Competencies
The artifacts/reflections provided below demonstrate proficiency towards the North Carolina School Executive Competencies.
COMPETENCY |
NARRATIVE |
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. |
I communicated with staff through email, telephone and GoogleDocs. I presented important information such as the PBIS plan, Benchmark data, and leadership team objectives, etc. at several staff meetings. I also addressed questions and provided clarifying information at PLC meetings. |
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. |
This year, the district, with the aid of the ECU beginning teacher program worked with first and second grade teachers to implement new literacy initiative. I worked with my mentor principal, assistant principal, and ECU coaches to help implement this method with the first grade team and a few other teachers with some identified areas of need. A coaching spreadsheet was created and shared with ECU coaches and administration. This also became the basis for my problem of practice. |
Conflict Management – Anticipates or seeks to resolve confrontations, disagreements, or complaints in a constructive manner. |
In order to offer more direct instruction to "bubble" students for third-fifth grade core teachers, we needed to increase the number of Encore classes . Anticipating potential push-back from the Encore teachers, I created a possible push-in schedule they could follow and offered them the ability to create their own schedule. Along with my mentor principal, we asked Teacher Assistants to teach an encore class (movement, dance, and computers), during the afternoons. This allowed for Encore teachers to "push" into classrooms during the morning ELA and math classes. |
Creative Thinking – Engages in and fosters an environment for others to engage in innovative thinking. |
I led a professional development during a staff meeting about using Technology in the classroom as a means of improving rigor in the classroom. Teachers were asked to bring in sample lessons or activities they'd previously used in their classes. During the PD, I asked teachers to analyze their current activity and work in a small group to revise the activity so that the technology level was increased. Through these collaborative groups, teachers began to think of new ways to engage students in the content. |
Customer Focus – Understands the students as customers of the work of schooling and the servant nature of leadership and acts accordingly. |
I met weekly with the interdisciplinary team to discuss specific student concerns related to academics, health, attendance, behavior, etc and created plans of support for each student. The team consisted of the counselor, nurse, social worker, data manager, and administrative team. |
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. |
I created a committee sign up sheet and asked all teachers to sign up for a committee. I worked closely with committee chairs to monitor the progress and goals of each committee. I also served as a member of the School Improvement Team and Positive Behavior Intervention Support Team. SIT and PBIS were often asked to participate in school-wide decision making. |
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. |
At the end of every PLC meeting, the administrative team asked each grade level if they had any concerns. Because of the positive, collaborative environment created during these meetings, teachers generally felt comfortable about sharing concerns. If I was facilitating the meeting and was unable to address concerns at that time, I let teachers know that I would share their concerns with the administrative team and follow up with them. |
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. |
I attend monthly PTO and Community-School Team meetings. During these meetings, I interact with parent and community members as we discuss concerns and strategies to bridge the gap between the school and community. I have also attended several school board meetings throughout the year in order to stay abreast of current issues and changes to policies. |
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 |
I checked weekly lesson plans and provided feedback to teachers regarding ways to incorporate more 21st century skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving into their plans. Whenever possible, I would send teachers resources related to their content area. |
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. |
When teachers called me to their classroom to handle a discipline concern or when I received a discipline referral, I had to consider all of the factor regarding our policies and the individual child in order to make the best decision for addressing the concern. With the rise in referrals, I realized some staff members needed support in managing student behaviors. I created a behavior matrix and minor incident form to support staff and to help manage student behavior. This form also gave me more data to use to make decisions regarding consequences or next steps. |
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. |
I regularly update school events and activities (including meetings and trainings) on the Northeast Elementary Google calendar. I also created schedules for picture day, remediation, lunch changes, or anything else that impacted the regular instruction. I also met with committee chairs to monitor progress on upcoming projects. |
Personal Ethics and Values – Consistently exhibits high standards in the areas of honesty, integrity, fairness, stewardship, trust, respect, and confidentiality |
I model the attitudes and behaviors I expect to see in students and staff. I go to school everyday and arrive on time. I consistently receive compliments from staff and parents about the way I interact with them and students. I follow-up with staff and parents in a timely manner regarding questions and concerns. |
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. |
At the beginning of the year, we were asked to complete a detailed examination of our residency school. During this examination, I asked teachers to share how I could help. Many of them mentioned visibility and listening. I used this feedback to assess my performance throughout the year. |
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. |
At one point, bus referrals were piling up. My mentor principal and I wanted to meet with bus drivers to address the behavior concerns and discuss strategies for better managing behavior on the bus. However, I wanted bus drivers to know that we were not ignoring the behavior concerns they'd already brought to us. I sent an email to keep them updated on why the referrals hadn't been processed and the plan for how we would proceed. |
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. |
As I was facilitating the first data day, I noticed that many teachers had not previously been asked to analyze their own student achievement data. Initially, the plan was for teachers to leave with an entire remediation plan in place. However, I made the decision to stop and focus on how to analyze data. When we met for the spring data day, the teachers were more comfortable with data analysis and were able to focus more on creating a remediation plan. |
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. |
If a parent was upset, I would escort him or her to my office in order to give them privacy. I listened to their concerns, repeated their concerns back to them, and guided them to the right person if I could not assist them. One grandparent had concerns about her granddaughter's safety at home. She was not the custodial guardian so I couldn't provide her with certain information. However, I did speak to the school counselor and social worker regarding next steps. They both spoke to the grandmother and gave her guidance on her options. They also spoke to the student to try to gather information. |
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. |
I served on the School Improvement Team and actively participated in creating the goals and action steps for the School Improvement Plan. |
Technology – Effectively utilizes the latest technologies to continuously improve the management of the school and enhance student instruction |
During the opening meeting, I used tech tools such as Quizlet Live during my presentation. After the presentation, I explained to teachers that I was modeling a tool they could use for instruction. Whenever possible, I would share tech tools with teachers or direct them to other teachers who were successfully incorporating meaningful technology. |
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. |
I added meetings, class assignments, and to-do items to my personal Google Calendar on a consistent basis. I checked my calendar each morning. I also shared calendar updates with the administrative team to avoid over-scheduling. When I was tasked with facilitating a meeting, I usually created an agenda with time allotments in order to stay on track. |
Visionary – Encourages imagineering by creating an environment and structure to capture stakeholder dreams of what the school could become for all the students. |
I asked the staff to focus on their "WHY" at the beginning of the year. Each staff member listed their "Why " and I kept them on note cards. Throughout, my residency I would review them with teachers. |
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 |
I visited every classroom almost every morning to say "Good Morning" to teachers and students. During this time, I would check on any teacher or student if they had an issue of which I was aware. One of our Pre-K teacher assistants faced some medical issues at the beginning of the year. Then, her father faced some severe medical issues. I checked in with her whenever possible. Now, whenever I need a substitute bus driver, she willingly volunteers. |