Reflection of the Shadowing Experience

Brief Interviews of Those Shadowed

Shadowing Experience 1

     On January 30, 2008, I shadowed, observed, and interviewed the assistant principal, D.C., at my school. Because my school is a small school we only have one assistant principal. His day begins approximately 7:15 each morning by performing bus duty and monitoring students in the parking lot before school. After 8:00 a.m., he comes into the office to see if there were any calls or parents waiting on him.  If there were to be any, he stated that he would address these calls/parental visits at this time. Seeing that there were none, we walked the halls, stuck our heads in the classrooms, and made the students and teachers aware of the presence of administration. He stated that being visible keeps many disciplinary issues at bay. We also took note of custodial issues of floors that were in need of mopping. He stated this should not be the issue at the beginning of the day. He also stated that he would have to address this since the principal was away at a conference on this particular day. 

     As the morning progressed, the assistant principal began the routine of going over the after school detention list and reassigning detention for those who had not attended their assigned day. He was able to meet with a few of the middle school students and the elementary school students about this. Unfortunately, SchoolMax, the school's computer scheduling records were not working for much of the day and we were not able to meet with everyone. He took notes in a notebook as well as recorded this when possible in the school's disciplinary records.  The assistant principal demonstrated how to document this in the computer.

     At approximately 9:45, we observed the high school students' break. Following break, the assistant principal continued working on reassigning detention and issuing punishment for disciplinary write-ups. This continued until around 11:00. At this time, the secretary called and stated that the 7th and 8th grade teacher had requested that he come down to their rooms for a disturbance cause by one of the students he had spoken to earlier that morning about a disciplinary issue. The student was quite rude and disrespectful in her manner and speech to all adults involved. He was very calm, yet direct, with his response to the student. He stated that although she disagreed with the disciplinary measures that were issued against her, he would not allow her to talk in that manner to his teachers. He was extremely supportive of the teachers in charge and even called the parents to let them know what had transpired. His approach to speaking with the parent was one of "we are all in this together" and "we want what is best for the children involved". He was positive and informative with the parents. He stated that he always tries to put a positive spin on the phone calls home. He knows and understand the importance of keeping positive communication between the school and home. He took time before seeing anyone else to document what was said by both the parent and himself in order to keep accurate records. He did this routinely between every student he met with as well. He stated that keeping accurate records are a must.

     The day progressed and lunch approached. He is responsible to monitor and provide his presence at both middle school and high school lunch. During high school lunch, a special education student in the self contained middle school class was having a difficult day and being both disrespectful and refusing to do his work. The assistant principal talked with the student about his behavior and then called the student's parent. Again, he put a positive spin on the issue at hand, but let the parent konw that the child's behavior and refusal to do work was unacceptable. He also spoke with the parent again at the end of the school day as he was doing duty in the parking lot.

   The remainer of the day was spent with a few more displinary issues. With one hour left in the school day, he walked around the hallways and visited classrooms to make his presence known. At 2:45, he did bus duty--being sure that all the buses were there and that all students who were riding the bus made it on the bus. From there he monitored the parking lot to ensure that students and parents in cars left the campus in a safe manner. 

Shadowing Experience 2

      On February 27, 2008,  I observed the principal, S.G., was a day that began with her on the phone talking about a disciplinary issue with a parent at 7:30. The reason this was unusual is that the assistant principal usually deals with discipline. However, on this day, the assistant principal was not at the school. At 7:45, a parent of a student of one of my grade level co-workers needed to discuss with the principal and my co-worker about issues in an elementary classroom. As I observed, the principal was careful and wrote in a notebook on her desk the issues at hand. She used questioning techniques that were reassuring, yet designed to get to the heart of the matter.This occurred each time she spoke with someone whether in person or on the phone. She was supportive of the teacher, but also reassured the parent that things would improve. At 8:15, she completed a scan of the school for custodial and maintenence issues, as well as to see that the school day began in an organized and structured manner. She observed is students were in the hallway, scanned for items left in the floor, etc. This took about 25-30 minutes. She returned to her office and corresponded to teachers and other important people via email. Around 9:00, a consultant from the regional educational services agency came to visit math classrooms across all grade levels. The consultant was there to determine if the math text series that was adopted was meeting the needs of our students and to find out concerns that teachers have with the program. There had been parental concerns about the math series because it is conceptually based rather than skills based. After a brief discussion, the principal showed her where the classrooms in question were located and we allowed her to visit classrooms on her own. During the breaks, the principal and the consultant would meet to discuss what she felt might be of concern. The consultant was very complimentary of the instruction that she saw, but stated she wanted to come during our next staff development day to work with groups of teachers. Throughout the morning, there were a few disciplinary issues that arose. One such one was a girl who was not dressed according to the school dress code. The student told the principal that she did not have any clean clothes and so she wore what she had. While the principal told her she understood, she supported the teacher that wrote the student up for the dress code violation. The principal tried to contact the parent and the older sister to get another set of clothing for the student. This was not able to be achieved. This high school student was taken home by the principal. She also worked with another high school student who was having difficulty getting along with one of his teachers. At the time of our arrival back at school which was approximately 10:30, the principal did several formal observations. She used a notebook for record taking as she observed both the teacher and the engagement of the students. She went to different areas in the classrooms and observed students, spoke with and questioned them about their work. She wrote continually while she was in the classroom. At noon, she met back with the consultant from our RESA to discuss what her thoughts were so far. Following this she did another classroom observation of the agriculture teacher. As the day continued, she monitored the hallways and completed lunch duty for the high school student from 1:00- 1:30. Around 2:00, she met again with the consultant and discussed the possiblity of the consultant initiating staff development both on a staff development day and during the summer; dates for this were scheduled. Around 2:45, the principal completed bus duty as the assistant principal was not at school that day.

Observation of Alternative School Environment

On April 18, 2008, I observed the Alternative School within my system. Because there are only two administrators in my school a principal and an assistant principal,  I choose to observe the alternative school because the instructor is a former administrator and he is often responsible for the decision making in this environment.  This classroom is on a campus where our Board of Education building is located. Upon arrival, there were three students in the classroom. One student was absent. The teacher said that this student was out of town with his father. Students were actively engage in their computer generated coursework. The Alternative School teacher was monitoring student work and discussing their progress with them. He advised one student to clean up in his area. I noted that all the students within this class were males. The teacher was on his feet at all times. He rotated from student to student. There was a great deal of space between each student and computer screens were placed in study carrels. The teacher told me that he was a retired administrator. The students in this classroom were very polite and respectful. There was no off task behavior in this classroom. The facilities were neat and comfortable. The teacher stated that he thought the computer program helped target students who were behind academically and helped provide success for them.