Shelly Treleaven

EEA 644 - Internship 3

Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:

June 2018 - July 2018 Reading: Crucial Conversations 7 hrs / 7 hrs

Leader Quality Standard:

Modelling Commitment to Professional Learning - (b) actively seeking out feedback and
information from a variety of sources to enhance leadership practice.

Reflection:
This book had been recommended to me by numerous people and it ended up being an
important concept to wrap my head around for my Family Systems and Conflict Management
class this summer.

This book offered a number of strategies to address others when you find yourself emotionally
reacting. I recognize that this is an area that I will need to focus my attention on as I work
towards more formal leadership roles.

Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:

July 17, 2018 Meeting with Robin Irvine 1 hr / 8 hrs

Leader Quality Standard:

Developing Leadership Capacity - (a) demonstrating consultative and collaborative
decision-making that is informed by open dialogue and multiple perspectives; (b) identifying,
mentoring and empowering teachers in educational leadership roles.
Reflection:
Robin continues to be an important influence on how I perceive leaders and leadership. She is
the first principal that I had as a teacher that trusted those around her to make their own
decisions. I always have felt that, while she never hesitated to say the difficult things to you,
she always did it with the kindest of intentions.

In our conversation I asked what she enjoyed the most about being a leader in a school. She
indicated that it was the single best job in the world as you have the ability to impact the
learning of those that are teaching the students. She said the relationships that she built were
the most important element to being a leader that has the ability to affect change.

I am anticipating that I will continue to learn from Robin as her enthusiasm for leadership is
contagious.
Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:
July 2018 Reading: Leading Peak Performance 4 hrs / 12 hrs
Lessons From the Wild Dogs of Africa

Leader Quality Standard:

Modelling Commitment to Professional Learning - (b) actively seeking out feedback and
information from a variety of sources to enhance leadership practice.

Reflection:
This book was highly recommended to me by a fellow cohort member. The idea of
transformational leadership was relatively new to me and this book did a great job of
explaining the skills that they felt were imperative to the success of a leader.

The concept of the wild dogs of Africa offered a metaphor for an effective leadership model
was curious. In the book they described a variety of leadership styles using the metaphors of
the animals in the African wild. The cheetah, lion, and zebra were used to describe alternate
leadership styles that are often used and how they can be effective and why they can fail.

This book was refreshing in that it did not tout itself as ​the ​book about leadership. They
shared the understanding the leadership and our society are changing and it is our ability to
remain flexible and tenacious that are the ultimate skills that will be necessary in the future.

I felt that this book was poorly edited as there was significant redundancy as well as a number
of grammatical and spelling errors that at times impacted the flow of the reading. Once I was
able to look past this, the message the book contained was valuable. They shared how they
believe the skills sets of leadership and management are different:

Management Skill Set:

Energetic (Power within)
Administrative (In the Box)
Analytical (What Is)
Performer (Results Producer)

Leadership Skill Set:

Empowering (Power Multiplied)
Creative (Out of the Box)
Vision (What Can Be)
Community Builder (Results Through Many)
Management is concerned with stewardship of systems and subsystems - bringing order to
chaos and providing structure whereas as leadership is the commitment and concern with
change. They focus on creating the future for the organization. Leadership is of the spirit.

How this book will impact my understanding of leadership is how important it can be to honor
the skills and attributes of all the members of your team. It is important that leaders have an
alpha presence, but with the understanding that everyone is integral to the functioning of the
whole team.

Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:

August 7-10 Educational Leadership Academy 28 hrs / 40 hrs

Leader Quality Standard:

Modelling a Commitment to Professional Learning - (a) engaging with others such as teachers,
principals and other leaders to build personal and collective professional capacities and
expertise; (b) actively seeking out feedback and information from a variety of sources to
enhance leadership practice; (c) seeking, critically reviewing and applying educational
research to inform effective practice; (d) engaging members of the school community to build
a shared understanding of current trends and priorities in the Education system.

Reflection:
This was a 4 day conference that I participated during the summer. I was hoping to gather
information for my capstone.

