Post-Observation Conference

As I reviewed the video of my post-observation conference, I noticed the following strengths and weaknesses in the environment and tone of the observation.  The observer and teacher sat close, facing another, in two student’s desks.  I believe that this seating arrangement set a collegial tone for the observation, rather than if the observer was sitting in a higher seat or behind a large desk.  The observation also took place in the same classroom as the observation, which allowed both the teacher and the observer to more easily discuss mobility in the classroom and strategies for next time. I also noticed direct eye contact between the teacher and the observer which made both parties feel that their ideas were valued by the other person.  There was a lot of nodding used to indicate agreement; however, I wish that I had used more positive language.  I tended to use the word, “Okay,” rather than “yes” or “I agree.”  Viewing the post-observation again, I noticed some, but not a tremendous amount of transition words, and an overall strong use of enunciation and delivery.  The post conference could have been easily viewed and deciphered by another person. 

When considering the goal of a post-observation conference—to improve instruction—I would consider this post-conference to have been a success.  The teacher and observer left the observation with three agreed-upon goals after discussing the strengths and areas for improvement from the observation lesson. A statement that indicated a prior conference was, “As far as the things we talked about after first period—validating student responses, giving directions before going into groups—do you think those went better than the last time?”   Later on in the observation, we also discuss our planning process.  Lauren sets time management as a goal of hers, noting the time it took her to plan and revise this lesson after our discussions.  The observer mainly used behaviors of listening, reflecting, presenting, problem-solving, and directing.  Probing questions were used, such as “How did what you planned compare with what you did?” and “How could you have altered your plan to still meet your objective when running short on time?”  Constructive feedback was used, but looking back, I wish that I would have offered Lauren more praise and positive feedback in the observation.  She did so many things right, but it took seven minutes into the post-conference in order for me to list them.  I can understand how that may deflate the teacher.  For the next time, I will begin my comments with the teacher’s strengths.  Together, Lauren and I shared data from the lesson.  We used specific student’s names to reference strategies used during the lesson.  We noted areas of the lesson that student’s needed clarification and alternate strategies to use such as modeling and think alouds. 

I believe that I teetered between the collaborative and directive informational approach during the post-observation conference.  Looking at the goals that Lauren and I set for her next lesson, some of these goals were decided on together and others were directed by me.  I also noticed that I offered several strategies for Lauren to use again or to refine for the future.  I directed, rather than clarifying her ideas.  While there’s always room for improvement, I believe this is the right strategy for Lauren at this time because she is a student intern.  Because she is not yet even student teaching, this was the first full lesson she had ever taught.  Because of her experience level, the observer needs to take on the role as the “expert.”  Lauren does not yet possess the knowledge about instruction that she needs in order to be the only person making suggestions to better her instruction.  I believe the conference was more successful because Lauren was offered suggestions and then, of those, could choose on which she’d most like to work.  As the mentor teacher, I am held accountable for the results of her growth as an effective teacher.   

In the next post-observation conference, I would like to use more positive language, give more positive feedback, and increase the frequency of clarifying and encouraging, and lessen the frequency of me directing choices.  I hope that by the end of Lauren’s student teaching, our post-observation conferences will function at a collaborative level.

Room Arrangements

Throughout the week, I have spent time observing the various room arrangements in my school.  One of the most prominent observations was that there wasn't much of a variety.  Built 50 years ago, Perry Hall High School is one of the oldest facilities in the county, and while it has received an addition to the building since then, many of the core classes are still being taught in the older building.

Having been built in the 1960s, the classrooms follow a "cookie-cutter" pattern---rectangular, two long windows, chalkboards in the front.  Most classrooms are set up in either a standard formation, single rows of desks, or in pairs, facing forward.  The teacher's desk can almost always be found in the upper left-hand corner at the front of the classroom.  Being in an older building with cinder block walls and little to no chance of getting wi-fi, the location of the teacher's desk is restricted by the location of an ethernet jack.  The major exception, however, is the science classroom.  Science classrooms are much larger, equipped with labs, sinks, and windows along the back wall.  These classrooms also have large tables perpendicular with the back of the classroom, rather than individual desks.  And, interestingly, my classroom is an exception to the typical English classroom.  I teach English in an old choral room.  My classroom is large, with three tiers for seating.  The desks are arranged in a U shape forming a semi-circle, but since the risers were originally intended for standing, they are not long enough for a desk and a chair.  This means that my room requires the desk/chair combination seats, which are nearly impossible for some of my larger students to sit in comfortably. Occassionally I stumbled upon the unconventional classroom, with desks in one large circle or arranged in clusters, but in a building that hosts 2,300 students, I only saw four classrooms with unique arrangements.

