Feed back to the student

Elizabeth Hogan wrote on 01/03/2014

Totally an awesome and excellent experience and your reflection was spectacular. I truly believe that is what we need in secondary settings.....the type of discussion and work that goes on at so many elementary schools needs to be replicated. I'm not saying that all secondary schools do not do this type of work but there are some out there that could certainly learn from your experience. What will you do with this information? Exp. Record #: 13862 Date submitted: 12/31/2013 Elizabeth Hogan approved on 01/03/2014 Cohort: UEN 2012

Student Name: Schroeder, Jakob John (390375)

Field-Based Internship Reflection Form For Internship Experience Standard 1: Visionary Leadership; Standard 2: Instructional Leadership; Standard 3: Organizational Leadership; Standard 4: Collaborative Leadership; Standard 5: Ethical Leadership; Standard 6: Political Leadership Title: Becker Elementary Level Elementary Time Spent 6 hour(s) Note

Standard and Criteria 3.e Protects instructional time

Briefly describe this field-based internship experience, including your specific role (1/2 page). I spent an afternoon professional development day at Becker Elementary with principal, Melissa Steggall. For today my role was to listen, observe, and ask questions. I was very excited for this opportunity to meet with Melissa since I hear so much about what goes on in the elementary schools for professional development, but rarely have the chance to see it for myself. I was very fortunate that I was able to meet and talk with Melissa for about an hour before I would be observing the professional development activity for the afternoon. Melissa shared with me how she carries out her role as an instructional leader. She began by talking about the professional development initiatives they have at Becker and then we spent time examining the way they use data at the school. Since I mostly listened and observed, most of this reflection will focus on what I learned from this experience. Reflect on what you have learned from this experience, from mentor discussions, and how you will use this learning in future administrative leadership roles (no more than 1/2 page). First, I must say Melissa is an incredible instructional leader! I was so impressed by the organization of information that she presented to me about the way she runs her professional development at Becker Elementary. Not only does this involve the Wednesday afternoon professional development, but the ongoing meetings she conducts daily with staff members as they work in grade level teams. The teachers work together to design and align curriculum around research based initiatives that come from Melissa and the school district. I was blown away by they are able to use data. The data is concise, very easy to understand and use and most importantly comes from multiple sources. They are able to efficiently keep track of the progress of every student at all times. The best part is that the data is meaningful and used daily. Not only does this allow her to make decisions about students, but also about her teachers and where they can be used effectively. This is very different from the high school where we sometimes collect data, but we really have no idea how it should be used or what information can be learned from the data. I also enjoyed the way the professional development was setup and presented to the teachers. They start by compiling a list of things they want to accomplish at the beginning of the school year and then they condense the list to make the goals attainable. To meet these goals they design only a handful of new techniques and strategies they want the teachers to use and these become the initiatives for the year. This helps prevent the teachers from becoming overwhelmed and also allows them to fully understand and master these initiatives. Today the focus was all about improving the instructional ability of the teachers. They began with a review of the current literacy initiative by making sure it was working smoothly with all teachers. The next step was the introduction of a new math activity that would be their focus over the coming months. The principal would model the activity allowing the teachers to see how it should be done. Melissa said it is important for the teachers to become involved and see how the activity works so the teachers have a better idea of how it will be used when they take it back to their own classrooms.

03/02/2014 08:19:41 PM

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My head was spinning when I left! This got me thinking about how we could improve how we use data at our school to ensure we are keeping track of all students effectively. I also wondered how long it takes a principal to become this good! Would I be able to do what Melissa does? She would be great to work for as an assistant principal (or lead teacher as they are known in Waterloo). I think my ultimate indicator of how much I appreciated what they do at Becker was being able to say that I would want my children to attend this school under the leadership of this principal. Mentor(s) Mike Landers The date approved by his/her lead mentor: 12/20/2013

03/02/2014 08:19:41 PM

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