Day 1
I was so excited to attend this conference, I was the first person to arrive other than the
organizers. I had great opportunities to connect with a number of leaders from around the
province as we were asked to ‘Jigsaw’ some activities in order to have people mix and get to
know each other. I was excited to hear that most of the attendees were current leaders in their
schools and were attending to expand their understanding of a number of strategies being
employed currently in schools around the province. My intent was to sit a be a sponge and
take in all the information. What I came to learn was that much of what I took in my first year
in my Masters program had my level of understanding at a different level them. For instance,
there was talk about technology use in the classroom and appropriate apps or extensions for a
variety of learning activities. I was able to be active in these conversations as I am using many
of the tools that the presenters were sharing. There was one which another attendee shared that
was extremely interesting to me - Pear Deck. I was excited to have a quality strategy for
leveraging student Chromebooks for learning.
In the afternoon there were three presentations; one on learning sprints, the second on
technology in the classroom, and purposeful spaces. These were like advertisements for their
own mini-workshop which begin tomorrow.

Day 2
On this day we were asked to choose one of the three groups from yesterday in order to gain a
more specialized understanding. Today the entire day will be on one topic then tomorrow each
one will run for half the day so one could still get an understanding of the other two topics.

I chose the Learning Sprints as it seemed like an excellent strategy to build inclusion into the
classroom as it appeared to provide a much needed structure. I was hoping to find an
adolescent viewpoint all while having appropriate content which it might support. What I
discovered was how this program is very similar to Fountas and Pinnell’s Leveled Literacy
Intervention (LLI) program our school employs with a hint of Daily 5 structure. I have had
significant training on both the F & P system as well as Daily 5, so I was curious to hear about
the similarities and differences in the two programs. There were not as many differences as
there were similarities. They both target those who are requiring extra support to increase
growth towards grade level achievement as well as individualized goal setting and one-on-one
assessment.

Day 3
This morning I learned about designing learning spaces. I had seen this presenter at the last
ULead conference and in this smaller setting there was more interaction with her as well as
opportunities to share ideas and how things work presently in our schools. Prior to attending
this conference we had been asked to take pictures of specific locations within our school
building. It was in this session where we were to share these photos and discuss how these
areas might be improved. My classroom photos were discussed and then used as an exemplar
of how to effectively change your space without spending too much money. What an honor!
She did come up with some suggestions for me which I have used. She stated that negative or
disrespectful behaviour of students can be positively impacted by allowing them a visual
reminder of their family or someone important to them while at school. I tried to create this by
having students bring in a personal pictures of themselves, their pet, or their family.

The greatest concern I have for what this presenter shared is the cost of the items she used in
her remodels of space. If schools had unlimited budgets for these items, most schools would
jump at the opportunity to design spaces like those she shared … but money for replacement of
furniture in schools is scarce.
The afternoon was spent learning about technology in the classroom. In essence this was a full
two hours of an I-Pad commercial. The fellow and his wife who were the team presenting in
this session were from Finland which I was interested in as I have heard so much about their
amazing educational system. They were extremely engaging and shared a number of
applications that would be amazing to utilize in a classroom … but they are entirely I-Pad
based. I keep looking for ways that I could take the ideas they shared and employ them in my
classroom, but as our school is Google based, there was very little that directly transferred.
This was a bit disappointing. On a positive note however, there was a man next to me in one
of the activities who was feeling the same as me and we left the session and returned to the
where the group gathered. He shared a number of engaging tools that he was using in his
classroom (Pear Deck and Screencastify) that I had not heard of before, and I shared a few
with him (Fluberoo and Flipgrid). I was grateful that we had connected and I am looking
forward to trying out these tools. I felt a bit guilty for leaving the session, so I connected with
the presenters later during the session wrap ups. I explained why I had chosen to leave and
they were glad that I had found new technology to leverage and stated that not every tool or
application would work for everyone. They understood and stated they were glad I had
chosen to find what would work for me rather than sitting in the session that was not going to
be useful.

Day 4
Today was only a morning session where the entire group jigsawed and shared their learning
from the three different session hosts. People shared their learning with a small group and
then went and told the next group … and so on. I was rather surprised that there were so many
people who had previously had limited exposure or understanding of any of these topics

This conference demonstrated a number of strategies for working collaboratively as well as

project based learning ideas but the real learning came from the conversations that I had with
those as the tables that I sat at. I met a long serving principal in an Edmonton suburb that
shared a great deal of knowledge about leadership and struggles with staffing. A new principal
from a small school in the foothills was also interesting to talk to as he shared some of his
ideas for his new school and the concerns he was facing. I asked questions about inclusion in
their schools and if they were prepared for the new Leadership Quality Standards. Both of
these people offered ideas of inclusion to me, but they were struggling in other areas and felt
that this was a low priority and I was very surprised that one Vice Principal did not even know
about the new LQS.

