As a student, some environmental factors that impact my learning are noise, variable seating conditions, and choice. When I'm working independently, I really like having music playing. I work in the library, often with many different individuals meandering around doing their own thing. I find music brings a friendly tone or a calming tone to the large space. I can't listen to music with words when I'm trying to write or collect my thoughts, so I often listen to instrumental music. Students who tap or repeated squeaking sounds, which are frequent in the library with all of the carts on wheels, make me crazy!
I like to stand when I work, sitting makes me fidgety and uncomfortable. I also like to have a fair amount of personal space, so sitting too close to others to being jammed in a tight space makes me less comfortable. I work all day standing up and it's a big focus I make in the furniture we purchase for the library: there are places to lay, lounge, sit, stand, and kneel in our library. This is to allow all types of movement that is good for thinking and brain development as a person works. Additionally, I very much prefer working in a room with natural light over artificial light. Every August, when I'm back in the building after being outside all summer moving my body all day, I immediately notice how bad my body feels when I sit all day, and when I'm in artificial light instead of natural light. Working at computer all days exacerbates these feelings I think, especially after a summer of not working at a computer.
Choice is key to me as a learner. If I have to do an assignment that has many barriers and seems convoluted, it is very irritating to me. I like to have an authentic purpose, I like to connect my learning to other things in my life, and I like to choose how I can share my learning with others. Additionally, when someone else is lecturing or I'm in a big meeting, I prefer to doodle and take notes rather than sit idly.
As a teacher, I'm acutely aware to noise- I've already mentioned repetitive clicking and tapping. I'm also irritated by fidgeting more than I wish I was: I know fidgeting is an important option for many learners, including myself, but as a teacher trying to facilitate, it totally gets to me. This is something I have to bite my tongue on when I'm teaching so I don't stop the movement in the classroom I know is so important for my students.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
School-Wide System of Support
I have worked in a school with PBIS (positive behavior interventions and support) and MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support) for my entire career. The successes of this program are many, in my opinion. The first success is that more students are able to receive targeted support because every teacher in the building is essentially a part of the support team for all students. We have "Bobcat Bucks" at our school and teachers use these buck to reward good behavior. On Fridays, students can use the "ROAR store" to buy small trinkets and items, so there is some superficial motivation for students, especially our 6th and 7th graders. One of my favorite aspects of our PBIS program and the Bobcat Bucks is that we have a holiday ROAR store. Students come to the holiday ROAR store to purchase gifts for their families for the holidays. We even have parents and student volunteers who gift-wrap for students. Some of our students come from families who struggle financially, and it is truly special to watch these students purchase real gifts for their families based on the bucks they earn by being good students and school citizens. We also have a video productions class and we air daily announcements through this program. We use this class to motivate and for "positive subliminal messaging" of good ROAR behaviors. This helps support our schoolwide goals to encourage and expect the best from all of our students. We have academic support classes as a part of the MTSS work our school does, so students who are academically low in ready and math are double-dipped in those intervention classes each day to gain more than a year's growth and climb back to grade level. We also offer classes before the school day for this reason.
Some drawbacks to these programs is just how intense they are, and the amount of time and energy it takes to be thorough and successful. I said this is a good idea because it means more students receive support. However, schools of high need, like ours, have many more students who need tier 2 or 3 services than resources or time to offer this support fully. Our MTSS team has way more referrals than they handle during the times of their meetings, and we definitely don't have enough staff hired to support the specific needs of our students (many of whom has experienced trauma or live in high poverty homes).
Schoolwide expectations of students and staff require a clear vision and focus from the leader, and it also requires accountability. The school leader and teams of support must be ready to have tough questions with staff who aren't seeing through the vision to their standards, and must always adhere to the schoolwide policies themselves. This is easy to say, and hard to do, especially since schools have so many key stakeholders and vested interests that help drive decision-making every day. Additionally, the school leader must make sure that these schoolwide expectations are equitable and that the doors to access and success are open to all students. Again, easier said than done.
