IIRC Data

I found the IIRC activities to be very worthwhile learning experiences. I remember a couple of years ago when IIRC came about. To see how it has changed and evolved is quite remarkable. The capabilities it has now compared to then is amazing. It is surprising how many principals and school districts don't use the website or even know it exists. What a great tool for comparing how your school measures up against other schools in the state. Since my job revolves around attendance, I really enjoy looking at the attendance data for each school and district. I will continue to use IIRC and will spread the word to the principals in my school district.
Thank you, Dr. Closen!

Saturday November 8th

My aha moment for Saturday was when Dr. Closen showed us the Christmas card he was given from a former parent with the photocopy of the enormous check he donated to the school district. Dr. Closen reminded us about treating everyone with respect because you never know what might happen. I've had that philosophy for a long time as well. I try my best to treat everyone with respect. Kids, parents, staff because you never know what could happen. You may get a generous donation or your life could be in their hands and if they remember you as someone who always treated them with respect then hopefully they will return the favor. I will be honest and say that it is hard at times to show everyone respect when the are cussing you up and down, but I always try to end the conservations with, "Thank you maam, and you have a good day."

post-dated comment for 10/28

I think that hiring minority teachers is a very important issue. My school has a large minority population, and it is sometimes difficult for teachers to grasp the special cultural differences that impact minority students. Having a fresh and insiteful perspective on the unique concerns of the students can only enhance the educational climate.

Tim O'Neill

Great Class

One of the great things I enjoyed about class is the information we discuss that you could not learn by simply reading a book about human resource management. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing real-life situations, and discussing what we learn from them. It's great having instructors that have immense experience, and enjoy sharing their stories. I feel that I am quite efficient at deciphering pertinent information on individual IIRC reports, and understand what data administrators need to look at when evaluating efficiency and establishing goals. I am also excited about the fact I am nearing the end of this program, and looking forward to interviewing for administrative positions. It is also nice working with such dedicated professionals as i did in this class.

Edl 522

This class was very informative. I wanted to thank everyone in the class for all of the great discussions. I took several items of information away from the presentations that have helped me in my current job. I hope to continue to stay in contact with all of you. Good Luck with all of your future endeavours.

IIrd data

I felt that analyzing the data from the schools was very informative. Though I have done this before in other classes, I felt the repetition helped me retain the process of collecting school data. I think reviewing my own schools data will be one of the most important tasks I perform as a principal. The information my school data gives me will tell our school what direction we will need to go.

Weekend Two Presentation

Two teachers from Pekin had a presentation about schools that did not take a traditional approach too school. They discussed a shorter summer and three breaks of three weeks each throughout the year. This sounds like a great idea for a students' retainment of matreial. I do feel it would be difficult to sell this in certain areas because of tradition. I feel this would be most difficult in rural areas.

Motivation Discussion Wkd. 2

During the class we had a discussion about overall motivation. I found it insightful as I listened to the rest of our class discuss this issue. Several students spoke about the direction of their schools. Some stated they had a plan in place for professional development, but other schools did not. It would be hard to motivate our schools if we did not what our needs were. From the discussion I felt the best way to motivate staff is by studying our data and then creating a plan from the results. At this point we should create a plan that will involve the staff and benefit students

IIRC data

I got sick of analyzing data, but I did learn soo much from the flood of data we looked through. The financial side of the data was very interesting to me to hear the brainstorming of the "what ifs." I also found that looking at the data in groups was more effective than myself alone, because I would get caught up in one particular area (usually reading/math scores). The set of questions kept direction and motivation (to get done).

This class

The best piece of advice I think we received was to treat people respectfully (because it can burn bridges if you don't). I think that many people get done with master's and doctorate programs thinking that this makes you a better person. It does not make us better people only better educated. I've seen it happen in all walks of life. I have been the person that many people have underestimated and I have been the one on the high horse. I think it is always necessary to evaluate ourselves in terms of our own expectations and the expectations of the community, teachers, and staff. We need to take the time to listen to complaints about ourselves just as we would the compliments because many times.........we learn more about ourselves from the complaints.

Year round schedule

You two had a great presentation about year round schooling. I have one question for you and that is Would your high school district schedule affect the elementary schedule? What I mean by that is what would happen if you had a student in high school and middle school and you are on two totally different schedules. I know that there are schools out there that work like that, but it is something to think about.

Minority Teaching presentation

Kudos to you guys. What a great presentation. I would like to know more about the minorities in coaching. We don't have many minorities in the coaching positions around Oregon. The only school district close to us that has minorities as coaches in Rockford. I feel that more minority coaches are needed not only in urban districts but rural districts also.

Last Saturday Class

The presentations this weekend were very informative. I agree that student led conferences would be a great way to have the students tell their parents/guardians what they have accomplished and what they need to work on. I love the idea that the teacher just facilitates it and the student leads. More schools need to do this type of conferencing. This would be a way to get high school parents to our school. We have a very low turnout for P/T Conferences. It is only the parents of the students that we don't need to see.

Last class

I feel that the case studies are very helpful to prepare us to be future administrators. This class was one of the most relevant classes that I have taken. Thank you Dr. Closen for making me think like a administrator. I also feel that we should all have a good idea of what IIRC is all about. The exercises you gave us makes us analyze what is going on in the schools in Illinois.

