Sharika Frater Module 3, LEAD 5383
blog link: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2372617834883287089/714918674445000203
Interviewees
& Highlights
This assignment was created as a
collaborative effort between me and two colleagues namely Tanya Scott and Kiara
Price. Ms. Scott has been working in the education sector for twenty-two (22)
years. She is a certified teacher and Reading Specialist who has a deep passion
for research-based strategies to assist student learning for eighteen (18). For the last 3 years she has been entrusted
with the duties of a Multi Classroom Leader (MCL). Mrs. Price has been in the education sector
for approximately twelve (12) years. She is a certified Reading Specialist and Administrator.
Currently she serves as our School Improvement Team Coordinator and Testing
Coordinator. These persons were selected to be on the team since they have a positive leadership approach to task to be
completed (Cherkowski 2018) and will go the extra mile to meet objectives for the
greater good of the students we serve. The Three highlighted areas are:
·
Student attendance issues and improvement strategies
·
Student behavioral issues/interventions/areas needing
improvements
·
Improving test scores for students who are Black, Hispanic or in
the minority groups.
Summary
of the Interview Findings
Proactive leaders take steps to assist students as best as
possible (Fallon, N. 2022). Therefore, systems put in place to improve teacher
or student performance must be regularly assessed to see if it is meeting the
needs of those it was proposed for, teachers, students, and families. To assist
our students, we selected attendance issues and improvement strategies since if they are
not at school, we are able to provide the support they need. While the two interviewees
are serving in formal leadership/administrative positions, they do comprehend
the struggles faced as classroom teachers when you have strategies or programs
in place for students, but they cannot benefit because they are absent or are
irregular at school. While our “Be there to get there” campaign has good features
and we are implementing it with enthusiasm, the attendance rate is still improving
inconsistently. Teacher buy in was another cause identified. In the past we
would recognize the classes with awesome or improved attendance but have somehow
stopped. More importantly the teachers were not given a individual incentives
and only benefitted from whatever treats the kids got which may have led to
demotivate them who are our greatest “salespersons”.
As regards to students’ behavior issues, there
are quite a bit that we have going for students and could hardly find the flaw
as to why we are not yielding more success from the programs in place. Then we
realized that we have recycled several of our incentives so some students may
have become used to them and are not that enthused to work to earn them. Also,
we may have too many programs going so staff and students may have become a bit
overwhelmed by them.
While our school is in a community of low
socio-economic status, we work hard to hold our students to a high standard for
themselves and the work they do. Despite that we realize that especially our Black
boys and most of the Hispanic or minority groups are performing below the
expected levels. While we send home information in their native tongue there is
very little being done when it comes to educational anchor charts and other
resources used in the classrooms. English is pushed as the language we teach
core content in. Even if a student has zero English exposure, they must
struggle to fit in. More needs to be done to help ease their transitional woes.
This is personal to me as an international teacher who have and is still
adjusting to the American English which has several variances from the British
English I grew upon. Although an adult I struggled to fit in sometimes and had
to modify my natural way to respond in conversations at times. These modifications
at times dull or eliminate the essence or feeling of what I try to say which
frustrates me and I feel like that was just a ‘false.’ If students are allowed
to respond in their native language how much more would we learn from them and
can better understand them.
Teacher Leader Recommendations &
Action Steps
When teachers and leaders show genuine interest in students, they tend
to improve (Raza, S. & Sikandar, A. 2018). When the SIP was analyzed, we
realized that we did provide incentives to students for attending school punctually
and regularly. Sadly though, not much was noted to be done to reward the
parents or specific teachers who are putting out the effort to help.
- Have specific incentives for parents/guardians/teachers for their efforts toward having students punctual or regular at school. These could include gift cards, free tickets from community events.
- Add new incentives for positive behaviors or rotate the ones some of the ones we currently use on perhaps a quarterly basis to keep them a bit fresh and sort after by pupils.
- Have positive male role models assigned to each grade level/class to encourage especially our Black boys who are almost half our population.
- Have more multi-cultural content -based charts used in classrooms so that Hispanic and minority groups can read and relate to them. Have a floating translating in classrooms so students can express themselves naturally in the language of their hearts. They will also be better able to apply concepts as they complete assignments.
While the success of these recommendations are not guaranteed it is worth trying them for the greater good of the stakeholders we serve and the mission of creating lifelong learners.
References
Cherkowski, S. (2018). Positive
teacher leadership: Building mindsets and capacities to grow
wellbeing. International Journal of Teacher Leadership, 9(1), 63–78.
Fallon, N. (2022, September 16). What kind of leader are you? Business news
daily. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8692-disc-assessment.html
Raza, S. & Sikandar, A. (2018). Impact of
leadership style of teacher on the performance of
students: An Application
of Hersey and Blanchard situational model. Bulletin of
Education and Research 40(3) 73-94. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1209826.pdf
