Reflections on Domain I Competencies 1 – 3                                    Joshua Kelly

From domain 1, I believe that I was able to gain a lot of knowledge in regards to school community leadership. To accomplish competency 1, I began by becoming a representative for my campus Site Based Decision Making (SBDM) committee. This gave me the opportunity to not only be a part of making policies and procedures but really let me have a chance to understand the process and talk with the other representatives and leaders who could give me a lot of information about our campus vision and mission. Activities that required me to compare three years and to break apart and study the STaR Chart helped me to understand what it was all about and how it was used. I now know how importance of it and how it is used to gather as a technology data gathering tool by the state.

To master competency 2, I really looked outside the classroom to see how a family-school-community partnership would benefit my students and increase achievement. I have always known that parental support is the key to success in the classroom but I never knew exactly how to bring in the parents and community to support the school and students. Through a parent training class I was able to help parents learn how to use the computers and programs that their children used on a daily basis. This greatly helped the parents and helped me to understand where the parents were falling short at home.  Developing a presentation to present to stakeholders helped me to concrete the ideas that I had while at the same time allowing others to see the importance of involvement.

Competency 3 allowed me to master the very important skill of collaboration and consensus building among the staff. The activity of reviewing Chapter 247 of the Texas Administrative Code helped me to have a better handle on the legal issues that surround the internet.  With a better understanding the Educators’ Code of Ethics I was able to teach my students responsible use when they are on the internet and how to give credit and site their sources.