Everyday, I think about things that I want to change in my school. People I want to work with to make our school a better experience for the students. This is their lives. As they walk through the halls, and sit in the classrooms, they are building memories that they will carry longer than we realize. I want to impart my belief that students are not products, but human beings that deserve a chance at life. We are molding the future, they are in our hands. We need to give children the opportunity to learn, grow, make mistakes, and reflect. How else can we change the world around us?

I would like to be an assistant principal in the near future, and be able to make more important decisions that will directly impact student learning and achievement. There is still so much to learn, and each day, I learn something new at work, while reading, and through our class discussions. I believe that an effective leader is a life-long learner, and I feel that I have to work on my confidence level at times. Even though I am well prepared, and my actions are always thought out, there will always be resistance toward initiatives, and I just need to remind myself that it is not a reflection on me as a leader. I plan on continuing to read literature on my career and on teaching and learning.

In addition to me continuing my learning, as a leader, I will facilitate the ongoing professional development for members of my staff. I think it is essential for teachers to be sent out of the school and to professional workshops that facilitate ongoing reflection and effectiveness. There is always something that can be learned, and I plan on making my opinion on staff development very clear early on. When I get hired as an assistant principal, I will ask my principal about my access to assigning people to workshops that best meet their needs. 

As I reflect on the components of my electronic portfolio, I see how far I have come. Starting off in this program as a complete novice to the components of leadership, I know I have changed because I see the same things differently. I appreciate all the logistics that go into making an assembly happen, or the systems that must be in place which affect morale and efficiency in a school building, and that we are not working in isolation. School is a community, and each member of the community must want the best for each child, and go that extra mile to make it all work out. There shouldn't be the mentality where one feels a task is not in their job description. There is no task too big or small when we work as a community.