Dreaming and Doing
HTH 212
February 29, 2012
The Dream-
The dream school that my trusted colleagues and I envision is not so unattainable. When the visual materializes in my mind it is simple yet beautiful. I imagine students, parents, and teachers/staff feeling valued and supported. All parties collaborate, cooperate, and communicate. Open discussion is played out in a safe environment. All parties feel ownership of their school.
Students are engaged and excited. They are aware of the world around them and beyond. They share openly and listen openly. They love the ideas of their classmates and love to get advice on what they are doing. They respect each other’s thoughts and are kind if they do not agree with them. Anyone can ask one of our students about something they are learning and they are able to share their knowledge with confidence.
The students and teachers take trips to solidify information being learned and to inspire a sense of real connection to the learning taking place. This could be a trip to Rome before, during, or after working through a unit on Ancient Rome. It could be a trip to Washington D.C. before, during, or after studying about our nation’s history.
Decisions that affect the school are made from the many or at least decisions are made by consulting the many. We all are proud, as students, parents, and teachers of the school we belong to. We are passionate about what we are learning and facilitating.
As a teacher, I feel prepared. I am able to plan what and how I need to plan. I feel the respect and support of my colleagues including the school administration. I know I can find trusted colleagues and work through issues and ideas in a positive, constructive way.
We all have voice and are connected to the greater good of the education of the students. We all feel Equity. We all are able to grow to our full potential (as students, teachers, and parent supporters) through reflection and action.
The Reality-
I think many of the aspects of my dream school are a reality at my school now. For the most part, I feel that our students and parents feel supported and listened to by our teachers. Communication with teachers, parents and students is a bright spot at our school. In our homeschool charter school, the parents are the teacher of record (even in the AIM 2 day program that I am the lead teacher for) so it is very important that their needs are met so that the needs of their students are met. Our families are engaged and encouraged to utilize the many field trips and events that our school puts on. These activities range from touring the Midway to Arts Field Day where students and parents participated in hands on activities from all areas of the arts.
I think our break down occurs in communication between teachers and our administration. In this area of our school, there are several challenges and issues that I would like to address. The two I would like to focus on are staff communication and teachers feeling like they don’t have voice. There is a lack of internal communication school wide which leads to teachers feeling like they aren’t listened to or respected and ultimately leads to teachers feeling like they don’t have a voice.
The Changes-
I will take action and make changes right away in two ways. I will begin a Classics Book Club that will build connections through book chats. I will also start protocols at our site staff meetings.
By implementing a book club with colleagues we can begin to build connections that will help support communication at work. My hope is that staff members that may not have become friendly before will find some common ground in this setting.
I am optimistic that by implementing protocols into our site staff meetings we will begin to get a shared sense of direction for our school as a whole. I also think protocols promote positive beginnings. Like the book club, they can enhance connections between staff. The site I am at is a bright spot in our school because we are more supportive and open than the other sites and protocols will only enhance this culture. I know we all want what is best for our students and our school, and, we work together to discuss positives as well as issues. Our site can be the catalyst for change.
The Step-
I have taken two steps to move toward our dream school. First, I presented the same prompt that was given to us in the GSE, “What does your dream school look like?” to my school site as a protocol. Second, I created a flyer for the book club and emailed it out to the entire staff.
I then had a conversation with our school site’s lead (which is like a principal) about leading a protocol at our next staff meeting. I led a protocol on the same topic of “your dream school”. I gave 2 minutes to think and 5 minutes to write. I then had teachers pair up and each share their ideas for 1 minute. I let them know that they would be sharing something that struck them about what their partner said. I felt like this was a great first attempt at engaging our teachers and giving them a voice. My goal is to implement several more of these types of activities at my home school site before bringing them to the whole school in general. Protocols will bring about positive change in our school through giving teachers a safe forum for discussion.
It was such a good experience I extended the prompt to my classroom of 2nd and 3rd graders. I thought about not brainstorming with them beforehand because I didn’t want to effect their ideas with my “opinions”. However, I saw a need for some blanket topics to think about when journaling about their dream schools. These included work in class, how your school might look, how do you want to feel at school, etc. Many of them wanted a wonderful playground of one kind or another. This was very telling because we don’t have a playground for the students. They play in a blocked off empty lot. Many of them said they wanted to be treated nicely, which is something we all want. Although some of the boys spoke of monsters and super heroes, many of the responses were insightful and eye opening.
To see my goal of a classics book club come to fruition, I have created a book club flyer and emailed it out to the whole school. I foresee my struggle being motivating teachers to actually commit to this gathering. The excuse will and has been so far that staff is too busy to read extra books. Although I know this may be an uphill battle I am ready for the challenge. I think this would break down some conflicting attitudes that may be deterring real connections from being made. Although, this is a small solution it could lead to a big change. The book club nights will be a safe environment for people to hang out, discuss something other than work issues, and get to know each other. I see relationships being built that can lead to positive changes in the workplace.
