School Culture

BLOG POST # 2 School Culture

During my internship experience I have really reflected on the need to understand your school culture. I had the experience of working with concerned parents and students over issues that may not be a concern at other schools, but because of the culture and expectations that parents have in the school community I am working at. Language, dress, and acceptable behaviors may change depending on your school culture.

I also experienced the results of making a decision and seeing the ripple effects that transpired over something that I didn’t even realize would be interpreted or thought of in such a sense. I know that I need to know my teachers and their personalities and how different people interpret different things. You need to know your teachers and the norms of your school culture.

I feel that in order to make the changes necessary in a school you need to get to know your teachers and your school culture/climate so that you have a greater chance at creating long lasting positive change. I know for myself that getting out and talking with students, teachers, and parents throughout the day gave me the opportunity to learn more about the school culture and expectations all stakeholders have invested into our school.

-Alisha

Being Savvy

Being Savvy Blog Post # 1

I have seen over the past few weeks the need to get out of your office. You need to visit your teacher’s classrooms and observe student behavior. It is so important to be in the know of what is going on in your school. I had the opportunity to sit in on a couple parent meetings where we discussed their student’s behaviors etc. My site supervisor and I had spent the past week observing a particular student and asking the teacher a lot of questions. It was nice being able to go into the parent meeting with information that I could carry out a conversation where I did know what was going on the classroom and school day. I had the opposite experience when I was asked to sit in on a meeting where the whole time I was trying to ask questions and get caught up on what the meeting was about as well as what we were proposing to do. I didn’t like feeling out of the loop and unprepared. It really taught me that I need to be savvy and in the know of what is going on in each of my teacher’s classrooms.

   

When I left the meeting that I had felt unprepared for I started thinking about all the daily tasks and projects I needed to be working on. Instead of going into my office I walked around the school and peeked my head into each of our teacher’s classrooms to observe them, their students, and classroom environment. I know that this needs to be a daily practice as an administrator so that I will be familiar with all the students and teacher’s needs.

As administration you really need to be able to share with your parents what is clearly going on in your school on a daily basis. I really learned that this past week with the parent meetings I attended. Parents are looking to as an expert and expect that you know what is happening in their child’s classroom.  In order to do so you really need to take the time to visit your teachers and see for yourself what is going on during the school day. This not only helps you in being savvy with parents, but seeing the needs of your teachers as well. 

-Alisha

A New Perspective

As I get further into my internship I often am stopped and taken back by the new perspective that I am gaining throughout this experience.  Currently, most of my hours are being put in at sporting events and after school programs.  Coming from an elementary background, it has been a lot of years since I have gone to a high school football game, pep rally or homecoming.  Although things have not changed that much, my perspective on the experience has.
From a students point of view these are the moments of high school you live for, these are where the memories are made.  Will you win the big game, will you get asked to homecoming, are your grades good enough, do you have enough friends, are you cool enough, do you look good, does anyone notice your pimple?  All of these things were my perspective of high school up until these last few months.
Since starting my internship I have learned that these problems are small and insignificant.  Standing on the sidelines I am constantly worrying about student safety, if parents are being respectful.  After the game I am checking the perimeter making sure all gates are locked and the premises are securely closed.  I am making sure that students have left and are on their way home.
This realization struck me even more on Saturday as I interned during the homecoming game.  I finally grasped that the things I thought were cool and fun in high school are actually not very cool at all.  In high school it was thrilling to get away with drinking at the dance or sneaking out to the football field and even more-so who is hosting the after party.  Now as I enter into my role as an administrator I realize that these things are dangerous and a liability.  We become more of a parent and a role model as we become administrators.  I found myself as I wished each student a good night at the end of the dance thinking "Please go home and make good choices".  This is an interesting change that I can't wait to see unfold further.

-Michelle

Lunchroom Reform

As an intern I was assigned the daily task of lunchroom duty.  During this time I realized that I truly enjoy being in the lunchroom.  It provided me with the opportunity to interact with students and staff on a daily basis.  However, what was also quickly noted is that the lunchroom can rapidly turn from a beloved place into a disorganized mess.  It can be a place full of poor manners, loud voices, and a lack of cooperation and respect. 