Last class meeting

I think out of all the classes I have taken so far,  the most valuable information and skills have come from this one. I learned more about the IIRC than I have ever known before. To be honest, I didn't even know what it was before the beginning of class. I also learned that I have a lot more to learn about analyzing  data for schools. Its completely different from the Test of Adult Basic Education which is given to the offenders. I also learned that I really need to keep up on trends in elementary and high schools. I really need to keep up on these trends even when I am not taking classes which require it. 

Thoughts on creating Productive work environments

On Saturday we discussed creating productive work environments, and for the first time I realized that I had a more productive work environment in the prison system than the middle school I taught at. More of my needs of classroom space, safety and security are being met in a prison than a middle school. This was an odd realization. I discussed this with a few of my coworkers. They had never thought of this before I brought it up, and they realized the same thing as I did. Maybe we all made poor choices in choosing our previous employment. Maybe the administration was not the most supportive and that created stressful working environments that we all fled from. I don't know, but I do know that it was a strange thought to have.

IIRC

I truly appreciate the amount of time that we spent analyzing data from various schools and districts. I recently attended a workshop that focused on putting the school improvement plans online. The first couple of hours at this workshop were spent teaching current administrators the ins and outs of the site. I felt pretty confident in that I already knew a great deal of what was being taught. I especially appreciate the extra time spent on the financial part of it as well. So to that I say, thank you Dr. Closen and keep doing this in future classes.

Presentations

I think that the presentations in this class were among some of the best that I have seen throughout the entire program. I especially enjoyed the one on student led conferences. The data from Dunlap Middle School that was presented was very convincing. I think this type of a conference will help unite and create a true partnership between the school and the home. Most schools around our area are facing the same types of statistics and lack of involvement at the high school level, so it seems like the way to go. I plan to share this information with my administration.

My Final Comments for this Class

I really enjoyed working with all of you and sharing experiences, discussing ideas, and even analyzing data. I think you all have the potential to become good administrators. Just keep in mind that nothing is black and white. Every situation is different and you have to deal with each person individually.

Also remember that it pays to treat your fellow teachers/administrators/students or even parents with respect! It could pay off in the future :)

Good luck to all of you who have finished your coursework.


PS Marilyn, in response to your comment on Tim's post.... I use the term Union Goon affectionately :) It does not refer to building or district reps, just to the state or regional ones :)

Blog post #2 for 3rd weekend / Final class for me!!

I am excited to be finished with all of my classes. I'm almost amazed that I'm finally done. The highlight for me from this class was all of the IIRC information that we went over. I know some of the other students felt that it was a repeat from 571, but I didn't have Sandra Watkins for 571 so I was not exposed to this information to the extent as those of you who had her. This was the first time in the program that I had to analyze the data and I'm glad that we covered it. I look forward to seeing all of you again in the future in classes as I continue my education and maybe even working with some of you!

Mentoring New Teachers

Viewing all the presentations was an excellent idea. They were all very informing and brought to light present-day issues that can impact on all of us as educators. Everyone did an excellent job. I was especially impressed with all the new teacher mentoring programs. My district is just getting started with a mentoring program to address the concerns of newly hired teachers. Staff, for the first time, attended classes on mentoring this summer. This was our first crop of newly hired teachers to participate in an actual program instead of having a teacher in their department asked to watch over them during their first year. It will be interesting to see if and how this program improves to the level of some of the programs presented this weekend.

Feedback and Evaluation...for coaches

Amidst the discussion of managing school personnel, I was pleased to see the two presentations on the importance of evaluating coaches and officials. Having a chat with my father, a former English teacher of 34 years, after class Sunday, we both noted how important the opportunity athletics provides is for many students who may not shine at academics, but learn about character, teamwork, and becoming self-motivated from their coaches. Having taught in a European school for a year that had no extra-curriculars, it is obvious to me that we seek to educate the whole person and not just the academic side of people. Coaches have an extremely vital role in that process--and the notion that we need to evaluate them and provide them feedback is as necessary as evaluating teachers. For many students, sports push them to higher achievement, which is the underlying purpose of what we do with school. Hearing about the problems in recruiting good coaches and the issues, such as foul language and good adult modeling that sometimes doesn't happen, I think it is important to really view what coaches are doing--and let them know where they can improve as well.

Sunday November 9th

Sunday's class proved to be very interesting. I was intrigued by the difference in the amount of sick days other districts have as well. I have always worked at several districts with 10 sick days and 2 personal days. I could not believe the amount that some people have. I also found the coaching evaluation reports very interesting. It is something that is very needed, but definitely overlooked in a lot of districts. In this day in age where coaches are challenged everyday the more documentation that you have on coaches the better off that you will be. Thanks to everyone for all of the sharing and making the class a great experience.

Sunday's class

The discussion on the sick days and professional was interesting. In our district, if we don't take any sicks days throughout the year,then the last two teacher work days at the end of the year, the teacher has an option to work them and then get extra pay or the teacher doesn't have to work them. If a teacher has 1-2 sick days then it is one day where they must work and then the other day is extra pay. Over 2 sick days, both days must be worked w/o extra pay. I like this b/c it is great incentive for teachers not to take sick leave, at least for me anyway. In 8 years of teaching, I have missed one day due to sickness and that was actually not being sick, but getting kicked in the head by a horse and was forced to stay home for a day.
We have had teachers in the past milk sick days. I would not be able to live with myself if I milked the system.

What am I doing?

