COURSE Reflection

     Unfortunately online course and my study habits do not mix well. I am definitely the type of student that needs to meet once a week with my instructor or professor so I don’t procrastinate on assignments. I realize that because of the economy, budgets, and the desire to not drive every week to Fresno I’ve put myself into the position where I needed to take this online course but it’s not something I’d every recommend. In fact when other teachers inform me they have only taken online courses for their masters I find myself shaking my head because it’s not something I would volunteer for.

            The mock interview was very insightful. I appreciate the time to build my resume and to write my philosophy statement. Both will come in handy as I move forward into my administrative career. The fact that my philosophy of education is very different now than it was when I started teaching seven years ago is because of this program. All the classes I’ve taken for this degree and credential have helped me finalize the type of educator I truly am. I also really like the mock interview because of the immediate feedback that I received from the two administrators that interviewed me. In the future I will need to practice answer questions in clear, coherent sentences because when I get nervous my comments can bounce all over the place.

CAPSTONE Paper:

      This capstone paper was tough to put together mostly because I was unsure what the purpose was. The assignment prompt on the syllabus mentions that we would be talking about the paper throughout the course but until I actually looked at the sample online I had no concept what it was. I am very grateful that a sample was posted online otherwise I don’t feel that I would have been able to finish the paper very successfully. The capstone was basically the cumulative of everything we’ve learned period throughout all of our courses in this program. It was interesting to put together a desired future as that will now allow me to set goals for achieving that outcome.

BUDGET Activity:

When working on the Budget assignment I found I needed to ask many people for help to clarify what some terms meant and where I could locate the information. Most of the information was available online at ED Quest but it wasn’t put into the same categories that were used on the worksheet. I learned that some funds can only be spent on certain things and many times salaries are not included. The district main expenditures each year happens to be on salaries the unrestricted fund is first used to pay employee salaries. I finally learned what the EIA fund was, Emergency Impact Aid. I actually use EIA funds each year for copy charges until about mid-February which when that fund typically runs out. The last comment I want to make is about the lack of communication between administration and teachers on the types of funding available. Teachers are constantly told we need to cut our budgets but there are ways to find money from other funding sources that are not broadcasted to teachers.

RECAP from Nov. 4&5

     On Friday we met three separate administrators from Visalia, Sanger, and Clovis USDs. One of the consistent comments made by all three superintendents was to make sure you write all your evidence down even if the discipline is verbal. The evidence collected is necessary to successfully terminate the employment of an employee without being sued. Another common thread of thought was on getting rid of bad teachers. Again make sure there is evidence when you do but get rid of the bad teachers. The number of students a bad teacher will work with is not okay just because an administrator doesn’t have the courage to do the difficult things and have those hard conversations. Not only does that type of administrator lose respect from colleagues and teachers but they are also ineffective and not doing their jobs.

            
     On Saturday we learned all about Budget from Dr. Terry Bradley. I like accounting, but when it comes to the number of funds, the types of funds, the limitations on spending, and the number of accounts a school can have I have to say it scares me. One of the most important things I came away with from the finance meeting was to make sure that my books were balanced because that’s how administrators lose their jobs. Educational money seems to come with many strings and a lot of hoops must be jumped through to get things put into the right accounts and paid. Make sure money is being spent correctly and that record keeping procedures are followed at all times. As site administrator in charge of financing my job is on the line if there are issues with the numbers.

CHAPTER 7: putting it all together

This chapter puts together an example of a successful administrator career. Jeff touched so many lives with his passion about education and learning. I hope one day that when I retire from my education career that I will have people telling me about how I’ve affected their lives in a successful way. The six leadership connectors that we learned about in this wonderful book on Communication, Support, Safety, Competence, Continuous Renewal, and Trust will be my foundation for becoming a successful administrator. As a teacher I hope to step up into a lead teacher position soon and I plan to use these connectors to build positive and effect relationships with the people that I work with.

October 21-22 Session RECAP

Fridays session on all the laws involved in education and Saturdays school discipline section make me cringe to become a leader. I can handle the instruction, management, and personnel, but when it comes to disciplining students and dealing with negative parents I want to run and hide under the covers. Dealing with teacher or staff personnel issues don’t scare me as much as dealing with students and parents that lie all the time. Oh wait I need to assume best intentions.

I really enjoyed Dr. Hauser’s lesson on effective meetings and appreciate her bringing back the agendas we had to create in her EAD 172 class. Most of the faculty meetings at my school are unproductive and do not accomplish the goals they are set to. My department meetings are much better but I like how an effective meeting should have involvement from everyone versus the meetings I go to where only one person does all the talking, most of which I’ve already read in the executive advisory minutes. I believe I’m going to use a consensus-gram like chart for my project in some form.

FRISK seems like an easy way to remember how to fill out a letter of reprimand, we’ll see how I feel when I have to turn it in.

Chapter 6 - TRUST

Sorry this post is late ladies...

Trust really is the most important and valuable leadership connector but as the book says it’s the hardest to achieve and can take time. My leader has potential to earn everyone’s trust but currently I don’t believe she is capable of make some hard decisions. Like letting certain personnel go or switching someone’s job if they are an ineffective leader. I gave my principal two years of caution before deciding what kind of leader she was and right now she’s in the positive relationship building category that lacks the rigor and discipline necessary to produce better academic results.

                                                             

I would say I’m personally a trustworthy person but in reality I know there are times when I like to gossip or complain to others. If I decide to go into a leadership position I’m going to have to watch what I’m saying and keep it positive instead of whining about this or that. I will also need to avoid spreading gossip and stick to the facts or hard evidence. Being a leader always comes down to the evidence collected.