Since I had the opportunity to be in the lunchroom from the beginning of lunch until the end I was able to observe all of the previously mentioned behaviors and more.  Teachers were dropping off and picking up their students at different times, there was no specified place for classes to line up, and there was no incentive to do any different.   There was an obvious need for reform but I was unsure of where to start.  Should I voice my concerns to the principal?  Additionally, would the principal support the needed changes?  And would both the administration and teachers like the changes?

To initiate the necessary changes in the lunchroom I discussed sending out a survey monkey to all of the teachers.  I thought this would give the teachers a voice in the decision making process as well as create buy-in from the staff.  However, during this process I was working with the vice principal who disagreed with sending out a survey to the faculty, and asked me not to.  This was tough because I felt very strongly about getting faculty buy-in; however, I know there are different ways of getting to an end product.  Furthermore, I believe the most important part of change is not how we get there but that we get there.  Thus, I moved forward with the suggested approach. 

The first step we took was redoing the lunchroom schedule and making it visible.  This allowed both the students and the faculty to know when lunch started and ended.  This would hopefully affect the drop off and pick up times of those coming early and late.  Additionally, we designated places for individual classes to line up.  Finally, the most important change that we made focused on the atmosphere of the lunchroom.  Instead of focusing on misbehaviors we began focusing on desired behaviors. 

What I learned from this process is that change takes time.  The previously mentioned changes took months to implement.  Teachers did not immediately buy-in; however, each agreed changes were necessary in the lunchroom. Additionally, I learned that no change is too small.  This seemed like such an insignificant project, but as I worked to implement changes I realized how important the smallest changes are.

The Essential Balance

Every day, school leaders face stress, problems, decisions, and conversations that impact people, systems or culture within the school.  In my time as an intern and as a school leader, I quickly identified that time management and stress levels present formidable obstacles to staying healthy and maintaining balance in one’s life.  It is vitally important that school leaders establish time into their schedule and places within the school where they can clear their minds, settle their nerves, and renew their vigor needed to effectively lead a school.  Not only is having “outlets” and balance important for good school leadership, but it maintains and promotes healthy personal and family lives.

I don’t say this to discourage anyone from entering school leadership, but the stress levels and time requirements of the position are incredibly great at times.  As a school leader and intern, I have found that the responsibilities, problems, and stresses of the job oftentimes come home.  I have had many conversations with school leaders about their methods of balancing work and personal life.  The repeated message that is relayed back to me is the importance of healthy practices and balance outside the school.  These activities can directly impact and benefit job performance.  Working out, setting a time where the leader leaves the school, and seeking opportunities for professional growth are all positive practices that benefit not only the principal personally, but also their ability to effectively and positively lead the school.  I have learned from a principal that it is important to surround yourself with positive peers at work in order to assist in supporting a culture of positive leadership.

A great way to reenergize oneself and provide a personal/work balance as the school leader is to model positive practices for the staff of the school.  Some ideas that I have seen and experienced are school sponsored exercise classes, yoga classes, book groups, and art classes.  All of these activities allow for school leaders to balance their weekly activities, promote positive growth and experience a peaceful atmosphere while setting an example for teachers to follow.  This encourages a school culture of self-awareness.  From personal experience, it is important to be proactive in establishing these activities and habits before job responsibilities and stresses become hard to bear.  Remember, that in the end, this balancing act not only benefits you, your personal life and your family, but also maintains and improves your ability to serve the students, teachers and stakeholders of the school.

-W

It's Not All Hearts and Roses

During school for my undergrad and graduate program I have learned a lot about how to teach kids how to read, solve math problems, and be successful at school. However, I never learned how to help students deal with real life situations. These are things that I have to learn through experience. During my summer internship two students had committed suicide. One was successful and another was on life support. One had just graduated and the other was going to be a senior. Coming from an elementary background, this was something completely out of my zone of expertise. This situation had a huge impact not only on the students but the teachers, office staff, and administration. It made everyone wonder if they could have done something to stop it. 

