Principal – Flashcard

About myself: Describe your training/experiences/background that have prepared you for this position? Struggles in School Hmong Imigrants came in MHS Inspirational Teachers Left swore not to come back College for Art Degree Graphic Designer • Managed and Evaluated Staff • Oversaw the budget • Worked with the Community (UC Merced) During that time had two very different children • All Students Struggle • SPED Process Loved my job, but wanted to do something where I was making more of a difference in peoples lives Back to CSU Stan - Teaching Degree Student Taught at Franklin and Bellevue in Kindergarten and 3rd grade I taught for five years at Hoover Middle School. • District Curriculum Council • SAIT Team • Site Leadership Team • Taught a variety of subjects: Art, Advanced Art, 6th grade English/Social Science, 7th Grade English/Social Science, Read 180, and Gave me a strong understanding of instruction and reaching struggling students. This is also when I fell in love with education. I love my job. I love that I have an opportunity every day to come to work and make a difference in a student's life. After five years at Hoover Middle School, I decided to take a position at Merced high School, where I could teach art at a more rigorous level. • All levels of Art including AP, Started Computer Graphics, Yearbook • Technology Committee • District Advisory Board • Assistant WASC Coordinator • 6 Year Plan Coordinator • Intervention Specialist - Decreased tardiness by 20% • CTE Articulation for Graphic Arts • Teacher of the Year for MHS, MUHSD, County • Led RTI Intervention Tea- lee a group of over 39 teachers, in a six month process, to plan and develop an embedded intervention plan for MHS that was voted on by staff and will be implemented in the next school year. During that time I faced a lot of adversity from some older staff members, who were unwilling to participate in the process but very willing to criticize, and I also faced pushback from CTA. Through this all, I learned that if you keep the focus on what is best for students, teachers will ultimately make the right choices. Completed Admin Credential and Masters Degree in Education Administration The same desire that brought me into teaching, a desire to make a difference, brought me into administration. I wanted to be in a place where I had more say in how the school was run and be able to provide supports for students to succeed and I knew I would have more opportunities to make change at an admin level. Associate Principal, Activities and Athletics • PBIS - Urban Essentials - increased instructional time, reduced minor classroom disruptions • Discipline for 9th and 11th graders - reduction in suspensions, expulsions, and bullying and threatening incidents • Student Recognition Plan • Balanced SBO Budget • Increased student club offerings by 20% • Established Pursuing Victory with Honor program for athletes, which encourages student athletes to model the six pillars of character in competition. As a result, student leadership and responsibility was built through the formation of a student Captain's Club who oversee the program and student athletes were recognized for positive behavior. This year I was moved up to Associate Principal of Guidance and Counseling. I was excited to get a new challenge and have truly enjoyed working more closely with the master schedule, counselors, teachers, parents and having a bigger impact on instruction. • Balanced Master Schedule - supports for struggling students • Directly supported and guided instruction for a cohort of multi-disciplinary teachers • Planning and curriculum development for Freshmen Social Science and Academic Support • Expanded 6 Year plan activities for students • Analyzed grade data every four weeks to guide placement of students • Created monthly parent guidance workshops • Developed and facilitated a Common Core literacy training for Visual Arts teachers • One to Web • Improved the RTI program through regular coordinator meetings, well planned and relevant staff intervention meetings, disseminating data, addressing concerns quickly, and providing transparent communication. As a result, staff and student satisfaction with the RTI program increased and the program ran efficiently. I believe with my strong knowledge of instruction, my diverse business, teaching and administrative background, and my ability work, collaborate and lead staff have prepared to be an principal.

