Learning Targets Aligned to ISSL Standards:

1. Students will demonstrate a basic knowledge of the major management functions for
which building level leaders are responsible. [ISSL #1, 3]
2. Students will understand and be able to discuss the relationship of management
functions to the standards. [ISSL #1, 3]
3. Students will understand and be able to discuss the contributions of management
functions to student learning. [ISSL #1, 2, 3]
4. Students will be able to discuss the differences between traditional management
strategies and those implemented by learning leaders. [ISSL #1,2,3]

Proficient - 2 Emerging - 1 I​ ncomplete - 0

Meets or exceeds Needs more evidence to meet No evidence to meet
standard/objective proficiency proficiency
Practice and formative assessment:
HR/Hiring simulations
Leadership Fair project/presentation
PDSA/continual improvement project
Communications/PD activity
Schedule/planning activity
Class Discussions
Shared Written Reflection Documentation
Blind Spot Analysis Group work
Summative/Evidence:
FBLA 1 Management Definition Essay
FBLA 2 Leading Professional Development
FBLA 3 ​Management Leadership Innovation Fair
My progress after weekend 1:

What would you change or add to FBLA 1?

What things do you think still ring true, and what misconceptions have you uncovered?
What was the most important thing you learned this weekend, and why was it important
to you?

Overall, I feel that my FBLA aligned to the readings for class! In terms of the leadership style
that I often reflect on and hope to emulate someday, Deming’s work has helped me to
completely transform into a systems thinker.

My perception of effective management comes through the lens of systems thinking. If leaders
can think about ever action’s impact on the system and build capacity in teachers and
stakeholders, then a healthy system will be built and maintained. This is essential to effective
school management.

If I was to revise my FBLA, I would add a section about managing evaluative processes as well
as effective systematic changes. Rounding is a new concept that I have already taken back to
my school to utilize in my own work as an Equity Coach as I continue to build trust with
teachers in order to make adaptive changes to their beliefs on how to best meet the needs of all
kids, including students who have typically been marginalized by the system.

I believe the rounding process will be an essential routine to set in order to achieve the
organizational trust that I discussed in my FLBA. Rounding is just another way to meet
teachers where they are at and support their continual growth. I don’t feel like the information
presented in weekend 1 was particularly new, but it reinforces the importance of keep systems
organized, building trust with teachers, and understanding how to effectively communicate to all
staff about collective commitments and building vision.

The biggest challenge I see for myself as a future principal is time management. Right now, I
am trying to practice time management in my current role to prepare me to effectively manage
on the system and not spend the majority of my day putting out little fires around the school,
because I know this can destroy a system and erode trust over time.

My progress after weekend 2:

For a teacher with a very different philosophy of discipline and classroom management, I would
get to the beliefs system behind their philosophy. Then, I would reflect on how their philosophy
does or does not align to the mission and vision of the school. I would also reflect on whether
the teacher has the capacity (skill) and the will to change their practices if they do not align to
the mission and vision. I would also pull data in relation to their behavior functions to compare
to the rest of the school. Then, I would have an intentional conversation with the teacher based
on my knowledge of where they fall on the skill/will matrix. Knowing the difference between
skill and will would shape my discussion, because I would need to know their level of will
before getting down to the skill that would potentially need to change.

The role of systems thinker make school management more effective because systems thinking
allows the school leader to prioritize and organize their actions based on what their school needs
to be done. They can use systems thinking to identify people within the system who have the
capacity to lead different parts of the system. This helps the school leader to avoid living too far
“in” the system rather than managing on the system. Also, effective management doesn’t work
with one leader taking on everything rather than leveraging their team to support the vision and
action. Continuous improvement becomes essential, because an effective leader recognizes
when a component of their system is not functioning healthily. Then, the school leader can
make an innovation to the system in order to improve its function. If innovations are not made,
the system becomes stagnant. A system dooms itself when this occurs. No system is perfect,
and all systems have their challenges. A strong leader does not ignore the imperfections but
instead addresses them through a problem-analysis process. Thus, the system can become as
healthy as possible.
After weekend two, more information has been added to my toolbox for effective school
management. One helpful component of weekend two was the process of creating interview
questions, a rubric, and a schedule. This is a process which I have never completed
individually. In the process of creating interview questions, I stopped to reflect about the types
of questions that might elicit response centered around growth mindset, as this is one of the
most essential skills that a teacher must possess in order to be effective. Thinking ahead to
interviews, it will certainly be important to gain an understanding of potential teachers’
experiences but more importantly how and why they intend to grow.

The toolkit was very beneficial to me -- I ended up using consensograms and the POPE protocol
in my FBLA process. Not only did they help me to engage my peers in a meaningful process
analysis, but they also modeled a clear structural system. This led to greater employee
satisfaction, because the admin members who participated in the two processes left our planning
meeting feeling a sense of direction. When I think about effective and ineffective management
that I have experienced in the past, clear communication and purpose have always been the
factor that leads to successful organizational management. Having clear structures for visioning
and creating new systems helps all team members to stay engaged in the work while also
building everyone’s capacity at the same time.

