Organization and Administration of Schools Course Reflection

The course, Organization and Administration of Schools, has given me an opportunity to practice a range of leadership strategies.  I had to think politically and orchestrate collaboration among stakeholders, all while maintaining my original vision.  This is very difficult to do, but I believe that it is possible in the “real world.” 

Someday, I may be a first-year principal, facing the challenges that I could only imagine and partially observe during the Action Plan culminating project during this course.  I envision many pitfalls, and I envision feeling overwhelmed and skill-less.  However, any first year principal will have to overcome these challenges and move forward, keeping the best interests of the students in mind.  Imagining I were the new principal at the school I studied during this course, major pitfalls loom large for me that first year.  Historical artifacts such as “the way we’ve always done things around here,” an unwieldy vision statement in need of overhaul, past student achievement data showing flat-lined and/or declining improvement, and low morale among all stakeholders in the school and community would be at the top of my list of pitfalls.

How would I respond to these challenges?  During this Organization and Administration of Schools course, I was able to role-play the various players present in any school community, so I could get a sense of what issues each particular player must experience in a school improvement plan.  I learned that, as a leader, understanding all of the stakeholders’ concerns is of utmost importance.  I need to listen to all of the concerns and help the school community develop their own strategies for improving the culture and student learning.  Developing a new vision for a school is NOT something a principal does in isolation.  I need to engage the stakeholders in conversations and exercises that help the community develop the vision together.  Then, I need to develop leaders throughout the school to help bring that vision to reality.  As I mentioned frequently in my Action Plan project, professional learning communities with focused goals and activities are fundamental in effecting school reform, and I would need to be the “conductor” that brings out the best from these rich communities.

This course has prepared me to use twenty-first century leadership skills as I model a new culture for collaborating, analyzing student performance, and continually reflecting on instructional practices, school climate, and quality decision-making.  Modeling this new culture is a good way to gain the trust and understanding of all of the stakeholders in any school community.  Using technology efficiently to analyze data, to organize the school and to maintain progress benchmarks, is what needs to happen in any school today.  As the teachers and students learn how to reflect on teaching and learning, my role is to continually challenge everyone to stay the course.  Everyone must be familiar with the data, and look deeper into the root causes of poor achievement.  I will encourage everyone to participate in professional learning communities that focus on student learning to help all students achieve.  Most importantly, I will work with the whole school community to face the challenges and overcome them, to the best of my ability, with the help of all stakeholders, focused on the clear vision.

Individualizing the Curriculum: What Works Best?

Blog Post #2

This JHU Curriculum Theory, Development and Implementation course has helped me grow in my understanding of curriculum, as I begin a new phase of my career in education to strengthen student achievement.  Through the course, we have looked at many factors that influence what students must know and be able to do.  In this new age of curriculum redesign, technology integration, and 21^st century literacy skills, along with the new Common Core State Standards, it is more important than ever that we make good choices when utilizing and revising curricula for a school or district.

Individualizing the curriculum is a healthy challenge, and one we must consider carefully.  Is there a model or individualized program that works best in any given school or district?  Is it even possible to define what is best?  I think not, but we can make some wise choices that will give us the best strategies for improving student achievement. 

I begin this thought process with the assumption that Differentiated Instruction is the expectation, the norm, the “way we do things around here.”  The school’s mission, vision and goals can all be realized through a differentiated process for the administrators, the teachers, and most importantly, the students. 

The Glatthorn text substitutes the term individualized for a clearer term adaptive.   “Adaptive curricula are educational processes that arrange the conditions and materials of learning so that they fit individual learner differences” (Glatthorn, et al, p.468).  Using current adaptive approaches such as cooperative learning, learning styles models and computer-based models all work well in reaching all learners, and I believe that there is not a one-size-fits-all model that should be adopted for ALL students in a school or district.

Instead, I suggest implementing Universal Design for Learning to frame all curricular activities, using the framework as the building-blocks and foundation to curriculum that adapts naturally to help all learners learn, regardless of their learning style, interests, and/or disabilities.  Through Universal Design for Learning, I am convinced that educators have a better chance at improving learning for all students. Students should experience a variety of learning gateways, through cooperative grouping, grouping by learning styles, and individualized computer programs that adapt to levels based on student input.  Other good models include parallel and/or accelerated curriculum for the Gifted and Talented, and early intervention programs for the academically challenged learners, such as Reading Recovery and Response to Intervention models.

Developing relevant curriculum that reaches each and every learner in the school community is a huge challenge for school leaders today.  Is there something that can be called “the best”?  What is best is what works for everyone, and that is a differentiated, individualized approach that utilizes a variety of models and systems.  Will it be easy?  Absolutely not!  However, it is a mission I choose to accept!

Reference: 

Glatthorn, A.A., Bosche, F., Whitehead, B. (2009).  Curriculum leadership: Strategies for development and implementation. Thousand Oaks, CA. SAGE Publications.

Co-teaching: A Partnership for Success

Blog Post #1

Co-teaching is a way to deliver instruction to diverse learners drawing on the strengths of each teaching partner in the planning, delivery and reflection of learning, in order to help ALL students learn.  In most cases, one teacher is the general education teacher and the other is the special education teacher.  The general educator serves as the content and curriculum expert, and the special educator is the learning-process expert, making sure the content is accessible to students with and without disabilities (Heitin, 2011).  The features of this model range from a separate “class within a class” to full collaboration and complete integration for all students.

