Reflective Essay: Practicum for EL - Emphasis in K-12 Administration

Mykala Griffin

My reflection is based on the MN Core Administrative Competencies. I move through

each competency to reflect on how I have grown throughout my practicum experiences.

Table of Contents (click to go to the competency area)

Leadership 1
Organizational Management 2
Diversity Leadership 3
Policy and Law 4
Political Influence and Governance 5
Communication 6
Community Relations 7
Curriculum Planning and Development for the Success of All Learners 8
Instructional Management for the Success of All Learners 10
Human Resource Management 11
Values and Ethics of Leadership 12
Judgment and Problem Analysis 13
Safety and Security 14
Final Thoughts 15

Leadership

I chose this path toward administration because I feel like I have a lot of qualities that

make me a good leader. Throughout my life, I have naturally always been the organizer and

delegator in group situations. However, before this practicum, I had not had much experience in

the leadership side of education as I just began teaching 3 years ago. Looking at the skills under

leadership I feel like I took the biggest steps in this category by leading summer school and my

district’s wellness PD day.

For summer school I had to select materials for the curriculum and lead the other teachers

in the schedule, lessons, and the end of the program field trip. For this program, I led the

selection of each student’s learning goals and worked to foster collaboration amongst all staff. I
chose and coordinated our field trip to our town’s firetower and stopped at the local ice cream

shop.

Spearheading the wellness PD day was a very challenging experience. The committee

members are volunteers who are willing to donate their time for nothing, so delegating tasks was

tricky because even with the best intentions, people are busy! I ended up taking on a lot of the

minor delegatable tasks while still facilitating all the larger pieces of the day. Facilitating and

motivating both the team and the district during the actual day taught me a lot about leadership.

When it comes to learning about how education is impacted by different events,

conversations at the building leadership team and district leadership team meetings were very

eye-opening. One example of events affecting our school is the scam calls called “swatting”

going around at national and local levels. We had a school close to ours experience 2 rounds of

swatting where their school was threatened. I got to see how each building principal addressed

this possibility with their staff. Seeing how this would be handled at each level was helpful for

me since I teach middle school and usually only have that direct perspective. Overall I think the

leadership category was one of my strengths going into this practicum and I only became better

and more knowledgeable in this area throughout the last few years.

Organizational Management

While I have always found it easy to keep myself organized, it is a whole different ball

game when it comes to organizing people and larger tiered systems like a public school. I had

very basic knowledge about how systems were organized. I understand the tier of teachers,

principal, superintendent, and school board. However, I see a lot more how these systems are

interconnected in ways I did not understand before.

 One example of this under developing and managing budgets is how our professional

development funds have been drained due to the new MDE requirements behind the Read Act.

We simply did not have the money to pay people to complete the training that is legally required

in the next few years. Seeing how my building’s Director of Teaching and Learning has had to

navigate this during a year when ELA is also on high cycle and is purchasing a new curriculum

was very enlightening. Having to be creative with funds and balancing other budgets, while

getting approval from the school board and other groups is a hard road to navigate.

I had very little knowledge of facilities development, so being a part of the DLT was very

beneficial for me. There were a lot of conversations about our failed referendum and how we

move forward with our school repairs and management with the funds we have. Similar to

leadership, I would say overall this area is one of my strengths because of my ability to delegate

and motivate others to rally behind a cause. I have had those skills as a coach, and I think that

has helped me be successful in leadership

Diversity Leadership

As a teacher, I care a lot about promoting understanding and inclusion in my classroom.

Throughout my practicum, I have grown in how to encourage this at the district level. One way

that I worked to promote a positive learning environment for all students was to help craft our

middle-level student surveys for each grade level. Questions were formatted to fit each age group

and inquire about their personal experiences at school. Going through this data at the BLT level

helped us reflect on how we can improve. One thing we noticed is that students do not always

feel supported by their peers, and this led to our new bullying posters. One positive thing we got
from the feedback is they feel that their teachers encourage them to fix their mistakes. It was cool

seeing that students overall feel that teachers encourage them to grow.