I returned home from this conference a bit discouraged as the typical administrator had a very
negative perspective on the issues they were facing and only the fellow I talked with about
technology seemed genuinely focused on what was best for students.

Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:

October 5, 2018 Acting Admin 7 hrs / 47 hrs

Leader Quality Standard:

Fostering Effective Relationships - 1 (a) acting with fairness, respect and integrity; (b)
demonstrating empathy and a genuine concern for others; (c) creating a welcoming, caring,
respectful and safe learning environment.
Modelling Commitment to Professional Learning - (a) engaging with others such as teachers,
principals and other leaders to build personal and collective professional capacities and
expertise; (b) actively seeking out feedback and information from a variety of sources to
enhance leadership practice; (c) seeking, critically reviewing and applying educational
research to inform effective practice
Reflection:
After some of the issues that I faced last year as an acting administrator, I was motivated to be
very positive and supportive of the teachers in the school. I had the opportunity to observe in a
grade 1 class and support students in both grade 2 and 4. I had a lunch ‘date’ with a student
that was needing some special attention which was very nice. Today I felt I made a number of
terrific connections with students and had an extremely positive experience.

Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:

October 11, 2018 Acting Admin 7 hrs / 54 hrs

Leader Quality Standard:

Fostering Effective Relationships - 1 (a) acting with fairness, respect and integrity; (b)
demonstrating empathy and a genuine concern for others; (c) creating a welcoming, caring,
respectful and safe learning environment.
Modelling Commitment to Professional Learning - (a) engaging with others such as teachers,
principals and other leaders to build personal and collective professional capacities and
expertise; (b) actively seeking out feedback and information from a variety of sources to
enhance leadership practice; (c) seeking, critically reviewing and applying educational
research to inform effective practice
Fostering Effective Relationships - 1 (a) acting with fairness, respect and integrity; (b)
demonstrating empathy and a genuine concern for others; (c) creating a welcoming, caring,
respectful and safe learning environment.
Modelling Commitment to Professional Learning - (a) engaging with others such as teachers,
principals and other leaders to build personal and collective professional capacities and
expertise; (b) actively seeking out feedback and information from a variety of sources to
enhance leadership practice; (c) seeking, critically reviewing and applying educational
research to inform effective practice
Reflection:
I have decided that if this is all an administrator does … the job is too much fun! I continued
on with my goal of making myself available to as many teachers and students as possible. I
had another great day supporting students with reading and behaviours.

One teacher specifically needed support with a small group of students and it felt rewarding to
be able to take students that were struggling with a math concept and provide support - all
while having a ton of fun.

Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:

October 26, 27, & 28, Reading: Daring Greatly 8 hrs / 62 hrs
2018

Leader Quality Standard:

Modelling Commitment to Professional Learning - (b) actively seeking out feedback and
information from a variety of sources to enhance leadership practice.

Reflection:
There are many reasons why I loved this book, but Brown offers a tremendous number of
practical suggestions for personal development for anyone aspiring to be a leader.

My greatest takeaway from this book was that vulnerability is extremely important. This does
not mean a person overshares details of one’s life, but rather has the courage to be truly open
and honest with those being connected with. While being vulnerable can be scary, it is
essential when developing relationships - which is of utmost importance in the field of
education.

Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:

November 6, 2018 Meeting with Danica Martin & Alda Lovell 1 hr / 63 hrs

Leader Quality Standard:

Modelling Commitment to Professional Learning - (b) actively seeking out feedback and
information from a variety of sources to enhance leadership practice.

Reflection:
The purpose of this meeting was to determine if the topic that I have chosen for my capstone
has relevance within my school division. These two ladies are leaders at the division level and
one is the Director of People Services and the other is the Assistant Superintendent of
Inclusive Learning Services. My concern was that I want to create a useful guide or plan for
leaders on how to create or sustain inclusive learning environments . I was looking for their
perspective on the direction that I ought to take.
One of them was excited to see what information I would find and was very positive about the
ideas that I shared, however the other felt I would be better off focusing my attention on the
Teacher Quality Standard level of inclusion rather than that of the Leaders. Her reasoning for
this was as a teacher I ought to remain focused on those standards and she felt any strategies or
theories used to create an inclusive learning environment in the classroom could be applied to
that of a school and its staff.

Both of these ladies were very encouraging and while I was a bit disappointed by being guided
to focus on the TQS rather than the LQS I was able to see the connection between the two. As
a result of this meeting I have been able to focus on what my intentions truly are and clarify
for myself why I feel the focus needs to be on the leaders not the teachers.

