Practicum in Leadership
Shadowing and Interviewing
Brief Report of Interviews of PY, and her Principalship at the elementary school by Lisa Patterson 7/11/07 10:00 – 4:30
I was able to experience a variety of effective management strategies while shadowing PY. PY is a new principal to our system and to my school. She has 5 years administrative experience in a larger school system and is full of ideas to share with us.
After thanking PY for the opportunity to shadow her, I began my reflective interviewing by summarizing what I had seen. She gave me permission to ask her questions based upon the events I had observed. PY met with the maintenance supervisor (Kev) at our school to discuss hiring 2 new custodians which. Kev seemed anxious and asked PY if she would call the school superintendent about the situation. PY smiled and calmly said she would call immediately. My first question to her was, “Why was the maintenance supervisor in such a hurry for her to call the school superintendent?” PY explained to me that the 2 men would not be approved by the Board of Education until July 20th. However, the men needed to know if they would be hired so they could put in a final notice of employment at their present job. Kev wanted reassurance from the school superintendent that it was all right to notify the men of their upcoming employment with us. PY had spoken with Kev previously about the situation. PY told me that she responded calmly to Kev to comfort him. As soon as Kev left the office, PY made the call and received verification from the school superintendent that the men would be hired. PY told me that she called immediately in order to gain Kev’s trust in her.
An additional question I asked that pertained to PY’s administrative team meeting she conducted from 12:00-400 was, “ I noticed when you were going over new duties and responsibilities of the administrative team members, you stopped the team from interjecting questions about the new assignments until you were finished explaining your plan. Why did you choose to answer team members’ questions after you had spoken?” PY had emailed team members her plans to reassign administrative duties a couple of weeks earlier. PY told me that she had received an email from one administrative team member notifying PY that the team was experiencing anxiety about being asked to change their duties. PY chose to verbally give her plan to team members before she answered their questions in order to stay on track and say everything she wanted to say without leaving anything out. PY also hoped to answer some of their questions during her presentation. PY’s main motive for reassigning duties was to spread the work out so no one person would be overloaded. I admired PY for sticking to her plan. It will be interesting to see how smoothly administrative duties and responsibilities will work this year.
Practicum in Leadership
Shadowing and Interviewing
Brief Report of Interviews of KW, and his Principalship at the county middle school by Lisa Patterson 7/19/07 7:45 – 2:30
I was able to experience a unique management opportunity while shadowing KW. KW is the principal of our middle school and has many years experience as a principal in different school. He served as a teacher and administrator in a metropolitan school system prior to serving our county for the past 6 years and brought a wealth of experience with him to our county. At the time of this shadowing and interviewing experience, KW was serving a duel role, one as principal as well as assistant principal of the middle school during summer school.
After thanking KW for the opportunity to shadow him, I began my reflective interviewing by summarizing what I had seen. He gave me permission to ask him questions based upon the events I had observed. KW began the day by preparing to administer the math portion of the CRCT to summer school students. He had organized all materials and delivered them to three teachers which were planning to administer the test. KW spoke with students in each class and encouraged them to do their best on the test. Once all materials were delivered, KW entered a classroom with 8 students waiting to begin the test. KW orally administered the test to these students with a very enthusiastic, positive, and encouraging attitude. My first question for KW was, “Why were you responsible for administering the CRCT test”? KW explained that each of the 8 students had an IEP which stated that they must be given certain accommodations on tests. No one else was available to test the students, so in order to accommodate them appropriately, he took on the role of test administrator. I was very impressed to see a principal carrying out classroom duties. He had much confidence in his secretary whom he felt would handle issues in the office during his absence.
After sitting in with KW during CRCT test administration, I enjoyed observing him taking care of issues which arose throughout the afternoon. He spoke with the athletic director about a scheduling conflict for football games, the safety superintendent about the revised safety plan, and a parent thanking him and his staff for the outstanding year her son had experienced as a seventh grader the previous year. I noticed that KW focused much of his attention on the students and their demographics that were withdrawing and enrolling for the upcoming year. I asked another question, “Why is it so important to know the demographics of students moving in and out of the school?” KW explained to me that it is important to understand the demographics of your school for many reasons. However, the reason for his focus at the time was the No Child Left Behind law which stated that students must be divided equally by their socioeconomic status. Because he was placing students into classrooms, it was critical that he remain abreast on the socioeconomic status of all students in the school. I thoroughly enjoyed the enlightening, knowledgable experience I had while shadowing KW.
Practicum in Leadership
Shadowing and Interviewing
Brief Report of Interviews of KWH and his Assistant Principalship at the County Elementary School by Lisa Patterson 3/31/08 7:30 – 3:30
I was able to experience the operations side of administration while shadowing KWH. KWH is the assistant principal of our county wide elementary school which houses all students in grades 3 – 6. KWH served as a teacher and administrator in a local high school prior to serving as AP for the past 4 years. At the time of this shadowing and interviewing experience, KWH was multi-tasking because several incidences had and were occurring and all demanded immediate attention.
After thanking KWH for the opportunity to shadow him, I began my reflective interviewing by summarizing what I had seen. He gave me permission to ask him questions based upon the events I had observed. KWH began the day by investigating a fist fight between two third grade boys which had occurred in the cafeteria during breakfast. Before punishing the boys for fighting, KWH interviewed several eye witnesses in order to get a clear picture of what had caused the fight. One of the boys was given Out of School Suspension (OSS) for 2 days, and the other boy was given In School Suspension (ISS) for 2 days. Next, two fifth graders were waiting to speak with KWH concerning a heated argument between them which had led to blows. Both boys were given 3 days in ISS. Parents were notified immediately in both situations, and the 3rd grader given OSS was sent home as soon as his mom checked him out. I asked KWH, “How did you know what consequences to give each child for their misbehaviors?” KWH explained to me that careful documentation had been logged into Powerschool, our program for collecting student information, each time the students had committed an offense. After reviewing the students’ prior offenses, KWH knew the discipline step each boy had gotten to, and therefore he knew the consequence each boy was facing. This experience instilled in me the importance of keeping clear, concise documentation when dealing with discipline within the school.
Later, KWH conducted 6 Student Support Team (SST) meetings, all of which were related to poor academic achievement. I asked KWH, “How will implementing the new Pyramid/ Response to Interventions affect our current use of SST meetings?” KWH told me that RTI will replace SST meetings, but administrators will still have a key role in facilitating the RTI process. This convinced me to learn as much as I possibly can about RTI.
KWH also worked on scheduling 3 new students and placed them into Powerschool. He monitored hall activity and cafeteria duty. He also supervised dismissal of car riders at the end of the day. This shadowing experience of KWH was very educational for me, because operation of the school is the area in which I have the least knowledge and expertise.