In a secondary school setting, you rarely hear about learning centers or see the room set up into stations.  Typically, students sit in rows and the teacher brings the work to them, rather than them moving to the work.  However, an observer is still able to gather insights about the frequency of cooperative learning activities based on the room arrangement.  The rooms set up into rows, but with paired desks, seem to indicate more cooperative learning activities.  Two sets of paired desks can easily turn and make a table, as opposed to a room with long rows of desks with no spaces between them to manipulate different formations.  The rooms with more defined and accessible traffic patterns indicate that the teacher might circulate through the room more often and that the students are free to move about the classroom for appropriate reasons (tissues, pencil sharpener, bathroom, etc.)

I didn't notice any significant changes to a room arrangement in order to accommodate for students with disabilities, but I spoke with some teachers about their methods to make these accommodations.  All teachers said that they place students with special needs in the seats that comply with their IEP/504 plans--most often it is either in the front of the room with limited distractions or close to the door for mobility reasons.  In my travels, I did not notice any classrooms with isolated desks turned away from the front of the room, although I know hat some teachers use that as a management strategy. 

Few classrooms had more than one or two classroom computers.  There are only 5 classrooms in the building with a class lab and two departments which own a mobile laptop cart.  It seemed as though these computers were used often, perhaps everyday.  There were papers on the tables by the computers, the chairs were spun around and not pushed in--all evidence that the kids had been at those computers earlier that day.  There are also only 5 classrooms in the building with a Promethean/white board.  Most rooms are equipped with a mounted television, LCD projector (about 1/2 mounted/1/2 not mounted), and an overhead projector).  When the majority of classrooms have fewer than two student computers, it insinuates a lot more teacher-directed instruction on the internet or web 2.0 tools, than that put in the hands of the students.

Teachers could benefit from learning about the STAR sheet and its strategies for arranging classrooms to maximize teacher-student interaction.  Teachers would be more conscientious about their room arrangements if they were aware of the implications research indicates it has on student achievement.  Teachers would be more aware of checking the line of sight for each of their students.  A staff development could be held allowing teachers to first rearrange classrooms for specific case studies and then continue into allowing teachers to redesign their own classroom's arrangement. 

Final Reflection

Throughout the Effective Leadership course, one issue that I found challenging is the collaboration among stakeholders.  So many of the articles read during the course, referenced the need for shared decision making, shared values, and common goals within a school.  The reason I found this topic so challenging is because I was constantly reflecting on my experiences at my own school, Perry Hall High School.  I thought about the many opportunities that our administrative team gives to students, parents, and teachers to become a part of the decision-making process.  We have an active faculty council that meets monthly with the administrative team.  We have a school climate survey that is given each year to all stakeholders and the data is compiled and analyzed at S.I.T. team meetings.  We have an active PTSA and School Improvement team, both with student, parent, and faculty advisory members. We have a principal with an open-door policy—no appointment needed, just come in, and discuss concerns or ask questions.   But even with all of these efforts, I’m still not sure how many teachers, students, and parents feel a part of the decision-making process.  Throughout the course, I have been considering what the answer to this problem might be, and how with all of these efforts, a sense of community is still not present at Perry Hall.   I questioned my thoughts, how would I go about growing a collaborative culture at Perry Hall if I was the principal?

Our school, like many others, has a leadership team comprised of administrators and department chairs, and while this team may consider input from other stakeholders in the school, they have the final say in making decisions that will impact the entire school.  Often, the full rationale for these decisions cannot be shared with the school, and so teachers, students, and parents are left feeling helpless in the decision-making process.     While I understand that there is some information that cannot be shared for legal reasons, more rationale and explanations must be shared with the teachers, students, and parents, in order for them to feel like they are a part of the decision-making process.  Roland Barth (2004) writes, “The health of a school is inversely proportional to the number of its nondiscussables: the fewer the nondiscussables, the healthier the school” (p. 161).   I believe that many of the decisions made at Perry Hall become “nondiscussables” making it difficult to grow a collaborative and open culture.   I would also work to seek out the opinions and ideas of stakeholders beyond those who are on the leadership team.  I appreciated reading about principals who have coffee with their teachers on Thursdays and who attend concerts, shows, and plays, but sit among the parents, rather than standing at the doors with the staff chaperones.  These methods of leadership inspire me and are what I found most interesting during the course.

