Reflections of the Intern Plan Review

My site supervisor and I met at my office last week to review my intern plan.  Dr. Soileau has been very supportive and helpful in this entire process; I never felt that I was imposing on his time – I know how much is on his plate each day, so I appreciate the fact that he will give time to me as well as his sincere attention and help.  I had a very positive conference with my site supervisor.  He liked the activities that I had chosen and was glad to see that many of them were activities that will benefit our district plans for the year.  He suggested that I keep all of them as written.  He did suggest that I add activities that offer experiences in observing and/or practicing “leader as facilitator,” in several areas of the district, including operations, support services, and finance, as well as instructional/curriculum areas.  He said he believed the most important element of it all was the ability to facilitate in a variety of capacities- rather it be a small meeting, or the facilitation of a campus of district-wide initiative. He said it was a skill that is critical to the success of any superintendent because when you serve as a facilitator, versus a leader of a group, you put yourself in a position that requires you to listen to all views and to work on bringing agreement among the team.  We will revisit the plan as the internship progresses.

We were instructed to read and comment on another cohort member's reflection.  I read Jeff Nations’ blog regarding his interview.  I enjoyed reading his comments and noticed right away that our superintendents offer very similar comments.  Most tend to advise us to focus on building positive working relationships with all stakeholders.  It was nice to see that his supt wants to use some of his projects as building blocks for future plans.  That should mean a lot to Jeff.   

What I conclude after reading different blogs on this topic is that good communication and learning to build positive relationships are two of the most repeated pieces of advice from practicing superintendents.  Obviously, these are two skills areas to take to heart.