Running head: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

My Professional Development as a Principal

Tiffany D. DeWalt
Instructional Leadership
Dr. Landry
June 17, 2015

RESEARCH-BASED PRACTICES

My Professional Development as a Principal

The role as an instructional leadership requires a leader to be knowledgeable in many

areas. Principals must be ready to handle any challenge in monitoring the curriculum, setting
goals, providing resources, and supporting teachers. Once I achieve my goal of being a school
leader, I believe that it is imperative that I am able to support my campus needs and be the best
role model for my staff. This would include for me to continue to grow as a leader like I would
want my staff to continue to grow in their roles. I want to develop a community where we can
openly discuss and practice research-based strategies to see what works and does not work for
our campus. The bases for my professional development would be to motivate and guide the
student and staff members to success.
The professional training that I would attend would allow me to be up to date with laws,
strategies, and the needs of the campus to strategically support teachers and students on my
campus. I will attend campus meetings and trainings to learn new practices. Then participate
with each grading level in the implementation process. I feel if the staff sees me actively engaged
in trainings and supporting them with meaningful information that I learned, they will be more
eager to support the campus vision.
As the campus role model, I will take responsibility for giving the staff and students the
best resource and guidance possible. Elaine Wilmore states, People imitate what they see
being practice successfully (2013, pg.81). If my professional development provides the best
support for the staff, then the success will continue and the staff will provide the best instruction
for students. I will continue to explore new strategies and research to help the teachers
incorporate into their classrooms throughout the school year. If the teachers feel that their

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strategies are supported, I will gain trust and respect from the students and teachers. In addition, I
will use staff evaluations and self-reflections to improve my leadership style and professional
goals to identify strengths, challenges, and potential problems.
Fulfilling the duty as a principal requires me to put the campus needs first when
introducing research and use meaningful strategies. To put the campus needs first, I will
complete a needs assessment to determine where the campus needs the most support. The
professional development that I choose and self-reflections will be my most critical component
when leading a campus. I will strive to continue to be one of those prosperous leaders who strive
to put my campus needs first.

Figure 1
Leadership Puzzle (2015)

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4
References

Concordia University (2011). Four Instructional Leadership Skills Principals Need 2011.
Retrieved (2015) from http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/ed-leadership/fourinstructional-leadership-skills-principals-need/
Erickson, H., & Tomlinson, C. (2007). Concept-based curriculum and instruction for the
thinking classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Leadership Puzzle. (2015) Retreived from https://encryptedtbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSHsEZeAXmXFKP5ZlvtpNzkkiGFWujtLjADl
wznTLDDXzlC5XGIKW.
Wilmore, E. L. (2013). Passing the Principal TExES Exam. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
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