My perception around the management of people continues to grow. In my current role as an

equity coach, I constantly must establish trust with my team members while also pushing our
building goal ahead. Management is not just about resources and systems, but people too. I am
still learning how to balance systems and to pay extra attention to the teachers who can make or
break systems.
My progress after weekend 3:

Interview Reflection​:
This was my first time participating in the planning, creation, and implementation of an
interview. My team’s questions were heavily focused on instruction and assessment. We paired
with a second group for another interview. Their questions focused a lot less on instruction and
more on the teacher’s feelings about their classroom environment and beliefs. Although we
took different approaches, I feel that we were still able to pull out the important factors such as
instructional knowledge, assessment knowledge, and instructional beliefs. Throughout the
planning process, we each took one piece of the interview process. I was responsible for the job
posting and the writing prompt. I feel like our writing prompt was pretty innovative, but I still
don’t feel completely comfortable creating job postings. I need more time to think about my
district’s core values and how those might effectively be conveyed through a job posting to
attract the candidates who have beliefs closely aligned to district vision and goals.

As for the interview process itself, I feel like we asked the right questions in that we drilled
down to instructional beliefs and processes. I would’ve liked more time to see the candidate’s
work. Overall, I think practicing the interview process again and again will benefit me as an
interviewers. With practice will come ease. I think it’s really important as an interviewer that I
am hyper aware of my actions and words in order to convey my core beliefs and values around
management as well.
The post-interview process is crucial time to identify strengths and areas for growth for each
candidate. Something I’m wondering about is how it looks when multiple candidates are
interviewed but the interview team doesn’t come to consensus on who they would like to hire. I
would want to see that conflict resolved effectively.

(See SWOT Analysis down below in document)

Principal On a Clock​:

This article and accompanying video clips align with what I have observed with the
administrators in my building because administrators constantly must manage their actions and
make decisions about what is high priority and what can wait while still maintaining normal
protocols like PLC visits. I see the administrators in the video clips trying to maintain balance
between student interaction, teacher interaction, and management of duties. I want to maintain
balance between the three areas while never losing sight of what is best for kids. Overall, the
administrators maintain a level of positivity about their roles -- I believe this is crucial to
success. Additionally, just as teacher efficacy is important, administrator efficacy is essential.
Again, it’s not about the amount of time but ​how I spend my time​. I will need to be so
intentional about building capacity of the team around me, so the management can be effective.
Thus , each member of the team will have capacity to carry their duties and not ALL of the
responsibilities will fall on the shoulders of the principal.

Weekend 3 Reflection​:
My understanding of school leaders’ roles as school managers has​ evolved​. Before, I thought
only of management as the management of resources and operations. Now, I see that building
leaders must manage their staff effectively as well as make innovations to the system in order to
continually improve their practices to meet the ever-changing needs of students and
communities. For me, the management of time will always be the greatest source of
learning...prioritizing and then reflecting when my prioritizing doesn’t go well. Additionally,
maintaining the balance of ​trust and safe but brave conversations​ just because of the nature of
the districts where I will continue to work...urban education hasn’t ever benefited some large
populations of students -- we must change that with some level of urgency and passion.
Management of systems and people will play a monumental role in assuring that process occurs
effectively.

In terms of creating an effective team and reflecting on your comments from week 2, I agree
that since I am a doer, I need people on my team who help me to maintain balance while also
supporting the forging ahead with the vision in mind. I’m in a really good spot right now with a
principal and a SIL who’s styles balance mine perfectly. The principal creates the space to do
the difficult work but also asks the right questions. The SIL is the perfect balance to my
personality, and I think when we work together, people trust us from her end but also respect the
urgency in the way I vocalize it. She’s calm, quiet, extremely detail-oriented and introspective,
yet she and I can push each other in private in the areas for growth. On the other hand, I am
articulate, passionate, and big picture visionary. Our values around what is best for kids align
perfectly, and thus, we are able to work so effectively as a team.

High School (Prioritizing a Day)

(2)Support lunch duty while also collaborating with building admin/counselors (2 hours)
(9)Speak to class about evaluation cycle (1 hour)
(15) Make coffee in break room (5 mins)
(8) Attend student services meeting (30 mins)
(5) Meet with AD to talk about homecoming week (30 min)
(7) After-school duty (15 mins)
(10) Meet with secretary (15 mins)
(1) Speak to counselors about a recent student death over the weekend and programming
for another student (15 mins)
(11) Check emails that had come in overnight (15 mins)
(14) Meet with Homecoming court committee to do a walk through of the voting process (30
min)
(13) Check in with teacher about a recent article (1 min)
(12) Chat with AD about early dismissal of a team (10 mins)
(6) Monitor parking lot (5 mins)
(3) Phone call with district personnel about incoming sped student (10 mins)
(4) Meet with parent unexpectedly about parking (40 mins)

