Reflection

Reflection is a very important skill for any professional to practice.  Through reflection, leaders learn about themselves and how to improve upon past experiences.  Peter Drucker said, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection.  From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”  I believe this is true.  Reflection forces you to evaluate decisions and actions made and explore ways to improve upon those actions.  This leads to better decision-making practices.  Throughout the coursework for Superintendent Certification, our cohort was asked to reflect in a variety of ways.  One way we practiced reflection was through our course assignment activities.  Through the process of developing my Intern Plan, I practiced reflection in order to develop an Intern Plan which would develop my skills and meet my professional needs as an administrator.  In the School Finance class, I also reflected upon the coursework as I became more knowledgeable about the subject of finance and how it applied to the Superintendent.  Another method of reflection was through our blogs.  The blogs were a great tool to use as we reflected upon the coursework.  When developing my Vita, I was able to reflect upon skills in which I should develop to become a better-rounded administrator.  I reflected upon our campus facilities in my blog, which allowed me to analyze areas in which our facilities are top-notch and areas in which we need to address on our campuses.  A third means of reflection was from course and campus supervised logs.  These reflections were exhibited through my Intern Plan and the SISE.  These allowed me to focus on my personal goals and needs to better myself as a leader.  The final process of reflection was through assessments.  In the classes in which exams were given,  I was able to assess my strengths and weaknesses and understanding of the course material.  I plan to use reflective practice to improve my leadership skills by analyzing my performance on a regular basis.  I am in the process of developing my professional goals for the 2011-2012 school year.  After creating my goals,  I will explore the methods I will use to achieve my goals.  I will then reflect  upon the success of achieving my goals on a weekly basis to improve myself as a leader.  I will also use my Professional Development Plan as a means of reflection.  I will analyze the goals and the methods I incorporate to achieve the goals in my Professional Development Plan to determine if I have achieved these to the fullest of my ability.