Competency Reflections

Livia Santos EDUC 6331 Dr. Virginia Leiker

Shaping a campus culture is particularly important to convey to not only the students but faculty and staff as well. The campus needs to define a

Texas Competency 001

Knows how to shape campus culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community.

mission statement. While reading Coveys book on the Seven Habits, I understood the importance of having a set Mission Statement for any school. Throughout the second half of the internship, I noticed a great need to establish a campus culture regarding Online Safety and Digital Citizenship. I felt that the opportunity given to me to create a training for the teacher to enhance that mission in the school. Although, as a future principal, I feel that I need to learn more and establish not only a culture for the school but a personal mission statement as well.

Due to the high demand of Computer Science in our society, parents, stakeholders, and even administration pushed for a set

Texas Competency 002

Knows how to communicate and collaborate with all members of the school community, respond to diverse interests and needs, and mobilize resources to promote student success.

curriculum for Computer Science for the whole school with the
support of the Sacred Heart vision of educating the whole child. With a background in the subject, I worked together with the school

community to see what was best for the children regarding

Computer Science. The Computer Science curriculum project allowed me to fulfill competency 002, also because the project

needed me to create resource analysis for resources needed for

students in the class.

Competency 003 is probably the most important competency

Texas Competency 003

Knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical and legal manner.

because the Principal is an advocate for all children. As a principal

you are in the spotlight not only at work but also your personal life. Today, a principals personal life is exposed via social networks.

Throughout the Educational Leadership program, I have established

a practice with my social network to reflect myself in a more professional manner. I believe that future principals should be aware

of not only what they say online but also the pictures posted of their
personal lives.

Throughout the Internship I obtained a more of understanding of how to sustain an instructional program while keeping in mind the campus

Texas Competency 004

Knows how to facilitate the design and implementation of curricula and strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment of curriculum, instruction, resources, and assessment; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance.

culture. The realization that sustaining a good technology program while also prudently selecting the best technology possible was extremely difficult. The creation of the Computer Science Curriculum was when I saw the roots and intricacies of a curricula. Aligning the curriculum with the TEKS was difficult because the technology/computer science curriculum is fairly new and even the state of Texas is still working on the details. Finally, providing support to our assessment, the ERBs, I saw the importance of measuring student performance.

Correlating with competency 004 where the instructional program is created, competency 005 is where it is nurtured. This competency is

Texas Competency 005

Knows how to advocate, nurture, and sustain an instructional program and a campus culture that are conducive to student learning and professional growth.

probably the one that is overlooked the most due to lack of time to reanalyze effectiveness of strategies and curriculum established in competency 004. Additionally, responding to the different cultures in the school is important to effective learning and establishing the campus culture focused on student learning. I believe that as a principal, this will be one of my most difficult tasks: building a strong organizational method to be able to assess and sustain the program. Doing all this is essential to fulfilling this competency.

Competency 006 is directly correlated with staff. The head of middle school realized the importance of having Online Safety courses to reach all the students in Middle School due to the growing number of Social Networking websites and

Texas Competency 006

Knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system to improve the performance of all staff members, select and implement appropriate models for supervision and staff development, and apply the legal requirements for personnel management.

online communication. As technology teacher and integrator, I did not have enough time to reach every student. So we decided to implement the Online Safety course in the Advisories. However, the teachers did not feel that they were ready to teach these course. Responding to these concerns, we decided that I should host an Online Safety Professional Development session for the teachers. The

most difficult portion of this competency is finding the time to implement

professional development for the teachers. Creating an online version of the session has proven to be the solution to this issue, so teachers can access the course on their own time.

Future principals need to ensure that the learning environment is effective by organizing committees, problem solving, and applying

Texas Competency 007

Knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to ensure an effective learning environment.

decision making skills. The principal needs to learn how to delegate but also research data to best form decisions. Competency 007 should be applied not only to principals but every business leader. Making informed decisions is essential to have effective learning. I feel that this competency is best mastered through experience and research. Although, I can learn the different skills needed to be an effective principal, I will never master them until I can put them into play.

Competency 008 address all aspects of being a principal involving

Texas Competency 008

Knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to campus budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology use.

inventory, personnel, financial management, and technology. The

allocation of technology and what is needed to support a high technological school has become more apparent to me throughout

the second half of the internship with my inventory project. However,

I feel that budget analysis and financial management is something that I need to work on to become a better principal. The

implementation of the new Computer Science curriculum has given

me a glimpse of the funding needed to support a new curriculum.

Competency 009 addresses all other aspects of the school, including the physical plant and safety of the students. Although, I have great knowledge in online safety, I feel as if I need to work on more of the rules and procedures needed to ensure a safe learning environment. Knowing the state protocols and laws and

Texas Competency 009

Knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the campus physical plan and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.

also researching what is best for ones campus is beneficial for the safety of the school and its learning environment. Also, creating crises management and analyzing which crises procedure is best for ones campus changing depending on the location of the school. Finally, to maintain the schools safety, always ensure that the physical campus and equipment are operating effectively. I saw that this is difficult to achieve in a school, due the vast number of items needed to run a school. The inventory project showed me, hands on, all the technology that is needed to run the school but also knowing what is still active and inactive and where are certain items that are listed.