Final Course Reflection: Organization & Administration

As a first year principal, one of the pitfalls I might face is skepticism among the staff, students, and community regarding my age and inexperience.  As a classroom teacher, I have heard and even participated in conversations that included doubts and uncertainty when our school gained an new principal and our county a new, young superintendent.  I am sure that these conversations will be much like the ones that my staff will have when I am introduced as their principal.  Through my coursework, I have learned research-based practices to help me earn the respect of school stakeholders.

I have learned to fully understand, evaluate, and re-design (if necessary), the school vision statement to ensure that all the school stakeholders are working in the one unified direction.  I have learned to create collaborative partnerships with the community in order to improve school culture and strengthen school programs.  As a new administrator, I know to assemble a quality team with representation of all school stakeholders and then complete and study a thorough data analysis.  Using student achievement data and a team of invested professionals, we'll establish a plan to better meet the needs of all learners.  I will encourage my staff to participate in professional learning communities to foster a more supportive, collaborative working environment and promote best practices in the classroom.  Finally, I will hold myself and my administrative team accountable, requiring us to stay current in educational trends, including technology integration and 21st century skills. 

This course has allowed me to take time and investigate the practices of experienced, educational leaders and create a plan of action for if and when I become a school administrator.  Because the data analysis aspects of the course were authentic and based on my home school, the course assignments were practical, even in my role as a classroom teacher.  Many of the leadership skills I learned can also be applied to my current professional role, especially those regarding professional learning communities and collaborative partnerships with the community.  While I can't establish a whole school mandate for professional learning communities, I can work in partnership with my colleagues to complete lesson studies and implement emerging educational trends.  Now that I am aware of its affects on student achievement, I will make a concentrated effort to strengthen my community and parent relationships.  I will increase and broaden my communication efforts in order to improve school climate.   I hope to continue allotting time in my schedule to read and investigate the research on school programs and leadership techniques.  If and when I do consider becoming school administrator, I understand the tremendous responsibility it involves and would only pursue the position if I knew I had the tools and knowledge to succeed.

Co-Teaching & Individualizing the Curriculum

Entry #1: Co-Teaching-
      I believe that co-teaching can be a highly effective model if implemented with the right pair of teachers.  To be effective, teachers must share a common educational philosophy and feel safe enough to teach within the others presence.  Teachers also need to share a mutual level of respect and be willing to make compromises when it comes to instruction. If implemented correctly, co-teaching classroom models can offer more individualized instruction for students, a widened perspective and approach to learning, and specific groupings to maximize student achievement.
       The upgrade of curriculum for the 21st century supports the co-teaching model.  What better way to model collaboration and effective communication than two teachers working together to plan and implement lessons?  The co-teaching model also allows teachers to experiment with various grouping methods for lessons that could be supported by stations, parallel teaching, and alternative teaching.  These different groupings could assist with hands-on projects that require students to collaborate, critically think, problem-solve, and innovate--all 21st century skills. 
        As a curriculum supervisor, I see two potential challenges to supervising and evaluating a co-teaching team. 

• What if the team of teachers isn't able to work together in an effective and professional manner? If two teachers were not able to work together, there are a number of possible resolutions.  I would first work to mediate the situation by meeting with the teachers individually and then as a team. When meeting with the teacher's individually, I would listen for grievances.  When meeting with them as a team, I would present the teachers with strategies and resources that might relieve some of the tension.  Before having the meeting, I would research variations of the co-teaching model and look for resources (planning calendars, reflection guides, etc.) to supply to the team of teachers.  I would also work to locate a co-teaching professional development to send the teachers to for assistance (Hopefully they had some training before beginning to teach as well).  If these strategies did not improve the working environment, I would look for alternatives with scheduling and attempt to re-organize the teacher pair.  
• Do I evaluate the teachers as a team or as individuals?  Administrators/supervisors of curriculum are there to observe student learning---not teacher behavior; therefore, I would not evaluate the special educator and the general educator seperately.  As a team, they are responsible for student learning, everyday.  I would look for alignment, accountability, rigor, student enagagement, appropriate use of technology, and positive student-teacher relationships, as I am in every observation.  But the co-teaching model does add a new element to the observation--roles of the teachers and positive teacher-to-teacher relationships.  I would be looking for evidence of co-planning, joint delivery of instruction, and mutual respect.

Entry #2: Individualizing the Curriculum-
          The model or individualized program that I would like to see implemented in Baltimore County schools is Self-Paced Instruction, usually called Individualized Learning. Baltimore County does already offer a program called Advanced Path, but this is only offered if you no longer attend your local high school, and instead attend Advanced Path centers in the evenings.  While this program is not right for the majority of students, there are so many students who are very bright and capable, but become distracted or angered by their peer group.  Self-paced instruction could be offered during the school day and in the local high schools, so that it would not be accompanied by the stigma of a "drop-out program." I believe that implementing a self-paced instruction program in middle and high schools would lessen the drop-out rate, class cut frequency, and make BCPS curriculum more individualized to fit the needs of all students.  I would work to widen the focus in the district from strictly an emphasis on increased Adavanced Placement and college-bound student programs to include a value on programs for students who are career-bound.   I would make these changes by verbalizing my committment to all students, not just those in Advanced Placement courses, and following through with decisions in staffing, course offerings, and intervention programs.

Societal Influences on Curricula

Some of the societal forces that influence school curricula today are the integration of technology, the politics of the No Child Left Behind Act, the mainstreaming of Special Education students, the weakened economy, and the value placed on making American students competitive in global society. 

                Curricula are being re-written in order to appeal to the 21^st century learner.  Equipped with computers, smart phones, video game systems, and tablets, students are no longer enthralled in paper and pencil lessons.  Curricula re-writes are now infusing multi-media in order to keep students engaged.  The rationale for incorporating technology, however, is about more than just student engagement.  To be competitive in the 21^st century workforce, students need to leave high school with experience and proficiency in technology.  Many fields are using technology to become more efficient and competitive globally.

                The politics of the No Child left behind Act have, and are still, affecting curricula today.  The expectation of 100% success has left curricula watered down and molded to a test.  Curricula were re-written to incorporate reading and math skills which were very specific to those required for the test.  NCLB perhaps also led to the combination of reading and math remedial programs with standard reading and math courses; the “double periods” were placed in students’ schedules in place of the arts.

                The mainstreaming of Special Education students has affected curricula by the incorporation of differentiation strategies.  Along with the suggested differentiation activities, many schools were also afforded audio versions of the texts, adapted readings, and technology in order to modify a mainstream curriculum for a student with an IEP or 504 educational plan.        

                The weakened economy has also placed a strain on the budgets of nearly every school system across the country, at the local, state, and federal level.   Budget cuts have led to weakened or cancelled programs, fewer teachers, larger class sizes, and a depletion of resources.  All this in the face of a growing student population on Free and Reduced lunch.  Re-writing curricula, for non-tested areas especially, will not be made a priority when budget cuts and teacher excesses are happening. 

                There is also increasing value being placed on making America’s educational system and students becoming competitive globally, especially against growing powers such as China and Japan.  President Obama referenced this in his recent State of the Union address.  Curricula will become increasingly rigorous and math and science driven in order to ensure that American students attain jobs in the world’s most competitive fields.  I also believe that this value has led to the increased attention on AP tests and SATs.

                Based on these societal influences, a school leader should be proactive in attaining technology and professional development in his/her school.   In order to stay competitive and ahead of the societal shifts in education, a school leader should work to have the most qualified and advanced staff. Providing staff with rich professional development and abundant resources are two methods a school leader can use to support the staff and, consequently, secure quality instruction for students.