I was trained in discipline procedures in my adnin program. I was also in charge of discipline for 9th and 11th graders last year at Golden Valley and received training from our district. During that time we also implemented a Positive Behavior Intervention System, Urban Essentials. Urban essentials promotes positive student-teacher relationships. I was involved in the implementation of the program as well as working with teachers to follow the steps of the PBIS process. My philosophy on discipline is that all students should be held responsible and accountable for their behavior. Discipline should be consistent and fair and should follow the discipline rules of the school, district and California Ed Code. I do believe that whenever you are dealing with students it is an opportunity to build a relationship with that student and their parents. Most students and parents understand when they have done something wrong. However, issues with teachers, poverty, drugs, foster care, divorce and much more. They want to know they are heard and they want to know they are cared about. So I believe in dealing with students on discipline it is also an opportunity to find out what is going on in their lives, to talk to them about their academic progress, and to provide other supports that may be available. Many times students just want to be heard. They know they have done something wrong. They know their our consequences. When they are heard and listened too and you are consistent in your discipline than I think this creates accountability and boundaries for students. I have a group of girls, I call them the fabulous five. They were in lots of trouble their freshmen year. A couple of them had got into fights, they were being disrespectful to teachers and they just had a lot of girl drama. Their grades were low. In dealing with them in discipline last year I built relationships with them. I talked to them about their grades and really listened to them about what their concerns were. This year I have really worked with these young ladies to make sure they are in intervention classes where they get the support they need. I also review their grades with them regularly and make contact with them at lunch. I have encouraged them to be positive role models within their group and help each other to succeed and be to class on time. All of the girls have made a turn around. Their grades have improved, their attendance has improved and their attitude has improved. Yes, they still our disciplined occasionally but because they know they have someone to come to at school and they are treated fairly they are doing much better.

One of my biggest strengths is that I am an Instructional Leader. I have a strong knowledge of instructional strategies, lesson design, curriculum as well as instructional technology. I am able to evaluate instruction and give effective instructional feedback to staff, which is extremely important right now with the onset of the Common Core State Standards. I have high expectations for myself, my staff and my students. I convey this through how hard I work, being in classrooms daily and giving consistent and relevant instructional feedback, bringing back decisions to what is best for students, and by not ignoring problems or concerns but by dealing with them immediately and communicating clearly so staff and/or parents know that you have dealt with it. When staff see that you have high expectations for not only students but staff then they are motivated to work harder and do what is right for students. I am also a transformative leader and I work to build a school culture that is collaborative where teachers are motivated to work with a sense of purpose. This last year, I have had a huge leadership role in leading our RTI team and RTI Program. Within this program, I led a team of teachers to support and grow the RTI program and as a result we have increased staff satisfaction with the program. When I talk about transformative leadership, I think this is a good example. At the beginning of the year our admin team identified that our RTI program needed to be provided with more support and by support I mean we needed to listen to our teachers concerns, address them and improve the program to ensure that we were providing our students with effective interventions. Additionally, it was my goal to grow student leadership with this program which was shared with the intervention team and also became a goal of the team. The intervention team met every month to discuss feedback from staff, look at data, plan for upcoming staff meetings, and identify areas that needed improvement and make adjustments to the program accordingly. My goal was to build the leadership capacity of the intervention coordinators. To make that happen, the intervention coordinators became the leads of the program with each one working with specific groups within the intervention program: study hall, tutorial, freshmen advisory, and extended lunch. As a group, we identified the topics we needed to talk about with staff about and developed the staff presentation together but it was the intervention coordinators that gave the presentations, listened to and responded to staff feedback. To ensure that communication was open with staff, data on student progress was provided to the staff every four weeks and we also regularly addressed staff concerns and made adjustments to the program based on those concerns and communicated that to staff. Additionally, we conducted student and staff surveys several times throughout the year to gage staff and student satisfaction with the program and get input. I think by building the leadership of intervention coordinators, listening to staff concerns and making adjustments based on those concerns and regularly sharing data with staff ultimately built staff satisfaction with the program. I also think through building student leadership, listening to the students, and providing students with support has built student satisfaction with the program and ultimately this has led to more effective interventions for students.

Strong understanding of instructional strategies, lesson building and curriculum Good at building relationships - get along well with other - product of being a middle child Hardworking, Dedicated Extremely Organized Love what I do CTE Knowledge Technology Knowledge Connections with Students

I am someone who is determined and I like to get a lot done, but I've needed to recognize that at times it's hard for me to take a step back and get perspective. I've learned that I have to make time for myself a priority too. To do that I have been working on prioritizing my to do list to allow for time in my schedule for activities that are important to me and give me down time that allow me to destress and build balance in my life.