        I was most interested in reading about servant leadership.  Sergiovanni  (1992) discusses the many forms of leadership in his article, “Leadership as Stewardship: Who’s Serving Who?”.  While I realize it may be more idealistic than practical once in the trenches of paperwork and meetings, it inspired me and made me want to aspire to be this type of leader.  The text suggests that we are taught to believe that leaders should delegate and punish, be tough and aloof; however, Greenleaf (1977) states, “the great leader is a servant first” (p. 79).    I would like to be the type of leader that leads by example and motivates others to work as hard as I am working.  The text discusses leading with a “moral authority.”  In my short eight year career (including my student teaching experience), I have worked for three different principals and about 15 different assistant principals.  Of those, I would say that I have had experiences with all different types of leaders—but the ones whom I have had the most difficulty respecting or admiring are those who delegate responsibilities from a desk chair.  I hope that throughout my career, I continue to have an active presence in the building which I work.  I hope that I lead with moral authority and remind myself each day that I am working for the students, not the other way around.   I enjoyed reading about Mrs. Rodriguez, a principal from San Antonio, who worked to bag lunches and secure busses for a field trip to the zoo that was about to be cancelled due to district bureaucracy.  It reminded me of the hours that I spent over the phone securing a motivational speaker for Perry Hall last year, whose visit almost had to be cancelled due to the new county insurance requirement.  The phone calls, emails, money, and paperwork all became worth it when Jonathan Sprinkles was in our school and his message of empowerment was being discussed in the hallways and at the lunch tables for weeks after he left.   This experience, along with many others that I get to experience as a Student Council advisor will remind me of who I am serving and the benefits of working on behalf of the students before anyone else. 

References

Barth, Roland (2004).  Culture in Question.  Learning by Heart. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

Sergiovanni, Thomas J. (1992).  Leadership as Stewardship: Who’s Serving Who?  Moral Leadership.  San Francisco: Jossey –Bass.

Culture and Change

I would say that Perry Hall High School's culture is one that is primarily centered around tradition.  Not only is it part of the school's mission statement--Tradition, Pride, Excellence, but it's also an older school that is currently hosting its 50th graduating class.  It's located in an area that has a minimal transient population, and many of the students at Perry Hall are the children of past alumni.  We also have a considerable number of teachers who are alumni of the school or have been teaching at the school for many years.  All of these factors contribute to a culture of tradition and school pride.   The walls and trophy cases are packed with pictures, trophies, and awards from the past.  Our library walls host pictures of all the previous principals and the backs of our auditorium chairs have the etchings of previous student's notes and names.  This culture has its perks--we have a strong sense of identity at Perry Hall and we have a long-standing reputation as being one of the best schools in the county.  But, it is also a culture that resists change.  Both the staff and the students resist change because we are so comfortable hiding behind our traditions.  We think of change as a criticism, rather than as an opportunity to grow.    

Perry Hall promotes a positive school culture for teaching and learning that is inclusive of all students in a variety of ways.  First, we have over 85 clubs and extracurricular activities at our school and all of the clubs are inclusive to all students.  There are clubs that range from the Black Student Union to the Knitting Club and by offering this range of clubs, we are able to appeal to the interests of almost all the students in the school.  The majority of these clubs and extra curriculars are sponsored by staff members because we have established a culture at Perry Hall that compels teachers to get involved in student's lives outside of the classroom.  This area of teacher performance is assessed at the end-of-year evaluations.  We have several mentor programs in the school that promote students helping students.  Whether it be National Honor Society students tutoring underclassmen or lower-level students or the peer mentoring program where model seniors act as mediators to settle underclassmen disputes, these programs are helping to promote inclusiveness and a positive school culture of teaching and learning.  We also are a PDS school, meaning that we host a number of Towson student interns and student teachers.  The mentor teachers and hosting departments promote a culture of teaching and learning by helping the student intern establish, develop, and refine his/her practice.  Finally, many of our staff members are or have been a member of a graduate level cohort program or are taking graduate level courses.  This practice demonstrates for our students what it means to be a life-long learner.  I believe that Perry Hall has an extremely dedicated staff and that is the result of our school culture.  Most of us are not satisfied just working within our contracted hours and responsibilities, which is why those people that do, either do not last long at the school, or simply do not make an impression on the staff or the students. 