Okay this is Rick, but I am sure I am in as Dr. Closen again. Dr. Closen what in the heck am I doing wrong?
About the past weekend classes. I didn't enjoy much on Saturday b/c I had the flu and left early. I must say the presentations overall were good. Everyone put a lot of thought and effort into them and I felt I did learn something from them. Thank you for sharing. The mentoring presentation I enjoyed b/c it was a subject area I knew least about. Jay had some great info. that he picked up from Harry Wong and the seminar in Florida. I feel the mentoring program is a must and teachers who are mentors should receive extensive training b/c they can make a huge difference in a young teacher's life.

Post for Sun. I thought it was a great comment Dr. Clossen made a signing a one year contract as a principal. It would be a little assuring to know that you could still have your tenure if things did not work out the way you thought they would. I know this is only if you became a principal in the district you are teaching in presently. Good advice on dismissing non tenured teachers. No reason given no headaches later. However, this is hard for most of us because we feel it our duty to teach them how they could do better. I feel I have learned alot about the legal side of education from this classs as well as others. Most teachers I feel know very little of their rights or the postion administration is in. Whether I become a administrator or not this program has made me a better teacher and abroader minded employee. I have met alot of very nice people in this program both students and teachers and I wish all of you the best in your professional lives but more importantly in your personal lives. Good Luck from the Leprechaun!

Chris Neville - Ah-Ha for Sunday 11/9

Student-led conferences seem like such a good idea. I am concerned about the time frame involved in implementing this at the high school level. I have over 120 students, if each student only gets 10 minutes with me, that is still 20 hours. Currently, my HS gives 6.5 hours for conferences over two days. Even with just 5-minutes conference (which is totally too short), we are talking about 10 hours. In any case, I think the idea of student led conferences are great and I hope we can begin something like this out our school at least on a limited basis. Well done presentation, too :) I enjoyed the class veery much - best of luck to all of you!

Chris Neville - Ah-HA for Saturday 11/8

After the presentation on motivation, I was struck with the comment that we can only do so much with motivation. That is why extrinsic motivation (money, status) only go so far. This ties into how important it is to hire great people in the first place. Because we as administrators can only do so much to motivate our teachers and support staff. There are no magic words or videos or conferences out there for us to pull out of our you know what to inspire your people.

Blog comment for Sat. Will pointing out the difference between how high achievement was at the elementary level compared to how low it was at the high school level. A comparision on the IIRC web site between elemenatry feeder districts and high school districts would make for some good discussion. I think we all know we lose alot of kids beginning in jr. high although it may not be the greatest thing for athletics, band and a few others maybe we need to go back to K-6 or maybe even k-8 buildings it use to work.

Sick Days

I really enjoyed the conversation regarding sick leave today. As Dr. Closen pointed out, it cost his school district an average of $600 a month per person for leaves of absence. Then when a member of the class pointed out that it might be more cost effective to offer bonuses every quarter for perfect attendance I thought that was a good idea. However, I would worry that teachers would be more likely to come to work sick and pass their germs on to students and then the students would end up missing school because of illness. Right now I have the philosophy that if you hire good people, they will make the right decisions regarding whether or not to miss a day of school. It would be interesting to learn and read about district incentive plans regarding leaves of absence.

Sunday, November 9 - Salary

I find the talk of salary interesting. I never complain about my salary. Currently, I’m at Master’s plus 30 hours with 12 years of experience. I get fourteen weeks off a year. If I went to work in corporate work, I would need to make up those fourteen weeks. There is no way that I could make that in the corporate world with degrees in English or library science. I have also seen teachers quit to go work in corporate and come back. It seems as if you are English teacher, there isn’t a lot of job openings at CAT, etc that need those qualifications. It was also noted that the retirement is better than some in the corporate world! However, if you don’t like teaching, then I suggest you get out by the tenth year. If not, you become too invested in TRS that it’s costly to get out. I enjoy being a teacher, I enjoy being off the same time as my kids, and I do feel that my pay is adequate.

Cynthia

9 November 2008

I really liked the presentation today on student led conferences. While my district has been utilizing conferences of this type for about 10 years now, I took away some good ideas that I may try to implement as part of my internship work, namely exit surveys for suggestions. Survey Monkey is calling! :)

Our student led conferences run fairly smoothly. Students rehearse for multiple days during their Advisory Time (A.T.) with their A.T. teacher (who the conference is with). The students compile work from each class and attach a sheet to each piece of work that lists what the assignment was about, what the student did well, what the student would do differently if given the chance, and how to improve the following grading term. 2 days prior to conferences, A.T. teachers give the students a checklist on how to lead their conference and then the students practice. I can say from the teacher's perspective that I really feel that this type of conference is more beneficial to all parties involved.

8 November 2008

I wanted to comment on the bus driver video because until viewing that, I never thought of the importance of properly training bus drivers to deal with extreme circumstances. I watched the video when I got home Saturday afternoon and not believe how calm and the amount of restraint the bus driver used in dealing with that young lady. I thought back to an incident my interdisciplinary team had early this year on a field trip with a bus driver and realized just how important relevant training is. According to the bus driver of one of our buses, the students were too loud so she pulled over and was screaming. Fortunately 3 adult chaperones (one guidance counselor and two classroom teachers) were on board to witness. The situation is still unfolding but the superintendent is investigating it very seriously. I plan on discussing with my principal the amount of training that non-certified staff receive in terms of dealing with students...based on what I have witnessed I am assuming not much.