Blindspot Management:​ (Due Weekend 2 -- several paragraphs about the blindspot

and thought process behind the resolution to the blindspot)

One blindspot within my school is the use of admin team meetings for technical
operational actions rather than as a transformative time to coach each other up around
the adaptive practices that need to occur to align our teachers to the vision/building
goal. We must address this blindspot, because right now it is essentially sabotaging our
building goal of reducing chronic absenteeism in our African American males by 20%.
The chronic absenteeism rate for our African American males last year was over 43%.
We did walkthroughs, observations, and rounding with teachers in order to identify lack
of rigorous instruction and culturally inclusive practices. Most of our associate principals
were not historically instructional leaders, and they are not comfortable having
courageous conversations around inequities in data.
Because of this, we must dedicate 20 to 30% of our admin meetings to addressing our
building goal. That includes coaching each other up on coaching teachers in their
classrooms and PLCs -- we need to become more intentional about how we spend our
time in our PLCs.

I am attending the Cognitive Coaching training as well as Glenn Singleton’s

Courageous Conversations Summit in order to understand how I can build capacity in
the administrators to gain comfort with the ideas of intentional courageous coaching.
Right now, the way we will address this blindspot is through one real life scenario per
week. Each week a new member of the team will be tasked with bringing a scenario
that could be a coaching conversation from the week before. They will debrief on how
the conversation went, and then we will have the ability to reflect on how we would
respond and coach each other through questioning.

I still need to work out the actual system for this, but I want to do it with input from the
team at our Monday meeting in order to support buy-in and make it meaningful for each
member. Before Monday, I will map out the questions I will ask to support the team to
begin forming a protocol around coaching scenarios.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FesBO1nswbVgEbrppBiSO9mEeqdnBoq9nOfp7
0O7ofE/edit

Management Scenario
You are the principal of a large high school. You supervise 4 associate principals.
At the end of the 2018-19 school year, all associate principals must reapply for
their positions. This has left a bad taste in 3 of the 4 administrator’s mouths.
During weekly meetings, you catch different team members throwing up their
hands and saying they cannot improve the system because they are just going to
lose their jobs anyway. The 3 members who are struggling with the task of
reapplying for their jobs even created secret coffee mugs that say “Final Four” in
defiance of the sweeping changes. You heard about this from another staff
member who came to you with major concerns about what the associate principals
say to the teachers who they directly manage. Often, they get behind on their
day-to-day technical tasks and cannot commit themselves to the school’s equity
change plan, which you have prioritized for the current school year. How would
you manage this scenario?
 Management Scenario
A veteran teacher on staff, who is personal friends with several of the other staff members, is
largely responsible for permeating a toxic culture within the teaching staff. On several occasions,
she openly admits to actively working to undermine school initiatives, professional development,
and nearly anything proposed by the instructional leader or principal.
During an evaluation cycle, she had students play Sudoku for an algebra lesson. While
completing a round of walk-throughs, she had nothing planned for one of her classes, that she
teaches four class periods each day. This teacher has been placed on an improvement plan in the
past, but was able to successfully work through it.
Though she currently teaches social studies, she has taught math in the past, and is
extremely vocal about her preference to teach math instead of social studies. Recently, a math
positioned opened at her school. She applied and interviewed for the position, but she was not
hired for the math position. As expected, this has amplified her resistance to improve her current
practices as well as her reluctance to engage in any sort of professional development.
Furthermore, this teacher misses more professional development meetings than she
attends. She frequently schedules doctor appointments or calls in sick on days that the staff has
bi-weekly professional development meetings, citing her extreme allergies and severe asthma as
her reasons for frequently missing school.

SWOT analysis​:

Strengths
● Teacher had made many errors related
to the 8 teaching standards and there is
plenty of evidence to write her up and
move to a phase-plan
● Could use this instance as an
opportunity to address toxic culture
through rounding and climate surveys
Weaknesses
● Teacher has already been put on a plan
previously and was able to get off
again..this could be problematic when
putting her back on a plan in relation
to her union rights -- she could fight it
● Administrator has not followed
through with difficult conversations
with this teacher historically
 Opportunities
● Teacher could be put on a phase-plan
and let go fairly quick -- could get a
more effective teacher to take her
place
Threats
● Teacher has clout with several of her
peers
● Teacher could immediately become
combative when initial conversation
occurs
● Other teachers may feel the same way

My proposed solution would be to first have a difficult conversation with the teacher
about her contract and obligations and their alignment to the teaching standards. I
would ask her what she needed from me as an administrator to support her moving
forward to meet the standards of her contract as well as the mission and vision of the
school. I would bring my instructional coaches and the rest of her grade-level team
together to surround her with positive voices in the process. Then, if that didn’t work, I
would collect 5-6 walkthroughs on the teacher. After that, a conversation would occur,
and depending on the findings of the walk-throughs, the teacher would be put back on a
plan.