Competency 001: 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. When studying for the principal test for Texas I found this particular competency to resonate throughout the rest of the competencies. Making sure that the campus culture stays pliable throughout a principals time as an administrator is essential to future success. During my internship I learned from two supervisors, one was one I considered the boss type, where the other is the leader type. Boss types dictate where Leader types facilitate. I desire to be a Leader type. From the Leader type I learned how to be a supporter, creator, facilitator among other traits. I addressed this competency during my internship being open to trying new ideas, crafting my skills as a coach and motivator versus being a manager and dictator. So I work with my department head by developing mini professional development seminars for our department in which I have covered everything from technology to scope and sequencing. Before the end of the school year I am planning on sharing how to properly set up a personal website for the cohorts in my department. I have encouraged and teamed up with some of my fellow teachers to let them know they are valued on our campus through the monthly campus newsletter by doing a spotlight on them. Competency 002: 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. Throughout my internship with the Boss type supervisor I have been exposed to views of how things will be versus on what they should be. Feeling like things are dictated to the staff is not how I want to be as an administrator. I would love to develop leaders and stand out team members that believe in the campus vision that we developed as a team. That is not how the Boss type operates on my campus. So I have been tailoring the things I want to do in the total opposite direction of their approach. The Leader type supervisor I have now has been including me in the planning of some of the programs on his campus as well as exposing me to how to properly communicate to the campus community, both on and off. The format I have used in the newsletter on my campus I have shared with my current Leader type supervisor. My current Leader type supervisor uses multiple sources of information to assess what is needed to communicate information to the stakeholders involved with his campus. His campus based leadership team mobilizes and supports his vision in any way thats needed. They work together for the common vision of the campus and make sure it aligns with the districts goals as well to ensure that all learns have an equal opportunity to learn. Competency 003: The principal knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical and legal manner. This third competency is one that was imbedded within me from a very young age. My dad was military and made sure that the things I did in life encompassed that I acted with integrity, fairness, ethical, and honest all within the realms of the law. Because stepping outside the law would cause for consequences that would set a person back immensely. As a principal I wouldnt want to jeopardize my family, and by

family I mean my campus, over doing the wrong thing or executing a shortcut that would give me short term results but long term headache. With my dealings with the Boss type on my campus I have been honest and forthright in many of my interactions with that administration. In the end it has helped me stay ahead and out of their crosshairs. I would never want my staff to feel like they have to stay on their toes in fear that a small transgression will turn to be their downfall. One of the things I have implemented this school year with my interactions with all school and district personnel is to be proactive and not reactive in my dealings with them. I have kept journals to notate any instances that have come up this school year. With my Leader type supervisor he has shown me how to properly engage and nurture relationships with the staff and students. Competency 004: 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. Throughout my time in my current school district I have had to collaborate with my department to make sure that we continually implement the proper scope and sequence, while ensuring that testing is taking place and being properly analyzed. With the proper analysis of the data we as a math department can see what concepts the students are struggling with and where they are excelling. I have helped with the development of making Unit tests for our department from our district curriculum, from creation to analysis. As a math department we have come up with strategies to spiral previously taught concepts throughout the year into all of our tests. Despite the Boss type administration on our campus, we as a department have come together to make sure we are in alignment with the administration and district. We do not just stick with pencil and paper tests. I have collaborated with our department head to include weekly math journal entries and 6-weeks capstone projects for our classes. The reasoning behind that idea is because the district curriculum doesnt provide any possible projects within their numerous assignments per unit. So as a grade level team we research possible math projects and we may use the same project or utilize different ones based on what we feel would be beneficial to the students learning process. Competency 005: 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. Throughout my internship I have kept notes on how to provide more opportunities for the teacher on my campus on attending more professional developments outside of the district. Through the regional offices or even conferences there are numerous chances for educators to improve their skill set and continue to be lifelong learners. Giving teachers chances to expand their tool box only enhances the possible chances students can reach their full potential. The improved staff leads to more confident and competent staff who will believe in the campus vision and help create a culture on the campus that will be sustainable. I have attended board meetings for my district and have voiced the concerns of teachers and given solutions to the concerns to the board. I have had discussions with my current supervisor about professional development, instructional development and implementation extensively. We agree that a leader type administrator will field suggestions from his staff on possible needs and solutions and

