Professional Documents
Culture Documents
I started working on my idea for my project last school year. We were given a data
project by Dr. Askren-Edgehouse and I chose to analyze attendance data for my school. My
principal gave me the initial idea and helped me develop my next steps for my internship project.
The initial project was so much fun and interesting to me, so I was really excited to dig in further
My project is in response to House Bill 410. This is a new attendance law, enforced this
school year, changing the rules and laws for attendance. Attendance is a reporting category on
our district report card, so it is vital we improve attendance in our district. Historically,
attendance has been a requirement of school-aged children. Schools have had some guidelines
and laws have been written regarding parent responsibilities in terms of school attendance.
In my district, the focus of attendance has been at the high school level because at that
level, it is more student choice when it comes to attendance. This means, students have more
opportunities to not attend school because they are able to transport themselves or have other life
situations that may prevent attendance. With House Bill 410, the district has to carefully monitor
attendance for all students, kindergarten through high school. There are thresholds the schools
must pay attention to and notify parents as students are meeting them.
are also implementing reward systems for students who are attending school. My initial
presentation to my principal was to reward on a quarterly basis. He felt that was too lengthy of a
monthly program, that it was too short and has become cumbersome. I am also responsible for
creating rewards for the students who earn perfect attendance. In determining baseline data, I
will be looking at data for attendance, breaking it down so we can determine if there is a specific
There have been some limitations to working on this project. For instance, because of
my current position, there is quite a bit of data that I cannot access independently. Therefore, I
have to rely on going to my administration for this information. This does not always mean I am
allowed to have access to the information anyway. Also, my ideas and thoughts regarding next
steps and future ideas must be cleared with administration. I do not have much freedom in
Instruction
This area of our Internship hours has been rather easy to accrue. Through Teacher Based
Teams (TBTs), Problem Based Learning (PBL) and Professional Development (PD) days, I have
been able to earn hours each week. As teachers, we are required to meet for TBTs a few times a
week. During this time, we look at data, our standards and curriculum and determine what we
can do to better meet the needs of our individual students. This year, I am teaching just math, so
I am leading each of the math meetings for our third grade team. Our principal and
administrative intern attend our meetings as they are available. When our principal is in
attendance, he is often there to simply observe, but sometimes offers insights and information
from an administrative perspective. This is nice because we are able to ask him direct questions
in terms of resources available or schedule changes that may be necessary. He is also able to
Our instructional program has to be effective and streamlined, especially with the
students we service. We have to make sure the information we are teaching is delivered to a
variety of different learners, but also meeting the requirements set by the state. I service students
identified as gifted this year. This means that another component of my instructional needs is to
be able to enrich students who are gifted in math. So, I went to a PBL training for three days.
Through this, I was able to not only learn a new instructional strategy, but I was also able to
With permission from the state, our district is able to exchange some of our school days
for PD days. Our teachers spend the day in specifically identified classes to help support our
needs as instructional leaders. This year, our new Curriculum Director has done a fantastic job
of ensuring the classes and sessions offered during our PD days are relevant and interesting to
our staff. We have spent many of our days learning our newest English/Language Arts
curriculum our district purchased over the summer. This will hopefully support our teachers in
Collaboration
Collaboration is one of the most important aspects of being a leader. I believe you will
never be an effective leader if you do not listen to and work with the people who surround you.
That is not to say that your own thoughts and decisions are not best, but sometimes you have to
trust you have surrounded yourself with the best people. I decided to get my degree in
Educational Leadership because when I was a mentor to a new teacher I realized how much I
loved collaborating with her and being able to bounce ideas off of her. I enjoy professional
development sessions where I am given time to learn from other teachers and hear what they do
in their classrooms. One of the most beneficial experiences I ever had as a teacher was going
into a classroom, observing that teacher and then getting to pick her brain about how she made
math work in her room. That collaboration in education is essential to the growth and
Team (TBT) meetings, our Grade Level Team (GLT) meetings and our staff meetings. I wish I
could add something like Building Leadership or PBIS committee, but my building principal said
I was not allowed to be a part of them. Unfortunately, we do not have many other opportunities
for collaboration in my building. However, during our TBTs, I am able to talk to my grade level
teammates to understand what they are doing in their classrooms. Even though I do not teach
Reading, I am able to share with my coworkers about things I have done. They trust me enough
GLT meetings are our opportunity to talk to other Third Grade teachers in the district.
