End
of Course Reflection
As
I begin the end of course reflection for this course, I will restate what I said
at the very beginning of the quarter before digging deep with this course. As I wrote at the start of
this course and before reading the Hilty and Zepeda texts, I have never heard
of the different types of teacher leadership in schools. Or the adult learning
styles, that really correspond with how we respond to professional development
courses. The three-different type of leadership styles emphasize the importance
of collective verses individual leadership. As stated on page 272, “Ogawa and
Bossert argue that leadership occurs not though the actions of individuals but
through the INTERACTIONS AMONG individuals. Because it occurs through the interaction,
influence that is exerted through leadership cannot be assumed to be
unidirectional; it can flow up and down levels and between units of
organization...leadership is not confined to certain roles but is distributed
across roles, with different roles having access to different levels and types
of power and influence.” What I really liked about this paragraph was that it
informs the reader that leadership doesn’t always have to fall on certain,
established people at our schools. In reality at Horizon, I believe that
a lot of our climate and culture of the school believe just that. We have
always struggled with following the “old way” or educators not feeling
comfortable in sharing knowledge, thoughts and feelings. With this climate
being the “norm” of Horizon it has caused a lot of people to leave the
school-resulting in high turnover and being dubbed the “revolving door” of
teachers.
Two of the goals for this course that I really
took note of were in the character and competence section. The first being that
as students of this course, we will “examine factors related to collaborating
with peers that hinder and promote student learning.” And the second goal of
competence: students will “learn the major theories of adult learning and how
they apply to ongoing professional learning.” As it states in the “Building Hope, Giving
Affirmation” article: “a school organized to support schoolwide as well as team
based professional learning offers a powerful setting for social justice to
grow, develop, and impact the school’s citizens” (Hirsh & Hord ,2010). This
just really resonated with me coming into a new year, with a new principal.
Over the past 3 years, we have had a schoolwide leadership team then it was
dissolved. PLCs became a “choice” among teachers and teams who wanted to participate,
but had no set guidelines. Our last principal had a very difficult time
developing a following (Hilty), or a group of people that were willing to work
underneath her leadership and go in the direction she wanted to go. Which
resulted in our school not having vertical alignment amongst grade levels.
There wasn’t much commonality throughout the school, which I believe really
impacts our students and their achievement. As being the team leader for
my grade level when Hirsh and Hord explained that “team learning at the grade
level or subject area increases consistency across classrooms and helps
teachers address challenges associated with grade-level or content-specific
learning objectives” (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009; Hirsh & Hord, 2008), I
really want to provide a change within my grade level team. With the recent
changes at Horizon, I am hoping that our school as a whole and even my team can
come together more to collaborate, share strategies and student data to make
adjustments within our practice to better our students learning and
performance.
The issues or a dilemma that was raised, came
about the more I researched for my final project for this course. My project
was focused on a program that previous leadership implemented a few years ago. This
model of teaching was presented in a manner that exhibited many benefits in
teaching practice and for student achievement. The need to have quality educational services for special
education students and English learners at Horizon is evident. “To provide an
intensive educational environment for students with significant learning needs,
many districts are increasingly opting to institute co teaching models (Wilson
& Bledick, 2011, p. 9). “The goal of the co teaching strategy is to help
focus all instruction in a classroom by combining the strengths of both
certified teachers. A general education teacher may have an expertise in
curriculum, classroom management and pacing while the special education teacher
may have additional expertise in differentiation and progress monitoring” (East
Hartford, 2013). All students learn and
achieve success. Every student in the class is provided different educational
options from small group instruction to individualized attention. Classroom
participation for students with disabilities is increased with lower student to
teacher ratios. Expectations for students with disabilities are increased.
Students learn tolerance and respect for diversity. Both professionals
positively support each other as they plan lessons jointly and monitor student
progress together (Wilson & Blednick, 2011). As a team taking this on, we
had heard all of the good things and benfits of the co-teaching model. However,
when I dug deeper into this model, I came to realize that the co teaching model
that we have at Horizon really does not align with what the pioneers of the
model believe to be best practices.
