I recently sat in on an interview for a candidate that would join my team this coming year. I am a technology teacher and the candidate would also teach technology courses; our new principal wanted me there to help ask content related questions that the administrators did not know much about. It was a great opportunity, but it did make me wonder how I would go about observing teachers, especially if I did not know much about the content myself which is a possibility, especially at the secondary level.
With an inexperienced teacher, I believe there should be a significant amount of supervision divided up among administrators, teacher mentor(s) and team members. Many new teachers I think feel comfortable with the content but struggle with classroom management or the art of teaching the material. Also, many new teachers struggle with adapting to the amount of paperwork such as grades, lesson plans, attendance, etc… that they were not expecting. New teachers need assistance in many of these areas as well as encouragement from time to time.
If I were supervising an experienced teacher, my role would be different. Hopefully, they would be strong in the art of teaching and very capable in their content area. In this situation, we would be moving from good to great. I would encourage the teacher to think of their weaknesses and really analyze areas to help them take it to the next level. There should always be walk-throughs to help hold all teachers accountable.
When a teacher changes their content area, whether by a similar subject or completely different, they should still be assisted. If it is a minor change, hopefully connecting them with people in their team or through workshops/conferences they will be able to grow in that area. If it is a major content change, they will probably need more assistance. The bright side is they will hopefully already understand the administrative and classroom management aspects of teaching.
As an administrator observing an experienced teacher in a new content area, you would have to take the new subject matter into account. Some of the other things that did not change should not have leeway, but in the actual teaching areas I think there should be a little more forgiveness at first.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Blog Reflection 2
This is a very good reflection for me to look at. I have a couple of speaking engagements at conferences coming up and I am very nervous about them.
One of the best presenters I have ever seen was at a conference and he was discussing his software, book and magnet school. The presenter was very energetic, had lots of interaction with the audience, was very knowledgeable about his content and provided information relevant to my teaching assignment. I think for staff to learn something, the more of these characteristics you have, the better.
If the presenter is not energetic and a strong speaker, the message will get lost, it doesn’t matter how good the content is. On the flip side, they can be very energetic, but have no idea what they’re talking about so they still do not communicate the message. We had a guest speaker for our students in an assembly that fit this description all too well. He had great relationship with the kids, but never really got to his message and it turned into an hour of him just 'hanging out'. The other necessity I mentioned was relevance. Everyone’s time is precious. When people are stuck in a group because administrators want to put them somewhere, it is very frustrating. For example, as a technology elective teacher I have sat through trainings for a TAKS tracking website, CSCOPE and SMART board use, none of which I have access to or use for. A much better use would have been for us to have an elective team meeting for various ideas, work in our rooms or even have one of our team put together something separate for us.
The recipe for a bad experience at a professional development is the exact opposite of the positive traits I just mentioned. I have one particular experience that is standing out in my mind, and the content did not lend itself to engagement all that well but this thing was awful! I will say it did relate to laws, acts, and other government type things. However, the speaker was seated at a table and monotone read through a PowerPoint for the whole session. There was an incredibly long handout full of many copied pages handed out to all the attendees. There was no interaction, no excitement, and minimal relevance. He did seem competent of the content, but I just couldn’t stay with him enough to know for sure.
Assessing knowledge and skills that are gained and maintained through professional development is very difficult I think. If it is put on through the campus, you can observe classrooms and results from students on how something is working. Things gained off campus are much harder because they are usually self-implemented and assessed. I’m sure I’m not the only guilty teacher of filling up a notebook with great ideas at a particular session to never open the notebook again. It definitely will take a will by the teacher to apply that newly gained knowledge and ensure its implementation.
Professional development can promote the success of the students by bringing in new ideas. All teachers face a danger of getting into the routine of teaching the same curriculum each year with minimal changes. Professional development can bring in new techniques, new ideas, and new strategies to keep a teacher and the subject fresh and engaging for the student. Also, since the diversity among our students grows daily, it can help us be prepared in all the various ways we will need to reach that student.
