and answer the
following:
Describe why reflection is an important skill in leadership.
· Course assignment activities
· Blogs
· Course and campus supervised logs
· Assessments
· Other intern reflection experiences
Describe how you plan to use reflective practice to improve your leadership skills – provide some specific suggestions for applying the skills of reflection.
Blog Follow-Up: Be sure to post a reflection on the value of the skills of reflection to your blog, and
read and comment on at least two other students’ assessment reflections.
Reminder - Scheduling a Conference with the District Site Supervisor to review the SISE
Please schedule a conference with your District Site Supervisor between now and Week 5 to review the
Supervisor’s SISE (Superintendent/Supervisor Internship Summative Evaluation).
Reflection allows leaders to learn from their experiences, and administrative skills are acquired through a combination of theory and practice. Expertise can develop as the result of “reflective skills,” the ability to think more deeply about a problem, and the ability to take action or make adjustments accordingly. To master the skill of reflection is beneficial when the goal is to be an effective Superintendent/ leader. Throughout the Lamar Superintendent Internship Program, the professors have engaged us in activities that required us to think and reflect upon our learning and experiences in a manner that help develop a deep understanding of activities that we were involved with. Specifically activities that represented each of the 10 Superintendent competencies. I remember one activity that I was involved in that was approved by my site supervisor, planning the September 2012 district’s summer school graduation exercise. The graduation was held September 10th after a school board meeting in the board room. The Board of Trustees likes to have the Board meeting and Summer Graduation the same day as opposed to two different activities. So the Summer Graduation was help immediately after the Board meeting. The Board Room in the past has been big enough to carry out this activity. This particular night that had the two high schools with over 15 graduates each, it was standing room only. The principals and their staff had to make many adjustments with administrators from both schools having to stand behind the Board of Trustees to allow room for parents and family to be seated. The Graduation ended up being a success but the pressure to make adjustments on the fly throughout the evening was frightened. Immediately after the graduation I begin to reflect about the entire graduation. What could we have done to avoid the problems that we encountered? I wanted to prepare a plan for the 2013 Summer Graduation while it was fresh on my mind. First, the biggest problem was that the board room was too small to accommodate this large group. The number of graduates from year to year is not predictable. Second, we have two schools with graduates and two principals with individual speeches for their groups. Third, the Board of Trustees wanted to have the Board Meeting and Summer Graduation all in one. My job was to find a way that we could make this happen for the 2013 graduation. In my reflection with the Superintendent and principals/counselors from both campuses we found a solution that would allow for a more successful and stress free graduation. Conclusion, we decided to have the graduation at the nearby high school following the School Board Meeting. The School Board Meeting would start at 6:00 pm in September with only a few items on the agenda. The Graduation would always be at North Shore Senior High School, and the graduation would start at 7:30 pm. Following the School Board meeting the Board members would be transported to the High School for the graduation exercise and transported back at the conclusion. We solved all problems; location would accommodate all sizes of groups. The Board of Trustees would have both activities the same night. The two principals would rotate in being the host school and address all graduates. This reflection process has been wonderful; it has allowed me to take care of the September Board Meeting Graduation for 2013.
Throughout the Lamar Superintendent program, we utilized blogs to post our reflections over certain topics. This format allowed other students to comment on our thoughts, furthering our understanding by examining the viewpoints of fellow classmates. I remember in my Blog, Reflection of course 5342 School Finance. I said that this course was one of the most challenging of the three courses taken in the Superintendent School Leadership Internship Program. I said in my blog that I looked forward to this course because it’s the area that was not strength of mine. In fact in my self assessment it showed that Domain III Competencies 8, 9, and 10 were the areas that I needed improvement in. This was the same information that many of my classmates shared as a concern for them as well. When reading blogs of my fellow classmates it was a relief to know that I was not the only one that shared the opinion that this was one of the most challenging courses but one that they were looking forward to as well. With the challenge, lack of financial support facing school superintendents today, learning about major issues that impact the state funding was critical.
I will continue to use reflection to guide my learning and ensure that each of my experiences to further
develop my skills as a practitioner. Additionally, I will seek professional development and assistance from colleagues when I am unable to determine the most appropriate course of action.
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