Running head: COMPETENCY REFLECTION

Competency Reflection
Chris Wells
University of St. Thomas

Dr. Eduardo Torres

EDUC 6331 Internship Class
Spring 2016

COMPETENCY REFLECTION

During my time at the University of St. Thomas I have grown greatly in my outlook and
expectations of what a school principal must do in order to effectively run a school. The nine
competencies are guidelines to what is expected of a school leader and builds a good foundation
but one needs experience in order to fully develop. Both internships have provided great
experience in how to implement the knowledge obtained at school.
Campus culture does not just happen with great ideas and requires time and patience.
Setting high expectations and putting into place a good system is not enough to run a school.
Every staff member has his/her own values and interpretation of what is best for the school and I
have learned it takes great leadership with regular check ins to ensure all member of the staff are
on board with your vision.
Effective communication is an investment of ones time. Words can be interpreted
differently which leads to confusion and a drop in productivity. I have learned listening is one of
the most important parts of effective communication along with the ability to step back watch the
process in order to make adjustments to the needs of the people. The words and actions must
reflect the values of the school vision in order to keep everyone moving in the same direction.
Most issues come down to what are the values and ethics of the school and person in
conflict. My words are only as good as those who trust me. Throughout my implementation of
programs I have been attacked and criticized both in secret and publically. Through the process I
have learned to stay focused on my values and develop a thicker skin which allows me to
continue to do what is best the students I serve.
The internship process has strongly enforced my beliefs curriculum and teacher
development is one of the top priorities of a principal teacher. I believe all teachers should be
observed, given feedback, and professionally trained in areas of weakness on a regular basis.

COMPETENCY REFLECTION

Every teacher deserves the chance to grow and retain his/her job but this takes effort and a
willingness to adapt into an effective teacher. Before the year begins, I would train and develop
some lead teachers to help develop our staff. With a thorough knowledge of what is happening in
the classroom, the principal should be able to effectively evaluate assessments of students and
teachers. Curriculum is the backbone to education and because of this requires a high amount of
time.
Running effective programs takes great leaders with which the principal has high trust
and communication. Collaboration and keeping everyone focused on the school vision will help
reduce the amount of negatives when running programs. The more I involved other teachers and
staff member the better the program was accepted. When something was all my ideas there was
very little buy in from others and the number of volunteers decreased rapidly.

Staff

evaluations should be up front, honest, quick turnaround times, and expectations should be
known ahead of time. The person being evaluated must trust the leader has his/her best interest at
heart and the expectations are achievable with support from leadership. Using the evaluations
should also provide valuable professional development on a regular basis encompassing the
needs of the campus.
Keeping the needs of students and the school has helped me to make better decisions and
solve problems when it comes to a difference of opinion or direction the school should head in.
Strong ethics with clear expectations allows everyone to understand your values and determine if
they are on board with where the school is progressing. When conflicts arise it is also best to go
to the source and talk about it. I had a teacher mad at me for two weeks over a misunderstanding.
The situation required me to approach the person and discuss possible solutions.

COMPETENCY REFLECTION

Patience and a strong vision of what the school needs have helped me to plan and
implement an effective programs with a budget. It took going to the superintendent in order to
move my program forward and pay teachers to stay after school to run the program. Our district
runs and distributes the funds which leads to less money for each campus to invest into our
programs. There are many channels to go through and the management of money is closely
watched which causes principals to be reluctant to spend money. Programs take a large amount
of time and resources and need to get results immediately in order to stay in place. There is a lot
of pressure to maintain and get results when money is involved and I do not think this is a bad
thing because the process pushes the implementer to achieve.
I have learned a safe environment starts with the office staff because they come in contact
with people first. Most problems can be resolved peacefully if your office staff keeps a cool
head. Each teacher needs to develop his/her own safe environment in his/her class rooms and this
may require some professional development for those people who are not naturally outwardly
caring. Honesty and clear expectations allows for everyone to feel secure because the number of
unknowns are reduced and there is a structure and routine to school life. Safety training and
planning with staff is very important. I believe modeling what is expected and having staff
members practice will allow for better results if an emergency does happen.