As a teacher I can create an inclusive learning environment, but this impacts only those in my
classroom. A teacher is impacted by the other teachers and their practices within the school
and if the understanding and application of inclusion is significantly different from one class to
the next it impacts the culture of the building. An informal leader in the building can have
some impact on those in their sphere of influence, but the leaders in the building need to be the
ones who develop, model, and support inclusive practices in their building.

Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:

January 23, 2019 Acting Admin 7 hrs / 70 hrs

Leader Quality Standard:

Fostering Effective Relationships - 1 (a) acting with fairness, respect and integrity; (b)
demonstrating empathy and a genuine concern for others; (c) creating a welcoming, caring,
respectful and safe learning environment.
Modelling Commitment to Professional Learning - (a) engaging with others such as teachers,
principals and other leaders to build personal and collective professional capacities and
expertise; (b) actively seeking out feedback and information from a variety of sources to
enhance leadership practice; (c) seeking, critically reviewing and applying educational
research to inform effective practice

Reflection:
This was not as much fun as the previous two opportunities were. I had to address some
significant behaviours and as a result it was necessary to call parents. One parent call went as
I had expected, they were not happy but understood the concerns; however, the second call
home I was taken by surprise by their heated reaction. These parents felt that the reaction of
their child was totally appropriate and that they had coached their child to act in such a
manner. I needed to address the student code of conduct that was in place and that if there
were concerns about other students that communicating these issues with staff was essential. I
needed to talk with the teacher as well as the educational assistant to follow up on the
situation. In the end this took a great deal of the day.

At the end of the day I connected with the teacher to seek feedback on how I had managed the
situation and to ensure she felt supported. I was relieved that she viewed my response to both
students and the parents as fair and compassionate and she indicated how grateful she was that
my response was swift and complete. I asked how else I could support her and she requested
that I follow up with both of these students the following day - even though I will not be acting
admin. I indicated that I would do this and made a point of making myself a note so that I
would not forget.

I am grateful this was not my first experience as an acting admin or I might have not wanted to
take on this role in the future.

Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:

February 11 - April 24, Student Teacher Mentoring 60+ hrs / 130+ hrs
2019

As this is where many of my hours were spent, the structure of this reflection will follow
directly with the Leader Quality Standards.

1. Fostering Effective Relationships: A leader builds positive working relationships with

members of the school community.

Reflection: Having someone added to your team, especially someone who is there to
learn from you, part way through the year creates a need to consciously and actively
develop a relationship. My first instinct is to engage in ‘getting to know you’ questions
such as where are you from?, where was your first practical?, what are you most
hoping to learn?. These were a great start to understanding her goals but were not
enough to effectively develop our working relationship. We talked about our
expectations of each other and I shared with her some of the classroom expectations
that had been developed as a class earlier in the school year. I indicated that she was
my first student teacher and that I was likely as nervous as she was about the
experience. I then shared some of my hopes for her and how I anticipated supporting
 her in them.

Ongoing commitment to clear communication and engaging in active listening were

essential in establishing, building, and maintaining our relationship.

2. Modeling Commitment to Professional Learning: A leader engages in career-long

professional learning and ongoing critical reflection to identify opportunities for
improving leadership, teaching, and learning.

Reflection: As I am actively pursuing my Master Degree this modelled the ongoing

commitment I have to expand my understanding of educational practices. Our school
also participates in a staff-wide book study. As a group we meet and discuss the big
ideas of each chapter and how we are able to connect the concepts to our practice. I
shared my copy of this book with my student teacher so that she could join the group
while she was a member of our school team.

I shared with her some of the opportunities for professional development that are
coming up at our Teachers’ Convention and we discussed areas that she felt she needed
further knowledge. I shared a number of books and websites that I felt she might enjoy
and found that we often talked about the topics that I was exploring in my masters
class.

3. Embodying Visionary Leadership: A leader collaborates with the school community to

create and implement a shared vision for student success, engagement, learning and
well-being.

Reflection: Our school and division make a point of having meetings where discussions
are held with the specific purpose of supporting the needs of individual students.
Teacher, educational assistant(s), social worker, inclusion coach and often the principal
meet to share celebrations, supports that are working, collaborate on new strategies or
supports when needed, and assign tasks or expectations of the team members. My
student teacher was a part of a number of these and was asked for her opinion as well
as encouraged to offer ideas. These collaborative meetings demonstrate that a teacher
is not expected to ‘go it alone’ in the classroom but rather the needs of the student are
addressed as a team.