One of the best presenters I have ever seen was at a conference and he was discussing his software, book and magnet school. The presenter was very energetic, had lots of interaction with the audience, was very knowledgeable about his content and provided information relevant to my teaching assignment. I think for staff to learn something, the more of these characteristics you have, the better.
If the presenter is not energetic and a strong speaker, the message will get lost, it doesn’t matter how good the content is. On the flip side, they can be very energetic, but have no idea what they’re talking about so they still do not communicate the message. We had a guest speaker for our students in an assembly that fit this description all too well. He had great relationship with the kids, but never really got to his message and it turned into an hour of him just 'hanging out'. The other necessity I mentioned was relevance. Everyone’s time is precious. When people are stuck in a group because administrators want to put them somewhere, it is very frustrating. For example, as a technology elective teacher I have sat through trainings for a TAKS tracking website, CSCOPE and SMART board use, none of which I have access to or use for. A much better use would have been for us to have an elective team meeting for various ideas, work in our rooms or even have one of our team put together something separate for us.
The recipe for a bad experience at a professional development is the exact opposite of the positive traits I just mentioned. I have one particular experience that is standing out in my mind, and the content did not lend itself to engagement all that well but this thing was awful! I will say it did relate to laws, acts, and other government type things. However, the speaker was seated at a table and monotone read through a PowerPoint for the whole session. There was an incredibly long handout full of many copied pages handed out to all the attendees. There was no interaction, no excitement, and minimal relevance. He did seem competent of the content, but I just couldn’t stay with him enough to know for sure.
Assessing knowledge and skills that are gained and maintained through professional development is very difficult I think. If it is put on through the campus, you can observe classrooms and results from students on how something is working. Things gained off campus are much harder because they are usually self-implemented and assessed. I’m sure I’m not the only guilty teacher of filling up a notebook with great ideas at a particular session to never open the notebook again. It definitely will take a will by the teacher to apply that newly gained knowledge and ensure its implementation.
Professional development can promote the success of the students by bringing in new ideas. All teachers face a danger of getting into the routine of teaching the same curriculum each year with minimal changes. Professional development can bring in new techniques, new ideas, and new strategies to keep a teacher and the subject fresh and engaging for the student. Also, since the diversity among our students grows daily, it can help us be prepared in all the various ways we will need to reach that student.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Reflection 1
Grant Sterling would recruit and retain teachers in various ways. I think he retains teachers based on his excellent leadership abilities. As he said while answering a college student’s question, “…employees and students look forward to coming to the workplace each day; the environment is inviting, secure, happy, and physically comfortable…Teachers teach well and feel a sense of pride in their work and accomplishments” (92). When you have an ability to create a work environment like that for your staff, in any industry, you will have minimal turnover. People feel appreciated, safe and feel like they are making a difference in Grant’s schools that is why they stay. I do not remember too much in the way of recruitment that he did beyond all of his contacts with central office, which is very important. Networking is going to continue to be important in education. It is good to have business cards and talk with people at every conference or workshop you attend. I believe Grant is an excellent people person and would use his many connections to find qualified people if he had not already met them himself. On the same hand, once you have a team in place you like, if your retention is high your need to recruit is minimal.
Recruitment and retention of quality faculty members is a very large part of student success. I currently teach at a very low-socioeconomic charter school that will have an entirely new leadership team next year (again) and no teachers with more than five years experience. This has allowed me to grow quickly in terms of responsibilities that I would not have if I had been working at a typical ISD school, however, the students are the ones that suffer in this situation. Most teachers, especially those who have done alternative certification with no student teaching, face a good size learning curve their first year (or two). If they stayed, the school and students would eventually reap the benefits of waiting. However, most leave to go somewhere else or decide education is not the field for them. Students are constantly coming back to school in the fall to look at an entirely different set of teachers than what they left just a few months earlier at the start of summer. Students lose on two ends. One, they are getting very limited experience in a large amount of their classes. Two, they are not able to create lasting bonds with very many of their teachers. At the small school, some of the students will have teachers from year to year and it really helps in developing relationships. Good teachers make the difference.
