Final Course Reflection (Organization and Administration)

It is that time again, another post to round out a course from Hopkins. This course gave you an opportunity to practice a range of leadership strategies when making decisions. It required you to think politically, orchestrate collaboration among all stakeholders, and remain steadfast in your original vision. What do you envision to be the pitfalls you might face as a first year principal, and how will you implement the strategies learned to overcome the pitfalls? As a first year administrator, I imagine that I will be falling into a wide range of potential pitfalls! I think that is a...

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Inspiration

Here I am at work on a Friday…

It is something that I am not really used to doing. Having a four day instructional week is great – and I am almost always hesitant to commit to a Friday full of work!

Today we are in Professional Development about engaging students to increase achievement…

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Reflection on Co-Teaching and Differentiation

Entry #1: Co-Teaching- Share your thoughts about the co-teaching model? What impact does the upgrade of curriculum for the 21st century have on co-teaching? As a curriculum supervisor or leader, what challenges would you have supervising and evaluating a co-teaching team, and how might supervisors address these challenges? I actually have had the pleasure of co-teaching multiple times in my career, and have greatly benefited from the experience. My experience has always shown that the two teachers can use each others strengths to design lessons and units that are more engaging more...

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Curriculum Reflection

In the current school environment, there are many stakeholders that have a variety of perspectives on how schools should be managed. As each stakeholder tries to push their own agenda regarding curriculum, schools are caught in the middle. Some of the stakeholders with the most pull in these negotiations regarding curriculum are: the Local, State, and Federal Government; Local Education Leaders; and the local Judicial System. These stakeholders are clearly representatives of our current society and demonstrate the divisions in education culture throughout the country. In the current climate,...

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Reflection on Observations

Recently, I conducted a peer observation on a member of the Staff at my school. It was an interesting process, and one that was valuable to me as a new administrator. As part of the evaluation, we were required to record our post observation conference. Due to some district rules, I was only allowed to audio tape the meeting. With the assignment, I will be answering some basic questions about how the observation conference went and what I saw. What strengths and/or improvement areas did you notice about the environment and tone of the post-observation? In my district and school, observation...

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