Some drawbacks to these programs is just how intense they are, and the amount of time and energy it takes to be thorough and successful. I said this is a good idea because it means more students receive support. However, schools of high need, like ours, have many more students who need tier 2 or 3 services than resources or time to offer this support fully. Our MTSS team has way more referrals than they handle during the times of their meetings, and we definitely don't have enough staff hired to support the specific needs of our students (many of whom has experienced trauma or live in high poverty homes).
Schoolwide expectations of students and staff require a clear vision and focus from the leader, and it also requires accountability. The school leader and teams of support must be ready to have tough questions with staff who aren't seeing through the vision to their standards, and must always adhere to the schoolwide policies themselves. This is easy to say, and hard to do, especially since schools have so many key stakeholders and vested interests that help drive decision-making every day. Additionally, the school leader must make sure that these schoolwide expectations are equitable and that the doors to access and success are open to all students. Again, easier said than done.
Friday, October 12, 2018
Conflict Management and Resolution
I have worked at the same school for almost my entire career. Throughout this time, I have experienced successes and failures when it comes to communication. I've found that being an educator and working in a school is an emotional career path, and as such, sometimes things can get emotional with colleagues or an advisor.
One of the most difficult interactions I have had professionally was with an assistant principal of mine who was also a personal friend. I actually got the job based on her recommendation to our principal, and for several years we enjoyed partnership and a positive collegial partnership. However, when our personal friendship went through a rough patch, it made my work environment and any meeting I was in with her feel very difficult. As I began to take more leadership roles in our school, I sensed that she was jealous of the praise offered by our principal and collective boss. The hardest part of all of this was that she would approach me during the school day to discuss our personal relationship. I found this to be very unprofessional, and it left me in a personal funk in the middle of my professional work. This friend ended up leaving the school I was at for another job, and I was honestly relieved. We tried to keep in touch, but drifted apart, and I fear that while it was lovely for years to work together, I also sort of blame it for the ultimate loss of our friendship.
I have learned from this experience that being a colleague and a friend can be difficult. Personally I have thought about the school I currently work at, as my principal is near retirement, and I ponder whether I would ever want to become an administrator in our building. After this experience with my friend, I've decided that as administrator, it's very important to separate personal and professional worlds, and therefor I wouldn't want to become an administrator in a school I have worked in as a teacher. It just seems too close to too many people, and it can get messy if clear relationship boundaries aren't established. Administrators have a different role in a building than teachers, and without clearly defining the relationships and roles for each, feelings can get hurt inadvertently.
One of the most difficult interactions I have had professionally was with an assistant principal of mine who was also a personal friend. I actually got the job based on her recommendation to our principal, and for several years we enjoyed partnership and a positive collegial partnership. However, when our personal friendship went through a rough patch, it made my work environment and any meeting I was in with her feel very difficult. As I began to take more leadership roles in our school, I sensed that she was jealous of the praise offered by our principal and collective boss. The hardest part of all of this was that she would approach me during the school day to discuss our personal relationship. I found this to be very unprofessional, and it left me in a personal funk in the middle of my professional work. This friend ended up leaving the school I was at for another job, and I was honestly relieved. We tried to keep in touch, but drifted apart, and I fear that while it was lovely for years to work together, I also sort of blame it for the ultimate loss of our friendship.
I have learned from this experience that being a colleague and a friend can be difficult. Personally I have thought about the school I currently work at, as my principal is near retirement, and I ponder whether I would ever want to become an administrator in our building. After this experience with my friend, I've decided that as administrator, it's very important to separate personal and professional worlds, and therefor I wouldn't want to become an administrator in a school I have worked in as a teacher. It just seems too close to too many people, and it can get messy if clear relationship boundaries aren't established. Administrators have a different role in a building than teachers, and without clearly defining the relationships and roles for each, feelings can get hurt inadvertently.
