Saturday, September 25, 2010

Responsibillity

Should We Be Responsible:  Where Does the Responsibility Lie?

Our school climate has truly changed over the years.  It was at one time very common for students particularly males to have a confrontation and have a fist fight with another male student.   Though rare as it may seem, the girls would fight each other as well. Now girls  are even becoming more violent than in years past.  There are also instances in which the girls will confront the boys and vice versa.  What is the world coming to?  It makes me think – is it truly what you see, is what you get in some households?  Undoubtedly there are parents who teach their child to be respectful of each other. If there is a problem they often tell their child to tell somebody so that they may help them. If a child sees violence in the household or in the community as a means to solve problems, then it is to that student, what you see is what you get.  Could this possibly be a learned behavior that is fed by the media, home situations or other outside stimuli as the solution to the problem?  My guess again, is that students are learning from the time they are born so it must be what you see is what you get?   
So where does our responsibility lie?  Should we take on this issue? I believe that there are individuals who are a product of their environment but with the tools and resources I think change can occur.  But let me say this, it has to be an investment on all individuals.  Anyone who is forced into a situation is likely to be rebellious until they figure that the goals are attainable and measureable.  The key word is beneficial to the student.
So as educators and principals is it our job to foster this learning?   Well, if our goal is to foster students to be productive citizens in such a diverse society, then why not?  If there are no tools at home then sometimes we must provide the tools in order to promote a safe learning environment conducive to learning in an educational setting.  Once we teach students what we want the school climate to be? How we want it to be?  We offer students the guidelines to make them feel comfortable about a situation; they become active participants in the process. Students, parent, principals as well as other stakeholders have to invest in promoting unity too?
As a result, I think students will begin to understand that it is okay to have differences of opinions and culture differences.  However respecting those differences is a learning experience that could be useful in their educational experience. So to be proactive a program with guideline to address issues that may be causes of bullying or violent situations as well as other conflicts that may arise should be established with input from all stakeholders.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Interview with Principal

Decision-Making Process:


I had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Ferrill, a retired principal, serving as an Interim Principal. She conversed with me about having to make a decision to refocus staff at a High School. She explained that she felt she needed to make some changes. She stated that some things done at that time would have caused a loss of employment. She stated that through observation, data, and listening to the conversations of staff; she made the decision to restructure and refocus the staff. Through her observation she discovered the faculty was so conditioned to saying whatever they wanted to say and weren’t modest in their conversation. When she looked at the data there was no achievement growth of students. She set a meeting with the staff at a different location away from the school. This happened to be at a church conference room. When she began her meeting she presented to the staff “What do you teach?” The staff replied, “I teach my subject area.” She presented to them to refocus their teaching and to teach the students. The proposal was made to the teachers. They complained about the changes she wanted to make. She said that she could still vividly picture staff so angry. If they had not been in a church environment, ”Oh the words that may have come out of their mouth.” All of the staff left the school for number of reasons except for an AP.



The Facilitative Leader Levels Model was used to explain this decision. Ms. Ferrill observed the staff’s mannerisms and conversations about the school and the clientele. Then by gathering information from her observation she analyzed the data of the school to determine the problems. It was at that point she made a decision to refocus the staff at the school. She felt that the individual staff input was so negative that the school culture and environment needed a change. However, she gathered the staff to discuss her plan and obtain their input. She posed a question to them which the consensus was that they teach a subject and not students. It was at this time she delegated to the staff what their duties and responsibilities were going to be to teach at that particular high school. Thus she made the final decision. However in making this decision she had the opportunity to obtain staff not biased to the issues of her former staff. Her new staff was able to “climb on board.” Her new staff was able to see her vision. She advises when making decisions, you may have to stand alone. A decision will need to be firm. She states, “Don’t be afraid to take risk.” I agree that she should have made changes because the staff’s focus was not geared toward educating students.

Decision-Making Process

Ms. Ferrill also made a decision to change the focus of the high school and design a curriculum that is geared toward the interest of students. She stated that a colleague was researching this type of program and receiving a grant for it. She began her investigation. She researched the model and observed schools that were doing this model. She collected the data that supported the model. Through collaborating with others and discussing the model for months she decided to try the model. She had to consider everyone involve. The stakeholders were important for this to work. The teacher, the parents and the students had to “buy into the program” in order to make it work. Again she emphasized that you decisions can be risky. She stated that though the scores did not improve greatly. Students showed some improvement.

Facilitative Leader Levels Model was used in this decision. Ms Ferrill decided on this plan of incorporating schools of interest. She announced her intentions to the stakeholders. She began to research and travel to places all over the states that had this program and looked at the data to support it. Parents, students and teachers were involved in the process because they were affected. So a consensus was determined. The results of the reports were made. After many collaborative events and discussions, a decision was made. I agree with the process. I think when you are making decisions that effect stakeholders it is best to come to some kind of consensus,