When it comes to a positive environment for all staff, I did work on this at the BLT and

DLT level. Especially at the DLT level, the job of the district leadership team is to speak on

behalf of the rest of the staff. One challenge I found is making decisions that make everyone

happy. With different age groups and schedules, it is challenging to align all 3 buildings for

calendar items.

For the wellness PD day, our committee worked to offer options and choices so people

could do what makes them well. We crafted a retreat type of day under the theme of “Choose

Your Own Adventure” where people can freely participate in a variety of activities like rock

climbing, reading, journaling, ice fishing, and more! Being head of the committee I selected the

location, session options, prizes, and schedule for the day. Therefore, I think this competency is

one of my stronger areas.

Policy and Law

Out of all the competencies, I went into my practicum with the least amount of

knowledge and experience in policy and law. I was able to grow greatly in this area in part

because there was so much new legislation this year. By working closely with my principal, I

learned about new student discipline legislation that requires changes to how behaviors are

documented. You have to have documented nonexclusionary discipline practices/interventions

recorded and on file to prove you have attempted to avoid expulsion with other means.

I also learned a lot about law by being a part of the READ Act Committee. There is a lot

of trickle-down from the state level down. The READ Act requires specific data tracking for

students and training for any staff that teaches reading. As a district, we are navigating how to
get all of our staff trained under programs approved by the state by 2025 and 2027. A big

unknown is how this will all get paid for as we do not have the budget to accomplish all of the

new requirements.

I am still limited in my knowledge of case law but have learned that judicial courts have

the power of interpretation based on the specific context when it comes to laws. As an

administrator, you have to be in the know and able to move all the pieces around to make

everything work. It is critical to be flexible in your planning as laws are constantly changing and

even laws long in place can be easily changed.

Political Influence and Governance

This is another competency where I am limited in experience. Seeing the interconnected

web of community, school board, superintendent, principals, leadership teams, and the rest of the

staff from the leadership perspective was enlightening. The aftereffects of a failed referendum

left our school board and administration searching for why we were not able to align support for

our district needs. I participated in making calls to our community and saw how mixed our

community is in supporting or not supporting our schools. I think part of the issue is our

communication was limited to mostly online, and a lot of our population is older and do not have

kids in school anymore.

I learned a lot about getting support financially through my fundraising for the wellness

PD day. I also realized that where funds come from is just as important as having the funds in the

first place. For example, our PTA donated $2,000 to our wellness day, but that money had to be

used specifically for items that teachers could use in their classrooms. That money has to in some

way directly impact students, so we could not use that money to purchase general wellness
supplies. Ultimately, you need to include your community in decision-making for them to back

your district’s priorities.

Communication

I have always prided myself on my communication skills, and they are needed to be a

good leader. Again as a newer teacher, I had limited experience in taking the lead and facilitating

things before this practicum. For all the competencies, I grew significantly in this one because of

all of the large projects I took on including Summer School, Freshman Orientation, Science of

Reading for Eagle View Elementary, and my District’s PD day. While I needed to get to step into

the director-type role I also got a front-row seat to each building’s principal and how they

facilitated teamwork and the various skills listed under this competency.

By participating in the high school and middle school BLT (building leadership team) I

got to see how both principals delegated and relied on their teachers to communicate back and

forth. By participating in the elementary school staff meetings I got a look into how their

principal communicates with their staff. This was important because I have only taught middle

school so most of my knowledge is in that level.

One thing that interested me was taking part in the admin meetings once a week. These

meetings included my superintendent, principals from each building, and the director of teaching

and learning. Sometimes there would be the instructional coaches in attendance as well. In these

meetings, my admin would formulate plans and solutions for current issues or agenda items like

when our schoology platform would not sync properly to Infinite Campus or the specifics of the

next PD day. I would see the planning and delivery of these things from each principal since I

attended each building's staff meetings. Ultimately, I have found how you say something is just
as important as having something to say. Being careful with how you interact with others is

important to a successful work environment for staff and learning environment for students.

