Review of Reflection Experiences and Description as a Leadership Skill

Why reflection is an important leadership skill?

As I reflect on my experience during the Superintendent Certification program I realize that without the consistent opportunities to provide and share reflections of the assignments I would not have a measurement to determine improvement of my knowledge and skills from where I started to where I am now.   Reflecting allows one to be able to look in the mirror of experiences to determine if transfer of learning has occurred.  By reflecting upon the interaction of the external and internal organizational dynamics in a school district one can evaluate where the strengths and weakness are and begin the decision-making process to create an action plan that will address the issues or mistakes.  In the suggested reading, Reflection As a Route to Expertise page 104, the writer states that expertise develops 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.

In other words reflection is a productive method to advocate change.  It provides opportunity for the leader to take the helm to modify and make adjustments to accomplish success for teaching and learning.

Reflections from course assignment activities

In the reflection assignments of the pre and post self-assessments the evaluation of my strengths and weaknesses provided insight of knowledge and skills in areas that I needed to show improvement. As I observed the reflective comments of my cohort team, I realized that many are in positions at the secondary or in positions at the central administration level compared to my experiences which are currently at the elementary level.  My site supervisor strongly recommended that I extend my learning for the intern activities to the secondary levels to increase my knowledge and skills.  The opportunities allowed me to network and develop learning experiences with different leaders at the middle, high school and central office administration level.

I enjoyed reading my cohorts reflections about their district and campus improvement plans.  I have the opportunity to work closely with the CEIC committee on our district and campus improvement plans. Being a part of a campus team in planning for our district and campus goals is a great way to build working relationships.   Of all the courses, School Finance 5342 was my most dare.   The assignment comparing two schools provided an opportunity for hands on practice with WADA, property taxes, and calculating with the state required formulas.  I am glad that TEA has set standards and guidelines to assist districts with budgeting and planning.

 Reflections from blogs

As an educational leader, I can see how the methods of blog and wiki provide an excellent outlet to embrace opportunity to build channels of communication and collaboration throughout the entire school community.  I was eager to be a participant with blog and wiki in this course and to learn how engaged it is as an interactive tool for others to share experiences, actions, and reflections on common issues in education.   I noticed that even though we are in different school districts we shared some of the same concerns with budget cuts, parental involvement, bond programs, ethical leadership, effective communicating with the community and building business partner relationships.  

Reflections from course and supervised logs

During the course I had the opportunity to meet with my district superintendent on several occasions.  His words of encouragement were, “Learn from people that are knowledge about school improvement.”   Communicate and share the facts about your district.  Remember the school district belongs to the community and student achievement is a top priority. 

The planning of the supervised log activities took a great deal of preparation.  I was able to visit with our Title I Director and Title I Supervisor’s to discuss guidelines for No Child Left Behind and the plans for future parent involvement activities.  My visit with the Human Resource manager provided insight of the job duties and the professional staff development training that is required.  The director of maintenance and operations provided a very detail walk through of the guidelines that are to be followed for building facilities and operations.   Many of my job related responsibilities as Curriculum Coordinator involves many characteristics of Instructional Leadership.  I had the opportunity to collaborate and plan with district content supervisors professional staff development at the campus level to ensure the implementation of the CScope curriculum was an effective transition.  Throughout the year I participated in district and campus vertical team meetings, district technology staff development, district staffs develop for STAAR Institute Training. 

During the course I attended several of the board meetings to observe how the board of trustees and the superintendent work together to represent the district to ensure school improvement. The team of eight in our district has done an outstanding job to ensure the bond program projects have been completed in a timely manner and the issues about projects that are pending completion were discussed shared with the public.  The superintendent takes the lead to work with the board of trustees to keep channels of communication open with all stakeholders in the district.

Reflections from assessments

The assessments gave me opportunities to reflect what I learned during the course. The assessments presented ongoing review, application of knowledge and skills with the competencies to assist with developing transfer of learning to my next career goal. Overall, the reflections of the assessments helped me to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses.

Reflective practice to improve my leadership skills

Reflections provide opportunities to self-assess experiences and transfer learning from theory and applying the experiences to professional practices.  I will use reflective practice experiences as I move towards my next career goal as a school principal and later to a central administrative position.    During the internship the reflective practices have improved my leadership skills by allowing me to take risk, foresee problems and be prepared to troubleshoot, understand that others learn differently and professional development should be ongoing.