E-Portfolio Reflection Paper

Isis Green

Competency 1: The principal knows how to shape campus culture by facilitating the development,
articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the
school community.
Out of all competencies, I believe I was most effective with this one. My internship experience really
accentuated the importance of shaping campus culture using various methods. While there are a plethora
of principles to consider as an educational leader, without developing a shared vision supported by the
school community, every other competency suffers in effectiveness. Case in point, what Ive observed
on my campus in the duration of my internship experience is the lack of culture and morale. Teachers do
not support the vision of the school because there are a lot of directives and less opportunities to help. As
a result, many times directives are given with the expectation of immediate implementation, and
teachers are not compelled to be involved because they dont agree or dont feel supported in their
current practices. Watching administration grapple with motivating the students and staff in such a tense
environment has been my driving force to work on my first project. My initial project plan was
comprised of a series of team building activities and professional development which would encourage
teachers to dialogue about changing campus culture through collaboration, problem solving, and
building relationships within the school community. It was my intent to complete this project as a oneday staff retreat or during a faculty meeting. My principal, however, thought it would be a better idea
to host a team building activity during each staff meeting. I didnt feel as though her idea was as
effective considering the fact that teachers were already upset that faculty meetings were held on
Fridays. Nonetheless, teachers were actively engaged. If I were an administrator I would consider
hosting a professional development or team building day at the beginning of the year to foster healthy
relationships early on because it would provide a great opportunity to shape campus culture and
communicate the vision to the school community.

Competency 2: The principal knows how to communicate and collaborate with all members of the
school community, respond to diverse interests and needs, and mobilize resources to promote student
success.
EDUC 6331Administrative Internship II

Spring 2016

E-Portfolio Reflection Paper

Isis Green

Through the projects that I managed during this internship, I discovered precisely how proficient I am in
this competency. In the duration of both internship I and II I had a plethora of opportunities to interact
with stakeholders to ensure the needs of our campus was met. I have had opportunities to lead
professional development at faculty meetings. In doing so, I lead discussions and activities on schoolwide discipline, school culture, team building, collaboration, and professionalism. While planning my
programs, I found it especially critical to focus on the building relationships and exercising effective
communication. For instance, the Exceptional Night program was created so that parents can receive the
opportunity to gain insight on their childs progress academically, and to learn about STAAR testing.
Parents were exposed to question types, strategies, general information, and even left with their childs
individualized data folder- a folder that contained scores on benchmark and snapshot tests as well as
specific objectives they have not mastered yet. This further demonstrates my experience with
competency because it shows my ability to respond to diverse needs of students and parents in order to
promote student success.

Competency 3: The principal knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical and legal
manner.
Before my internship, I had to pleasure of taking a course in school law. This class was crucial to my
growth as a future administrator. It was through this course that I was able to gain a better understanding
of competency 3 as it relates to the role of an administrator. Although none of my internship projects
addressed this competency directly, I was able to see it manifest in my clinical supervision experience.
During this class, I had the opportunity to undergo a full clinical supervision process with a new teacher.
This experience helped me to understand the importance of fairness when it comes to the appraisal
process. It was through this process that I began to strategize on the most effective ways to supervise a
staff in a legal and ethical manner. As a principal, it can be challenging maintain this competency and

EDUC 6331Administrative Internship II

Spring 2016

E-Portfolio Reflection Paper

Isis Green
still have positive relationships merely because some staff members and even students like to bend the
rules.
Competency 4: The principal knows how to facilitate the design and implementation of curricula and
strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment of curriculum, instruction,
resources, and assessment; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance.
Although I have worked on this competency as an educator, I havent received a lot of opportunities to
see how principals design and implement the curriculum. However, I can recall a time last semester
when I was asked with putting together a data room for the administration on my campus. The purpose
of the data room was to assess how every student in all classrooms tested on campus benchmarks and
snapshots. It wasnt the act of setting up the data room that helped me understand competency 4, it was
the intent behind it and the use thereof. After the completion of the data room, administration would use
this to strategize on ways to help specific teachers enhance teaching and learning to further student
mastery. The data was used to create plans of actions for teachers and ways in which administration can
ensure the alignment instruction with the curriculum.

Competency 5: The principal knows how to advocate, nurture, and sustain an instructional program
and a campus culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
This competency is especially crucial to the productivity of the campus. My first project was focused on
building campus culture. Although it catered staff professional growth, it was a direct reflection of the
relationship between teacher development and student learning. In this project, challenged the grade
level teams to interact with each other on a different level than the average routine. Through this
experience along with others afforded to me, I have been able to facilitate the growth of both teachers
and students. All things considered, my experience with competency 5 is still limited in scope, as I
believe there is still much to understand comprehensively.

EDUC 6331Administrative Internship II

Spring 2016

E-Portfolio Reflection Paper

Isis Green
Competency 6: The principal knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system to
improve the performance of all staff members, select and implement appropriate models for supervision
and staff development, and apply the legal requirements for personnel management.
Although I havent completed Professional Development and Assessment System (PDAS) training, I do
believe that my experience in Instructional Leadership Development and Clinical Supervision have
taught me that I am amply prepared to perform the responsibilities mentioned in competency 6.
Aforementioned, during my Clinical Supervision course, I was required to perform a full process of
evaluation. Through this experience I was even able to offered recommendations as to how to improve
my schools evaluation process and the transparency of it. Clinical Supervision helped me to understand
the need for improvement on my campus, and the correlation between the campus morale and the
evaluation and development system. Along with the clinical supervision process, I have also received a
lot of opportunity to plan and lead professional development based on the respective needs of our
campus.

Competency 7: The principal knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving
skills to ensure an effective learning environment.
My internship experience coupled with the courses I have taken at St. Thomas has helped me develop
problem-solving, crisis management, and decision-making skills to improve the overall organizational
capacity. This was especially important when planning my programs, scheduling meetings, and making
sudden decisions that would ensure an effective learning environment. Although Ive witnessed more
than experienced for myself, I can truly say that during internship I, my principle made a great effort to
include me in her decision making processes. She also helped me to develop better organizational skills
in order to maintain all components of being a principal.

Competency 8: The principal knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in
relation to campus budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology
use.

EDUC 6331Administrative Internship II

Spring 2016

E-Portfolio Reflection Paper

Isis Green
Before my internship experience, I wasnt as strong with competency 8 as I would have liked to be. I
recognized budget to be one of my weaknesses merely because I didnt understand it. Although I possess
natural leadership abilities, this was one I knew I would have to work on. Thus, I used this internship to
gain as much knowledge about budgeting and financial management as I possibly could. Fortunately, my
principal allowed me to review the campus budget expenses the Campus Improvement Plan (CIP), and
helped me to better understand resource utilization as it pertains to the needs of our respective campus.
Educational leaders are charged with managing the overall operations of a school. In doing so, they must
be equipped with the tools, knowledge, and resources, to effectively plan and prioritize the financial
obligations required to meet campus goals and objectives. Although, I have gained a wealth of
knowledge as it relates to competency 8, I would still consider this an area of needed growth.

Competency 9: The principal knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the
campus physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.
Some of the courses that I have taken while pursuing this degree have strengthened my abilities in this
area. As a teacher, I often overlooked process of developing and maintaining systems to ensure a safe
and effective learning environment. I understood the importance of it, but I didnt quite think about the
leadership principles necessary for designing a conducive organizational structure. I did, however,
witness a series of changes to help improve the systems. This competency is fundamental to the structure
and function of any school. It is imperative to have strong systems in place for my respective campus.

EDUC 6331Administrative Internship II

Spring 2016