PreK-12 Leadership Artifacts

I am grateful for the breadth of experience, ranging from K-12, this internship has provided.  Going into my internship work, I had the least amount of experience with middle/high school instruction, and the most time and experience spent at the elementary level.  

One thing that left an impression on me is the complexity and depth of students’ social emotional needs by the time they reach the secondary level.  Additionally, the intensity of some of the student conduct issues in middle/high school is far greater than what I have seen and experienced in elementary school.  In approximately two short weeks at the secondary level, I was exposed to issues involving drugs, threat assessments, misuse of social media, sexual harassment, explicit acts of racism, and mysoginistic behaviors.  It was very eye-opening, as so many of these challenges are bigger, more difficult to deal with, often involve legal aspects, and potentially pose serious threats to student safety.  If more elementary teachers had a small taste of my experience, I believe they would likely feel more urgency in addressing topics like social-emotional learning, cultural competency, and digital citizenship at the elementary level.  After learning from my secondary colleagues, I clearly see the importance of laying a strong foundation of skills that address the whole-child vs. spending all of our time on academics.  

Although the challenges posed by secondary education seem intimidating, there were aspects of middle and high school leadership that I found appealing.  Our secondary administrators are much more deeply involved with athletics and activities, often spending evenings and weekends attending school-wide events.  I found that I enjoyed being involved in the school community in this capacity.  As an extroverted individual, this work felt fulfilling.  Additionally, I found value in having an administrative team at the secondary level.  In getting to know myself more deeply, as an individual and a leader, I learned that I thrive in group settings where I am able to work collaboratively with other people.  Although elementary principals still have a network of colleagues to work with, things feel more isolated at this level.  Fortunately, I have learned from my principals about effective ways to help build a professional learning network.  Additionally, I know I can continue to lean on my colleagues in the Saint Mary’s community for support and advice as I embark on my administrative career.