+ Competencies Reflections By Christina Rodriguez

+ Comp 001 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. During summer school, I had to get to know many new faces! Teachers, staff and students from three different schools came to Cloverleaf for summer school. We all had one goal in mind: educating kids!

+ Comp 002 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. Summer school was composed of 3 different programs and a ton of summer camps. The summer school programs were SSI, SSA and Title III. SSI was for fifth graders who could not pass their STAAR tests. SSA was for students who needed that extra help before attending school the following year. Title III were for LEP students who needed that extra help before attending school the following year. The summer camps held at Cloverleaf were geared to all students for a variety of reasons. We had Cyber Camp that exposed kids to different technologies. Some of our camps took students on multiple field trips to expose them to the outside world. I learned how to juggle all the programs and camps to best fit what the student needed.

+ Comp 003 Competency 003: The principal knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical and legal manner. All our staff and students were exceptional during the summer school time. There were no discipline problems and teachers seemed quite content with the flow of the school. The adminstrator and I did everything possible to make sure everything was fair. Some of the teachers had to ride busses with students, which took more time than some of the other teachers, so they got paid an extra hour of duty. This made sense in my book and the other teachers didn’t seem to mind and understood the reason for it.

+ Comp 004 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. SSI, one of the summer school programs, I teach during the normal school year. The teacher who was teaching SSI math asked if I had any tips on how to teach a certain topic. I gaver her my thoughts and directed her towards the fifth grade curriculum on curriculum corner. I also was able to giver her an abundance of resources to help hew instruct her students.

+ Comp 005 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. All schools should be structured to student learning. I feel summer school did an amazing job of being conductive to student learning. Students in SSI were taught by different teachers and different approaches. Students in SSA were given a glimpse at what was expected the following year from them. And summer camps taught students a variety of skills to carry with them for years to come.

+ Comp 006 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. Generally, teachers are evaluated through PDAS. During summer school we did not do that. Teachers and staff were evaluated based on student attendance and through informal observations. Everyone seemed to be doing an excellent job.

+ Comp 007 Competency 007: The principal knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to ensure an effective learning environment. There has to be so much organization during summer school, especially when you have three different school in one location. Everyone has their own way of doing things, so it was imperative we created schedules and discussed it with all the staff. Anytime a problem occurred, the administrator, myself and teachers would come up with the best alternative for the summer school program. The aides during the summer school programs were so helpful during this time. They would spread the word of any new news that would occur.

+ Comp 008 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. Budgets was a big deal for summer school. I did not personally deal with budgets, but was given the opportunity to see how the budget was broken down. Each summer school program was given a certain budget that paid for staff and supplies. They had to fall within that budget. Pretty standard stuff. Each program had a program director that was in charge of the budget and student enrollment. My adminstrator was the director of all the programs and over saw everything. She was very good at delegating responsibilities though and my personal opinion a great leader.

+ Comp 009 Competency 009: The principal knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the campus physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment. My administrator and I had to come up with a plan of action of how students were suppose to go from breakfast to class in a safely manner. Most doors at cloverleaf need an access key to get in. We put aids in all door ways so students could get safely to their classroom. We did not want to leave doors unlocked or pop them open with a chair because that could allow intruders to get in. Cloverleaf is a very open school so we must be cautious of this. Anytime a security issue arose, my administrator had a plan of action. She always involved me in the decision making which I appreciated.