Friday, October 5, 2018
School Budget- Challenges
I interview our principal's secretary- she is the financial secretary in our building. She has been doing work with this title for 13 years in our district at many different schools, so she seemed to be a great person to get a true perspective on these issues.
I asked her about our school budget and how it was decided. She said that it's all about revenues, expenditures, and enrollment. The biggest criticism she made about the school budget, the most challenging part, is how to equitably provide finances to all schools in our district.
Each school is given money based on the three above-mentioned factors. However, there is not consideration from school to school on the community, family, or student need or access to resources. Some of the schools in our district can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in PTO fundraising money, while others (like mine) are lucky to fund raise $10,000 in a year beyond our district/state allocation. One interesting thing I learned from this conversation was a district policy around fundraising. If a school uses funds from a fundraiser to pay for personnel (if you are able to raise hundreds of thousands in addition to standard allocation, it makes sense you would hire more personnel to support school goals and learning), you must deposit 10% of funds raised in a district "pot" to be re-allocated to schools that aren't able to raise those kinds of funds in a year. This is one noteworthy way our district is trying to even the playing field a bit. However, 10% of 100k is certainly not the same as 100k, so schools that are able to raise money through powerful PTOs and rich community sources are absolutely at an advantage, no matter how you shake it.
Additionally, she mentioned that it is difficult to predict the special needs of our school site to set budget money aside. For instance, last year the math team requested several thousand dollars to purchase assessment and intervention online program. This year our LA team needs to purchase new books. I asked her how our administrators determine priority of need and she said that it must relate back to students and learning. Additionally, it special funds are allocated, it impacts the budget in other ways like we can't spend the same amount of money on supplies if some money gets taken up for a special and valuable request from a teacher or department. If the request comes late in the school year, often a deal or agreement is made for allocations of special resources to be put in the place the following year: this allows our principal's secretary to have a bit of foresight and plan better for what the budget allocation needs to be. And, above all, if the budget isn't flexible and there is no more money fundraised, the special requests for improving learning that comes from a teacher or dept. will be denied.
I asked her about our school budget and how it was decided. She said that it's all about revenues, expenditures, and enrollment. The biggest criticism she made about the school budget, the most challenging part, is how to equitably provide finances to all schools in our district.
Each school is given money based on the three above-mentioned factors. However, there is not consideration from school to school on the community, family, or student need or access to resources. Some of the schools in our district can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in PTO fundraising money, while others (like mine) are lucky to fund raise $10,000 in a year beyond our district/state allocation. One interesting thing I learned from this conversation was a district policy around fundraising. If a school uses funds from a fundraiser to pay for personnel (if you are able to raise hundreds of thousands in addition to standard allocation, it makes sense you would hire more personnel to support school goals and learning), you must deposit 10% of funds raised in a district "pot" to be re-allocated to schools that aren't able to raise those kinds of funds in a year. This is one noteworthy way our district is trying to even the playing field a bit. However, 10% of 100k is certainly not the same as 100k, so schools that are able to raise money through powerful PTOs and rich community sources are absolutely at an advantage, no matter how you shake it.
Additionally, she mentioned that it is difficult to predict the special needs of our school site to set budget money aside. For instance, last year the math team requested several thousand dollars to purchase assessment and intervention online program. This year our LA team needs to purchase new books. I asked her how our administrators determine priority of need and she said that it must relate back to students and learning. Additionally, it special funds are allocated, it impacts the budget in other ways like we can't spend the same amount of money on supplies if some money gets taken up for a special and valuable request from a teacher or department. If the request comes late in the school year, often a deal or agreement is made for allocations of special resources to be put in the place the following year: this allows our principal's secretary to have a bit of foresight and plan better for what the budget allocation needs to be. And, above all, if the budget isn't flexible and there is no more money fundraised, the special requests for improving learning that comes from a teacher or dept. will be denied.
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