We discuss curriculum decisions as well as common assessments. This time is to discuss our
Staff meetings are enjoyable when we get to pair up with teachers from other grade levels
because we never get to collaborate. These small moments are valuable because we are able to
discuss topics but from perspectives of different grade levels. It allows teachers to better
Continuous Improvement
I have been recording hours for my internship since August and I have found that
Continuous Improvement is one area that I have had a hard time earning my hours. While I do
have about 11 hours toward the required 25, I do not feel as though this area has really been an
area I have learned a lot. I asked my principal if I would be able to join our school Building
Leadership Team (BLT) for this school year and he said no. He felt as though there were too
many people on the team as it was and that if it grew bigger, it would no longer be a BLT, but
just an extra staff meeting. I understand his opinion and I respect it as the building leader. I do
feel as though the BLT meetings are truly where he is sharing his vision, goals and plan for how
The hours I am earning are mostly coming from attendance at staff meetings. I have
presented at one staff meeting regarding attendance and PBIS. My presentation was limited and
I was given the information and told what to share. My other hours are coming from my
Committee. This committee is focused more on the IAT process and student academic success.
The meetings are highly unorganized and I do not feel as though much is accomplished. I have
spoken to my principal about this and he has pushed the responsibility onto our guidance
and I believe he wants only what is best for his students. However, I am not sure he effectively
manages the staff at times in order to meet those needs and goals.
School Operations
This area of our internship hours has been the most fun for me. As Head Teacher and a
graduate candidate, my principal has allowed me to “run” the building a few times. During these
hours, I have been able to step into the leadership of the building and see how a school works
from a different perspective. This has also allowed me to interact more with our student body
and teachers which has been an absolute blast! What is even better is that it is when my
principal is out of the building, so I am truly having to make decisions regarding behavior,
schedules and routines on my own. Going back to what Pat Paulkin taught us over our summer
sessions, “Are you prepared to defend the decisions you make?” echoes in my head. These are
truly the times when each decision you make has to be deliberate, but also often quick and
without hesitation. As I fill the role of leader in my building, I’ve learned it is important to allow
teachers to feel they are supported. Right now, this means that they are able to make decisions
for their students without me questioning what they are doing. They are professionals. If a
teacher is comfortable enough to come to me or ask me to help with a student, I trust the teacher
has exhausted all outlets and tricks before coming to me. This has always been the case with my
staff this year, but I know it is not always true in other buildings.
Other responsibilities I have taken on are running morning and afternoon announcements.
We meet as a school in our gym for both. This is somewhat unstructured, so it is important to
make sure everyone is doing their job. Teachers notice these moments when we need a little
extra help and they step in right away. It is good to know we have a well-oiled machine in that
aspect. I have also taken on bus duty in the morning. The biggest issue is safety with this.
Students need to stay in the crosswalk and stop before entering the bus lane. Having an adult
monitor also ensures that parents are aware of routines and procedures so they are not entering
In order to earn hours in this category, I had to get creative. At the beginning of this
school year, I was able to join my principal for our yearly “Lockdown Drill and Review”. From
that, I asked a few questions about what our school was doing to ensure we were as ready as we
could be. I have worked in other districts where we had “Go Bags”. These are emergency bags
teachers are to grab and go in evacuation situations. My principal allowed me to take over this
project. I have been preparing lists of necessary supplies and creating donation letters for
potential partnerships with local businesses. I reached out to our football booster and initially
attendance, which is a part of my internship project. These meetings have been positive and for
some students, has led to better attendance. I have other components of my internship project
that will hopefully include outside support such as mentors for our students who are at risk for
attendance.
My class has also started working with a local artist, Dyanne Williams, through the
STARKArts program. She is a mosaic artist and has done some amazing work around the world.
She has started a mosaic project with my students, tying in math. Our final project will be posted
I had a few other ideas I had presented at the beginning of this year, but my principal did
not support those ideas. One idea was to have father volunteers come in and be mentors for
some of our more troubled students. Other ideas were to just have a breakfast club with our
administrative intern. These are ideas we will continue to push and hopefully pursue.