Community Relations

I grew a lot in this area partially because I had such little understanding and experience in

this competency before this practicum. From the teacher and coach’s perspective, I have mostly

focused on connecting with the families of my students and players. From the administrative

role, community relations is a lot more complex. One way I grew in this area was seeing how my

administrators prepared for the District Advisory Committee meetings. These meetings are an

important part of including our community in our school. I think it is important that all

stakeholders know the details of our school like our MCA Data, curriculum review processes,

and other important information.

Another way our district sought community feedback was through a resident survey

administered by the Morris Leatherman Company. This survey was a 500 random sample of

residents of varying demographics to get their feedback on the failed referendum. This was

helpful to understand why the majority voted against the referendum. When you look at our

demographics, we have a large portion of our community members who are older and no longer

have school-age children. This means they do not have a reason to go and search out our school

website and other online resources which was our primary communication tool. Other current

issues affected our school funding and may have resulted in the failed referendum like the

current economic crisis. Ultimately, there is a disconnect between our community concerns and

our district limitations based on our current funding.

 I also got to promote a positive image of schools and the district by facilitating our social

media during summer school and freshman orientation. Keeping the community involved in

what is going on in our schools goes beyond the curriculum and other academics. Families like

to see the awesome activities, programs, and events we expose the students to!

Curriculum Planning and Development for the Success of All Learners

Up until this practicum, I had little to no experience about curriculum planning and

development beyond planning and implementing my own 6th grade ELA curriculum. I got the

opportunity to grow in this area early in my practicum by facilitating summer school for the

middle school. A part of this process was selecting and implementing the reading and math

curriculum for 5-8 grade students.

One aspect of this competency area is appropriately using learning technology. As a

district, we are currently in the middle of deciding how to move forward with the current AI

advancements. Sitting in on DLT, one concept we decided to pilot with schoology is their AI bot

program to help students with homework help outside of the school day, when they need

immediate help and cannot reach their teacher. We opened it up to staff and about 10 teachers are

trying the Chatbot to allow students a filtered and more student-friendly approach to accessing

information. Before taking this step, a big part of the conversation was how to keep up with these

trends and use them as tools instead of simply threats. While this has become a touchy subject, as

technology always seems to be, I have come to believe that pretending that technology is not

there does not make it go away. Students will be using systems like ChatGTP and other AI

advancements, so we must teach them how to use them safely and properly.

Joining our district’s elementary school for the implementation of the Science of Reading

concepts helped me grow in understanding the history of educational trends like balanced
literacy and structured literacy. A large reason for this shift was the READ Act legislation that

requires training that is geared towards the science of reading and how to best teach reading. I

facilitated the specific shifts toward this way of teaching reading with the 3rd and 4th-grade

teachers. The training I completed as part of this opportunity helped me grow not only as an ELA

teacher but as a hopeful future administrator. I learned that you have to create buy-in to enhance

teaching and learning. A government mandate is not enough to create change in curriculum and

assessment procedures. A part of assessing curriculum is knowing that there will always be new

trends, standards, and ways to teach. So you cannot become complacent in what you do and how

you teach or you will miss out on opportunities to become better.

Another huge experience that applies under this category is the process of embedding the

new ELA standards and selecting a curriculum for ELA. This year ELA was on high cycle and

was in the middle of selecting a curriculum. Participating in the process of learning the new

standards and then selecting a curriculum best fit for students, the standards, and my teaching

style taught me a lot about how each level of schooling builds on one another. To make the best

choice for curriculum now, we must be able to anticipate the needs and trends for the next 7

years, as we will not get the chance to select a new curriculum until then. A big conversation is

how we connect with our SPED team to ensure dollars allotted for ELA are going to their rooms

as well. I know that growing in curriculum planning in other areas outside of ELA is important

so I can better understand curriculum planning and adaption as a whole. However, I now have a

better understanding of how interconnected school levels, and education levels (like general

education and special education) are when it comes to funding and selecting curriculum.
Instructional Management for the Success of All Learners

This competency is one that I have overall felt confident in at the classroom level. My

district facilitates what we call “data dives” twice a year for us teachers to use our STAR scores

to better inform our decisions for curriculum and instruction. I stepped up in this area greatly

during my facilitation of summer school. Being the lead teacher and on-site administrator, I went

through all student data to plan the curriculum for 6th-8th grade students. Going through STAR,

MCA, and MTSS information helped me group kids into targeted intervention groups, and find

common threads for target standards. Part of my summer school’s requirements for funding is

that each student has individualized target skills, so the data helped me craft those plans for each

student to achieve at a higher level.