My ideas on how Marzano's research of first and second order change could be used to improve our present school culture relate to intellectual stimulation and the change agent.  At first, I was surprised to find culture ranked in the first-order change list.  However, once I got to thinking about it, I suppose he's right.  Culture is developed over time based on the incremental and day-by-day activities within a school.  If a leader attempted to change everything all at once, I imagine he/she would be met with negative attitudes and strong resistance.   But changing a school culture can be done with taking one or two dramatic departures from traditional school practices.  At Perry Hall, our leadership team has been struggling to create a culture of teaching and learning using 21st century learning skills and the use of technology.  As I discussed earlier, this change, like many others, has been met with resistance.  I believe our leadership team could benefit from Marzano's research on second-order change when meeting their intellectual stimulation and change agent responsibilities.  Using Marzano's words, a leader cannot expect to grow a culture which "fosters knowledge of research and theory on best practices among the staff through reading and discussion" using gradual and incremental change. This may need to be required of the staff, rather than suggested.  In terms of technology and best practices, this change can also not be met with our current set of strategies, since technology is relatively new to education.  E-learning communities have rapidly changed higher levels of education and we need to prepare our students for this in the lower grades; therefore, we don't have the time for this change to be gradual.    In addition, a leader cannot "challenge school practices that have been in place for a long time" with gradual change--the outdated practices need to be challenged with strategies that a school hasn't already tried.  In thinking about technology integration, a leadership team might challenge the staff's current method of implementing a socratic seminar with a socratic seminar on a wiki page.  Or,  a leadership team might challenge the NHS's current method of tutoring with one using SafariLive or Skype.  Then, the school can evaluate whether they are seeing the benefits of these "dramatic" changes or not.

Marzano's 21 Responsibilities of a School Leader

There were several similarities between my self assessment of Marzano's 21 Responsibilities of the School Leader and the McREL Balanced Leadership online inventory.  Strengths that were listed on both surveys were culture, knowledge of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and visibility.  These similarities did not surprise me because they all relate closely with my beliefs and with what type of leader I hope to be.  I know that developing the culture of my organization will be a priority of mine.  I read a lot about the value of teamwork this week when researching the leadership theorists.  I also know that curriculum and instruction will be a priority of mine, considering my background as a classroom teacher.  I have always loved lesson planning and finding innovative ways to engage my students, and so I hope to remain involved and knowledgeable regarding curriculum and instruction.  Lastly, I hope to be visible to my staff and students, because those were always the type of principals for whom I wanted to work.  I was especially impressed during my student teaching by a principal who stood in the front lobby and personally greeted as many students as he could in the morning.  I was blown away by how many of them he knew by name and how many of them he was able to speak to each morning.  Every student was greeted by his presence, a smile, and motivating words.  That is the type of principal I hope that I'd be. 

Categories that I scored the lowest in, on both assessments, were flexibility and outreach.  It was interesting that I scored the lowest in flexibility because I consider myself to be a very flexible teacher.  I think the reason I am scoring low is because I am not "comfortable with dissent".  I know that this is something I will need to work on before I am in a leadership role, but I am happiest and most comfortable when everyone is in agreement.  I think it might be challenging for me to adapt my leadership style, without also adapting to the wants of the dissenting group and just "giving in" for the sake of peace.  I believe I scored myself low in the outreach category, simply because I know how hectic school life can be, and I have a feeling that communicating on behalf of the school in the community might be what ends up at the bottom of my priority list.  I hope that this might be a task that I can delegate to another school leader so that I can be sure that it is happening.    

Some of the most blatant discrepancies were among discipline and contingent awards.  I think initially I scored myself low on the self assessment in both of these categories because I was too focused on what my limitations might be; for example, I know that I will never be able to completely clear a teacher from all the distractions from their teaching time and focus and I will never be able to recognize every individual's personal accomplishments.  However, the detailed questions in the McREL survey, helped me to realize the many opportunities there are for a school leader to fulfill these responsibilities, which is why I scored higher on this category on the McREL inventory. 

I was pleased to read that my top seven strengths, according to the McREL online inventory, (culture, visibility, knowledge of curriculum, ideas/beliefs, resources, discipline, and order) almost all have a .25 correlation with student achievement or above.  This makes me feel confident that I'll have what it takes to be an effective leader, but considering the closeness in correlation values that all of the 21 responsibilities have, it makes sense to always strive to meet all of the 21 responsibilities. 

