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Drake University
Journal #3 for Clinical II: 280
Name: Dina Saunders Drake ID #100123246 COHORT: CR 9
Date: 07.18.2014 Term: Summer 2014

The format for this journal is different than before. I will evaluate my work on the admi-
nistrative standards in my professional notes. In this journal, I will reflect on some of the high-
lights of the four months since my last journal.
One of my goals for my last journal was to have more exposure to middle and high
school level students. I took a personal day and job-shadowed Jenna Krieger-Coen, K-12 At-Risk
Coordinator in the Winfield-Mt Union School District. At the end of the day I was exhausted by
the energy the students seemed to drain from me. At any given time, there were seven to 15 stu-
dents in the room. The room was not that large, so when there were 15 students, they were seated
wall-to-wall at tables and on cushions around the room. Each student had different assignments
to complete for different subjects. It was difficult to keep track of who was supposed to what.
Jenna and her associate, Tracy, and I circulated around and helped everyone. It was organized
chaos. I was amazed at what was accomplished in that setting, and it was amazing that Jenna and
Tracy knew what each student had to complete that day. One thing that bothered me a lot was
the whining. Jenna and Tracy ignored it, reminded the students of their goals, and tried to help
the students push through their lack of motivation to get to work. Even though I largely ignored
the whining, just hearing it was stressful and annoying. Added to the mix that day was a student
that had not taken his ADHD meds. He spent the first two periods of school walking around
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with Tracy until the medication kicked in. His regular education teachers did not seem very un-
derstanding about the situation, but I bet they would have been incensed if he had had to attend
their classes. His excuse for not taking the meds was that he thought it slowed him down during
track practice.
From an administrators point of view, I would be pleased that Jenna and Tracy were able
to positively affect these students with so many needs. These two people took a lot off of the
plates of the regular education teachers. However, were Jenna and Tracy getting the support they
needed to adequately work with these students? Was there enough collaborative time with the
regular education teachers to differentiate lessons for these students? I would have to say no to
both questions. The most positive thing from this one-day analysis of the At-Risk program was
that I could see Jenna and Tracy had built good relationships with the students. That is extremely
important, but I am not convinced that the students academic needs were being met. The as-
signments seemed more like jumping through hoops in most cases. How much differentiation is
happening in the regular classroom? Are teachers trained to deliver instruction in a variety of
ways? I would rather have Jenna and Tracy worry more about the behavioral issues that cropped
up during the day, behavioral issues that disrupted the learning of the whole mainstream class-
room. I also would have rather seen Jenna and Tracy devote more time to students that were
trying to complete credit recovery classes. Unfortunately there were many other students in the
room that used their At-Risk status as a crutch to avoid work. It appears the program needs some
leadership from the top to define the scope and goals of the program. It should not be allowed to
be a dumping ground for some students that could cope in the regular classroom with some diffe-
rentiation. Of course, that is easy to say from a distance.
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Even though my focus for this year was supposed to be on secondary school, I have had
many leadership opportunities at the elementary level. My principal, who was my mentor last
year, has been putting more responsibilities on my plate. He has been supportive, giving me spe-
cific advice on how to deal with different things. I was in charge of monitoring the elementary
music concert, and that went well. I was also in charge of monitoring the two fifth-grade classes
at the Burlington Bees baseball game. I am glad to say everyone had a good time, acted respect-
fully, and made it home safely. Teachers have noticed that I have had added responsibilities and
began looking to me for advice and leadership. During the last semester of school, I have felt like
an assistant principal. It has been good practice for the roles I will take on next year ELL Di-
rector for the district, principal duties at our small elementary school in the country, and develo-
ping an elementary Spanish curriculum. I am still heavily involved with the Adult ESL classes.
In fact, on July 7, we began to hold classes at our local community college five nights a week.
We average about 20 students a night half are Latino, half are Vietnamese. I have learned a lot
about collaboration and delegating jobs. I know I still need a lot of work on delegating. I have
gotten into a pattern of needing to get things done quickly with little reflection, so I do them my-
self. I hope I can be less reactive and more proactive soon. That way, I can teach others to do
things and slowly release some of the responsibility I have been shouldering. I think that when
my Drake obligations are finished for the summer, I will have more time to reflect on my new
jobs.