HTH 212
February 29, 2012
The Dream-
The dream school that my trusted colleagues and I envision is not so unattainable. When the visual materializes in my mind it is simple yet beautiful. I imagine students, parents, and teachers/staff feeling valued and supported. All parties collaborate, cooperate, and communicate. Open discussion is played out in a safe environment. All parties feel ownership of their school.
Students are engaged and excited. They are aware of the world around them and beyond. They share openly and listen openly. They love the ideas of their classmates and love to get advice on what they are doing. They respect each other’s thoughts and are kind if they do not agree with them. Anyone can ask one of our students about something they are learning and they are able to share their knowledge with confidence.
The students and teachers take trips to solidify information being learned and to inspire a sense of real connection to the learning taking place. This could be a trip to Rome before, during, or after working through a unit on Ancient Rome. It could be a trip to Washington D.C. before, during, or after studying about our nation’s history.
Decisions that affect the school are made from the many or at least decisions are made by consulting the many. We all are proud, as students, parents, and teachers of the school we belong to. We are passionate about what we are learning and facilitating.
As a teacher, I feel prepared. I am able to plan what and how I need to plan. I feel the respect and support of my colleagues including the school administration. I know I can find trusted colleagues and work through issues and ideas in a positive, constructive way.
We all have voice and are connected to the greater good of the education of the students. We all feel Equity. We all are able to grow to our full potential (as students, teachers, and parent supporters) through reflection and action.
The Reality-
I think many of the aspects of my dream school are a reality at my school now. For the most part, I feel that our students and parents feel supported and listened to by our teachers. Communication with teachers, parents and students is a bright spot at our school. In our homeschool charter school, the parents are the teacher of record (even in the AIM 2 day program that I am the lead teacher for) so it is very important that their needs are met so that the needs of their students are met. Our families are engaged and encouraged to utilize the many field trips and events that our school puts on. These activities range from touring the Midway to Arts Field Day where students and parents participated in hands on activities from all areas of the arts.
I think our break down occurs in communication between teachers and our administration. In this area of our school, there are several challenges and issues that I would like to address. The two I would like to focus on are staff communication and teachers feeling like they don’t have voice. There is a lack of internal communication school wide which leads to teachers feeling like they aren’t listened to or respected and ultimately leads to teachers feeling like they don’t have a voice.
The Changes-
I will take action and make changes right away in two ways. I will begin a Classics Book Club that will build connections through book chats. I will also start protocols at our site staff meetings.
By implementing a book club with colleagues we can begin to build connections that will help support communication at work. My hope is that staff members that may not have become friendly before will find some common ground in this setting.
I am optimistic that by implementing protocols into our site staff meetings we will begin to get a shared sense of direction for our school as a whole. I also think protocols promote positive beginnings. Like the book club, they can enhance connections between staff. The site I am at is a bright spot in our school because we are more supportive and open than the other sites and protocols will only enhance this culture. I know we all want what is best for our students and our school, and, we work together to discuss positives as well as issues. Our site can be the catalyst for change.
The Step-
I have taken two steps to move toward our dream school. First, I presented the same prompt that was given to us in the GSE, “What does your dream school look like?” to my school site as a protocol. Second, I created a flyer for the book club and emailed it out to the entire staff.
I then had a conversation with our school site’s lead (which is like a principal) about leading a protocol at our next staff meeting. I led a protocol on the same topic of “your dream school”. I gave 2 minutes to think and 5 minutes to write. I then had teachers pair up and each share their ideas for 1 minute. I let them know that they would be sharing something that struck them about what their partner said. I felt like this was a great first attempt at engaging our teachers and giving them a voice. My goal is to implement several more of these types of activities at my home school site before bringing them to the whole school in general. Protocols will bring about positive change in our school through giving teachers a safe forum for discussion.
It was such a good experience I extended the prompt to my classroom of 2nd and 3rd graders. I thought about not brainstorming with them beforehand because I didn’t want to effect their ideas with my “opinions”. However, I saw a need for some blanket topics to think about when journaling about their dream schools. These included work in class, how your school might look, how do you want to feel at school, etc. Many of them wanted a wonderful playground of one kind or another. This was very telling because we don’t have a playground for the students. They play in a blocked off empty lot. Many of them said they wanted to be treated nicely, which is something we all want. Although some of the boys spoke of monsters and super heroes, many of the responses were insightful and eye opening.
To see my goal of a classics book club come to fruition, I have created a book club flyer and emailed it out to the whole school. I foresee my struggle being motivating teachers to actually commit to this gathering. The excuse will and has been so far that staff is too busy to read extra books. Although I know this may be an uphill battle I am ready for the challenge. I think this would break down some conflicting attitudes that may be deterring real connections from being made. Although, this is a small solution it could lead to a big change. The book club nights will be a safe environment for people to hang out, discuss something other than work issues, and get to know each other. I see relationships being built that can lead to positive changes in the workplace.