After completing the reading and watching the videos, I think the most important pieces of information that I took away from the assignment were the passions and their corresponding examples.
Passion 1: Staff Development
Dana referenced the use of CTE courses as a means of developing her staff. The staff was looking at integrating CTE courses throughout the high school curriculum to better prepare students for their post-secondary careers. The importance of developing career-based curriculum and integrating it is an over-arching theme in many schools. I believe that we as educators are not fully preparing students for life in college or in a career. We are so bombarded with “fitting everything in” that we are allowing students to graduate with surface knowledge instead of going deeper to enhance that knowledge through experiences.
Passion 2: Curriculum Development
The example that spoke to me was the integration of a career pathways curriculum into an already overcrowded curriculum. Developing students into career pathways is as important to education as ever before. Some of the careers require such technical knowledge that finishing college courses in these areas seems daunting. If we begin allowing students to explore areas of interest in middle school, we can then develop those skills throughout high school and beyond. Students will leave high school feeling prepared to conquer the college/career life because of the preparation they received while in secondary school settings.
Passion 3: Individual Teachers
Developing new teachers was the target of this section of the text. With the turnover rate being as high as it is for new teachers, it is important for an administrator to aid in their development. As a more experienced teacher, I was given the opportunity to mentor a new teacher in my field. We had the luxury of sharing the same classroom together which aided more conversations about topics that came up. However, I do think that it is imperative that the principal oversee the mentoring program and visit with the newly hired teachers as well. It is comforting to hear from the person that hired you that you are doing what needs to be done. Too often, we only hear from an administrator when evaluation time rolls around. By then, if there are any mistakes, it is too late in the year to fix the old habits. We need them to be in and out of the classrooms on a regular basis. They need to be involved in the activities and know the morale of the school.
Passion 4: Individual Students
After watching the videos and reflecting on what was said, I firmly agree that research should be based on something which is of particular interest. Having said that, Dana reflects on a teacher inquired about an inclusion classroom and reading achievement. Currently, I am a co-teacher in a science and math classroom. We are not using one of the 5 co-teach models. Therefore, we are not being successful according to the data. Implementing a co-teach model that allows for collaboration between teachers would be of more benefit. The question is how…I teacher in five different classes a day. How will I get to each teacher to plan that day’s material? Is there a way to schedule classes where I can work with three teachers a day which would allow for less planning time? This could definitely be a research question worth looking into to gain answers.
Passion 5: School Community/Culture
Dana gives an example of a daily classroom meeting evolving to a weekly school-wide meeting where students discuss news and warm up for the learning of the day. What is so interesting about this morning meeting is that a student walked up to me today and asked if we could gather a few kids and begin a group on campus where kids feel free to discuss issues that are plaguing them. It could be anything from academics to bullying to behavioral concerns. After reading about the morning meeting, I began to think about how to group students together where they felt safe and secure to talk about a variety of appropriate topics that could ultimately garner success in the classroom and a self-confidence that they have yet to gain.
Passion 6: Leadership
As a current department chair, I am concerned about perceptions. I want to make my meetings run efficiently where the message I am trying to get across is perceived. Dana spoke about a similar situation where a group of leaders met to discuss their perceptions, the teachers on the schools’ perceptions, and what the principals’ supervisors thought about them. It is imperative that teachers on campus have a positive view of the leaders that are overseeing the learning experience. The message being conveyed whether via email or staff development must be bought by the teachers on campus. If not, then student success rates will deteriorate. As we learned in fundamentals of leadership, administrators must approach the teachers on their campus with a vision that must percolate through to the students. If the teachers are not on board with the vision/mission/programming, then the culture and climate of the school will be at a loss.
Passion 7: Management
Dana suggests that the principal’s role as manager is, “the daily planning, organizing, operating, executing, budgeting, maintaining, and scheduling of numerous processes, activities, and tasks that permit a school to accomplish its goals as a learning community” (Dana). An example of managerial inquiry that Dana describes centers around scheduling. As a middle school teacher, I find it very difficult to schedule my special education kids into classes they want or are required because of factors such as seating limits, in class support time, or resource time. Some of the ideas proposed would work exceedingly well in our school. The kids would be able to start at a later time as well as not have to go everyday through monotony. They have the freedom to change classes every 2-3 days instead which changes that routine.
Passion 8: School Performance
This passion took a hold of me because it dives into my proposed research plan. One of the examples listed focused on bringing up scores in the lowest quartile students (Dana). My proposal centers around the special education students and their science TAKS performance in 8th grade. The difference between what the book suggests and my proposal is that the principal’s inquiry involved a more general idea. It asked, “What actions can our faculty take to improve reading achievement for our lowest quartile students?” (Dana). Should my proposal be more general rather than specific? Is it allowable to center on one strategy to aid students in success?
Passion 9: Social Justice
My first job as a teacher was working in a school that was ethnically and socio-economically diverse. I felt completely out of my element because some of the kids would go home to parents that dealt drugs or had no parents at all. The use of profanity was rampant as well as the disrespect. However, by the end of the year, I consider it to have been my most rewarding experience because it did take me out of my element. I had to work hard to get to know my kids and from where they came. The Dana text discusses the use of book study reviews as a way to create a discussion about the social issues of a campus. If we do not take the time to get to know our kids, we will never be able to teach them…
No comments:
Post a Comment