Reflection

· Describe why reflection is an important skill in leadership.

Reflection is the most important skill for any leader.  It forces you to stop and think about the entire situation and how it affects the entire system.  It helps shape a leader to in becoming more aware of the needs of the organization and to even be cognitive of their own strengths and weaknesses.  I received my masters in education from Lamar and we used this same book and it was really interesting to reflect back on the notes that I took in my book three years ago.  I highlighted the section on page 106 about the Limits to Experience.  As a young administrative prospect I knew that my major weakness was lack of experience, but I was determined through my internship plan and opportunities in my district to put myself in a position to gain experience. This is now my third year as a Principal. Too often leaders feel that weaknesses are negative.  When the reality is that by defining these you are putting yourself in the situation to achieve greatness.  By challenging your weaknesses and reflecting on them a great leader develops these areas through professional development and experiences.  There is so much knowledge in asking for help.  I have surrounded myself with experts in their fields and rely on this knowledge to become my own.  I enjoy the devil’s advocate and the perspectives of others and expect nothing less from everyone on my campus. The greatest task that a leader holds is problem solving and decision-making. Without being a reflective leader one could not develop adequate problem solving skills to move their organization forward.  The common quote “learn from your mistakes” becomes the commonplace in the vocabulary of reflective leaders.  Einstein stated “anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”  Everything in education is a work in progress. New information is being mandated at us each every day.  As we move our districts and campuses to being successful we must get used to making adjustments and never accepting the status quo. 

Provide examples of reflective practices throughout this program citing examples from:

· Course assignment activities

Through the assignments and even the readings I found this information to be so practical for my understanding of the role of the superintendent.  I keep a binder on my desk of information that I may need at arms reach and have many articles and readings from our assignments in it.  Notes on budget and laws are among the most critical to maintain information on. 

· Blogs

Through my blogging experiences I have taken this knowledge and expanded it to my campus.  We are in the process of creating a blog for my campus that allows everyone to share information and ideas at a more rapid pace. It is a constant board for feedback from oneself as a leader and possibly others.  The ability to share information from experts is so valuable in expansion of knowledge.

· Course and campus supervised logs

Through the internship plan and activities I found that many overlapped some of my previous work but that this time I had more in depth and specific questions to seek out.  Looking at the bigger picture leaves you with a perspective that helps you think globally and about the system that your campus is a part of.  Building relationships with other people in the district has been tremendous for me to better my campus and to be a vital part of the district. 

· Assessments

I enjoyed the assessments as they were a comfort zone for me and my ability to recall the information from each class.  I found that they were the most helpful in preparing me for the Comp and hopefully for my Texes exam. 

· Other intern reflection experiences

Even though I prefer to take face-to-face classes I was still able to build a network of colleagues to again take expertise from.  I think that a viable suggestion would be to allow group work in the form of videoconferences with peers in addition to weekly video chats with the professors. 

    

 

Describe how you plan to use reflective practice to improve your leadership skills – provide some specific suggestions for applying the skills of reflection.

I plan to use reflective practice to improve my leadership skills by making it a common language that I share with myself and colleagues daily. Through questioning and seeking knowledge of other experts I plan to continue to develop my reflective skills to maintain a high expectation of problem solving to lead my campus to success.  I want to do more reflecting in my meetings and with my teachers to seek their feedback through surveys and discussion.  I want to develop my skill set of reflection to become more natural and innate by getting comfortable with hearing the negative in order to find a solution to make it a positive. 

Reminder - Scheduling a Conference with the District Site Supervisor to review the SISE 

Please schedule a conference with your District Site Supervisor between now and Week 5 to review the Supervisor’s SISE (Superintendent/Supervisor Internship Summative Evaluation). 

I have a meeting scheduled with my site supervisor next week on Tuesday at 4:00.