Examining the budget at my site was one of the most meaningful assignments that we have had. Working at a Title I school means that we receive more funding, but that also means we have more decisions to make and more pots to watch over. I was impressed with the savvy way that my Principal, GIS, resource Teacher and Officer Manager work together to make sure that the funds are spent wisely and appropriately. They have a keen sense for finding money and know when, where, and how to use it.
Maintaining my personal finances and establishing a budget has never been a problem for me. However, as an administrator I will be making more important decisions about funds that will affect the entire site. Keeping the specific needs of the students in mind will be of the upmost importance. I am thankful to work in a district that leaves much of this decision-making up to the site so that their specific needs can be addressed.
Our class sessions proved once again to be valuable. I enjoyed the communication activities on Friday night. We are all aware that communication is a key to effective leadership, but this is one of the only times we have been explicitly shown how to improve in this area. I will continue to practice listening without responding.
While I am not an administrator at this time, I appreciated the insight we got from Dr. Terry Bradley about the budget and funding for K-12 education. The factors concerning our budget may seem out of our control at times, but we are still responsible for providing a quality education. This class session opened my eyes to the complexities of school finance.
It seemed as though the presentations on educational law couldn’t have come at a better time. I am teaching 6th grade for the first time this year, and that has seemed to open up a whole new can of worms for me. Just last week one of my students was the victim of cyber bullying via Facebook. I had no idea this type of harassment was reaching such a young age. The information presented by Roberta Rowe left me feeling more prepared to deal with these actions and consequences in the future.
On Saturday, Dr. Hauser provided me with additional new insight on holding meetings. I think that as the school year wears on, and the meetings become routine, it can be easy to become laxed in planning and execution. Her strategies and set of procedures are practical and useful. I plan to use her agenda template in the future and abide by the rule that the time spent planning should be more than the meeting itself.
As an aspiring administrator, I am constantly keeping an eye on current administrators and learning from them. There are those that seem to just have it all and this chapter helped me to see how they’ve gotten there. I really appreciated the statement, “These leaders have a passion for and are committed to a healthy life, nurturing relationships with their family and friends, and their jobs.” It was encouraging to read that it is the best leaders who are able to balance their careers with their personal lives. It is possible. Some of the keys ideas that I will reflect more upon are:
Over the past six years, I have taught three different grade levels. This has definitely lead to multiple instances of feeling incompetent. I appreciated reading that “sometimes realizing that feelings of competence and incompetence are human and touch everyone’s life path can bring perspective to our own lives.” It is important to reflect on our feelings of incompetence, so that our actions can be changed in the future. I have found that preparedness and self-confidence are keys to building a positive self-efficacy.
In an administrative role, I believe that having mentors and surrounding myself with positive people that I can trust, will lead to fewer feeling of incompetence. Obviously, no one is perfect. It takes a strng person to admit their mistakes, reflect, and learn from negative feelings. It would be much easier to ignore them, but as the leaders we are setting the tone for the staff and our students. We must model that behavior that we expect from them, believe in our abilities, and be willing to constantly grow and change.
The issue of safety in a school impacts everyone on the campus. Sometimes the issue is not just between students; conflict and intimidation can also occur between adults.
In my current position as an elementary school teacher, I have found that building meaningful relationship with my students help to combat bullying. As the teacher, we have a choice of simply teaching the assigned curriculum and calculating grades, or we can spend time with our students and get to know them. Coaching sports after school and monitoring recess really helps support this process. Some children need more mentoring and direct teaching to behave in positive ways. It is difficult to tell who those children are without getting to know them.
Bullying amongst adults is a very sad problem and has no place in any educational setting. Unlike with students, it can be more obvious who the adult bullies are. I believe I might know one: the teacher who has fewer duties, gets new supplies first, demands things of others, are avoided by other teachers. It is an important role of the administrator to recognize these behaviors and put a stop to it. The same should be said when the parents at the site are bullying teachers, administrators, other parents, and even students. They make threats to get what they want and belittle people who are working hard to educate their children. All of these interactions create a toxic environment in which no one can thrive.
Chapter 2 Reflection: Support
With support being a basic need of everyone on a school campus, you’d think that it would be easier to come by. However, different personalities and priorities create a need for multifaceted support including: financial, material, physical, emotional, human, and/or moral. Each teacher will respond differently to varied levels of support so it is up to the leader to get to know the staff and what will work them.
From my perspective, one of the most powerful elements descried in this chapter was visibility. I have experienced what a difference it can make in everyone’s day when the administration is not holed up in their office. During my first year and a half of teaching we had an exceptional GIS (Vice Principal) who offered unwavering support to both the staff and students. Each morning he walked through every single classroom to check on things. He was able to make sincere connections with the students that impacted their behavior and learning. In addition, the teachers always knew that they could count on him for anything that they might need. I found this especially valuable as a new teacher and I aspire to model his effort in a future leadership role.