Jason McLaughlin Final Blog Entry

I really enjoyed hearing about how different sick days and personal days are in other districts.  I have been part of 3 school districts in my 8 years and each have been different as well.  It is something that is tied to motivation of a school and believe that a principal and superintendent could use the number of teachers gone in a year as a litmus test to how their managing is going.  I believe there are other forms of data that you could use that could tell you a little more about what is going on with your staff, but an unusually large amount of sick time being used (without an epidemic of West Nile or something hitting your area) is probably a good signal that you should look at what your building's climate is like.  Sometimes I think administrators get into their own worlds and forget to keep an eye out for morale until it is too late for them.  

Great presentations and discussions

All of the presenters did a very nice job today. Before today's class I had never really thought about coaching evaluations, I am going to check into our school policy this week and see how we handle them. I enjoyed the student led conference model. I think that is a great way to make the student's establish more ownership of their learning and work. Our school district does not implement student led conferences, but I wish they would. As a parent, I would really appreciate it if my son led the conference and built a portfolio. It would deepen his understanding and communications skills about his learning.

Final Sunday of Master's Program

I would just like to say that I learned a lot from this class as well as the EDL 518 class that you taught.  I can't stress enough as to how important class discussions of our own experiences as well as your multitude of experiences are.  I really have learned alot from your expertise and my classmates at all levels.

Sunday's class 11/9

I truly enjoyed the presentations today. I really enjoyed the mentoring presentation and how many new teachers really don't get the support needed to make the first year a success. I also enjoyed the slam poetry video. Great job on the professional development presentation. I can't stand professional development because it seems very worthless. There really wasn't a focus and I always felt that it was planned at the last minute and since they were getting money for the speaker, teachers had to go. Professional development is like a boring preacher at the pulpit. You want something to take home to inspire but usually you don't. Will

Sunday November 9th

I liked the talk about sick days and how different districts deal with rolling days over, etc. It is great to hear about other districts and how they deal with things. I always feel that I learn more when we simply share real life examples and simply talk about different issues. Many of my professors here have talked about how important it really is to have a network of people to learn from, trouble shoot, bounce ideas off of, and get advice from. I truly believe that one of the best things I am getting out of this program is a group of people I can talk to later in my administrative career.

Record Keeping...

The one thing that I did not learn in law was the rules regarding private notes and records. I have learned that it is essential to document all information concerning incidents and meetings with staff. Since I use the computer for everything, I would have kept them all on my work computer. That would have been a BIG mistake. I’m assuming it would be appropriate to put them on my personal laptop which I keep at home. Other than that, I will be putting all of notes on paper and taking them home!

Cynthia

Richmond Sunday Nov. 9 blog

I had so much fun discussing contract issues like leaves of absences that I wish I had done my research paper on that topic!  I think it would be really interesting just to take an example of all the teacher contracts in the quad cities and just analyze what the different districts give their teachers, what incentives, if any, are in place to discourage using sick days, and what the policies are on accumulation.  I am wondering if any nation-wide studies have been done and if any districts have found the "secret" to spending less money on subs.  -- Jennifer Richmond

Thought on 11/9

Very interesting coaching evaluation presentation. We had a head football coach released last fall because of this. He received a negative evaluation because he was not following the state rule about having non-certified coaches on staff. Now, he was not having a lot of success with the program, but, probably would not have been forced to resign or it would have been a lot more difficult to get rid of him had this situation not occured. Bottom line is coaches have to be up to date on all rules be it conference, district, or state because as a professional, you cannot plead ignorance.

jrichmond Saturday Nov.8 past vs. present

In class we briefly touched on whether kids were worse today than in the past or not.  I started my teaching career as a substitute and teacher's aide in 1994.  Are the parents worse?  I think they are a little because parents in 2008 do not respect teachers and principals as much as they did in 1994.  I am not sure the kids are that much worse.  Some problems are different.  (In 1994 for example, no one had cell phones in class.)    However, maybe I think kids are not worse because I have gotten better over the years at discipline.  As a beginning teacher, from say 1994-1998, I was not as good at discipline.  As we said in class, discipline is generally not covered in undergraduate teacher preparation programs.  You have to learn as you go along.  So from 1998-2008 have I just gotten really good at managing student discipline, or is it that the students are just as "good" or "bad" as they were in 1994?  Hm, food for thought. -- Jennifer Richmond

IIRC

I found the IIRC data to be relevant in knowing about your district as a principal better, or as a principal applicant to know when researching for a job.  I really liked that the last few were schools within our county, it made it seem more realistic because I was more familiar with these schools and the lurking variables that were behind the numbers.  I had no clue as to what some of the variables would of been for the other districts outside of the immediate area where I live.

Collective Bargaining

The discussions on collective bargaining were enlightening. Being a teacher, I have never heard the flip side to a lot of the discussions we had in this weekend's class. Language and specifics seem to play such an important role; rightly so. I especially liked the idea of Last/Final Best offer. It pushes both sides to get to the real meat of the bargaining agreement. My position was always one of trust that no one would intentionally cheat one side or the other. Naive at best. Hearing about other districts and how they pay or compensate their teachers was also intriguing. I have only ever taught for one school district and have not had the experience of what other CBA's are like. My district also does not have incentives for no using sick days; also a very intriguing idea. As a principal and a part of administration, I think it will be beneficial to have the experience of the teacher side but also understand more about the administrative side.

IBB not such a foreign concept?

