Week 3 Leadership

I will admit this week’s readings were not as interesting to me as the first two.  It may have been simply they just did not seem to soak in as well as the others.  The online article did perk up some thoughts.  It was different reading about principals.  I do not plan on being a principal and will be content being a teacher for the rest of my career.  It did give me some insights on how to know if you are working for a principal that has good leadership skills for the school.  I will be honest in the nearly 18 years of substitute teaching I have yet to find a principal at any grade level that has possessed all 5 key responsibilities of the principal.  There has been on middle school principal that I have worked with quite often that meets almost all the responsibilities.  He definitely established a vision in the school.  After his first couple of years he established the use of John Wooden’s Pyramid to success.  There isn’t an actual written down vision, but they follow the John Wooden quote that is usually attached the to pyramid.  That quote is, “Success is piece of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable"  (Wooden 1948).  He then ties each level to the of the pyramid to each student’s academic and social success.  The levels of the pyramid are split into the four quarters of the school year.  He uses the pyramid   He does make the school hospitable for learning.  His door is always open for the students and is very approachable by the students.  He is always willing to help students, but is still willing to be a disciplinarian if the students act up.  He also is very receptive of his teachers to go to workshops to learn skills to help teach students.  He does cultivate leadership in others by having department heads that help with decisions of each department.  I do not have first hand experience when it comes to managing data and people.  He does do this because I have overheard conversations talking about data.  The only of the 5 responsibilities that he does not do much about is improving instruction.  He allows each department to make choices on how instruction is performed and improved. 

Though I do not plan on being a principal, I feel believe that I can use some these responsibilities into my classroom.  I can develop my own vision for my classroom and direct my instruction towards that vision.  It is only common sense that I will have a classroom that is hospitable for education.  I will always be available for my students to ask question about the work or if they have personal issues that they want to talk about.  If I want to have a successful classroom, I need to make my classroom to where students want to be there.  I will cultivate leadership with my students.  First, they will help decide one classroom rules and expectations.  I will also do many group projects where there will be a leader needed to complete and present these projects.

Wooden, J. (1948).  Takacs Learning Center.  Retrieved from http://www.takacslearningcenter.com/tag/coach-john-wooden/

Week 2 Transitioning

This week’s blog I chose to write about the online article.  I found the article very interesting because it made me think back when I was at that age in school.  I did not feel fully prepared to enter Junior High.  I did have to move between four classrooms in 6^th grade but they all were within ten yards from each other.  I remember being scared because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to get my locker open and be late to class or even if I would remember to bring my PE uniform to class.  Granted those may be things that you may not be able to transition students in, but if I was more comfortable with the other things the small things like my locker and my uniform would not bother me.  I enjoyed reading about the tips for teachers to help with the transitioning because some of them made remember as a kid where these tips were never used.  When the article talks about being positive.  I remember one of my 6^th grade teachers telling me that I would be in a rude awakening when I get out to the junior high.  If you can’t handle the work here you won’t handle it next year.  The teachers won’t be as nice when it comes to homework assignments.  That had me kind of nervous, I thought the teachers would be these mean drill sergeants.  Most were very helpful when I had trouble with my work, but that was after I realized that it was ok to ask for help.  I feel if my 6^th grade teachers were more positive, I would have been going in with a positive attitude and would have asked for help sooner.  Luckily, not asking for help sooner did not cause me to fall behind academically.  Another tip that I do not remember have much experience as a student was the providing group structure.  I really can only remember one time in junior high that I was put into a group setting for any type of project.  I feel being in a group setting would have not only helped with the social aspect, but also help students help each other with transitioning.  Some students can handle change better than others. 

As a future myself I did like the tip of comparing and collaborating.  I mean I may have a student that does like what I am teaching and acts out in class.  At the same time, he may love science class and is one of the top students in the class.  If I do not talk to other teachers, I may think it is just him and not me or my material.  With the right information I can adjust my teachings to better engaged that one student as well keeping the rest of the class engaged.  I also feel along with talking to other teachers, I will have to talk to the student.  Collaborate with him or her on how to make the class more engaging for them and devise a plan and find ways to execute that plan.  The tip of being current should be a “no brainer”.  Just like in any industry if you do not stay up to date or even ahead of the outside world you will fall behind and you will start to fail yourself and your students.

This article gave a lot of great information and tips to help us as teachers transitioning students into the middle school grades.  I also think it can also be useful when it comes to transitioning into high school as a freshman.  There is still a learning curve from middle school to high school that I feel many of these tips can be helpful for teachers to help freshman accumulate to his or her new life adventure.

Week 1

This week I will focus more on the online article.  I feel I have more of a connection with this.  I have seen my own middle school go through the movement.  When my parents went through the Junior High it was 7^th-9^th grade.  By time I was in Junior High it was 7^th and 8^th.  In the last 15 years it has changed into a Middle School, but nothing had changed except the name.  Everything was still running like when it was a Junior High.  They then added 6^th and 5^th grade out to the Middle School.  The Middle School has made improvements curriculum and professional developments.  Some of the things that I have noticed that they have not changed and is against what Donald Eichorn proposed was the elimination interscholastic sports.  They have recently added a competitive Scholastic team.  And all classes are organized based on grade including physical education class.  I wish my school would have more of an active learning aspect.  I have always been a hands on learning.  So when there was not much active learning in the Junior years I always felt behind slightly through high school and college.