Internship Final Self-Assessment

Todd Calcamuggio

2013-2015 Educational Leadership Internship

Final Self-Assessment

Todd Calcamuggio
EL 630/640

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I cant even begin to describe the amount of learning that has taken place over the past
two years through this internship experience. I remember sitting in the very first class and
listening to a description of the internship and wondering how I was going to fit 220 hours of
extra work into an already busy teaching and parenting schedule. I remember wondering where I
was supposed to start, how I was supposed to identify activities, and who to go to for assistance.
Dr. Carver and Dr. Klein, professors in the program, assured us that at the end of this internship
we would have completed the activities needed in order to be confident leaders with experience
in each of the Michigan School Leaders Standards. I was skeptical. I am no more. In this final
self-assessment I will be looking back at the experience I gained, the activities I completed, and
will link each to the leader standards as well as discuss what I learned. In hindsight, the best
thing I did was raise my hand. Raising my hand to be on a committee, to chair a committee, to
take on extra responsibilities, to help with a special education student, to be a union
representative, and to deliver professional development has transformed me from a regular P.E.
teacher seeking his Masters into a teacher leader in my building with his Masters.
Standard 1: Shared Vision
The bulk of my experience in standard one came through serving as the specials team
representative on our buildings School Improvement Leadership Team. This team consisted of
one teacher from each grade level, a special education teacher, a paraprofessional, the learning
consultant, and two parents. My principal called it the Leadership Team as we were not only
there to work on the School Improvement Plan, but also to be the go between for administration
and staff on information and ideas that would affect everyone. More than once we were asked
to, take this to your team and get feedback. Examples of exact actions that took place during
the meetings included working on building goals in math, reading, and writing for both school

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improvement and evaluation purposes, discussion on para and noon recess aid training, planned
and future professional development plans and ideas, listing of infrastructure and technology
needs via a possible bond issue, discussions on Pearson data and how it pertains to current and
past school goals, and how to gather and use perception data. The culminating work of this team
was to write the 2015-2016 School Improvement Plan. This type of work had not been
completed at our school in a few years, so there was a lot to do. Over the course of this
internship, I logged 6 hours of actual SILT meetings, but much more time was spent outside of
meetings taking the information to my team, getting their feedback, and taking that info back to
SILT. I was also able to take any concerns my team had to our meetings for discussion, i.e.
assembly scheduling and M-step procedure and scheduling.
Through this internship, I also had the opportunity to write a vision statement, watch
district podcasts regarding curriculum and instruction, read a district newsletter weekly about
what was happening across the district. These items also gave me some insight on the Shared
Vision of the entire district, not just my building.
Standard 2: Learning for All
If there was one standard that I feel I completed the most hours/activities in, it would be
standard two. It seems fitting as most would tell you schools exist so students can learn. I would
not say that this standard is any more important than others, but the learning that takes place in
schools is reason for their existence. Activities included co-chairing my schools Positive
Behavior Intervention and Supports Team, observing TEAM Meeting for special education
student concerns, mentoring a Child Development Program high school student, and sitting in on
Multi-Tiered Systems of Support meetings at the district level.

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The major experience I received in this standard came from co-chairing the PBIS team.
First and foremost, I was responsible for setting meeting schedules, setting and abiding by
meeting agendas, sharing leadership with my co-chair and principal, distributing leadership
amongst my team, assigning activities to be completed, and in the long run, getting our planned
program ready for implementation in the fall. The first lesson learned throughout this was that
committee work in the school setting is hard if all the time you have is one hour meetings after
school. Honestly, not a lot gets done in one hour. I learned to be flexible with my timeline,
learned to let go of control, and to keep others on task as necessary. I am proud to say that our
PBIS program is ready for implementation in the fall and I am very excited to see where it goes.
I believe this fits into standard two because it encompasses behaviors for the entire school and
studies show that when behaviors are in line, more learning occurs.
Standard 3: Management for Learning
The management for learning standard included a few uneventful but necessary activities
as well as a much more exciting activity that was a lot of fun for me. I had the opportunity to be
teacher in charge a few times in my building when both the principal and L.C. were out. The
few times this did occur, nothing really happened to speak of. I was called to assist with a
special education student with behavior concerns, but to be honest, I would have been called to
help with this student anyway. I also assisted with daily dismissal when possible and always
with the principal was out. While our dismissal generally runs smoothly, it is a huge undertaking
to get 400+ students on the right bus in short time to keep the busses on schedule. With student
destination changes happening daily, making sure that all are accounted for is vital.
The much more exciting activity that I logged for the management standard was
attending 5th grade camp as the acting administrator in support of the 5th grade teachers. For both

