Leadership Dispositions & Competencies
- Communication: Effectively listens to others; clearly and effectively presents and understands information orally and in writing; acquires, organizes, analyzes, interprets, maintains information needed to achieve school or team 21st century objectives.
- Effective communication was a core component of my residency. I communicated with a variety of stakeholders every week to distribute information, drive instruction, solve problems and build relationships. This involved both listening and responding to stakeholders on a regular basis.
- Change Management: Effectively engages staff and community in the change process in a manner that ensures their support of the change and its successful implementation.
- For my problem of practice, I had to communicate a new vocabulary intervention with the staff. I took their feedback and worked to support classroom instruction by training teachers on a Tier 1 vocabulary intervention strategy. I used observations surveys to gauge efficacy and fidelity.
- Conflict Management: Anticipates or seeks to resolve confrontations, disagreements, or complaints in a constructive manner.
- Standard 5: Element 5 B: This artifact is an example of how I set up a conference to resolve academic and behavioral concerns between a parent and our teaching staff, while preserving an outcome that was in the best interest for the child.
- Creative Thinking – Engages in and fosters an environment for others to engage in innovative thinking.
- During my residency, the administrative team made changes to the schedule to ensure student success. With a finite number of resources, we had to be thoughtful and strategic to help support our students.
- Customer Focus: Understands the students as customers of the work of schooling and the servant nature of leadership and acts accordingly.
- When making decisions, it is important to stay grounded in a student centered mindset. During the numerous parent conferences I participated in, I always worked to make sure that we focused on doing what was best for our most important customers, our students.
- Delegation: Effectively assigns work tasks to others in ways that provide learning experiences for them and in ways that ensure the efficient operation of the school.
- As the process manager for the NC STAR system (SIP), I was responsible for working with the SIT to select indicators and create action steps. I worked with the team to delegate action steps to each team member so we could implement the indicator and collect appropriate artifacts.
- Dialogue/Inquiry: – Is skilled in creating a risk-free environment for engaging people in conversations that explore issues, challenges or bad relationships that are hindering school performance.
- Teachers, parents and community members frequently held conversations with me or vice-a-versa where it was important to keep an open line of communication. I learned how to listen and refocus conversations when necessary to keep the best interest of the school and our students at heart.
- Emotional intelligence: Is able to manage oneself through self awareness and self management and is able to manage relationships through empathy, social awareness and relationship management. This competency is critical to building strong, transparent, trusting relationships throughout the school community.
- Throughout my residency, I worked to grow my emotional intelligence by learning to listen carefully when teachers have concerns. I also worked to make sure when teachers spoke with me that I was supportive of their work in the classroom. Lastly, I learned that emotional intelligence is also about empowering others to make decisions in the best interest of children.
- Environmental Awareness: Becomes aware and remains informed of external and internal trends, interests and issues with potential impacts on school policies, practices, procedures and positions.
- A number of external events had the potential to impact the students at my school. School safety is of concern to all stakeholders. I learned how to have crucial conversations with students and parents regarding policies and procedures that are in place to protect our instructional environment.
- Global Perspective: Understands the competitive nature of the new global economy and is clear about the knowledge and skills students will need to be successful in this economy.
- As a global facilitator in my school, I was responsible for training staff on our global education platform. This involved following up on staff professional development and monitor implementation.
- Judgment: Effectively reaching logical conclusions and making high quality decisions based on available information. Giving priority and caution to significant issues. Analyzing and interpreting complex information.
- One of the things I learned during my residency is sometimes you do not always have the luxury of having 100% of the information at hand when a decision needs to be made. There are always multiple perspectives on a situation. As a leader, I had to learn to make decisions that were in the best interest of the students and school.
- Organizational Ability: Effectively plans and schedules one’s own and the work of others so that resources are used appropriately, such as scheduling the flow of activities and establishing procedures to monitor projects.
- One of my responsibilities was to carry out the monthly fire drills. This required me to be organized and accurate with paperwork. I also had to maintain accurate discipline records in the event we needed to reference previous disciplinary issues.
- Personal Ethics and Values: Consistently exhibits high standards in the areas of honesty, integrity, fairness, stewardship, trust, respect, and confidentiality.
- During my residency, I worked to elevate my ethics and values on a regular basis by building relationships with all stakeholders. I always operated with a "seek first to understand" mindset with each staff member. Additionally, I was honest and as fair as possible when working with student discipline issues.
- Personal Responsibility for Performance: Proactively and continuously improves performance by focusing on needed areas of improvement and enhancement of strengths; actively seeks and effectively applies feedback from others; takes full responsibility for one’s own achievements.
- I met with my principal on a daily basis to solicit feedback to improve my practice. Additionally, I had numerous meetings and weekly communication with my executive coach who helped me look at issues through different lenses.
- Responsiveness: Does not leave issues, inquiries or requirements for information go unattended. Creates a clearly delineated structure for responding to requests/situations in an expedient manner.
- As a principal resident, I worked to follow-through on all of my communication. It was important to me to not only tend to the needs of the parents, students and staff but to also provide them feedback. In doing so, I could determine if an issue or suggestion was resolved or acted upon satisfactorily.
- Results Orientation: Effectively assumes responsibility. Recognizes when a decision is required. Takes prompt action as issues emerge. Resolves short-term issues while balancing them against long-term goals.
- When looking at data, I worked efficiently to analyze and disaggregate the data so the results could be shared with my principal or teachers. This paved the way for decisions to be made about instruction, curriculum and student growth/proficiency.
- Sensitivity: Effectively perceives the needs and concerns of others; deals tactfully with others in emotionally stressful situations or in conflict. Knows what information to communicate and to whom. Relates to people of varying ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.
- During my residency, the tragedy that unfolded in Parkland, Fl. was on the minds of our students. A number of students discussed the situation with myself and other administrators. I had to be sensitive to our students’ feelings while reassuring them of our processes and procedures to keep them as safe as possible.
- Systems Thinking: Understands the interrelationships and impacts of school and district influences, systems and external stakeholders, and applies that understanding to advancing the achievement of the school or team.
- The school is a combination of relationships and systems coming together to support each child. During my residency, the administrative team leveraged relationships with our faith-based community, parents, district office, local agencies, PTO and law enforcement to provide both support and opportunities for our students.
- Technology: Effectively utilizes the latest technologies to continuously improve the management of the school and enhance student instruction.
- Technology has been threaded throughout my principal residency. From organizing and analyzing data to providing professional development, I model effective use of technology to improve my practice.
- Time Management: Effectively uses available time to complete work tasks and activities that lead to the achievement of desired work or school results. Runs effective meetings.
- As a principal resident, I ran meetings efficiently by utilizing an agenda and being respectful of our teachers' time. Additionally, I prioritized tasks to ensure they would be completed thoroughly and timely.
- Visionary: Encourages imagineering by creating an environment and structure to capture stakeholder dreams of what the school could become for all the students.
- When working with beginning teachers, I encourage them to “begin with the end in mind.” I want them to think critically about their students. What should your students know at the end of the year? What will your evidences be? What does success look like? This process helps beginning teachers to start framing their work for the year.