The student teacher was unaware of these types of meetings and had many questions
about how they worked. She indicated that she would struggle to share the areas that
 she needed support as she worried she would be deemed as unskilled or inept. I was
able to reassure her that these groups are meant to support the teacher and ensure
success for the student. Putting aside your own ego in teaching is important especially
if it might impact the students in the class.

4. Leading a Learning Community: A leader nurtures and sustains a culture that supports
evidence-informed teaching and learning.

Reflection: This was the standard which had the greatest focus and impact on me as the
mentor. In the first couple of weeks she observed while I was instructing and each
evening we would evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the instruction, observed
engagement and reviewed both formative and summative assessments of student
learning. We engaging in conversation about the styles of assessment and whether the
purpose fit the assessment style in addition to classroom management techniques and
instructional strategies employed. By remaining focused on these areas, I found that
my own reflection became more critical of myself which impacted both how I planned
each day and I researched additional assessment strategies to more closely match the
goals of the lessons.

As the student teacher started to assume some of the classes it became evident that she
lacked a great deal of confidence in her ability to engage students and ensure they were
learning. She was apprehensive to try anything new initially but with some coaching
she slowly began attempting and experimenting with her teaching style with what I
viewed as a great deal of success. Her perception of her effectiveness was that she was
performing poorly. Together we spent a great deal of time helping her to identify her
strengths and offering ideas and support as needed. I video recorder her while she was
teaching a couple of times so that she might be able to see herself more clearly, which
did help, but she continued to be very self-deprecating. I continued to encourage her
and offered positive feedback to build her efficacy every chance I had. I wanted her to
see and believe that growth happens when we are willing to try and take chances and
that this was the main goal of her practical - grow and learn. Perfection was not only
unreasonable but not a logical goal.

As the primary teacher and mentor I continued to work on creating an environment

were taking risks was not only encouraged but expected. Success is honored but
failure was not only expected but to be embraced as a learning opportunity. This
growth mindset was a struggle and my perseverance was tested as remaining positive
was at times a challenge.
5. Supporting the Application of Foundational Knowledge about First Nations, Métis and
Inuit: A leader supports the school community in acquiring and applying foundational
knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit for the benefit of all students.

Reflection: This standard was hard to explain and incorporate with the student teacher
as I had spent a great deal of time earlier in the year on the First Nations, Metis and
Inuit elements in our curriculum. That said, we spent time discussing how this is not a
‘once and done’ educational component but rather a way of infusing the indigenous
culture in how and what we teach. I reminded her that it is a necessary perspective to
include in all our instruction and as she was taking over the Social Studies classes she
needed to incorporate these teaching and perspectives in her lessons. I shared with her
a number of resources that our school has made available to all teachers.

6. Providing Instructional Leadership: A leader ensures that every student has access to
quality teaching and optimum learning experiences.

Reflection: This standard is tied to standard number 4, but with a focus on the student
rather than on culture.

One of the challenges of teaching is making certain that all students are treated fairly
and equitably. This is not always easy and the student teacher picked this concern out
very quickly once she started teaching. I was able to support those students that may
not have consistent access to technology as well as ensuring they had all the necessary
supplies for the activities planned. We had to discuss how access to content may need
to look different for some students as there are few students who struggle with written
output which resulted in creating alternate rubrics with adapted or modified goals.

7. Developing Leadership Capacity: A leader provides opportunities for members of the

school community to develop leadership capacity and to support others in fulfilling
their educational roles.

Reflection: One of the elements of the fourth year practical is a service learning
component. The student teacher needed to find an area of need or of support within the
school community. I encouraged her to discuss the expectations and needs for this
element of her practical with the Vice-Principal. She was able to connect the student
teacher to the music teacher who was needing support for a choir club. She was able to
support the music teacher two times a week after school for a number of weeks. When
 the group performed at a competition she was able to attend and support at that time as
well.

Our grade seven students are expected to manage a number of leadership projects or
activities in our school and the student teacher was encouraged to support students in
developing their leadership skills within these opportunities.

8. Managing School Operations and Resources: A leader effectively directs operations

and manages resources.