Transformational Leadership

Transformational Leadership

In “Transformation School Leadership in a Transactional Policy World”, Leithwood (2007) defines transformative approaches as ones that “spring from an organic worldview, assume capacity to be a key to change, offer intrinsic incentives and rewards when additional motivation is required, and use commitment strategies” (p. 189).  I would define transformative approaches to leadership as being based on values and vision, rather than currency and advancement.  Transformational leadership is founded on an organization’s mission and developing employees whose values are aligned with that same mission.  Rather than offering employees salary increases or promotions, transformative leaders offer their employees inspiration and self-fulfillment. 

Transformational leadership can flourish in a learning environment because it is already an environment whose members are more dedicated to ideals and passion than to money and advancement.  Teachers do not typically enter this profession because their goal is to make a lot of money.  They become teachers because they believe in education and care for young people.  Transformational leadership will also flourish in a learning environment because of the category of practices within this form of leadership: charisma, inspirational leadership, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation (Bass, 1993).  These four practices are inherent in any learning environment.  The personal qualities and mission of a principal are on display for the staff and students daily, through forums such as faculty meetings, assemblies, and morning announcements. Teachers and staff members receive individualized considerations through professional development and lesson observations.  The staff’s opportunity to reflect after professional development and lesson observations allows for intellectual stimulation and the awareness of problems.

Transformational leadership can impact the way an administrator leads a school because, up to now, the transactional approach has not been working.  In his article, Leithwood discusses the recent trend in education: higher expectations, with more accountability (2007, p. 186). He writes about the school system’s failed attempts to solve the problem of “both raising the bar and closing the gap” (Leithwood, 2007, p. 187); all of these solutions have been transactional in nature because they have attempted to increase accountability of schools and teachers through competition, salary increases, and high stakes testing.  Leithwood’s findings indicate that the only way to increase accountability is through transformational leadership.  He references the instructional leadership models provided by Hallinger and Murphy (1985) and then writes, “Hallinger’s recent review of evidence concerning instructional leadership found that mission-building activities (the most “transformational” of the dimensions) on the part of principals are the most influential set of leadership practices”  (p.191).  I agree with Hallinger and Leithwood.  I believe that allowing the staff to help build the mission will only increase their commitment and dedication to the school and the students. 

When integrating technology with instruction, an administrator should use transformational leadership by establishing technology and 21^st century skills as part of the mission.  Transformational leadership is founded upon a common vision and belief system.  If the administrator cannot find a way to help his/her teachers share in this technology integration belief system, I’m not sure that this type of leadership will be effective.  Teachers need to be intrinsically motivated to learn these new strategies, not provoked by promises of salary increases, promotions, or satisfactory evaluations.   In order to use transformational leadership, the administrator will have to do his/her best to build a mission for the school that involves the integration of technology, and then continue to inspire the staff and model exemplary practices. 

References:

Leithwood, K. (2007). Transformation School Leadership in a Transactional Policy World. The     Jossey-Bass Reader on Educational Leadership (pp. #183- #196). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Online Learning Orientation Reflection

       By participating in the Administration and Supervision cohort, I hope to earn my second certificate through Johns Hopkins University and to complete a capstone class to bridge these two certificates into a Master's degree.  I hope to learn about school law and to learn about what it takes to hold an administrative position in education.  While I do not expect to leave the classroom for quite some time, I do hope that this program will adequately prepare me for being an effective leader for my school.   I expect it to be a lot of work, but work that is worthwhile and functional.
         One step that I will take in order to be successful in this program is to take advantage of the checklist feature in the ELC.  I operate solely because of to-do lists, so I love that these checklists exist and I especially love that they turn gray once you complete each task.  I have also subscribed to the email notifications, so I will stay up-to-date with posts and announcements on the ELC.  I will also reserve time each week to work on assignments and do my best to stay ahead of schedule, so that I can avoid feeling rushed or overwhelmed by tasks.  I also hope to take advantage of being a part of a team and to rely on my teammates for any questions I may have throughout the courses.
       As of now, I feel very prepared to enter this cohort.  I can't think of any other preparation that I need to be successful in the upcoming courses.  I think that as long as each class is well organized and that the coursework is listed with clear expectations, I will be as successful in this cohort as I was in the technology integration certificate.