Frostburg State University

Form 002

Intern___John Courtney______

Administration and Supervision

Self-Assessment of Final Practicum
Your internship has been a total experience that included not only yourself, but also all of
the staff, administration, students, parents, and community members who participated in
some way in projects of your implementation. Also, you might consider all of the individuals
you were required to deal with as you conducted the internship duties and responsibilities.
For example, discipline problems would normally involve students, teachers, and parents at
a minimum. As you attended to such discipline problems, you would be engaged in trying
to facilitate among the needs of all individuals. Given this back-drop, provide answers to
the following questions regarding your internship practicum experience.
1. Was your internship effective? Did it meet all of the goals and objectives as stated in
your Planning Guide?
In answering this question fully, consider the use of such instrumentation as:
a. Pre- and post-surveys to determine outcomes of staff development training
b. Observation checklists to determine if students were behaving in the ways
expected by the school and the community
c. Interview schedules to determine parent and community opinions about the
need for a change or the impact of a change
d. Data from standardized tests and measures to determine how well students
have learned over a given period of time in given subject areas.

I felt I not only met the goals and objectives of the planning guide, I exceed my expectations
of what I needed to do. I set out to give myself the most authentic experience possible. Upon
Completion I feel I have reached that goal. Through developing schedules, analyzing
assessment data, and evaluating teaching, I feel I have a greater grasp on what it means to be
A school administrator.

2. Did your internship projects meet the specific needs of all of the individuals who
participated? Where Question #1 focuses on the project goals and objectives of your
internship, this question focuses on the needs of individual participants. How well do
you believe individual participants needs were met throughout your internship?

I feel I met the needs of the individuals who I impacted during the internship. Two quick
Examples showcase my dedication in meeting the needs of others throughout the course of the
Internship. First, I was asked by my building principal to solve a problem figuring out the
Special schedule for the school. I came back the next day with a schedule that solved all
obstacles blocking the successful schedule. Second, I was asked by students teaching in the
University PALS program to evaluate their instruction. I observed their lesson and provided
feedback to the students to ensure that they improve in teaching when they enter a classroom in
the fall.

3. Did your internship help to bring about meaningful organizational change in your
school building? Many times internship projects are designed to facilitate the
development and implementation of new programs either for the delivery of
instructional services to students of to help in the management of the organization.
Did your internship facilitate such conditions at the building level? One important way
to determine the answer to this question is to investigate whether or not your
internship projects had an impact on the buildings mission and /or vision statements
regarding schooling. Was learning positively affected by your work?

I believe that I did had an organizational impact in both internships. In my first internship I
wrote weekly professional development briefings for teachers many of whom used the
professional development in the instruction of their students. I also wrote official documents for
my second internship such as an emergency procedures manual and a procedural document to
handle day to day routines.

4. Did your internship help to bring about meaningful organizational change in the school
district? There have been times when an internship project has been piloted at a
building site with the intention that, if judged to be effective, the district or the division
would have considered adapting it at other sites. In this way a pilot project could have
an impact on the organizational change of an entire district or division. How close did
your internship come to enjoying such an impact on the district or division? In refining
your answer to this question with an interest of establishing a broader base t it,
consider reviewing the districts or the divisions mission statement or board of
education annual reports on their goals to the community.

during my internship I created a master list for all schools in the district. I also created a
mentor
text reference for all buildings to use an inventory for mentor texts in ELA blocks. In addition,
all professional development that I wrote for my principal was shared to other buildings to be
used district wide.
5. Did your internship experience provide project participants an opportunity to have
input on the overall assessment of the experience? Did you give staff members,
parents, students, and community members an opportunity to let you know how they
think your internship affected the district or the division, the building, and the
instructional programs?

Informally I asked all participants how I was doing and to give feedback on the work I was
providing. Formally I asked my mentors what I could do to improve and what other candidates
had done in the past that I may be missing. I was through these conversations that I constantly
strived to improve and be better at what I was doing every day.

6. Identify your efforts to bring members of different groups together to work on

achieving similar goals and objectives.

During my second internship there was a large amount of confusion with the day to day activities
and events. In order to bring clarity I got the entire team together to discuss how we can
establish effective routines and solve each problem one at a time. This approach to leadership is
telling of the type of leader I am; I democratically work with all parties to try and come up with
the best solution to move forward.
7. Identify strategies used to engage members from different constituents in the project
work. Examples of such constituents include but are not limited to these: parents,
senior citizens, and local government figures.

Throughout my project I collaborated with many different individuals. First and foremost, I
collaborated with a variety of administrative officials in completing curricular and managerial
documents. Next, I collaborated with community members such as the local police department
in giving teachers training on active shooters. Last, I worked with parents in planning
community outreach activities like the Title 1 night I planned.
8. Name or identify types of planning strategies utilized in your project work.

I made documentation of everything I did electronically. On the tabular summary I created

planning lists and checklists of what I needed to do for recent projects. I was often given requests
by my mentors to complete projects on certain timelines; so, the list of work I could create
would be based on those completion timelines. This organizational structure led me to complete
my internship hours ahead of schedule.
9. Name or identify ways by which your internship experience might have made it clear to
you that local issues can confront us with barriers to change.

The most striking experience I had was the funding of the local summer school in which I was
The building principal. Acquiring funding was extremely difficult and the local government
Offered no assistance to the program because of bureaucratic roadblocks. I came to the
realization that advocacy for school programs is just as important as the implementation and
management pieces.