When it comes to integrating new curriculum and resources, I spent a lot of time working

on the new science of reading concepts that align with the READ Act legislation. Working with

our elementary school principal to implement these new teaching reading concepts helped me

learn about the execution of new concepts not only staff-wide but also from the elementary

perspective. Our elementary school is at a very transformational time with new legislation

requiring training by 2025, a new ELA curriculum, UFLY curriculum implementation, the

science of reading text, and then some. The biggest challenge always seems to be not having

enough time to properly train and give staff time to embed new practices.

I was very fortunate to serve on the READ Act committee, where we selected what

required training our school would choose, and planned how we could form an MOU and PD

schedule to accomplish these trainings. Through the training selection process, I research

multiple trainings like CORE, CARE-ALL, and LETRS. The process taught me how much
credibility, user-friendliness, time requirement, funding by the state, and total district cost play a

part in district decisions when it comes to mandated training.

As an ELA department, we focused on learning the new standards and selecting a new

curriculum for next year. Through this process, I learned much about how funding impacts

options for each level. Due to our elementary school selecting a more pricy option, the middle

level had one option of curriculum to move forward with. A part of going through the materials

is matching content, literature, and concepts with the new standards. Being a new teacher, this

was my first ever curriculum purchase. As I realigned content to the new standards, I reevaluated

my assessment strategies based on the learner outcomes.

When it comes to using technology to support instruction, my previous mention of the

implementation of Schoologies new AI bot called PowerBuddy helped me learn about the use of

different technology based on the teacher, class, and content you teach. While I do not have as

much use for the AI chatbox, it was a positive addition to a 7th-grade science teacher’s research

unit about the inner workings of cells. This AI conversation has trickled into many meetings as

both a possible resource and a threat that is not going away. How we choose to move forward as

a district, not just as individual teachers, is paramount.

Human Resource Management

I grew significantly in many of the aspects listed under human resource management. My

biggest growth was furthering my understanding of staff development. Leading the committee

for our Wellness PD Day taught me a lot about different goals of staff development, and how to

differentiate PD to fit individual staff needs. This was especially helpful because I had to step

outside of the teacher's perspective and conceptualize what other staff members like
paraprofessionals, transportation, custodial, and other district staff would need in a scheduled

wellness PD day. This also taught me that part of PD is how you build relationships amongst

staff, and give them what they need to be successful. This is one critical way to retain great staff

that feel supported both personally and professionally.

By planning and leading summer school I got to see into the process of personnel

recruitment, selection, and retention. Recruiting teachers and paras for summer school included

beginning with reaching out to past summer school staff, and then opening the pool to the rest of

the staff for inquiries. I then created my team for the summer from there.

When it comes to labor relations and collective bargaining, I learned a lot throughout the

process of my school’s negotiations on our contract. Collective bargaining is very important to

keep the balance of best interest between school board/administration and staff. Currently, there

are some disagreements about how to fulfill the requirement on the READ Act. Our school board

has rejected many proposals for an adjusted schedule like an occasional half day or 2-hour late

start. This has left the administration with the task of proposing an MOU to staff that requires

teachers to complete some of the required training outside of contract time with a stipend. This

MOU sets a precedent for future scenarios, so it is important as a union that teachers express

their disagreement with this MOU not only for the teachers affected by the current legislation but

for the unknown future as well.

Values and Ethics of Leadership

When it comes to the values and ethics of leadership, I view this section as the

understanding that our job as educators is not just to teach the standards or content, but to

prepare students to be morally responsible in the world. I have already done a lot of work on
embedding social-emotional learning (SEL) in my classroom. I got to expand on this work by

seeing more closely how homeroom work is utilized to help students grow as caring, informed

citizens. One way we do this is by implementing themed character months like kindness and

leadership, to encourage students to work on important SEL at home and school. Part of our

planning and implementation of these concepts at the BLT level revolved around fostering moral

leadership amongst each grade, as our last student survey showed that many students do not feel

supported by their peers. We want students to take ownership of the culture they create at school.

