ISLLC Standard 5.0-Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by acting with integrity, fairly, and in an ethical manner.

Teacher Observations and Scoring explanation and reflection:

Being an administrator not only involves making sure your school is run effectively and smoothly, but it involves making sure you are acting ethically, fairly and with integrity. Throughout my internship I worked with my mentor to create a trusting and well-organized learning environment not only for the students, but for our faculty as well. Being able to lead teacher observations, observation write ups, and be in charge of post-observation conversations helped guide me in learning how to treat others fairly and score with accuracy and integrity. I feel that The observations that I was solely in charge of below proves my mastery of ISLLC Standard 5.0. Although I was guided and overseen by my mentor throughout these observations, I was the one giving the direct feedback, deciding scores for teachers based on the Danielson Rubric, and using their lesson plans and data to ultimately make my decisions.

During the numerous observations that I had the opportunity to lead, there were many steps in order to achieve the trust and involvement in these processes. I first had to ask faculty for their permission to be involved. Not only did I have to create a rapport with my faculty members, but they also had to put their trust in me as a future administrator and allow me to take lead on their observation. I sat with my mentor and we discussed certain ways in grading faculty and looking at student achievement. We also discussed how to give feedback that was both reflective of a teachers craft and also ways to give constructive feedback without insulting or negatively affecting a teachers abilities. There were many times that I struggled with giving feedback to a colleague, but after numerous observations, I was able to work on my craft of affective feedback, and worked well with my mentor in order to still continue trusting relationships with the faculty in the building.

Throughout this experience, I have learned that when done well, teaching observations build community among colleagues and encourage both the observed teacher and the observer to reflect on their teaching. The ultimate goal is to not criticize, but to help them to continue to develop and improve their practice. This experience also helped me realize that observations can also provide faculty with feedback on aspects of their teaching such as an outsider or administrators content expertise or their implementation of specific teaching methods.

In theory, being fair, ethical and acting with integrity seems very easy to do. However, while walking into classrooms and observing, I found that at times, i struggled with certain scoring aspects and how to detach a certain teacher from the actual lesson that I observed. Overall, this experience guided me in many ways. I learned to be open to alternate viewpoints and to not only speak but listen to others. I have also learned that it is important to balance constructive criticism with genuine, specific praise. Helping teachers to identify their strengths is just as important as pointing out areas for improvement. For praise to be meaningful, it should be specific in order for them to know and see that you were truly paying attention to their craft.

Overall, I felt that these artifacts below show my continuous growth in learning and leadership. Not only did I work towards understanding my own integrity and working in an ethical manner, but I learned how individuals work as well and what is appropriate and fair when working and guiding others towards improvement and growth. That is why the artifacts below fall into ISLLC Standard 5.0.