EDLD 5395: Final Reflections on Lessons Learned

The superintendent self-assessments were one of the first activities experienced in this course.  They were the first glimpse into the required skills of the competencies needed in the superintendent role.  During this activity we were required to review each competency and guesstimate if we felt this area was a strength or a weak area where we needed growth.  The second assessment then involved completing a Texas superintendent certification assessment.  This exercise was revealing because we could then compare the results of the self-assessment to the areas or strength and weakness revealed through the practice exam.  Many of the course participants reflected on their blogs that they missed questions because they were not considering global perspective when answering the questions. Building Wiki’s and Blogs allows a user to become technologically proficient in an online communication tool.  Wiki’s are great tools to allow multiple individuals contribute to a single body of work, no matter where they are located.  Blogs encouraged collaboration during this first superintendent certification course through reviewing a blog postings of fellow colleagues.    These tools facilitated action research between the members of our superintendent cohort where we all worked together to complete course requirements. This course required all participants to interview their superintendent.  I felt very fortunate that my current superintendent made the time to sit down and talk with me one on one to answer my questions.  The questions I asked were directly aligned to the superintendent competencies.  It was very interesting to hear a practitioner’s view point and as I reflected on this exercise, I began to realize how critical it is to have a working knowledge of the competencies so that they can be used to guide actions and problem solving in an effective manner.  Dr. Williams, Galena Park ISD Interim Superintendent, discussed that a superintendent must have clear yet, concise vision that she and all members of the community can communicate.  If the vision is too complicated or unclear, the message will get lost.  The superintendent intern plan was one of the most time consuming exercises because it required the application and understanding of each of the superintendent competencies to create a relevant activity.  This exercise was fruitful because we were required to post the document to our Wiki and then were required to comment on one another’s work.  Additionally, we were required to meet with our site supervisor the following week to further review the working document.  The culminating activity required us to meet with our Lamar program supervisor to further review and discuss the plan.  I am further inspired about this process because I now understand that the internship plan is a working document and open for change.  I truly expect this document to evolve as I progress through the activities and gain further insight into the process. As I reflect on each of these activities, I realize that this course is a very worthwhile opener to a certification course.  I now better understand the skills required of a superintendent and I have a better grasp on areas where I need to grow.  This program is much more meaningful for me because of this first course because I was guided to dig through each of the competencies and apply this knowledge to formulating an internship plan.  I further augmented this knowledge through interacting with my fellow classmates to give and receive feedback on course assignments.  I look forward to expanding my knowledge through the remainder of the program.