Leadership Cycle 2

Part I: Reflective Narrative Template

Step 4: Reflect
Part I: Reflective Narrative Template
Directions: Reflect on your learning and equitable leadership development throughout Leadership Cycle 2 by
responding to the following prompts (no more than 4 pages) in terms of your leadership capacity to co-facilitate
collaborative professional learning and implementation of an evidence-based strategy. Type your responses within
the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts.

1. Cite evidence (including the agendas and minutes, group work products and initial
implementation results, videos and annotations, and/or group feedback on the process) of
how your actions affected members and influenced progress toward meeting the group’s
goals to address a problem of practice and monitor initial impact on student learning and/or
well-being.
[My actions affected members and influenced progress toward meeting our goals in several
ways. From the start, I employed evidence-based practices of conducting an equity gap analysis
at Tustin High school to determine where the greatest needs lie. Once I discovered that
students from Hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged families were experiencing the
greatest gap in ability to access interventions, I continued to dig deeper. Being a counselor, I
wanted to know what the graduation status of the school and how many students were on track
to graduate coming out of the hybrid/distance learning model during the pandemic. During our
first meeting (Step 1: Investigate), we were able to review the data I pulled that showed the
number of Incompletes (493) and how many students were at risk of not graduating (235)
because of this. I used data pulled from Aeries analytics and reports run for credit completion by
student. I led the group through a data analysis that showed 67% of our students on the
Incomplete list were Hispanic while 63% were socioeconomically disadvantaged. I also shared
that 40% of the students were Juniors, which meant that there was less time in which to
remediate the credits before the projected graduation date. I led the group to consensus on
focusing our problem of practice on the number of Incompletes that need to be remediated and
the lack of time in which to accomplish this (Planning meeting minutes). The other members of
the group expressed concern over the data that was shared and agreed to the problem of
practice with ease. Everyone in the group understood the necessity of our problem of practice
and how it related to the schools’ mission, vision and goals, to create confident graduates, ready
for the demands and opportunities of the future, and that they achieve core competencies and
skills necessary for the 21st century. During the next meeting, I facilitated a discussion on
various intervention strategies and helped the team to understand the difficulty for our students
in attending after school or weekend interventions. We all recognize that we serve at-promise
youth in our schools and that we need to adjust our approach and process at times to impact
the students who need it most. I led the group to agreement on the strategy that we are
implementing, opening four Study Skills classes that will enable students to make up credits and
facilitated discussion on the qualities in a teacher that we would want (meeting minutes). We
were able to submit a proposal to administration for the course to be offered and the teachers
we recommended to staff the classes and get all of it approved (proposal included). This
community of practice we created was born out of a shared love for our students and a
commitment that we have all made at some point in our career to focus our efforts on the
students that others forget. Because of a history of trust, respect and mutual collaboration, we
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 Leadership Cycle 2
Part I: Reflective Narrative Template

were able to quickly agree on a problem of practice and had open, productive discussions about
ways to address the problem of credit deficiency. During our meetings, I relied on the expertise
of my colleagues and the faith I had in their abilities. I learned to let the others do most of the
speaking and to make slight suggestions here and there. Most importantly, I valued each
person’s input and I believe that PLAN: Step 2 was achieved easily because of these open
conversations. During the ACT: Step 3, stage, I was able to facilitate our meetings, guide
discussions on best practices and build consensus among the group to a final decision. We put
together a proposal for our Study Skills strategy and provided a list of teachers who we felt
would be the best motivators and coaches for these students. The team and I came to
agreement that the Juniors should be the first group of students to start the Study Skills class,
because they have the least amount of time until anticipated graduation. When we had initial
data from the progress of the class, I facilitated group discussion on the successes that some
students were seeing already, and we discussed how to handle those who were not attending
regularly and making no progress. The group had to remain firm and remove those who were
not showing progress and attending. I initially wanted to replace them with the students who
were next “on the list” but opened that up to group discussion. The teachers on the team felt
strongly that lowering the class sizes and not replacing the students who are being removed is
the right thing to do. They elaborated that providing wraparound support for students takes a
great deal of planning and follow through. The teachers would be more effective with the
students they have, and I agreed with their assessment. We decided to not replace the students
who are being removed. For the students who were making slow progress, we discussed
providing them with further support to increase their progress. The group came to good
consensus regarding how to handle these students and showed great collaboration.]

2. Cite evidence (including the agendas and minutes, group work products and initial
implementation results, videos and annotations, and/or group feedback on the process) of
how effectively you maintained a high standard of professionalism, integrity, and equity
(e.g., respect for diverse viewpoints) as you worked with members of the community of
practice. Include how you established and maintained the same expectations of others.
[At each meeting that was held, I maintained a high standard of professionalism, integrity and
equity by maintaining consistency in all aspects of the project. I communicated with the team
members prior to each meeting, to remind them of the time and location. I respected everyone’s
time by providing much of the information via email so that the group members could review it
when it was convenient for them. We remained focused on our problem of practice and
referenced our group norms at the start of each meeting (meeting minutes). I provided clear
concise agendas (meeting agenda) for each meeting and sent the group the meeting minutes
after each meeting to keep the lines of communication open. Our meetings were professional
and focused on student achievement. I maintained equity within the group by valuing everyone’s
opinion and suggestions and ensuring that each person had a chance to share and speak
openly (STEP 3: ACT). Each of the members of my group are dedicated professionals who
have different ways of looking at and addressing improving student success and they all
maintained their professionalism as well by adhering to the group norms and staying on topic. In
our initial meetings about the project, I expressed my respect for each of these educators and
emphasized how much I valued what they would bring to the group. That conversation set the
tone for the project and enabled each group member to be free to make suggestions and
advocate for their suggested strategy. Each meeting was conducted in the same manner,
reinforcing the consistency that I was establishing, while modeling this behavior for the group.
Because of this, I was able to maintain a high level of professionalism in our meetings and
interactions while still making progress on our goals.]
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 Leadership Cycle 2
Part I: Reflective Narrative Template