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the 2014 and 2015 trips to camp, I attended for the purposes of behavior management and
support, communication with camp staff concerning activities and feedback, monitoring of bus
rides, and communication with parent chaperones.
Doing these activities taught me a great deal about why the overall management of the
school, school resources, human and fiscal capital, and time is an important part of the job. I
know that some get caught up in the manager vs. leader argument, but I truly believe that you
cant be one without the other. Without my presence in these activities, they could have gone a
totally different route and while I described them as borderline boring, they are extremely
important to the success of a school.
Standard 4: Collaboration with Families & Communities
I logged three main activities in the collaboration with stakeholders standard. In my role
as P.E. teacher at my school, I work very hard at keeping an open line of communication with
parents. I find that doing so allows me to work with students in a different way, when I know I
have parent support for my decisions. The first activity that I logged was volunteering to emcee
our PTAs first annual Hugger Talent Show. I put six hours of my own personal time into a
dress rehearsal and actual performance. For my gain, I was able to work on speaking in front of
a large audience and was able to see my students outside of school in a different light. I also felt
like I was making a deposit of sorts into the PTA system. Because of this I am able to then
take a withdrawal for my next activity I completed.
Field Day! I have run multiple successful field days over my teaching career. If one
thing is true, you cant run a successful field day without multiple parent volunteers. I have been
able to gather plenty over the past two years, due in part to my willingness to volunteer for them
as well. The actual field day event takes a great deal of planning and organization. All of that

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would be for not if you didnt have a strong bond with your parent community in order to
actually put the event on.
The last logged activity I would like to discuss was the organization and operating of a
Jump Rope for the Heart event. I dont ask for parent volunteers for this activity as I do it during
normal PE times. However, there is a great deal of collaboration that happened between me and
the American Heart Association. My area representative, Cindie, was in my office multiple
times over the course of the few weeks before and after each event. My students learned about
healthy living, the importance of a healthy heart, and helping others through fundraising. The
actual amount of money raised isnt the most important aspect of this program for the students,
the learning is. However, for the AHA, it is a fundraiser. They were more than happy to collect
over $32,000 from my students over the last two years. The connections I have with the AHA
have grown stronger over the two years of this internship and will continue on over the years to
come. As an aspiring administrator, I learned about the impact of having great relationships with
parent and community on student success, learning, and overall student experience.
Standard 5: Acting Ethically
My greatest struggle in logging activities for this internship came in this standard. I have
a belief that acting ethically and with fairness occurs across everything I do. In reality for me, I
could attach every activity I completed to this standard. I am honest. I am trustworthy. If I am
not, I dont belong in this line of work.
The main activity I attached to this standard was my work with the Positive Behavior
Interventions and Supports team. I discussed this work earlier in this reflection. I feel this
attaches well to this standard because it deals mainly in promoting positive behavior throughout
the school and serves to manage the students choices throughout their day. It is not a code of

