Below, you will find a summary of my understanding of the administrative objectives.
Standard 1: The Administrator has an understanding of and demonstrates competence in the teacher standards
Throughout my graduate school career as well as my administrative internship, I have worked quite hard to ensure that all teacher standards were worked on thoroughly. I now feel it is more important than ever to demonstrate a strong understanding of these standards, especially in a time when principals act as instructional leaders for their school. Working through the new Teacher Effectiveness Model as both a teacher and an administrative intern has allowed me to see these standards through two very different lenses. I believe my artifacts as well as my time log show strong competence in Standard 1.
Standard 2: The Administrator leads by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community.
As a lead teacher in Catalyst Charter Middle School, I was able to take my internship and really work through this standard with the Charter School team. From leading meetings with both the core teachers and the electives teachers to having one-on-one conversations that were not easy to have with teachers who were fighting the vision and mission of the charter school, I worked hard to ensure that I facilitated the development of the mission of our school as well as implemented new ideas. On top of all of this, I worked on projects that were shared with parents and community members to ensure that our vision for learning was supported by both school and community.
Standard 3: The Administrator manages by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to pupil learning and staff professional growth.
My time log shows that I have spent a good deal of time working on this specific standards. From one-on-one conversations with teachers who were acting in a divisive way to working with team members and governance board members, I have worked quite hard to advocate a sustaining school culture that I believe lends itself to students learning in a more rigorous, way. This work also included challenging my co-workers to develop as professionals, which was not an easy task. Overall, I learned just how hard this standard can be when there is a great deal of change happening in a district.
Standard 4: The Administrator ensures management of the organization, operations, finances and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.
From participating in canine searches to initiating lock downs to find students who had gone on the run, this standard was stressful, important, and rewarding to work through. I gained a great deal of confidence in my abilities to manage student and staff safety as well as learn about the operations and finances through taking control of the school's budget. The overall safety of the school rests a great deal with administration. Until recently I did not understand just how true this is; however, my experiences highlight the opportunities I've been given to truly learn about Standard 4.
Standard 5: The Administrator models collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.
While previously on the governance board for our school, I never realized until going through the internship just how important this standard is for an administrator. I have worked over the last several months to ensure that I was meeting regularly with family members of students as well as community members. This was through formal meetings and conferences as well as time spent talking with these individuals at sporting events that I supervised. Just being present at events and meetings is important, but having communication and being able to speak and share the vision of the school and listen to what the public has to say seems to be more important than ever.
Standard 6: The Administrator acts with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.
Whether I was working with our budget and deciding who should receive funds for activities and supplies or speaking with individuals about the appropriate way to deal with co-workers, I learned just how many people begin watching you when you're the person in charge. It has been well known in my school that I am an administrative intern as well as a lead teacher/governance board member. It seems that everyone becomes the fairness police when it comes
Standard 7: The Administrator understands, responds to, and interacts with the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context that affects schooling.
Since taking the Legal Studies course for this certification, I have become fascinated with public school law. I have also made several changes not only in the way I work with my students, but in the way I approach situations that arise with discipline, guidance, IEPs, etc. I have researched and implemented different techniques when it comes to working with other teachers as well as having conversations with the public regarding the political context of our schools. This year has been an eye-opening experience and I look forward to learning more and working more with administration in the future. This is an area that is in constant change, more so now than ever. I feel fortunate to be possibly entering administration during this such a time of change.
Below, you will find my Internship Final Performance Document.
Below, you will find my Internship Final Performance Document.