I was struck by the fact that in discussion of collective bargaining, IBB was not only mentioned, but also the format used by some districts in the state of Illinois. When I went hunting at the beginning of the course for the collective bargaining agreement, I had a nice chat with my principal about differences between Iowa and Illinois--in fact when I went through the IBB training last year with another former Illinois teacher, we were told what a "different landscape" the two states were in terms of bargaining. My principal, herself a graduate of Western graduate, told me that IBB would be bad mouthed and presented as a 'give everything to the faculty approach' to bargaining. That in the back of my head, I was surprised to find the opposite--and the fact that districts in IL such as Pekin were using this system. Personally, I have found that with consistent communication and trust, this format works well, at least in our district

William's Blog post on support

Yesterday's class was very informative. I did like how the type of leadership was divided up into directive, supportive, participative and achievement oriented. I believe that when I become a principal that I will be a combination of a directive and supportive person. I personally like big high schools in which I don't see the principal all of the time. In fact in my position now as Dean, I was told that no news about your performance is good news. I would prefer a little more interaction with some of my Administrative team but I also am aware that people are busy. It also seems now that the sins of past administrations are still being dealt with over the last fifty years and that is why districts have such a tough time with CBA. Will

Thoughts on 11/8

As the group was presenting on handbooks and talking about scenario's that can occur, I was thinking that as a principal, you really have to understand that anything can happen, no matter how ludicrous you may think it is. For instance, we had an incident in the lunchroom a couple weeks ago where the son of a lunch lady was involved in an altercation with another student. The son got knocked to the ground, and his mom, the lunch lady stepped in and smacked the other kid, knocking him to the ground. I could not imagine this in my wildest dreams, yet it happened. Now, as a principal, what a mess to deal with ecause now you may have to fire an employee, deal with the parents, and probably deal with litigation. I understand now that anything can happen.

School Handbooks

My school puts an interesting twist on their teacher handbook.  The handbooks include numerous sections that act as a survival guide for teachers in the building.  Each teacher receives a binder of school procedures, the binders are to remain in the classroom in a spot that is also accessible for support personnel and subs.  The sections cover topics ranging from attendance, grading procedures, substitute information and emergency procedures.  When I started my mentoring program, my mentor and I went through the binder so that I would know where to find school procedures.  That knowledge and resource has helped me tremendously on a weekly basis.  

Teacher Aids

In regards to the school bus incident, I realized that many aids are probably not aware of school district policy. There are handbooks for teachers, but there may not be handbooks specifically for aids. At my school, we have been having the aids attend our professional development meetings in regard to our school's new behavior management system. This way we will have consistency throughout the building. Since we expect aids to handle the same situations that teachers face, I think it's a good idea to have them attend professional development meetings.

Saturday November 8

I agree with a good amount of what was said. I agree about the idea of getting unions out of the schools. It really reminds me of one of my earlier posts from this class. The post dealt with incompetent teachers still be allowed to work because of tenure. Well I feel that unions really create a deal of problems within the schools system. It seems that so often unions will back a teacher simply because they are one of their own. This really seems as if they are only hurting themselves in some cases. Also, I enjoyed the talk on collective bargaining agreements, grievances. etc. I understand principals don't have a great deal to do with those, but it is still interesting to me and would like to learn more about it.

Unions

I am in agreement with Dr. C in the fact that unions should be out of the school system. Because in most cases the union puts restriction on the stupid stuff. every school has the one person that questions everything and is in the office saying. "this is not part of the contract" When the school is in a bind for people to work in an other area the Administration hands are tied.

Saturday class

The discussion on working conditions was interesting. I understand the wide variety of working conditions that teachers are exposed to. I have worked at the end of both spectrums. I have worked at an inner-city, large population high school in special education classrooms and now work at a nearly 100% white, with very little low income. Everyday, I appreciate the working conditions I work in, yet am proud that I have worked under tough working conditions. I work with highly motivated teachers, and with good kids, in which our toughest discipline issue is cell phones, not students that are violent to staff. The biggest complaint I have is not having the best technology. My job working conditions allow me to focus on creating better lessons, not on which student may jump another student or me. I do respect the teachers that have to deal with those issues, before they can focus on their lessons. I must be honest, I have not experienced the worst of conditions, and hope I never do.

Sat.Nov.8 Jason McLaughlin aha

The bus incident that was shown in class is a prime example of how communication is so important in a district.  Thinking through how you are going to communicate a staff handbook, policy, professional development, change in discipline, etc... is so vital to a well-run school district and building.  In order to be effective you must first think through how you want to communicate information.  My question is how often do we review the way we communicate information?  Is there any processes or plans that schools use to evaluate their communication efforts or is it just something that a principal or superintendent have to think about making a priority?

Sunday Oct.26 post-dated post

I thought that the presentation on hiring minorities was very insightful last time we met.  I think that hiring minority teachers is something that can be a very positive influence on a staff and the student body.  To have another perspective is always good, especially if there are a large amount of minority students.  Look at the affect Barack Obabma has had on the African community.  Seeing someone in a position of leadership and authority has a huge impact on how kids see themselves, what makes teachers any different?  To me it is even more important because a famous singer, actor, or President of the United States is so far removed from their daily lives that a teacher/coach has a bigger impact on individuals.  I also thought that the statistics on coaches in Davenport was very shocking.  I would have never guessed those stats.  I am glad that you looked into that and I would love to see that be public information somewhere to hopefully inspire some change that is needed.  Good presentation by the group.