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conduct, per say, but requires that teachers and administrators act ethically and fairly when
discipline is necessary.
I also had the opportunity, through my work with the American Heart Association, to
handle upwards of $6,000 in cash. As the coordinator of the event, I took the students
donations, filed the amounts, ordered their thank you gifts, converted cash to a cashiers check,
and sent it away to the AHA. If I was not able to act ethically throughout this process, I would
find myself in hot water. There are policies in place in my district to keep theft and fraud at bay
that I followed. All donations were handled with care; they were put in the school safe at night,
and then sent away as soon as possible.
Standard 6: Advocacy
The two main activities that I would like to discuss in this standard include my work as a
union representative for my building and my observation and participation in my special
education teachers TEAM meetings. This year, the number of teachers in my building climbed
to a number that created a need for a second building rep. That gave me the chance to volunteer
and work in this setting for the first time. It was great to have a partner representative that I
could ask questions and lean on during communication to staff and our building level union
meetings. The hours logged came directly from monthly meetings where we followed the same
basic agenda that included a presidents report, a forum for teacher concerns that would later be
taken to district level administration, contract discussion, news from Lansing regarding
legislation, election work, and passing of memorandums of agreements. I learned about the
unions involvement in the schools and how teacher concerns lead directly to advocating for
students. Before this activity, I was not aware of what the union really did outside of bargaining
contracts and being representation for teachers.

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The second activity that I undertook was participating in my schools special education
TEAM meetings. These meetings took place once a month and were a forum to discuss
individual students. Teachers were able to put students names on the agenda for discussion.
These meetings taught me a great deal about individualized instruction and the amount of work
that goes into IEPs, testing of students for learning impairments, and recognizing the need for
extra assistance through interventions. Many times during these meetings, I was asked for my
opinions on behavior of students or learning traits because I am in a unique position where I see
all 550 students in the building weekly. I also felt like I was able to learn more about individuals
outside the gym which helped my teaching in the gym.
Standard 7: Practice-Ready
The final standard encompasses the entire internship and the process I went through to
make myself ready for the role of administrator. The first choice I made was to ask two different
people to serve as my mentors. I did not have the option to ask my building administrator as he
was a first year principal in our district and I did not want to burden him with this extra
responsibility. Luckily I had two people whom I trust a great deal to ask that were not far away.
The two served as my mentor for the first year.
The first was Don Maskill, a middle school assistant principal with many years of
experience across the spectrum of grade levels and roles. He was a high school assistant
principal, athletic director, middle school assistant, and elementary principal as well. Don is
very calculating and was great for me as it related to planning experiences and reflecting on my
learning. Don was my mentor for both years of the program and we continue to meet on a
regular basis to discuss my learning and his sometimes. He also put me in touch with a former
mentee of his at the elementary level. I was able to connect with her to complete two full day

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shadows. Don is a perfect mentor and role model for me. He has experience in all areas,
including athletics, and is a wealth of knowledge. I want to be like Don when I grow up.
My second mentor was Rachel Guinn. Rachel was my mentor for the first year only due
to her career taking a change in paths midway through my internship. Rachel is an absolute gem.
She is extremely intelligent and joy to be around. I was always on my toes with Rachel and can
only hope to run a school as she does in the future. One of the unique activities that I did with
Rachel I entitled Friday time at Hart. The way my schedule shook out during the first year, I
had an hour and a half of planning and lunch combined. I would hop in my car and scoot over to
Hart Middle School where Rachel would put me to work. This led to experiences in lunchroom
management, teacher evaluation, critical incidence response, truancy meetings, etc., that I would
not have received otherwise. Rachel was flexible and knew that one of the best ways for me to
learn was to just be there with her. I met with both of my mentors multiple times throughout to
go over the plan of work that I created, my activity log, and to just talk about what was going on.
I also spent one full day with each doing a formal job shadow. I am extremely grateful for them
spending their time to mentor and teach me.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, it is almost impossible to put down on paper the
learning that occurred for me over the past two years. I truly feel like a different person and a
different teacher now. I had originally intended to continue teaching for a few years to allow
myself to continue in this growth minded state, however, best laid plans rarely are set in stone.
As of this past week, I am without a gym to teach in for the coming fall. My district had to make
some tough choices surrounding the budget and decided to lay off teachers, including me. Due
to my work in this internship, I understand it better than I want to, but am highly saddened that I
will not have my Hugger Huskies in front of me in September. After many discussions with my

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wife and with God, I have chosen to begin my search for an administrator position immediately.
I applied this past week for an Athletic Director position and continue to search for more. I have
no idea what my future holds, but because of this program and because of my hard work for the
past two years, I am excited.

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