When it comes to education in a democratic society, part of our job is to ensure students

understand basic human rights like freedom of speech and informed voting. Readying students

for the world they will enter upon graduation is our job. One way I grew in this area was with the

AI technology work I had mentioned before. A big part of this technology discussion at the DLT

level was how is this going to affect student's rights for copying and other legal matters.

Ultimately, an administrator has to be trustworthy and distance their personal and professional

life to be unbiased when doing their job.

Judgment and Problem Analysis

Framing and solving issues is a huge part of being an administrator. Many of the criteria listed

under this competency are related to the reworking of our middle school’s master schedule to solve our

low performance in math. The conversation about a new schedule started in part because of 2 math

teachers and their ideas to get more math minutes, similar to the block style that ELA has. As a school,

math scores have continued to decline despite the efforts of math interventions in homeroom. My

principal agreed that we have a significant issue with our students' level of math proficiency, and was

willing to move forward with drastic change to address it. This new schedule involved moving staff and

cutting out minutes of social and science to make room for more math, and even more ELA. He was very

careful with how he presented the schedule and made sure to get tons of feedback and examples from our
school and other schools before putting a proto-type schedule together. He knew he needed to delicately

propose this to staff for them to be open-minded and willing to accept such a big change.

I have already mentioned my participation on the Read Act Committee. Still, under this

competency area, I want to add that part of the struggle for this committee is moving forward with

decisions based on the limited information given from MDE. Sometimes you have to make the best

decisions you can, knowing you might not have all the information. We had to move forward with

selecting training for those who are under phase 1, knowing that MDE will probably be coming out with

more trainings later.

I could list every other thing on my practicum under this competency area because no matter

what, there are going to be issues and problems that arise related and unrelated to what you are focusing

on at the moment. A big part of being a successful leader is controlling the narrative, and communicating

with staff from the beginning so no one is surprised by a decision or direction you end up choosing.

Safety and Security

I learned the most in this area when participating in my DLT (District Leadership Team)

discussion on what are school’s priorities need to be when it comes to a future and our goals.

One item on that list that stayed is our facilities and grounds. Through staff data, we targeted

areas that need to be addressed for student safety and security. A part of these conversations was

about how we can improve our grounds and facilities after the failed referendum. Part of our

committee's goals is to improve our ground's safety is to routinely survey staff for building

updates and needs. Administrators also send out a staff survey after every evacuation to get

feedback on any malfunctions or things that did and did not operate as they should.

Another point to this is our relationship with law enforcement in this area to have an

officer on campus regularly. My principal believes it is important to continue to have this

presence even with the non-restrictive hold legislation now in place. Having police involvement

on campus helps secure our school and offer our students a protected and safe learning

environment.

One way we work to create a safe environment is having student pannels where we meet

with a selected handful of students to get their feedback on our grounds and how to make their

experience better. I have mentioned the thematic SEL work in homeroom, and that is also

implemented to eliminate bullying and profiling in our school. Based on this year’s student

survey, we decided to start a new campaign of “Speak Up” posters located in every classroom

and around the school to promote positive language and respectful communication amongst

students. Our school has had a lot of problems of hurtful slang/language and the student survey

backed up what staff have already identified as a problem. These posters, accompanied by

grade-level meetings, homeroom discussions, and more are a part of a district-wide plan to make

all students feel safe and supported at Pequot Lakes Schools.

Final Thoughts

The last year has been one of the most challenging years of my professional life. I am a

firm believer that if something doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you. I have grown so

much in my understanding of administrative leadership, but I know I have a long way to go. This

fall I start my next practicum, and plan to seek out new experiences to fill in some gaps and

interests that this experience has sparked in me. Ultimately, being a good leader is not just

knowing things, it is knowing that you cannot be the most knowledgeable about everything, so

you need staff and a team that brings value and can fill in your weaknesses.