Andrea Butzler

May 6, 2014
Internship Summary and Reflection
Over the past ten months, I have spent time observing and having discussions with principals,
other administrators, and community professionals as I learned what it really means to be a building
principal. My time was spent specifically with my building principal at Hillcrest School in Lebanon, the
Lebanon Senior High School Principal, the Lebanon School District Superintendent and Director of
Special Programs and several case workers from the Pulaski County Social Services office. These
experiences have allowed me to learn and observe the many responsibilities of a school building
principal. The building principal wears many hats and has many responsibilities. Each day I was able to
see my principal perform each of these roles while never missing a beat. He was able to go from one
role in one place to another role in another place with ease. I hope that as I progress in my leadership
skills and experience that I can perform all the daily functions of a principal and make it look like I know
exactly what I am doing all of the time. The following paragraphs serve to summarize what I have
learned throughout the Educational Administration course work and during this internship.
Principals are the facilitators of the vision and mission. Effective principals lead their faculty
and staff to create a vision and mission that is clear and meaningful, effective principals then guide the
building (faculty, staff, and students) toward the attainment of these goals. Principals are also the
curriculum and instruction experts in the building, or at least are expected to be. While this doesnt
mean that the principal knows every objective and is able to teach it, effective principals are familiar
with the schools curriculum and are experts in instruction and pedagogy. Effective principals know
what great teaching looks like and works with teachers to mentor and coach them so that everyone is
improving and students are being successful.
In addition to being a facilitator of the vision and mission and an instructional leader, the
principal is the manager and supervisor of the organization. As mentioned in one of my artifacts for
Standard 3, this expectation of the principal requires the principal to be a superhero. The principal is
essentially everything to everyone. The principal makes sure that the building operates effectively so
that students are safe and are learning. An effective principal does this, not by micromanaging but by
overseeing the work of their staff and faculty and holding those people accountable. The principal also
evaluates the effectiveness of things such as policies, procedures, budgets, schedules, and much more
to ensure that each aspect of the building is work in a manner that is consistent with the vision and
mission of the school and is benefiting students.
Through my internship, I was also able to observe my principal as he worked closely with
parents and families. An effective principal serves as a liaison between the community and the school.
This role requires the principal to have excellent communication skills and to have the ability to show
others that they are valuable. I was also able to see how outside agencies such as social services work to
keep students in school so that they can learn and be successful despite the awful home environments
that some of our students come from.
Effective principals also model exceptional, ethical behavior. Everything that an effective
principal does is best on the knowledge of what is best for students. Effective principals encounter
many situations each day where the easy way to handle something is not always the right way because
it may not be what is in the best interest of that student or what is in the best interest of the student
population as a whole. I can think of many disciplinary situations over the past year, that I handled both
as a teacher and as an administrator while subbing for my principal, where it might have been easier to
let the student off easy. However, I knew that what was actually best for the student was to have some
consequences for their actions. I know that principals are ethically obligated to do what is best for the
students even when that means that students are receiving consequences.
Lastly, I want to touch on what I learned about the principals role as a servant leader. As
educators, we are there for the community and for the students. Effective principals put students and
even teachers and the community first, before their own wants and needs. Effective principals are there
to serve students to ensure their success and the work that principals do in their management of the
school and leading faculty is for this purpose of serving students. In education, we hear a lot of how
special education students must be served, however I think that effective principals instill in their
teachers and model for their teachers ways to serve all students to ensure the success of all students. In
conclusion, I learned a lot during my internship. I was able to see and participate in many of the daily
roles and functions of a building principal. I believe I really am fortunate to be a building with a principal
that had such faith and trust in my ability to make decisions in his place.