PD Plans

My school does not have a building or district PD plan. So I was looking on line to find a PD plan and the plans I came up with were so different. I saw the very detailed plan and the very basic plan. Therefore, I did not know what it should really look like. When I received the email from Dr. Closen of various sample plans, I enjoyed variety. In one of the plans it was interesting to see how detailed this plan was and how nicely everything tied together. I was amazed at how organized this plan was compared to the several plans I looked at online. A PD plan should be more than on this date, at this time, we will have this presenter coming in. Some of the plans I noticed had a form for each individual teacher to fill out to establish their goals of their own individual plan. I like how this gave the teacher some ownership with the plan. This assignment was interesting to me, because I have always believed that all schools need a plan big or small. I was told since we are a small district there is not much of a need. I don't agree, I think it is even more important and a lot easier because you have a smaller group of people to plan for.

No PD for my School district Weekend #2

I am in the same boat as Jeff A. My school does not have a PD plan for the district. We do have a PD committee but not in a formal plan. i think that we need to be more invested in the fact that we need more PD that fits into our area and can be useful.

Responses to your posts

I enjoyed reading the posts once again this week. A couple of points.

The motivation video that Jay posted is indeed a good video. I was able to view it a few months ago and have shown it in some of the schools where I work as a RESPRO coach.

William had inquired about administrators salaries not being public. I don't know about Iowa, but in Illinois both teacher and administrator salaries can be found at

www.thechampion.org.


You may or may not want to go there....you may be surprised.

Keep up the good work.

Sunday 10/26

I enjoyed the presentation on the Balanced Calendar. For years I've said I would be a huge fan of that model. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the 80+ days I have off in the summer, but the thought of having 2 or 3 weeks off every 9 weeks, now that sounds terrific. I think kids and teachers would be more energized during those 9 weeks knowing they have 3 weeks off coming soon. Think of the planning you could get done during your 3 week intersession. Worthwhile professional development could actually take place and be implemented. I know the idea was mentioned in Galesburg, but until we have several million dollars for air conditioning, I'm left to dream of my fall vacation to Vermont.

Saturday 10/25

I thought the policy review exercise was a very worthwhile activity. I found that our policy manual needs updating as it was hard to find the answer to even 5 of the questions. Some of our policy dates dated back to 1985. Our assistant superintendent is well aware that the policy needs updating, but she says it just hasn't made it to the top of the priority pile. From the thickness of the manual I would say that it would be quite an undertaking to review and update. From reading our manual, to listening to others share from theirs, it is becoming more apparent that there are a lot of gray areas in School Policy.

PD

My district has been trying hard the last two years to move from having PD revolve around one-hit wonders to something more productive. They spent time sending out surveys (on-line even) to find which areas staff felt needed to be looked into, areas of concern, and even promoting mental health, instead of infusing what is the newest trend. They have also utilized their own teachers to go be trained and return to then train other teachers. I think our teachers were more receptive to having one of their own both train and respond to concerns about a particular new tool or practice to implement. I have also seen a move to have administrators actively present during these presentations/trainings. In the past, I remember administrators doing the introduction of the presenter and then disappearing into the hall to have coffee or chat with other administrators. Where was the buy in? And how did they expect to understand questions as they arose later during the implementation period in their buildings? I have also witnessed more attention being given to understanding and communicating, both horizontally and vertically, through articulation meetings. And these meetings are run by the teachers, not an outsider. I think it is a much more responsible approach and one that shows the importance of cohesiveness and creating an awareness of what happens outside of our own little world of our classroom, department, or building. It has been well received by the staff and been much more productive than the traditional view of PD.

Policy Review

I found the policy review discussion particularly interesting. The assignment itself made me delve into our district policies which is something I shamefully had never really done. I found it curious that our policies, for the most part, had not been changed or amended since their adoption. And the ones that had been amended were all done at the same time during a negotiations period. Our union consistently negotiates for a three-year period, sometimes more, so any amendments are very spaced apart. Another discovery for me was how vastly different other district's policies are from my own district. Having never taught for another district (26 years in Moline), my world and concern has been very narrow, resulting in my thinking that we did things as every one else did. Another aha arose with the discovery of Moline referring to the MEA or MESPA contracts for quite a lot of policies. I suppose this makes it easier for any revisions that might arise through negotiations. My ultimate take will be not to ignore what is so easily accessible through technogy (available on our district website) and be more aware.

Minority Recruitment

Attention Minority Recruitment Group*****
Can I get a copy of your powerpoint? I thought your group did a great job not only with general explanation, but also giving us some concrete examples of "how to achieve these goals." It was great to have some expertise in this area as all three gave ideas from their own perspective and experience. Thanks!

Balanced Calendar Riverton Schools

I have been thinking about the "balanced school calendar" I know in class I talked about how I was not impressed with the current calendar my own kids have at Riverton Schools. However, I wanted to explain a few things further. First of all, the superintendent of Riverton Schools, Tom Mulligan has worked so hard to put the district on the right track. (if you go to www.rivertonschools.org you can find more information) I really believe that the initiatives he has put into place have done nothing but help the district achieve their goals as indicated in their school improvement plan. This man has done a great job communicating school procedures, state initiatives, state standards, and curriculum to parents. He begins each quarterly newsletter with his own column explaining data, goals, and assessment. He also updates his website with the most current information about curriculum and district needs. He does such an outstanding job with public relations! I firmly believe that the community should be educated in school initiatives, and this guy does a great job.

