EDLD 5397

Week 1 Discussion

Part A This summer I had the opportunity to be the A.P. for summer school. The summer program consisted of 12 days; grades 1-5. My overall job duty and responsibility was to make sure students were behaving in a way that academic learning can occur. In other words discipline management. There were a few minor discipline problems that I handle very fair and with integrity. I learned a lot about my school procedures and protocol on how to handle disruptive students. Also parents were very reciprocal about how I handle the situation. The summer school program was a big accomplishment for me as a leader. Another intern activity that I experience was being a part of the CIP committee. I learned about school budgeting and how to allocate funds.

Part B The biggest surprise that I have experienced thus far is how much amount of money the principal gets to run the school. I was very surprise to see there is really no money in the school system. Thanks to Title 1 funds; this can only be used for certain criteria. Also I was surprise to notice & see that the principal has very limited decision when it comes down to overall decision making. For instance, we had 30 students total that were supposed to be retained. The principal approve it, but then the head supervisor superseded the principal decision. We had to pass all students after we notified parents about retention. I found that there are a lot of rule changes that occur without mutual agreement and sometimes the principal can look like the bad guy, but in reality their not.

 

Week 2 Discussion

 

Part A: So far I feel like I have mastery or become more knowledgeable about Domain I: School Community Leadership and Domain II: Instructional Leadership. I feel that I have hit and understand all the competencies that both Domains have to offer through the activities and field experiences. However I feel like I need more practice and skills in Domain III: Administrative Leadership. My biggest areas of needs are in competency area 9 (school safety), and competency 8 (budgeting, resource allocation, and management). As for School Safety, I need to examine reports from current local health and fire inspections, as well as any other state or federal reposting data on maintenance of the facilities in order to be more familiar and comfortable with this competency. And for competency 8, Budgeting, I need to examine the school budget and the various accounts under the discretion and responsibility of the administrator of study.

Part B: My biggest surprise so far, is the budget that a principal has to run the school. I was very shock when my principal revealed to me that she only gets 30,000 for one school year. Also another surprise is how depth the school safety protocols and procedures are. I am very pleased and happy that we run a safe campus, but some of the rules are a little bit over the top. For example, we no longer can have hand sanitizer in the classroom because it contains alcohol. My district states that alcohol is a chemical that can be harmful to students if they inhale it. Who thinks like this??? 

Week 3 Discussion

 

Part A

APA stands for American Psychological Associations; it’s used to properly cite sources when writing a research paper. I used APA format in the past to write a paper and essay in college. APA style has helped me to clearly explain how to organize my paper using the proper manuscript structure and format. One of the hardest aspects of APA for me is using unbiased language. I’m an English teacher and have always used MLA style and formatting in the past. Also, I have a hard time not using gendered pronouns and feel that I often have to repeat the same phrase over and over again to circumvent biased language.

My district does not have an IRB policy. The Lamar University IRB is in place to protect the safety of human subjects in research projects of the school. It outlines the history of the need, what is acceptable practice, how to apply for approval to use human subjects for research from the IRB, and who makes up the review board.

Part B

I have many successes with my action research project. After researching the data, we were able to see that the students who still struggle with reading ability after being pulled for intervention still struggles because of lack of support and self-efficacy which they do not receive from home. Most of their parents are incapable of reading themselves so they can’t give their child the support they need. Once we found this out, we were able to put together a packet call reader’s on wheels, where the parents can have the support to educate themselves and child.

After visiting with my A.P., we both agreed that I am on the right track with my research paper.