-Master schedule -Improved the RTI program through regular coordinator meetings, well planned and relevant staff intervention meetings, disseminating data, addressing concerns quickly, and providing transparent communication. As a result, staff and student satisfaction with the RTI program increased and the program ran efficiently. -Directly supported and guided instruction for a cohort of multi-disciplinary teachers through regular instructional walkthroughs, providing instructional feedback, ensuring implementation of district instructional norms and Common Core State Standards, and assisting with instructional resources. As a result, instructional practices and student learning improved. -6 Year Plan - having all students at our school explore career interests and develop a 6 Year Plan Google Site -RTI - Leading a group of staff to develop and implement a RTI embedded intervention program unique to MHS. -Teacher of the Year - being teacher of the year for MHS, MUHSD, and Merced County were huge honors for me and somewhat humbling. It was nice to be recognized for hard work but also to be able to share how students struggle. I was also voted teacher of the year at Hoover Middle School, and this was a big honor also because that was a teacher vote not an admin vote. -Accepted to three CTE Conferences to build lesson plans and curriculum for CTE Online. This was a big honor because it recognizes the strength of my lesson plans and curriculum. -Naviance, 6 Year Plan -Urban Essentials, Discipline

I had a great teacher in high school who believed in me and my skills. My parents, I believe, thought I wouldn't be able to make much of my life with an Art Degree and although they encouraged me I never felt that they thought I would do anything with an art degree. Carol Kamerer, my ROP instructor, showed me that I could, that there were jobs out there in art, and mainly she just believed in me. This has taught me not to underestimate just how much your belief in a student and their skills can influence their life.

Change is a part of life. Things are always changing. I think once you accept that it is easy to adjust to change because you expect it to happen. I also think change is important because it challenges us and helps us to step out of our comfort zone. So when something does change I take it one step at a time, figure out what it is that I need to know or learn in this process and go out and learn it.

Life is full of conflict. It would certainly be my dream world if there was none. I think the first step when there is conflict is to truly listen to what the other person is saying and try to put yourself in their place. I think many times you can understand where they might be coming from and they may have some valid points. Sometimes, when a person is complaining, really the only thing they want is to be heard and for someone to know and understand what they are experiencing. In an educational setting I have faced many conflicts throughout the RTI process. Quite a few of the teachers were resistant to change, to say the least, and were unwilling to even participate in discussions on how to help our students who are struggling. Many of these teachers did have valid concerns about embedding instruction and how it would affect our high students and how it would affect instructional minutes. By listening to their complaints/concerns we were able to end some of that conflict and use what these teachers said to come up with a more comprehensive program. We were also able to challenge some of the teachers who had the biggest complaints to become a part of the team, which they did. With that being said, not all of the conflicts were resolved. I think you have to realize that not everybody is going to be happy. A book I just read quoted Mark Zuckenberg, founder of Google, as saying, "If you do please everyone, you aren't making enough progress." I believe this. You have to focus on the people who are there working with you to make change and not the few that are complaining (because generally it is just a few, but they make such a large stink it seems like a lot). So to deal with conflict I try to look for the positive in situations. And in the RTI process the positive was over 39 staff members, many who had not stepped up before, stepping up to do what was best for our struggling students. Middle Child - Peacemaker Listen Education - always go back to what's best for students.

Clear my admin credential. Increase my knowledge of the Common Core State Standards Expand my knowledge on best leadership practices Get more involved in ACSA and CALSA - possibly go through one of their principal mentorship programs Personally, ensure that I am enjoying my life, staying healthy, and spending time with my family

Technology - 1 to web: Providing students with technology, training teachers, training students, the endless possibilities available with technology...and using technology as a tool not a replacement for instruction Common Core - the rigor it will demand out of our students and how it will bring back more project based learning which helps build student creative problem solving skills and gives them choice in their work, which will ultimately lead to students who are more engaged in their education and who have developed their ability to think outside the box which this world truly needs. Project Based Learning Vocational Ed - I think we are starting to see a swing back to preparing students for vocations instead of college. College doesn't guarantee a job anymore and a large majority of our students are not going to college or are attending the JC where they get stuck. Our students are disengaged in their education because they don't understand the why behind the classes they are taking. Not all students are destined for college. We need to open up more opportunities for our students to choose their future and their destination after high school. By providing more vocational opportunities to our students we will engage students in school and give them a viable training for work after high school. New Accountability measures LCAP/LCFF Districts will have broad discretion over how to use the base grants. The funding law says that districts must expand or improve services for high-needs students in proportion to the additional funding that these students bring to the district. School districts will have more authority than before to decide how to spend their money. But they will also face new obligations to show that their spending improved student performance. Districts must adopt a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), after soliciting suggestions from teachers, parents and the community, and update it annually. The plan must spell out the district's goals for improving student outcomes according to eight priorities set by the state, and align spending to meet the goals. Districts that fail to meet their goals and improve student outcomes will receive assistance from county offices of education and through a new agency, the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence. Districts that are persistently failing could be subject to state intervention or even a state takeover.

