Melanie Paliotti

Reflection on Induction Plan

May 6, 2018

Early in this course, I wrote my Individualized Induction Plan. Throughout the process, I

have become very familiar with the six CSPEL Standards and their goals and descriptors. When

planning something so comprehensive, it is important to begin with the end in mind and

familiarize yourself with the rubric. This helps to plan and aim in the right direction. I am very

happy that my induction plan is a working document because, although I provided a lengthy and

detailed plan, I am not sure that I have completed the plan correctly. I think it might have helped

me to see a sample or exemplar but I also was glad to only consider my own school setting when

writing the plan.

Over the last few months, I have made progress on my goals. In Standard 1, I hoped to

ensure that all stakeholders are focused on our Vision, Mission and Values. I have been careful

to ensure that all documents, agendas, updates, parent informational handouts begin with the

vision, mission and values. I would like to revamp the PLC agenda templates for next year on

Google Drive so that each begins with them at the top of the document. I am working on

creating our staff survey for this year. The WIG – Wildly Important Goal, was another focus for

our school this year. We have been extremely busy in the daily “whirlwind” (as described in the

book) and have not consistently maintained focus on publishing and talking about the

Scoreboard with all grade levels. If we want to continue this next year, this will have to become

more of a focus. We did meet with most of the grade levels to discuss their data and will

continue to schedule these meetings in the future.

In Standard 2 I outlined my work on aligning our curriculum through our IB Programme

of Inquiry. Although in my new position, much of my time is dedicated to dealing with student

behaviors and consequences/restorative practices, I have been able to update our POI. I have not
attended collaborations as I used to as the IBPYP Coordinator. I have done most of what I had

outlined there and I look forward to working with the new IB Coordinator we hired for the 2018-

2019 school year. I am excited that I have done most of the action steps in the second goal

(inquiry based personalized learning) and I look forward to adding much more in this area next

year!

Standard 3 was centered on safety. I am still in the process of updating our 194-page

comprehensive safety plan. We had many visits from the fire marshal and had a Williams Act

visit on campus as well. We are working on our master schedule for next year and I continue to

meet to really listen to the concerns of our noon duties. We are still working hard to maintain a

safe, fair, and respectful culture and climate. Spring is here and some students are a bit restless.

The number of students I have been seeing each day for discipline/consequences and discussions

about behavior has increased and two students (with special educational needs) take up a large

amount of my time. We have had discussions with whole grade levels at a time about

expectations. I also seem to spend a large portion of my time dealing with adult issues –

between staff members, parents – teachers!

Standard four was about collaborating with community members and parents. I have a

HUGE and amazingly successful event to add here! On April 30, 2018 we held our first annual

“Dia de los Ninos” Day of the Child with a focus on literacy. There were hundreds and hundreds

of people there! We had the police, fire department, ambulance, bookmobile, library, bank for

savings accounts, migrant ed, college info, crafts, free books for each child, a slide, piñata, food

trucks, raffles and prizes, puppet show, Ballet Folklorico performances, mariachi, and an official

proclamation from the Vista Mayor!!!

Standard 5 is something I pride myself on – making ethical decisions - being principled

and having integrity as well as professionalism are all things I hold myself to. I am modeling
life-long learning! This new position has a big learning curve and I am grateful to be on this

journey with such an amazing team. I have learned so much from every minute of every day and

I am thankful that everyone has been so patient as I learn “on the job!”

I have learned a lot about 504, SSTs and IEP meetings. I attend at least 1 if not two of

these just about every day. We have the largest population of students with special educational

needs of any school in the district. We have had some very challenging situations in the last few

months. I am also still working with the Local Arrangements Committee to plan the global IB

Americas yearly conference.

It has been a very busy last 5 months since I began this new position as Assistant

Principal of Vista Academy. I love my school and everything about this opportunity to serve my

school community. I have also never been so exhausted in my entire life! I look forward to the

support of this program as I continue to learn and grown on this journey!