3. What aspects of school culture and context influenced the co-facilitation of a community of
practice at your school, and what actions did you take to respond to these contextually
based challenges or supports?
[Our problem of practice encompassed a specific set of students that needed intervention. The
teaching staff has seen the decline in the performance of their students over the last three
years. Some are working to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic they are seeing in the
students, while some are preferring to focus their blame on the students themselves. This
difference in viewpoint has created somewhat of a divide within the school staff. I knew that for
this program to be accepted by the staff, I would need to provide ample data to show the
severity of the issue, which I did in the form of number of Incompletes, the breakdown of grade
level and the impact that losing so many students to the continuation school would have on our
staff, if these students did not begin to make up credits. I needed to obtain teacher buy-in
because I knew we would be pulling students from various classes and wanted to cut down on
the resistance from the teachers when this occurred. There were a few questions about how the
program will work but the staff seemed supportive for the most part. The school has a long
history of using professional learning communities and I visited each department PLC to further
answer questions and provide support to teachers who have had a difficult year and are
bordering on burn-out. I reached out to the school administration, mainly the principal and the
assistant principal over curriculum to brief them on the progress frequently.]

4. Analyze your strengths and areas for growth in co-facilitating a community of practice.
Reflect on initial implementation results, the group’s feedback to you, and research related
to equitable leadership development, adult learning, or group co-facilitation.
[During this process, I relied on my organizational skills to keep every meeting and interaction
running smoothly. I was able to show my group my value for their time by having all materials
organized and ready for each meeting. Another strength, building and maintaining relationships
was vital during this project. Having a history of respect and trust with each member of the
group took the group from a gathering of colleagues to a team that was committed to finding
real solutions to our very real problems for these students. An area for growth that I have
identified is my ability to navigate our various platforms that can provide valuable data for
conducting interventions. Our district utilizes many different data collection organizations from
benchmark, writing assessments and math proficiency exams and having the ability locate that
information from any of these platforms quickly and efficiently will be a benefit. Another area of
growth that I have identified is to communicate more often with the staff on projects of this
magnitude. While I initially briefed the staff through a staff meeting and then PLC meetings on
the program, I did not communicate as often as many would have liked. The teaching staff
expected to have updates weekly when I felt that monthly updates would suffice, The
breakdown in communication was my responsibility and I now know that it is better to
overcommunicate than under communicate.
Our initial implementation showed moderate success. After the first few meetings, we had 21%
of the students make no progress and were absent to such a degree that we were forced to
drop them from the program. Another 17% of students were making such slow progress that we
saw that we needed to provide them additional support. The fact that we have an intervention
counselor enabled us to give the support in the form of pull-outs from class and dedicated
tutoring time with her. Seeing how many students struggled to find their way in the first stages
alerted me that we need to provide more support for all of the students who are credit deficient.
During the entire process, I made myself available for feedback from the group and
administration. When the Study Skills teachers had questions or needed support with a
particular student, I made sure to provide what support I could and then reach out to counseling
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 Leadership Cycle 2
Part I: Reflective Narrative Template

and administration for anything further. At each step in the process, I included the members of
the group so that we all felt a sense of ownership in the problem of practice. I relied on the
research done by Mahan and Stein, in which they describe the seven key premises and
practices to teaching adults. I used their research because I felt it applied with the paradigm
shift I was asking to teachers to undergo in their approach to their credit deficient students. They
found that when teachers are in a new learning setting, they bring the expectations of the
teacher to the situation. I built on that premise by creating a collaborative environment where all
stakeholders had a voice and by asking the teachers to empathize with what their students are
experiencing in order to look at this project from another angle. Teaching Adults—Best
Practices That Leverage the Emerging Understanding of the Neurobiology of Learning, by John
Mahan MD and David Stein, PhD, Science Direct, 2014, accessed May 14, 2022. ]

5. Based on the analysis of your experiences in Cycle 2, identify specific professional learning
goals and describe next steps for growth.
[Bason on my experience during this cycle, I have identified two areas for growth. The first is to
learn how to run data from multiple platforms. Our district uses several different platforms for
teachers to assess student progress and it would be helpful for me to know how to gather the
data without having to rely on a data clerk. To accomplish this, I will reach out to our district IT
department to inquire about upcoming trainings that are scheduled and register for them. I will
also explore the “Help” feature in Aeries to find out if there are tutorials on the platform itself for
running various data points. The other area of growth that I identified has to do with
communication. During the roll-out of the program, teachers had one expectation of how often I
would communicate progress with them, and I had another expectation. In the future, I need to
make sure and ask the participants how often they would like to have updates and
communication and then follow through. It is important with any project to maintain the support
of the staff and keeping the lines of communication open and reciprocal. This project has
impacted my growth as a future administrator in that I was able to gain experience in meeting
with teachers and facilitating meetings that can lead to positive programs for students. I also
gained experience in navigating unhappy staff members who had different expectations of what
I was going to do. This experience helped me to practice the best ways to deal with someone
who is upset. I remained calm and empathized with their situation. I did my best to see the
situation from their perspective and to understand why they were upset. I communicated where I
went wrong and what I would do in the future to ensure that it would not happen again. This
experience provided growth and next steps for future growth.]

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