Competenc

y
Reflections
By: Sandra Ortiz

Competency 001: The principal 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.

The development of the 18 Plus on Madison High School has been an excellent opportunity to
learn about Competency 001, I had to develop and shape the culture of the program for the
current class and refine the program for the following school year. The vision of the program is
to provide instructional and vocational hands on experiences for students with disabilities and
better equip them with the necessary skills to make a successful transition from high school to a
working opportunity in the real world. Our students practiced work skills in different community
sites including: Foodarama, Family Dollar, Auto Zone, La Hacienda Rehabilitation Center, Hobby
and Montgomery Elementary Schools, along with on campus vocational assignments.
To further develop my skills in competency 001, I plan to integrate the development of a newsletter to
severe as a communication tool for students, parents, and the community.

Competency 002: The principal 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.

Developing work sites for the 18 Plus program was an important task which provided the opportunity to work in Competency
002. I communicated and collaborated with members of the school community, our campus CBVI representative, transition
coach, employment representative, department chair, and senior life skills teacher in identifying diverse student interests,
needs, abilities, and goals to help each individual student perform vocational duties that were modified to each individual
level in different workforce areas. The collaboration between the school personnel and the community have facilitated
student success.
The success our of students is our ultimate goal and there is always room to do better. The goal for next year is to involve
the students in the selection and development of different sites. I want to be responsive to the diversity of our students.

Competency 003: The principal knows how to act with integrity,

fairness, and in an ethical and legal manner.

Treating all of our students with respect, fairness, and dealing with their confidentiality in an ethical and legal manner is a crucial aspect of teaching. As a special education teacher I have access to student files and confidential information and have been effective in implementing Competency 003 during this school year. I have had to make decisions where I had to act with integrity and fairness towards my
students and co-workers.
I had several days in which one of the students would have difficult managing her behavior and I found myself changing the days agenda to staying on-campus versus going to one of the work sites to provide a safe haven for the student to calm down and regroup while offering on campus vocational assignments to provide the rest of the class the opportunity to continue their instructional day.
For the following school year I plan to have a back up plan where I stay behind with anyone that is not in ready work mode and the program employment representative continues as planned with other students to ensure the whole class does not pay the price for students with behavior problems.

Competency 004: The principal 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.

Selecting the course content and curricula for the 18 Plus program and
designing and implementing the appropriate curricula has been a great
learning experience. Competency 004 involves the design and implementation
of curricula and strategic plans to enhance teaching. I utilized Unique Learning
and provided students with pre-tests, post-tests, and utilized the performance
data to provide the necessary focus to ensure student growth.
I plan to continue improving the curricular experience for the next school year and maximize
the learning experience for our second group of 18+ students. The following school year
projection involves a larger class and I plan to facilitate a more diverse and differentiated
model of curricula and instruction in the classroom.

Competency 005: The principal knows how to advocate, nurture,

and sustain an instructional program and a campus culture that are
conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

The 18+ Program was a new program for Madison High School and
there were only two others in the district. I advocated for our Skills
and Living and Learning students considering the population of over
50 students in grades 9th-12th in the previous school year. I nurtured
and sustained the instructional program by utilizing Unique Learning
to adequately prepare our students for life after high school.
To continue growing I plan to work more on delegating responsibilities
to our employment representative and empowering our returning
students to take the position of team lead.

Competency 006: The principal 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.

As the 18+ teacher I was the leader for the program and supervised the
employment representative as well and collaborated with the CBVI
employment representative. This involved the selection and
implementation of appropriate models for supervision and staff
development.
The following year will be a smoother year considering this will be a second
opportunity to further develop my leadership skills and I plan to work more
with my employment representatives and students in activities that involve
lifelong learning.

Competency 007: The principal knows how to apply

organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to
ensure an effective learning environment.
Competency 007 was an every part of working with our 18+ Program. I applied
organization, decision-making, and problem-solving skills from the beginning of
the school year. One of our two of our classroom students were students with
behavior problems and we had to develop and implement a plan to help the
students manage their behaviors to be able to function successfully in the
classroom as well as our worksites. Every new day was a different story,
however, I am happy to say I learned patience and my students learned how to
manage their behavior better and take responsibility for their actions.
Next school year we are anticipating a larger class and I plan to have a more
structured and more organized school day on campus as well as at worksites to
provide an even better learning experience to our second class of 18+ students.

Competency 008: The principal knows how

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

During staff development and other professional development

meetings we were trained on principles of effective leadership and
management in relation to campus budgeting.
For the following school year I plan to seek more opportunities to
be a part of the campus budgeting and finance meetings to be able
to put into practice what I have learned.

Our
campus experienced
a few incidents
in which
our campus
was
Competency
009: The principal
knows how
to apply
principles
of
put
in lockdown
mode and those
decisions
always
made
leadership
and management
to the
campuswere
physical
plant
andas last
resorts
whenever
necessary
ensure
the safety
of environment.
all students
supportand
systems
to ensure
a safeto
and
effective
learning
and staff. In our classroom we also experienced two unexpected
volatile experiences that merited quick and sound decision making
to ensure we all remained safe from harm. These circumstances
combined provided hands on experiences in applying principles of
leadership and management to the campus physical plant and
support systems.
For the following school I plan to develop a plan for any incidents
that occur of campus with our students while working at our
different worksites. This year we had a manageable class size and I
want to plan accordingly for the larger class we will have next school
year.

was responsible for making things happen and for directing

the program and leading our cooperative group to provide
Going back to your initial reflection completed in Internship I what have
our
first class
thereflection?
best we had to offer. Having the
you learned
sincewith
the first
first-hand experience and the responsibility and
accountability for creating and making things happen have
enhanced my leadership skills. The second internship
offered more opportunities to practice the leadership skills
and concepts learned in the classroom. I was able to see
my research topic, improving transition support for our
special needs students. The improved support has made a
tremendous difference in the number of students that are
moving on to fulfill their post secondary goals. Supporting
our students and helping them plan for their future has
been one of the most rewarding teaching experience I
have had.