I experienced the co-teaching model myself during a conference sponsored by Very Special Arts (VSA), an international organization on arts and disability.  Two presenters/teachers were teaching a group of us the history of Japanese Taiko Drumming, which included opportunities to play the drums after learning a beginning drum sequence.  While one teacher spoke to the group, the other was scaffolding the instruction by drawing a graphic organizer and supporting the lecture/demonstration with additional non-verbal assistance.  The two would switch roles frequently, and the group experienced the learning in ways appropriate to their learning styles.  I will never forget that experience, as it culminated in a group performance utilizing the skills we learned in the lesson.

I refer to co-teaching often, encouraging teachers and administrators to utilize this model whenever possible.  With the importance of Common Core State Standards and 21^st Century literacy skills, co-teaching is an effective way to support these revised standards and skills, making the learning accessible to all learners.

As a curriculum supervisor or leader, the first challenge to implementing this model is cost.  It is expensive to hire the staff needed to make co-teaching a reality.  For the sake of this blog post, let’s assume that funding is not an issue.  What are the challenges?  Every instructional model requires a certain amount of trial and error, and it is especially true for co-teaching.  I would certainly utilize the Co-teaching Rating Scale (Gately & Gately, 2001) to help teachers focus on areas that need improvement.  The two teachers need to build trust among each other and establish some operating standards and understandings/assumptions.   

Open communication is a must, with room to revamp and revise as needed.  As a leader, I would work to build the trust and develop collaboration skills among the co-teaching teams.  I would address all of the challenges and struggles by implementing a strong professional development program and develop a viable professional learning community among the teams of teachers.  This model requires a lot of maintenance and revising.  Sometimes two individuals just don’t “click” as partners, and it would be my responsibility to address the situation and either repair it or revise the pairing completely. 

That is the nature of this work – we need to revise “on-the-fly” all the time in education, and this is no exception.  Co-teaching has many benefits, and when it works, it really works, helping all students learn, regardless of their learning needs.

References:

Gately, S. E. & Gately, Jr., F. J. (2001, Mar/Apr). Understanding co-teaching components. Teaching Exceptional Children, 40-47. Retrieved from https://inclusiveed.wikispaces.com/file/view/Understanding CoTeaching Components.pdf

Heitin, L. (2011, October 12). A Maryland initiative seeks to scale up co-teaching as a way to support students of all needs. Edweek, 5(01), 26. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org

Reflection: Influences on School Curricula Today

 

What are some of the societal forces that influence school curricula today?

Peter Olivia has stated that one of the ten general axioms for curriculum development is “Curriculum Development is an Ongoing Process.”  He goes on to say, “Continuous monitoring, examination, evaluation, and improvement of curricula are needed. No curriculum meets the needs of everyone. As the needs of learners change, as society changes, and as new knowledge and technology appear, the curriculum must change.”  One of these forces includes the definition of “college and career ready,” as noted in Maryland’s Common Core State Standards.  What is meant by “college and career ready?”  In order for students to be ready for the world of tomorrow, we need to help them develop the skills they will need:  problem-solving and critical thinking, technological knowledge and communication skills; the belief that we are all life-long learners and will continue to learn, guided by our interests and the needs of society.  These are the forces that influence school curricula today.

How do curriculum definitions, curricular history, and theoretical approaches and policy progress relate to major societal forces such as technology and the world at large?

These societal forces, such as technology and the world at large, highly influence today’s definition of curriculum and guide the theoretical approaches and policies to the types of curricula that is in place today.  For example, when the Russians successfully launched Sputnik in 1957, education, as we knew it, changed dramatically.  The “space race” was on, and we needed to beef up our knowledge of science and engineering and overall skills in our education system.  Millions of dollars were funneled into educational reforms, which included changing the curriculum.  Today, with new and emerging technologies and the need for highly skilled workers in our very technically focused work force, we need to think about preparing our students “for their future, not our past,” (Daniel Pink).  Students need to learn how to think deeply and creatively and have the skills and imagination to solve problems that don’t yet exist.

How might a school leader be proactive in the advent of these types of influences in terms of curricular offerings?

A school leader needs to be willing to “think outside the box” because today, there is no box!  If creativity and innovation skills are essential to functioning in today’s society and work force, the school leader needs to be revising curricula that develops these skills in students.  Integrating technology appropriately into the curriculum, making cross-curricular connections and seeing the links between art and science, all help students develop their imaginations to create solutions to problems that haven’t developed yet!  One of the causes of the tragic fire inside Apollo I that killed three astronauts was, as Frank Borman opined, was “a failure of the imagination.”  Everyone involved with Apollo at the time did not even imagine that something this catastrophic could happen on the ground, during a routine test.  They knew it could happen in space, but didn’t consider other possibilities.  It is this imagination for the impossible, that we need to develop in our children.  Our curricula need to reflect that goal, to have the imagination to respond to problems or situations that do not yet exist.  A school leader needs to remove the barriers to thinking beyond the impossible.