I think to determine the priorities of a new school I would need to observe what is going on at the school, talk to teachers, talk to students, talk to parents, talk to administration and identify what the strengths and weaknesses of the school are. Also, I would need to know what the district's goals and LCAP plan and how the school I am at is progressing on those goals. I would also want to look at the school's test scores, WASC report, School Site Plan, and above all get into classrooms and see what's going on. I think being in the classrooms and seeing instruction, what the students are doing, what the teachers are doing is the best way to determine what your school needs. I think some other topics that would play into any school's priority at this time would be Common Core implementation and technology integration.

I am truly excited about the opportunity to become a Principal. It is the same desire that brought me into teaching, to make a real contribution to peoples' lives, that has motivated me to become an principal. I believe my leadership style and experience will fit well with Merced City School District's focus on 21st Century Student Achievement, Professional Learning and Communication and Technology.

Collin Powel, It Worked for Me - In Life and Leadership It ain't as bad as you think. I'm t will look better in the morning. This rule reflects an attitude and not a prediction. I have always tried to keep my confidence and optimism up, no matter how difficult the situation. Things will get better. You will make them better. Many times facing a tough meeting, and unpleasant encounter the last thing I would do before hand was go into the restroom washing dry my hands and face, look into the mirror and say myself, "Fast Eddie, let's play some pool." Have a vision. Be demanding. Purpose is the destination of a vision. It energizes that vision, gives it force and drive. It should be positive and powerful, and serve the better angels of an organization.(Good leader set vision, missions, and goals. Great leaders inspire every follower at every level to internalize their purpose, and to understand that their purpose goes far beyond the mere details of their job. When everyone is united in purpose, positive purpose that serves not only the organization but also, hopefully, the world beyond it, you have a winning team. What Great Principals Do Differently by Todd Whitaker It's People Not Programs Open classrooms our successful because the best teachers apply Assertive discipline - best teachers apply both positive and negative discipline Individual teacher development Great principals never forget that it is the people, not programs, who determine the quality of the school. Set Expectations at the Start of the School Year Express clear expectations at the first faculty meeting Effective principals establish expectations that express their core beliefs Decide what your personal needs and desires are for your school and set the expectations at the start of the year, focus on the future, and consistently reinforce your expectations Great principals establish clear expectations at the start of the year and follow them consistently as the year progresses.

