Renny

Fong

Cohort 28 Bank Street College of Education

July August 2012

Principals Institute Summer 2012 Internship Reflection My summer internship at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School 131 provided me with a phenomenal learning

experience these past six weeks. I was able to work through the entire program from pre-planning to setup to testing administration. Not only did I help with the day-to-day operations of the summer program with the students, but I was also given the opportunity to attend a test coordinator meeting and partake in a couple of workshops for teachers and administrators. It was a wonderful feeling getting to exercise my leadership competencies, and I definitely gained more confidence in my abilities to lead and manage. MAJOR LEARNINGS: Teamwork - I had the opportunity to work with my supervising principal, Phyllis Tan, along with many other dedicated staff members throughout the summer. Ive had the same boss for over fifteen year now, so it was definitely a change to work with another leader who manages and leads differently. Also, because the summer school program had over 100 students from 7 different middle schools, I got to meet and work with other principals, assistant principals, teachers, parent coordinators, guidance counselors, coaches, substitute teachers, aides, and other interns. I never worked with middle school students in this kind of capacity, so I learned quickly by observing how everyone interacted with the students. Everyone has different styles, and eventually I was able to develop my own way of interacting with the students. I found the most important quality is to be a good listener. I was also able to closely work with the on-site secretary, as attendance monitoring and data organization were two of my big responsibilities throughout the program. With technology, sometimes you work with people that youve never seen before. I had to e-mail and call the Childrens First Network Data/IT Applications Specialist on a regular basis in order to ensure accurate data keeping. I dont think Ive ever had to work with so many new people in such a short amount of time. I thoroughly enjoyed working with so many people in different capacities.

Planning and Clear Expectations I got to see firsthand how important it is as a leader to plan ahead and to set clear expectations. When everyones trying to get so much done in such a short amount of time, planning and preparation is essential. One of the things we could have planned and prepared better was how to deal with disruptive students. Because there wasnt a set protocol, it was very difficult for the staff to know what to do, as none of the head teachers were from the same school, and there were students from many different schools, too. Some teachers just asked students to leave the class and others had them work in the hallway. Therefore, some of the disruptions spilled into the hallway, and there were some days that got very hectic because of the inconsistency of how much extra help was present. Sometimes, there was a lot of additional help, but more often, it was just me and another intern, Taylor, who is a literacy coach at the school during the regular school year. She already got her administrative license, but this was her first summer helping to lead and manage the program alongside with me. We also had the help of a guidance counselor, Hilda, who was a great help. She wasnt always around, though, so we all worked as a team to help with all the disruptions. Another thing that could have been planned better was the grading and record keeping. We had each student

complete a portfolio, which was a terrific idea for gathering evidence of student work and to hold everyone accountable. The big problem was taking the time to grade these portfolios. Some teachers took some days off, and some didnt work the whole duration of the program. This put the onus on the literacy coach to go through all of the ELA portfolios. One of the math teachers did a fantastic job, but the other one wound up taking them home on the last day of classes to work with them, and he didnt return them when they were due. This made it very difficult for everyone because of the deadlines in submitting grades to the network. We did what we could, but if we had planned this in advance, more time could have been given to the teachers to work on grading and organizing all of their paperwork. They werent clear that there were supposed to be grades until much later in the program. Taking Initiative I was so fortunate to have a supervisor who put so much trust in me and my fellow intern. Together, we made many day-to-day decisions because our supervisor wasnt always around. I was able to take over the Google Doc that I helped to create to do the daily attendance. I printed out rosters for the teachers to take attendance daily, because the ATS sheets never categorized the students correctly, and I knew this would be a burden for teachers since they taught two sessions, and there was no rhyme or reason to how the students were categorized in the attendance

sheets. We also had to make decisions on how to handle the disruptive students and altercations between students and even with staff members. Again, with the help of counselors, I learned to listen better and how to calm certain students down, so they wouldnt flip out further. One of the moments Ill always remember is helping to coordinate a fire drill. My supervisor was absent on that day, and she had set it for 9AM the following day. The thing was, her school not only housed this summer program, but there were at least five other programs taking place throughout the building. That morning, when we went around telling everyone the fire drill would be at 9AM, some people who were in charge of their programs were upset because some of their students or camp members are dropped off at 9AM or a little earlier. Usually, they will take some of the earlier children, but if it was at 9AM, they would not let them in. There were other programs what started right at 9AM, so they also didnt know whether they should let their students up earlier or not. All of this didnt sit right with me, and I felt something needed to be done. I quickly texted my supervising principal and explained to her that a 9AM fire drill would disrupt some of the programs taking place in the school, in terms of morning lineup. She texted me back and okayed the change in time to 9:30AM, but then I would have to go and tell the lunchroom, the other high schools, the safety agents, and the camp program. I ran around and made sure all of the bases were covered, and everyone was happy with the change. There was one principal who was upset because she thought it would be at 1:30PM. Phyllis assured me that they received an e-mail the week before and that I should go and speak to her. I ran over to that principal, explained it, and we shook hands, and everything was good. Everyone was out of the building in less than 3 minutes! Mission accomplished. That was a really good day. I will never take another fire drill for granted again. Conclusion The main takeaway from this summer internship experience is that it boosted my confidence level in terms of leading and managing with a positive attitude. I also learned how important it is to trust in the people you work with, as it empowers them to take more initiative in leading. There are so many details and unexpected situations that must be taken care of in a school every day. An effective leader knows how to prioritize and to delegate these responsibilities. Having a strong team makes all the difference, because there is no way one person can do it all. I go into the new school year with a different lens, and I know I will take even more initiative in leading and learning.