Describe why reflection is an important skill in leadership.
I believe reflection is an important skill because it allows the participant to implement best practices in three areas. I will refer to these as the 3C’s: celebrating the areas that are going well, correcting those areas that could use some adjustments, and challenging an extension for higher learning opportunities. All of these opportunities align with our textbook statement “experience alone does not guarantee best practice.”( School Leader Internship, second edition, Martin, Wright, Danzig, Flanary, Brown, p. 106). Most of us in this class are at a point in our careers where we have had many experiences. As educational leaders, the activities that set us apart are determining what we have learned from those experiences, the way we have responded to them, and the actions we will take in future activities that are similar to this experience. I strongly believe that taking time to celebrate the areas that are going well is critical in a our business that is fast paced, open to constant criticism, and limited on short-term gains in terms of viewing student growth. We must take time to celebrate our experiences and feel good about what we are doing. Similarly, making adjustments is also critical to constant improvement. Rarely are any two experiences are the same in education. Adjusting responses based on the new information coupled with prior experiences can be of great value in correcting those areas that require attention. Lastly, reflection allows opportunities to seek future challenges. This can include not only involvement in the same experience with a different tactic, but also seeking an experience that is totally different to gain even greater knowledge. Taking time to reflect and consider the 3C’s helps us all grow to be greater educational leaders.
I am currently using these reflective practices in several ways. I use them in establishing procedures for my own administrative team. We begin each meeting with a short celebrations activity, citing and celebrating the areas where we are experiencing successes. Each time we have a major activity or initiative, we reflect using a +/-/p activity to determine corrective measures we need to consider. We conclude our meetings with looking forward to the challenges approaching. My administrative team has also completed a 360 review of our strengths and constraints. We are using that information to help us build as a team to become stronger and more intentional in helping our staff and students with our professional growth. I am using reflections on a personal level as I prepare for the superintendent exam. Knowing that I continue to observe opportunity for growth in my knowledge about finances and immediate recall of the 10 domains, these will be my areas of focus as I study and prepare for the test. I realize that taking time to reflect upon my practice becomes more and more important in a fast-paced position. Using the reflection time to design laser focus and implement scalpel precision to proceed on the most important experiences is critical for every leader.
Provide examples of reflective practices throughout the program citing different activities.
Course assignment activities:
Each time the assignment called for me to meet with my superintendent, I had to reflect upon my job as a campus principal and compare that to his job as a superintendent. I walked away challenging myself to consider the politics involved, the communication requirements, and the assignment of the right people to the right position. I found the reflection on the 35 competencies helpful as well. Although I spent a great deal of time reflecting on what I actually learned from each activity, I realize that the reflection allowed me to focus. I focused on celebrating all that I had accomplished in this short time, correcting the areas in which I still have limited knowledge/experience, and challenging myself to gain experience in those areas so I can be a better-prepared candidate for the next position I pursue.
Blogs:
The assignments to participate in the blogs and wikis also helped me in several ways. First, the assignments forced me to actually create a blog and wiki and to be comfortable using this form of technology. Secondly, the blogs and wikis provided me with opportunities to interact with my classmates in a way that allowed me perspective into their jobs and personalities. Taking an online class for the first time, limited personal interaction was a challenge for me since I am typically a social learner. From reading their posts, I have developed an informal reference list of the experiences of my classmates that will be of value to me in the future. This networking provides me with connections not only of the classmates, but also of their activities, such as opening a new school, working at an agency, and various professional trainings. Reviewing the posts has also allowed me to refresh my memory on all that I have experienced in this class. Actually taking the time to go back to review my posts has been of great value to me in remembering what we have accomplished. In truth, I have been almost disappointed when no one commented on my blog! I appreciated when someone took the time to read it, add his or her comments and provide me with insight on our collective learning. For example, after reading a post about my internship plan containing multiple references to addressing a schedule change issue on campus, I realized I needed to include more variety in my plan. Upon reflection, using the blogs and wikis has probably been one of the best learning experiences for these classes.
Course and campus supervised logs:
I have learned from my participation in the course logs by gaining insight to the experiences of my fellow classmates. I keep remembering the multiple conversations on the log during the finance class. It was comforting to know that we were all struggling with the same areas and helpful in that every time someone learned something new, we all shared in the knowledge. While I was frustrated with the experience, the logs were of great help. I also learned from the course embedded logs in that I could read what others were submitting to determine if my trail of thinking was in line with the task and expectations. Keeping the activity log also helped keep me focused on completing tasks vital to the internship. During the summer, I had a tendency to postpone participating in some of the activities. Referencing the log reminded me of my accountability to the various experiences.
Assessments:
While I cannot in all honesty claim that I enjoyed the assessments, I can state that they provided a great learning opportunity for me. The assessments forced me to focus on learning the information. My anxieties about test taking came into consideration that helped me prepare for and execute the tests with a plan. Knowing that I will be taking the certification test under similar conditions helps. On one assessment, once I took the test, I was actually provided with a graded test afterwards, which showed me which answers I got correct and which ones I missed. I would highly recommend that this becomes the norm. Just as we expect teachers to provide relevant and timely feedback to their students, this type of information was very helpful to me in learning what I needed to improve upon. Dr. Stephens provided very helpful information to me after the first test as well. She helped me focus on the best way to prepare for the test and strategies I needed to use while taking the test. The assessments also provide me insight into the topics that are of most importance so I can focus on them as I prepare for the Superintendent certification exam in October.
Other intern reflection experiences:
Other opportunities that I have had to reflect during this class include the conferences I have had with Dr. Creel, the web-conferences with Dr. Benevides, and classmate conversations. During my conferences with Dr. Creel, I became more aware of the importance of reflecting on the overall experiences with the class. His questions about summarizing experiences helped me think about the macro-perspective on the preparation for a superintendent position. The web-conferences with Dr. Benevides were more about utilizing another form of technology and application of transitional theory. I do not recall any of our conferences truly addressing specific instructional issues, but rather a focus more on using our knowledge to discuss topics that a superintendent might encounter. Lastly, my phone conversations and email exchanges with classmates have helped solidify the networking from this class. I feel I now have some great contacts across the state to whom I can call upon for extended learning opportunities and connections. As I mentioned earlier, these social pieces are important to my learning opportunities, so I appreciate the opportunity they provided in my reflections.
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