Kirsten Henderson

Eden Jr. Sr. High School

December 2015/January 2016
Monthly report
December 15, 2015 January 15, 2016
Standard 1
Although there were no specific activities for Standard 1 I have noticed that many of the
interactions I have with the staff at Eden are demonstrations of that vision of learning.
The vision is ECSD is a collaborative learning community that embraces the
individuality of each student, educating and empowering them to become productive
citizens in an ever-changing and diverse society. The work I have been doing with Title
IX as well as gathering the information about students on academic probation is focused
on helping the individual student. Eden shows they care about each student by taking the
time to follow up on student progress throughout the semester not just at report card
times. The dedication to helping students achieve is evident.
Standard 2
I have been able to learn about the APPR 3012-d that was approved for Eden. The APPR
process now has pre- and post conferences for the announced observation. I believe these
are important opportunities for a teacher and principal to form a relationship and gain a
common understanding of what is happening in the classroom. I am hoping to walk
around the school more to observe what is happening but so often events happen in the
office and it is difficult to get out of the office. The research for the middle school
transition is going well. I will be calling school districts to gain information that is not
available from different school websites. Visiting different sites is very interesting. How
are other schools showing the vision of their schools? What information is available
about the school?

Standard 3
Managing the organization and operations has been most interesting. The behavior
challenges that need to be addressed daily, staffing classrooms when multiple teachers are
out and there are not enough substitutes, and keeping students accountable for coming to
school on time takes up time in a principal and assistant principals day. I learned that I
need to drop what I may be doing when a student or faculty member comes to me to
discuss something. I need to be organized with files and projects to pick up what I need
to discuss with anyone at any time. I also need to know the tasks for the day to complete
them in small snippets of time between the unplanned issues that come up. Planning for
projects each day helps to focus those few open times during the day. Time is not wasted
figuring out what should be completed in a day.

Standard 4
Interactions with families happened often during these 2 weeks: meetings with one family
for a superintendent hearing, another family needed to leave their home in Eden
suddenly, a parent came in for a conference to help her child with a 504 plan, calling to
speak with parents regarding an incident at school, a child having difficulties in school
while navigating the feelings of being transgender and another child in crisis needing to
go to a mental health facility. A strength I have is talking with families and helping
where I can. This was an aspect of being a teacher that I did not want to lose out on when
moving to administration. This internship has demonstrated to me that you dont lose
that contact with families. A principal needs to know who to contact to help families and
when to contact others to help with a situation.
Standard 5
There have been many opportunities to demonstrate my integrity and fairness and to act
in an ethical manner. My children attend Eden High School. Because of this I have
excused myself some discipline issues because I know the student involved. There have
been delicate issues I have been made aware of with a student I know but there is no need
to remind me that confidentiality is important. Information shared at administrative
meetings are also kept confidential. I am a parent in the district but I am performing an
administrative role. Any information I hear is as an administrator for the district, not as a
parent.
Standard 6
I attended a meeting about Title IX and began planning for sharing information by
developing a poster to be displayed throughout the district. In a small district like Eden,
one administrator can wear many hats. Ms. Menkiena holds the position of Title IX
coordinator, 504 coordinator and home instruction coordinator, as well as Assistant
Principal. There are many different laws and statutes that govern schools. An
administrator needs to be familiar with these laws and statutes, know where to find the
latest information and keep current on the requirements for each. Reading through the
information in Title IX I have a better understanding of how it could impact the school.

January 18, 2016- January 29, 2016

Standard 1
Throughout this internship I was able to interact with a variety of staff and faculty. I
encouraged the collaborative community by informing others of activities, specifically
the Regents exams and asking for their input. I demonstrated a curiosity about any
activity others were engaging in. I was able to learn about the various choices students
have, whether they are in special education or in danger of failing. Eden works with
students helping them to make choices about their future. The vision for Eden is also
reflected in the research I completed regarding middle schools.
Standard 2
The focus has been on researching positive instructional programs focused on best
practice for middle schools. Grade 6 will be moving to the high school building in the
2018-2019 school year. The administrators were interested in schools that already had a
structure of a grade 6-12 building. I was able to call and speak with principals about the
positives of their programs. I organized a document with hyperlinks for ease of locating
the information of interest. I included links to articles I retrieved information from,
schedules from my interviews with principals and the completed questionnaires. I also
completed an inventory of the clubs currently being offered to the Jr./Sr. High students.

Standard 3
Working through a busy first few minutes of a school day when there are 9 teachers out
and only 6 substitutes was a challenge. Piecing together coverage for all the teachers was
truly a puzzle. I was getting nervous for the busy Regents week when there needed to be
many substitutes for proctoring and scoring on one day. Thankfully that week went very
smoothly with actually extra substitutes on one day that allowed me to add an extra

scorer for the ELA Regents exam. The simple project of setting up rooms and proctors
for the Regents week while students were in session grew to be a larger project. The
many different unforeseen variables kept the changes coming. Even with planning,
unexpected modifications needed to happen each day. I continued to organize my time so
I could drop one thing and pick up another without the need for searching for the notes.

Standard 4
The first half of the internship seemed to focus on the personal relationships with students
and families while the second half was more focused on the behind the scenes activities
for an administer. I attend the shared decision-making, budget advisory team and a board
meeting, all in one evening. I met with the financial director and participated in 2
administrative meetings regarding budget planning. Eden uses a zero based budget.
This helps to revisit the goals and vision for each building and the district as a whole. I
met with the special education department to understand how students transition out of
high school. One thing I learned is that when a student turns 18 they need to make
decisions for themselves. There are 2 community/government programs that are
available for students- Adult Career and Continuing Education Services-Vocational
Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR) and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities
(OPWDD).
Standard 5
I need keep track of the speed I speak especially when I talk with students. I can be a
very fast talker. When interacting with students to alert them to a detention or to the need
to attend academic enhancement I needed to stay positive and supportive. I want the
students to feel they can achieve at school. One student started to argue with me about
the consequences I was imposing. I slow became more firm in my approach. I worked at
trying to diffuse the situation.
Standard 6
I created a poster to alert the staff and community of their Title IX rights. I attended a
webinar called Legal Rights of Transgender Individuals in Public Schools. There was a
discussion about the case law and statutes that affect the transgender issue. There was a
Superintendent who discussed his process for aligning the policies for his school to
include transgender individuals. The big issue is use of locker rooms and bathrooms. He
focused on communicating with the public and hearing from both sides, advocates and
opponents. He stressed that people protest when they are surprised by a situation.
Districts need to have the conversation with all parties involved.