Presentation

I really enjoyed the presentation on the balanced school calendar. I thought they provided a great deal of background information, and did a nice job of addressing both sides of the “issue.” The questions of how will this affect the local pools, amusement parks, etc. was a very important one to address –one that I didn’t think of right away. The discussions that we had about this topic were very insightful. I think that the sharing of “…in my school…” stories and scenarios have been some of the most beneficial parts of the whole WIU program.

Policy Reviews

I really enjoyed the discussion as we worked through the various policy scenarios. I found it interesting that there was so much variation from district to district in both the language and rationale for the policies. In this class we have the very rural small districts as well as the larger inner-city schools represented. Each of the policy updates for the scenarios that I chose had all been adopted in 2007. Currently our board is going through the process of updating our entire Board policies by using the IASB services. Before class, I thought that my district was going to be extremely outdated with our current policies, and I was quite surprised that ours were in line with most of the other districts.

10/26/08 thoughts / Minority Employment

I was very interested in the presentation on employing minority teachers. The statistics that were shown of the minority students in the districts when compared to the minority teachers made me understand the need to encourage more minority individual towards the teaching profession. Does anyone know the statistics on the number of minority students that are going through teacher education programs when compared to non-minority students? Is it a problem that they are not going in to the profession or are they not getting hired? If it is that they are not going through the teacher education programs and selecting education as a profession then the emphasis really needs to be placed on the grow your own programs.

Weekend #2 Day #2

I get confused on what we covered both days. I thought the presentations on minority teachers provided the class with information to think about as administrators. The balanced calendar was something I debated for in 519, but I don't think I would be in favor of. I like my long breaks during the summer. I know change is good but sometimes it can be bad too.
Rick

Weekend #2 Day #1

I understand a lot better about IRC now we have done it a few times. The policy review assignment gave me a better understanding on how to read state code. I think the senarios are tie in well with what we are talking about. Rick

Thoughts from 10/26 Minority recruitment

I found this presentation very thought provoking. After the presentation, I reflected the teaching staff of the prisons I have worked at. The majority of our students are minorities. In the two prisons I have worked at there have only been two minority teachers. One of which was a "home grown" teacher. He started as a youth supervisor and through upward mobility became a Language Arts teacher. I feel that when the state hires new teachers for the prison system they should actively recruit minority teachers. I think that all of the students would benefit from positive role models.

thoughts from 10/25 Mentoring and induction

I have has the opportunity to work in a school district that offered both induction and mentoring. These were very beneficial, especially when I was a brand new teacher and new to the area. Through the induction program I was quickly introduced to how schools worked in the south. The department head was assigned as my mentor and the thing that she helped me with most was the IEP process which was quite different than what I was used to. I realized the importance of these two programs when I started to work in  the prison system. I had a week of pre-service orientation, which didn't really tell how the classroom was, and then I was pretty much on my own. I had to seek out individuals to help me. Sometimes they would tell you the right thing, and sometimes I had to figure it out on my own. Having a mentor can give a new teacher a peace of mind.

October 26th Reflection

In response to Chris' previous comment, I just found out that my district does not have a professional development plan in place. The individual builing administrators are responsible for monitoring what they feel is needed in their respective buildings. This makes sense to me, rather than just having a plan to have a plan. I do feel that support staff should be included in professional development, as well as full time teaching staff.
I also find the case studies valuable in terms of getting other people's input on how they would handle a respective situation. These are some of the things that I think happen on the job that usually catch you by surprise and having early experience in handling them can do nothing but help you in the long run.

Chris Neville - Ah-Ha for Sunday 10/26

I was struck today by Dr. Clausen's comment (made somewhat causally) that not all schools will have a plan for Professional Development. He said it so matter of factly that many of us might not have even paid attention to it. This goes to show there are many district that think of Professional Development as a baind-aid to fix problems that come up rather than use it proactively to get teachers prepared for what is coming. Many districts use PD to catch teachers up on what has already happened and to prepare us in case it happens again. I also was "Ah-Ha"'d by the thought of PD for support staff - it never crossed my mind other than to make sure they knew how to work with the district computer software.

C.Hinderliter Post for 10/26

Before today's discussion, I didn't give much thought to a principals evaluation. I'm sure that in our school district, no one is asked to evaluate a principal. I have never heard anyone talk about it, and we had a principal that everyone griped about but he was never fired, just went on to take a new job - much to everyone's relief. I am interested in finding out what kind of tools are used to evaluate a principal... Staff surveys would be an interesting tool! How does a Supt. evaluate a principal when they aren't in the same building? How much emphasis is put on test scores? These are all questions I have about principal evaluations.

Professional Development

I was struck by a few items that came up when we looked at professional development today. The first was the notion that having elementary, middle and high school teachers together for PD leads to better PD. My experience where I'm at seems to point to the contrary--at Pleasant Valley there is a 1/2 day difference in contract time involving parent teacher conferences and professional development days. The elementary teachers resent this and some have even gone to having friends watch the high school parking lot to make sure high school teachers aren't being released too early. There are a few groups that meet across the school (teachers and administrators from all levels are included) and it seems that the elementary teachers always group together and share common problems that high school people can't relate to. Since the majority of each building's PD comes out of paperwork/ legislation handed down by the Iowa government (model core curriculum for the high school and something quite a bit different for the elementary) the goals of what needs to happen in PD are so different that combining forces seems pointless. However, the more I look at the question of reading that was brought up in class makes sense--we all, regardless of level, have a role to play in teaching reading and literacy.
The second thing that struck me about PD was the fact that although one shot PD is known not to work, it seems to still be regularly used. We have an AEA (area education association) in Iowa staffed with people who are begging to come in to do PD presentations--and they seem to be all one shot deals. There knowledge has been useful with the new state guidelines, but the lack of vested interest and follow up from the AEA individuals makes it an "in one ear out the other" experience for most teachers. I hope this changes--I know with the model core and looking at this year's PD things have gotten better. A few years ago, it was ridiculous and a bunch of committees cut into other committees that had minutes, but accomplished nothing.