Reflection: In planning for learning opportunities a teacher needs to be cognizant of the

resources available. I showed the student teacher where special paper, photocopying,
markers, glue, scissors, paint, and other minor art supplies were kept for the school and
then I shared the resources that I have compiled over the years in the classroom. She
then indicated that she had a project she wanted to complete with the students, but that
neither the school nor my stock had the resources available. She was curious about
how supplies could be ordered and if a teacher could purchase supplies and be
reimbursed. I cautioned her with her choices of projects, or that she ought to plan
ahead and consult with the Admin. Assistant on availability of budget for the additional
resources. I shared that spending money out of her own pocket was an option, but not
necessarily a good choice or feasible on a long term basis.

9. Understanding and Responding to the Larger Societal Context: A leader understands

and appropriately responds to the political, social, economic, legal and cultural contexts
impacting schools and the school authority.

Reflection: As part of our Social Studies class we explore the ‘News of the Day’ a
number of times during the week and while helping students understand the impact of
the news has been typically my role, I coached the student teacher to gradually assume
this role. We often needed to conference in the morning to ensure she knew how to
share news and how to manage the impact of the roll-out of the information. There
were a number of times where I stepped in as the content of the news was sensitive and
responding appropriately without bias or judgement was essential. While this was not
directly connected to school or school authority it could have impacted the school
community if students went home with a divergent perspective from that of their
parents.

Final Reflection:
I truly had no idea of the time commitment needed for mentoring a student teacher! We met
daily after school to discuss any of her questions and to support her learning of the strategies
and processes I employed and the reasoning behind them. She was a diligent learner, but
required significant coaching as she truly lacked confidence. The impact of having a student
teacher for me was how my skills at coaching improved along with my deepening
understanding of my practice. I recognized how my teaching and mentoring skills have
improved as a direct result of the courses that I have completed as part of my Masters classes.
I am more patient, open-minded, and reflective than I was. Due to the time needed to support
a student teacher I would be wary of taking on this commitment in the future - depending on
the demands of the school year.

Date: Description of Activity: Duration/Total:

June 2018 - June 2019 Capstone Research

Leader Quality Standard:

Modelling Commitment to Professional Learning - A leader engages in career-long
professional learning and ongoing critical reflection to identify opportunities for improving
leadership, teaching, and learning.

Reflection:
I started out thinking that I was going to do my capstone on the lack of qualifications of those
in leadership roles in school divisions. I was shocked to hear that many Vice Principals did
not hold Masters degrees and I was even more alarmed when I discovered the number of
Principals that also did not have Masters degrees. I quickly realized upon doing some research
that my school division is not the ‘norm’ provincially or nationally. As a result, I needed to
get over my alarm and focus rather on what I am passionate about.

I am personally vested in the application of inclusive learning environments and upon

completing research I was even more animated and passionate in sharing best practices. This
became the topic of my capstone. My struggle was staying focused and where to maintain the
focus. When I get talking about inclusion one would quickly see the level of my enthusiasm
for this topic … but I lacked focus. Thank heavens for my Capstone advisor who was able to
help me find a direction that I could not only focus on but also tie it to developing leadership
skills.

I quickly devoured article after article and began losing focus again. I found a number of
books that discussed inclusion but I still had not found my target for my capstone. At
Teachers’ Convention I went to a speaker, Shelley Moore, who finally spoke of inclusion as I
view it. She was able to articulate what I had not been able to get my tongue around. She was
 the flashlight that finally shone the light where I needed to see.

This did not mean I was then on a roll, I wrote, deleted, rewrote, got frustrated and then started
over. Even with all this struggling, I knew I had a good topic, I just needed to get my feet
under me. I finally decided to take a break from it hoping inspiration would find me and the
paper would just write itself. Well, that did not happen. What I learned throughout this
process was that inclusion is not easy. Almost everyone wants what is best for students, but
the reality is we all struggle with different elements of inclusion, whether it is the academic
programming, mental health concerns, dysregulated behaviour that is disruptive to the entire
class, or the medical understanding of diagnosis’. How does a leader make certain they have
created a learning environment that is inclusive for both students and teachers, well I wrote the
paper with hopes that it helps leaders with this very difficult topic.
Summary: I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to experience a student for the first time
and have additional days of experience as an acting administrator. This has been a busy year and
full of learning!

I feel that I have grown and expanding my understanding of leadership immensely but I admit
that I require further growth prior to taking on the challenge of an administrator role. I am also
not entirely certain that this is the direction that I will pursue as there are many non-formal
opportunities that are available.

I have been accepted into the Aspiring Leaders program in Wolf Creek Public Schools and I am
looking forward to developing an understanding of the role of a leader within this division.