I am an Instructional Leader. I have a strong knowledge of instructional strategies, lesson design, curriculum as well as instructional technology. I am able to evaluate instruction and give effective instructional feedback to staff, which is extremely important right now with the onset of the Common Core State Standards. I have high expectations for myself, my staff and my students. I convey this through how hard I work, being in classrooms daily and giving consistent and relevant instructional feedback, bringing back decisions to what is best for students, and by not ignoring problems or concerns but by dealing with them immediately and communicating clearly so staff and/or parents know that you have dealt with it. When staff see that you have high expectations for not only students but staff then they are motivated to work harder and do what is right for students. I also see myself as a leader who is transformative. I want to develop a school culture that is collaborative where teachers are motivated to work with a sense of purpose and that purpose is what do we need to do to help all students succeed. I think within this process you have to be a leader who can motivate those individuals that don't step out all the time to step out with a purpose. I think this is done by consistently building relationships with people. By listening to them and recognizing what they do, sharing with them, inviting them to collaborate and fostering an environment where they can fight for what is best for students even when others are not. Additionally, when you involve all staff you are able to look at problems through different eyes and come up with new ways of solving problems. In this last year, I have had a huge leadership role in leading our RTI team and RTI Program. Within this program, I have led a team of teachers to support and grow the RTI program and as a result we have increased staff satisfaction with the program. When I talk about transformative leadership, I think this is a good example. At the beginning of the year we identified that our RTI program needed to be provided with more support and that we needed to ensure that we were providing our students with interventions. Additionally, it was my goal to grow student leadership with this program which was shared with the group and also became a goal of the group. The intervention coordinators met every month to discuss feedback from staff, look at data, plan for upcoming staff meetings, and identify areas that needed improvement and make adjustments to the program accordingly. My goal was to build the leadership capacity of the intervention coordinators. To make that happen, the intervention coordinators became the leads of the program with each one working with specific groups within the intervention program: study hall, tutorial, freshmen advisory, and extended lunch. We had 5 full staff intervention meetings this year. As a group, we identified the topics we would talk about and developed the staff presentation together but it was the intervention coordinators that gave the presentations, listened to and responded to staff feedback. To ensure that communication was open with staff, information was regularly provided to the staff on data on how students were progressing, feedback from staff and how we were addressing their concerns. Additionally, we conducted student and staff surveys several times throughout the year to gage staff and student satisfaction with the program and get input. I think by building the leadership of intervention coordinators, listening to staff concerns and making adjustments based on those concerns and regularly sharing data with staff ultimately built staff satisfaction with the program. I also think through building student leadership, listening to the students, and providing students with support has built student satisfaction with the program. I also believe that leaders should have high expectations for their staff. I think this is conveyed mainly by the leaders actions. How hard do they work, what do they tolerate, do they stand up for what is right, and are they there for the right reasons. When staff see that you have high expectations for not only students but staff then they are motivated to work harder and do what is right for students. As Associate Principal of Guidance, I have had to have many hard conversations with teachers about my expectations. Because I am second in line, all of the parent concerns come to me first. If you have built relationships with your teachers and your teachers know that you are a hard worker and doing what is right, those hard conversations won't be as hard because you will have built trust. However, you can't avoid those conversations. A lot of times teachers will respect that you are having that conversation, but if it is a teacher who is unaware they are doing anything wrong, they will continue doing it wrong. Recently I had to have a hard conversation with a new teacher. Next year this teacher will be in their second year, and if we don't see improvement next year the teacher will be let go. I wanted to be very honest with this teacher about what my expectations were and where I expected to see improvement. I also think a leader is a role model. Their own accomplishments provide an example of their character to staff. How a leader acts and behaves has a large influence on their staff. I think I am a good role model. I try always to treat everyone with kindness. I also try to always put myself in the other persons shoes, so I can understand better where the come from. I am a good listener and observe and I learn a lot through that process. I have a hard worker and am often one of the first ones in the office and almost always the last one to leave. When I say I am going to do something, I do it or I follow up if I cannot. If someone asks me about something, I get back to them. If someone emails me, I email them back. My staff has learned that they can count on me to do what I say I am going to do. With all of that being said, I do believe there on times when you just have to be a boss. There are times when staff will be unwilling or unable to perform will need more specific direction and it will need to be given. As a leader, if you have done your work in developing interpersonal relationships with staff, it won't be as hard to have those difficult conversations with staff members because you have already built a relationship with them. This year, in particular, we had one teacher who is often unwilling to do what is asked of them. To make a change with this teacher I consistently visited their room, gave consistent directed feedback, provided supports when needed, and also praised the teacher when they did what was asked of them. I have seen real change in this teacher's classroom. I will never be able to inspire this teacher to be a leader on campus. However, I know that consistent, direct feedback he will be held accountable and will be a much better teacher because of that.

First to ensure the safety of the school, I would go get the student. I would take along another AP or staff member with me so I had a witness. I would also ask for a campus liason or the school resources officer to come with us. I'd bring the student back to my office. I'd notify them of the rule I had reason to believe they had broken and ask if I can search their backpack. If the student says no I will search based on reasonable suspicion. Again, I would have a staff member with me to be a witness to the search. If the student has a knife then i would have a discussion with the student; notifying them of what they did wrong, telling them what my evidence was and then giving them a chance to tell their side of the story. I would then write a suspension up based on Ed Code 490000b. If the knife was larger than 5" and locking I would immediately contact the police. Possessing a knife of this type is a mandatory expulsion in ed code 48915c. However, because the student is special education, he would have to have a manifest IEP first to determine if the student's actions were a results of his/her disability. I would also contact the district special ed department and the school's special ed department to let them know what is happening. The special ed department would need to ensure that the student's IEP has been followed before the begin the Manifest IEP. I would complete the suspension and notify the parent and recommend the student for expulsion. Special Ed: No more than ten days of suspension. Must have a manifest IEP before 10 days of suspension to determine if there is a relationship between the child's behavior and disability. A change of placement violates IDEA, because students can received ed services. If there is not a relationship then the student can be suspended and expelled like any other student. If there is a relationship then the IEP must be changed to address the behaviors and a functional behavior assessment must take place and a behavior plan created to become part of the IEP. Members of an IEP meeting: reg ed, sp ed, LEA, school pschologist intro, agenda, positive statements, parents rights, testing/grades, objectives and goals, modifications and special services, signature

