First and foremost, I must
say that my focus during this course, and its objectives changed radically
during the timeframe of the course. I
was hired on as the new assistant principal at Klein Collins High School during
this class, and it changed my outlook on the assignments. Whereas before, when I was a teacher, I
viewed the assignments through a teacher lens, and had a hard time imagining
how I may implement some of the ideas presented in the course; now, as a
principal – I see direct correlations with the goals I am given, and the
assignments listed. I see tremendous
value in some of the examples. The
further they are away from “mainstream” teaching, the more value and interest I
find in them.
To be honest, I was really
interested in Research based instruction – but the icing on the cake for me was
the Flipped learning. I am fortunate
enough to teach in a one-to-one district, and it would be SO easy for my
teachers to convert a couple of lessons into a “Flipped” classroom. A couple of problems present themselves
pretty quickly with this: 1. I am in a HUGE district, and this must go
through the curriculum specialist/planner for the district. 2. The
hesitation of the teachers (which I have not met yet). 3. The
logistics and software knowledge required to pull off a flipped classroom.
All of the hesitations aside,
I see great value in the lesson provided.
The discussion board of the class also provided some valuable insights
as to the benefit of a flipped classroom.
While most of the responses to the original responses were generic, I
found that most/if not all of the admin-in training students found this to be
the key-stone of the course. Flipped
learning needs to be brought mainstream, and QUICKLY!!
I am also asked to discuss my
internship and the progression of the internship. It has accelerated into hyper
drive after landing this assistant principal job. I can honestly tell you that
some of the stuff in the plan is worthless right now, and some of it is very
valuable. I am glad that I was forced
out of my comfort zone as a teacher, and directed to spend time in committees
and to be involved in the leadership structure of the school. Had I not done this, I would have been even
more lost than I am now!!!
Overall – this course was a
great help, and especially when piggybacked with the ILD certification course
from Region 2. (By the way Lamar – please do a better job of posting the
timelines for taking this course in relation to the LCE and the Admin CERT test.)