go with the campus leadership team to develop them into viable solutions that fit within the campus vision. So learning how to build an instructional program that helps all stake holders is pivotal in the success of the academics of a campus. Students also need programs that can enhance their learning and capability of developing and retaining positive skills. Competency 006: 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. The Boss type administration on my campus hasnt been too helpful in developing and evaluating staff correctly. There have been numerous instances where teachers have felt they have been wrongly evaluated and filed grievances against them for those evaluations. Even my PDAS evaluator has had to make corrections on my evaluation after being reminded of the things I did during his time in my classroom for the evaluation. The Leader type supervisor I have known has shown me several instances where he talks to his staff and establishes a rapport with them and lays out expectations and when needed models whats need to be done, he leads by example and shows the way to success. Now both types have stated and shown how to properly follow district HR protocol when the need is there to write a memo about an employees misguided steps. The major difference the Boss type doesnt follow proper advance notice to teachers, where the Leader type has. One of the things I have observed throughout this school year with dealing with two polarizing leadership styles is that I am learning what I want to be as a leader. Taking time out to model how things should be done and what your expectations for your staff is essential to making sure that you are supporting your staff and guiding them to the campus vision Competency 007: The principal knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problemsolving skills to ensure an effective learning environment. With my current supervisor I am developing an organizational chart for his different committees on campus that help him with his decision making. He includes his staff in many of the decisions that he makes, he values their opinion and when a question or concern arises he challenges them to also come with possible solutions as well. He rarely makes decisions all by himself, but he has made several executive decisions because of time constraints but they are usually based off choices presented to him by his teachers, leadership team, and administrative staff. As a marketing major in college I knew the value of gathering opinions and assess what the masses desire to see. It takes lots of work to gather that data and present the ideas to all stakeholders as something that majority will embrace and support. The current administration on my campus doesnt quite follow that model, they usually make decisions on their own as an administrative team and state we need as a staff need to do it. As a current teacher who is capable of wearing the administrative hat, it always backfires on the administration. The teachers rarely support them, many times staff is not engaged in embracing the campus vision because they perceive as so vague because of the secretive tactics of administration. Now I understand that something are not to be shared until finalized to avoid confusion, but when the staff have not been included in the development process at all it hard for them embrace the change.

Competency 008: 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. Technology is one aspect of my profile as a future administrator I will embrace full force, I am a not a full digital immigrant because I have always been into technology and embraced it. So with the internship I have shared my knowledge with my math department and a few of my colleagues on my campus. I do miniature professional developments in out math department meetings to help my team become more technology savvy and comfortable where they dont have to rely on me nor call up the information technology department. But as far as some of the other aspects I have worked with my current administrative supervisor about how to read a budget, analyze it to find more funds to use to fund certain initiatives on the campus. Dealing with personnel concerns for the school year have been shared with me by my current supervisor and that has been very helpful with understanding how staffing affects the campus budget. Another area I was inquisitive about under my current supervisor was resource utilization, as a business major I understand about maximizing your resources to their fullest potential. He has enlightened me on how resources in education may be a little different but the purpose is till the same, to properly use them to reach the common goal of your organization. Competency 009: 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. Under my current supervisor I decided that one of my internship projects would cover the facility aspect of the principal competencies. So when I posed to him what I could do to help with a facility issue he came up with traffic flow before and after school at the entry of the school. His concerns with the traffic were safety of the students and staff, he stated that its been a major headache on getting the traffic flow to be less manic and have a sense of proper purpose. I havent had a chance to do the morning traffic flow, but he has informed me that it is the same as the afternoon traffic flow. So after school I have been observing traffic flow and what opportunities are available to correct that. I have been working very hard on making sure that I offer several solutions to try out before settling on a possible solution. Being proactive as an administrator about facility concerns is always advantageous, because in the end just like in any organization, reactive constantly costs more. When things end up costing more it eats away at the budget which ends up taking away from all stake holders and stifles the progression towards the campus goal. Safety and security and making sure procedures are in place to address all possible situations would be advantageous to any campus administrator. When an administrator doesnt practice the procedures in place with their staff they might as well not have them in place at all. As the old adage goes practice makes perfect.