I believe I have already established myself as an instructional leader and leader in general on campus. Staff already come to me and ask me for help with lessons. What I believe is that if you have truly built relationships with people, where they know you care about them and are interested in them succeeding than it is easier to have those conversations with teachers.

Factual Focus on their instruction not the person Positive, meat, Positive - Sandwich the meat of what you think the teacher needs to improve upon with the positive the teacher does Schedule visitation

Facts - what did they do Rule - what rule did they violate? What should the employee have done? Impact - What was the impact or possible impact of the action? Suggestions - Corrective - What do you want them to do to improve? Knowledge - Copy placed in employees file.

RTI2-multi-tier approach to identifying and supporting students with educational or behavioral needs

Instructional practices improve, non-threatening, help teachers see where they are doing well and what they need to work on Builds communication Helps monitor the implementation of instructional strategies Helps administrators understand the needs of teachers and staff for curriculum development Helps teachers be reflective

Objective: based on standard and is measurable 1.1 Analyze and discuss complex ideas, such as distortion, color theory, arbitrary color, scale, expressive content, and real versus virtual in works of art. Students will analyze how color theory is used in a piece of historical artwork. Prior knowledge - how does it relate to what they already know or have learned What have they learned about color - how color expresses mood, how color is used for certain holidays, how colors are used together to be pleasing Importance - why is it important that the students learn this It's important they understand how to use color accurately in their artwork in order to express their ideas and emotions in their work Concept Development - what concepts do they need to know Lesson on different color theories: cool/warm, arbitrary color, complementary colors, analogous colors, etc. Skill Development - what skills will they have to develop Skills in mixing those colors using the three primary colors Guided Practice - teacher guides students through the process Teacher would guide students through mixing colors Teacher would guide students through analyzing a piece of artwork Closure - What did they learn Independent Practice Students would create a piece of artwork using a specific color theory Students would analyze the color theory used in a piece of artwork Throughout instruction the teacher should be checking for understanding by asking questions to ensure that students understand what is being taught. This should be done every 3-5 minutes to ensure students are on track. This allows the teacher to stop and relate the material in a different way if students are getting it instead of realizing after the lesson is done that the students didn't understand. There are a variety of ways to do CFU's: random calling, whiteboards, pair shares, etc. Questioning should move through the level of Higher Order Thinking skills from remember to create.

One of my biggest strengths is my knowledge of instruction. I have taught a diverse range of subjects including art, english, social studies, Read 180, computer graphics, yearbook, Students Success Summer School, and study hall. This diversity in my teaching experiences has helped me to understand and relate to the instructional needs of teachers. I also have strong pedagogy in instruction. I completed EDI training in my former district and have a sound understanding of EDI and the benefits of EDI. I have also completed district trainings on course and unit organizers, HOTS, literacy, objectives, and various technology workshops. I have developed curriculum for all of the art classes I have taught. Based on my strong instructional skill and ability to write curriculum, I have been accepted and attended three CTE conferences where I have written lessons and units that are featured on the CTE Online Site. I have also been a leader in developing the curriculum for Computer Graphics that was articulated to Merced College. I also ran a training for the CG teachers in the district on this curriculum. Curriculum and instruction are certainly one of my biggest strengths, and my ability to lead other teachers in improving instruction would be an asset to the district. Pedagogical background - developed my own curriculum for at based on state standards. At MUHSD developed course and unit organizers for art classes and computer graphics classes. Developed curriculum for Computer Graphics class that was articulated. Helped to share and train Art teachers underneath me.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the school? What kind of support and professional development do you provide for your principlas? "When can I start?