The knowledge I gained from this situation was how important it is to reach out to the students and faculty in a time of need. Through social media the school was able to give information for the funeral and counseling services that the school was providing. Some kids came in to just talk with the administration and get reassurance that someone is there thinking about them. 

I was very impressed with what the school was able to do for both families. The families of the students who passed were given a school picture of the kids along with a card that was signed by staff and comments from social media were printed and given to the families for comfort. I learned that at times like these, our job as administrators is to be an ear to listen and a shoulder for kids to lean on. Not everything we need to know can be learned through textbooks. Some of it comes from being a compassionate person and acting from gut instinct. These lessons are ones that we will not forget and ones that can make the most impact on our students.

-Megan

Ambiguity

As a student I love courses with a clearly defined goal, rubric, and assessment process, I have come to rely so much on clear goals and objectives that I become very frustrated when they are not present. I have often complained to professors, “What are you asking us to do?” and the response has always been, “Figure it out.” I could never understand how this was allowed to happen because my definition of good teaching was always somehow associated with clear expectations. I had come to rely on these clear expectations as a crutch to my learning. I needed them to guide me, to tell me what to do.  I struggled through courses that had any sort of ambiguity, and often felt that the professors were not given me the support I needed.

I have come to realize I was getting exactly what I needed all along. I understood this was true a few weeks into my internship. I was told to accomplish a task that I had absolutely no background knowledge on. So I set out with a smile on my face but confusion in my mind. I had no idea where to start but by sitting and trying to work through the issue I found what seemed to be a good solution. I failed, I failed again. I then proceeded to ask a huge amount of stupid questions that were unnecessary and eventually figured it out.

This was when I realized that I needed to be able to find a solution to problems that were not well defined. I finally understood why there was ambiguity in my classes, because there was in life and I needed to learn to deal with it.  As new administrators we all will be forced to deal with ambiguous tasks and so we might as well learn to deal with them even when this type of learning doesn’t always fit into our definition of learning objective.

Mastering the Master Schedule

One task I was given during my summer elementary internship was to create a master schedule for the school.  My supervising administrator requested that the schedule fit on one page so all grade levels could view each others schedule (in previous years each grade level had their own master that was 10 pages long and hard to read).  

It was overwhelming to be given the task of creating a schedule of a school I was not familiar with.  Would the administrator like it?  Would the teachers like it?  How do I create a schedule that allows for large chunks of instructional time?  How do I limit the amount of interruptions and small, weird chunks of time that always seem to occur on the schedule? Most of all, how do I create a schedule that is fair for all grade levels?

I started with mapping out a lunch schedule that made a flow in the lunch room so there weren't so many students in the lunch room at the same time.  After that, I wasn't sure where to go next with the schedule.  I tried doing recesses and was getting frustrated that I couldn't fit the necessary blocks into the schedule so I decided to ask an administrator I know for some advice.  He suggested that I start with the blocks of time that are the hardest to move and build the rest of the schedule around those times. Based on his advice, I scrapped my schedule and started over again, this time starting with the big blocks of Step-Up time (Math and Language Arts small groups) and their Block Rotations (P.E., Library, Music, Keyboarding, & Art) and then created grade level schedules of when each teacher would have P.E., Library, Music, Keyboarding, and Art.

Once the big blocks were in place, the rest of the schedule started to come together... or so I thought!  After about 5 more drafts, the principal felt that it was complete to his liking and that the next step was to get buy in from the teachers before we set it in stone.  I thought it was perfect and that his teachers would love it.  I would love it if I was a teacher on his staff, but I was wrong.  After 5 more drafts of the schedule, the principal was happy, the staff was happy, and I was happy to be done!

From this experience, I learned the importance of starting with your big blocks of time and working your way through the times that are flexible, such as recess.  I also learned the importance of getting the opinions of my staff by asking the team leads or by creating a scheduling committee, and have them meet before summer vacation prior to finalizing the schedule.  This allows teachers ownership with the schedule and lets them know what the schedule will look like for the next school year before they leave, and hopefully, it will make them happy and excited for the new school year.