First,
we are instructed to not assume that everyone knows and understands what
co-teaching is or how it will play out in classrooms. This was our administrators first problem. When
this was adopted, we had major push back from the staff, which made the culture
and climate of Horizon to take a huge dive. Wendy W. Murawski and Philip
Bernhardt the authors of An Administrator's Guide to Co-Teaching
clearly state the need to try and avoid having everyone view co-teaching be seen as a
"special education thing," or a “English Language thing,” but rather
as a "best practices in education thing." Unfortunately, this has not
been avoided at Horizon. There is still minimal buy in, even from the
coteachers themselves. There was great strength when the original coteach
began, but now, it is almost nonexistent. The next issue with this model being
used at Horizon is the avoidance of “having more than 30 percent of a general
education class designated as having special needs (Murawski & Dieker,
2013). This includes students with disabilities, English language learners,
students on 504 plans, and even students who are highly gifted. Each of these
students is likely to require more attention than the typical learner; plus,
the more students with special needs there are in the class, the more their
needs begin to dominate classroom instruction and the less
"inclusive" it truly becomes.” The demographics of Horizon do not
allow this percentage to happen. Our current classes have over 50% of students
with needs. Just as Murawski stated, these needs dominate our classrooms
resulting in teacher frustration leading to burn out.
Zepeda’s book offers
many great ideas on adult learning and what we as teachers truly want when we
show up to professional development classes. Dalellew and Martinez (1988)
provided Zepeda with an overview of principles of adult learning while Roberts
and Pruitt (2003) contributed strategies to engage adult learners (Zepeda 2008,
48). The two principles that really stood out to me where:
· Adults seek knowledge that applies to their current
life situation; they want to know how this new information will help them in
their development.
· Staff who voluntarily attend in services, workshops,
and seminars are those who have determined that they want to learn more.
When
I read these principles, I realized that my district and even my building have
not quite made professional developments in the structure where all adult
learners are reached. My district has really been focusing on our feedback as
employees are hearing what we want for professional development classes. Which
is a step in the right direction. Roberts and Pruitt say for the above
principles that facilitators need to “employ novelty…but give opportunities to
apply the new knowledge to what [we] already know or have experienced” (48).
This
course has allowed me to gain knew knowledge in terms of how adults learn. As educators,
we are mostly focused on how our students learn, but as teacher leaders, we
need to also take on the way our adult peers learn during professional developments.
Another big take away came from my research for my final project. As one of the
original pioneers of the coteahing model at Horizon, I have come to realize
that even though I see and have seen the great benefits of the coteach model,
it does not work for our school any longer. Even with my proposed plan for
intervention, or new leadership has no buy in to the model. So there is not
buy-in with the staff either. Our school’s demographic also just does not align
with best practices either with the model. The students that we want to help in
this model outnumber the rest of the class, which is not what this model
supports. In the end, from my teacher perspective, I have learned more insight
of what I had been told was best practice for my students really isn’t much anymore.
Lastly, from my teacher leadership perspective, I have gained much knowledge on
adult learning styles and how to make professional development classes beneficial
for educators. Just as our students need a purpose and take away from our
lessons, as adults, we need to the same. We need to have acknowledgment of what
we know and how we can further that for the benefit of our student’s growth.
Final
Project link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GPMXkz_VIOi1LhVJw3z6FQGr_zoJqgJIUIa4Fzo8DIo/edit?usp=sharing
Works Cited
Hirsh, S., & Hord, S.
M. (2010). Building Hope, Giving Affirmation: Learning Communities
That
Address Social Justice Issues Bring Equity to the Classroom. National
Staff
Development
Council , 31,
10-17.
Murawksi, W. W., & Bernhardt, P. (2015, December). An
Administrator's Guide to Co
Teaching. Retrieved November
15, 2017, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/dec15/vol73/num04/An_Administrator%27s_Guide_to_Co-Teaching.aspx
Wilson, G. L., & Blednick, J. (n.d.). Teaching in Tandem:
Effective Co-Teaching in the
Inclusive Classroom.
Retrieved November 15, 2017, from
Zepeda, S.J.
(2012). Professional Development: What Works. Larchmont, NY: Eye on
Education.
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