Weekend Seminar

I really enjoyed the learning that took place at the Clovis Center.  The speakers were extremely competent with the material that they presented.  Rebecca Rowe's presentation ran the gamut of what you need to know as an administrator especially in the areas of discipline and special education-two areas that can get you in trouble if you make mistakes.  I felt the most important thing to do is document everything.  Documentation is vital to ensuring that due process is used when dealing with students or teachers.  Another critical learning was how to deal with probationary, temporary, or ineffective teachers.  I believe this is similar to the Trust chapter in Leadership Connectors in that you have to be honest when supervising teachers.  It is important to give accurate evaluations so that they may understand how critical it is to improve their instruction or classroom management.  It is very difficult to enact change when teachers become tenured. 
Dr. Hauser's presentation was my favorite because she presented ideas that can be implemented immediately.  It becomes very clear pretty quickly that meetings are a constant expectation as an administrator and learning ways to run more effective meetings was encouraging.  An effective meeting must be pre-planned with objectives, outcomes, and processes to ensure that decisions are made in a timely manner.  Her presentation further demonstrated the need to design a collaborative meeting in which everybody has a role and an equal voice in the decisions that affect a school.  I look forward to using her model when developing an effective meeting. 
Dr. Torosian is definitely a knowledgeable person in the area of discipline.  His attention to detail has proven to be effective based on the low percentage of cases being overturned through the appeal process.  His honesty when dealing with administrators ensures that things get done correctly the first time.  As an administrator, it is very important to develop a good working relationship with your Director of Child, Welfare, and Attendance as there will be many situations where you are unsure how to proceed.  A phone call to them is always good to get direction or confirm your ideas for how to proceed. 
Finally, I felt that Dr. Wise and Dr. Buster's presentation on the FRISK process was very good.  I have used the FRISK model this year and am a big fan of it.  It makes writing a difficult letter much easier because the design forces you to focus on the facts and limits your desire to embellish the situation with unnecessary details.
I appreciated very much that we did not have down time.  All of our time was used to learn strategies that are critical in becoming an effective administrator.  I am not a fan of losing my weekend but there was a lot of good learning that I can start using immediately and for that I appreciated the opportunity to attend this weekend.