Grant learned about school climate in a variety of ways, which I think is necessary if you hope to get an accurate read of a campus. He spoke with people from district office, teachers, custodial staff, parents, community members and students – all before the first day of school. He made a very strong effort to have an open door policy so that he could develop each of those relationships. Grant understood the key to success is relationships, with everybody from the Superintendent down to the students.
The biggest technique I need to learn from Grant is what I guess I would call assertiveness. Even though he does not always feel it, especially at first, he can portray a very strong and confident person. I know I could have dealt with the former custodian at Central and Pastor Lewis, but I do not know if I could have done it in the fashion that he did. I was very envious of his finesse and coolness with those situations. I also have had the feelings he described when afterwards he was having trouble calming back down and relaxing. Obviously the situation with the man with the gun falls into this category as well. I’m afraid I would have trouble thinking straight in a situation like that. He keeps his cool very well, I’m thinking of many interactions with troubled teachers, angry parents and so forth where he remained very calm but was also very firm. That is probably the one I need to apply the most.
I actually have trouble finding a trait I do not want. I think in today’s day and age a lot of the things he did run more of a risk now than they did back in the time he did them. It is a delicate balance of going ‘the extra mile’ and crossing the line in a relationship where you can get in trouble. For example, a lot of my students walk to school and while I think it would be nice to give them a ride in that puts me in a bad situation for either talk or if I were to have an accident. All of his risks with students worked out, but if one of them didn’t, such as the student working on his car, he could have lost his certificate or even gone to jail.
Recruitment and retention of quality faculty members is a very large part of student success. I currently teach at a very low-socioeconomic charter school that will have an entirely new leadership team next year (again) and no teachers with more than five years experience. This has allowed me to grow quickly in terms of responsibilities that I would not have if I had been working at a typical ISD school, however, the students are the ones that suffer in this situation. Most teachers, especially those who have done alternative certification with no student teaching, face a good size learning curve their first year (or two). If they stayed, the school and students would eventually reap the benefits of waiting. However, most leave to go somewhere else or decide education is not the field for them. Students are constantly coming back to school in the fall to look at an entirely different set of teachers than what they left just a few months earlier at the start of summer. Students lose on two ends. One, they are getting very limited experience in a large amount of their classes. Two, they are not able to create lasting bonds with very many of their teachers. At the small school, some of the students will have teachers from year to year and it really helps in developing relationships. Good teachers make the difference.
Grant learned about school climate in a variety of ways, which I think is necessary if you hope to get an accurate read of a campus. He spoke with people from district office, teachers, custodial staff, parents, community members and students – all before the first day of school. He made a very strong effort to have an open door policy so that he could develop each of those relationships. Grant understood the key to success is relationships, with everybody from the Superintendent down to the students.
The biggest technique I need to learn from Grant is what I guess I would call assertiveness. Even though he does not always feel it, especially at first, he can portray a very strong and confident person. I know I could have dealt with the former custodian at Central and Pastor Lewis, but I do not know if I could have done it in the fashion that he did. I was very envious of his finesse and coolness with those situations. I also have had the feelings he described when afterwards he was having trouble calming back down and relaxing. Obviously the situation with the man with the gun falls into this category as well. I’m afraid I would have trouble thinking straight in a situation like that. He keeps his cool very well, I’m thinking of many interactions with troubled teachers, angry parents and so forth where he remained very calm but was also very firm. That is probably the one I need to apply the most.
I actually have trouble finding a trait I do not want. I think in today’s day and age a lot of the things he did run more of a risk now than they did back in the time he did them. It is a delicate balance of going ‘the extra mile’ and crossing the line in a relationship where you can get in trouble. For example, a lot of my students walk to school and while I think it would be nice to give them a ride in that puts me in a bad situation for either talk or if I were to have an accident. All of his risks with students worked out, but if one of them didn’t, such as the student working on his car, he could have lost his certificate or even gone to jail.
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