Professional development

One week ago, My school had an institute day and our administration scheduled to have a speaker discuss differentiated instruction. It was absolutely horrible. She lectured the whole time and at the end of the presentation, I felt like I was cheated out of my day. Today's discussion on professional development further illustrated how important it is to provide opportunities for the staff to experience development activities that are applicable and sustainable in the classroom. As administrators, we need to filter out the cookie cutter presentations and provide our staff with opportunities to hear, see, discuss and apply the skills we are encouraging within the classroom.

Sunday Oct. 26th

I really liked the presentations today on minority recruitment and the YRE.  I strongly agree that we need to attain and retain minority teachers in our schools and not just in our schools that are highly minority populated.  If schools are not going to go above and beyond to have a diverse staff then they can at least learn more about their students and where they come from.  As far as the YRE presentation goes I liked how you opened it up to your classmates for suggestions or stories from experience.  I personally enjoy the YRE it really helps to eliminate or at least minimize burn out by all involved.

I am also glad that this is Sunday which means treats for everyone next class because I only have one weekend left to spend at WIU. Good luck to all of you as you work your way to the end.

Sunday Post

I really liked the discussion on on professional development within schools. In every situation I have been in during my educational career I have not had one meaningful p.d experience. I like the fact that other people are having similar experiences, because I was hoping that it is not just the case with me. But, it truly is sad that so many people have very worthless experiences. I like the idea of having people who take in part in p.d. experiences come back to school and report what they had found out or heard. I also like the idea of having the teachers decide what type of professional development they need. It is important for us as new administrators to understand just how important meaningful professional development is and will be.

Mentoring and Induction

I remember when I started teaching in 1981 and basically was put in a room with 25 freshman and no real direction. I think that Dr. Closen made a reference to the "unknown curriculum". I experienced this first hand. I was teaching English on a "General Studies" track. In this day in age the kids would have been in resource and here I was trying to teach sentence structure, parts of speech, etc. I did not have much direction to say the least. Today first year teachers are afforded a great opportunity with mentors and programs to help them through not only local functions of schools but helps teachers develop teaching techniques through such tools as peer observations. I feel that so many young teachers in the past were discouraged from the profession in there first few years. Now with two years of mentoring they can receive help from peers and hopefully get them through the rough spots early in their careers. I feel that as future administrators when we are able to hire good young teachers we provide them with the resources to help them grow and mature as professionals and remain in our buildings.

Professional Development

I enjoyed the professional development discussions. I agree that it's best to let the data drive your professional development. If the professional development activities are chosen by the teachers based on school needs then there is probably a better chance for ownership to develop rather than teacher buy-in. I also liked the idea of teacher experts in the school facilitating the meetings. Why turn to outside experts if there are teachers in the building already successful in a particular area of need?

Blog for 26 October 2008

I wanted to see about other school's SSR programs. My school has a relatively successful SSR program; it has become a staple in the school. Everything in the school shuts down from 1:50-2:15 daily for SSR. Students are not allowed to use the restrooms, get a drink, go to the nurse, go to the library, etc. during that time barring a major problem. Students have a pair/share once a week with a partner where they answer questions regarding their reading material and discuss with their peers. SSR is viewed almost as a reward now by students and it is neat to see how a culture of reading for enjoyment has been created. Any other examples either positive or negative?

Blog for 25 October 2008

The topic of motivation came up Saturday and I wanted to share a presentation that I received earlier this year. It's a great keynote address by a student in the Dallas, TX school system. Definitely a great motivator! Here's the site: http://www.dallasisd.org/keynote.htm

I also wanted to touch on the teacher dress code topic. We have a bit of a problem at my current school with teacher dress code (or at least in some faculty members' opinions). We have faculty members that wear track suits, sweat pants, etc. all the time; and not members of the P.E. department. Often times, these are the teachers that complain about pay and I want to say that to be paid like a professional you need to dress like a professional. As future building leaders, what do you think should be the "teacher dress code" for all educators? Just curious...

Class for Sunday Oct 26, 2008

We presented our findings on how to recruit African American teachers in the district. A number of students had some interesting questions about how the WIU teacher ed programs is doing with recruiting minority recruitment. The argument for balanced calender was very good. I liked the idea of the single track and I know that UTHS has this type of program. I am not a fan of the multi-track format simply for scheduling conflicts. A problem with balanced calender is the heat and whether or not schools are willing to invest in infrastructure to provide air cooling. Are taxpayers willing to pay for air for only two months?

Saturday Oct 26,2009 class

After looking at the IIRC reports on Saturday, I went searching for administrative salaries. Even though salaries are suppose to be capped at 5%, how come administrative salaries are not posted for the public? How is it that this is not public knowledge but teachers salaries are?

Thoughts on Sun Oct 26th

We did our presentation this morning on minority recruitment and retention. I didn't talk about the value of having a minortiy coach on staff. I am the head wrestling coach at Davenport Central and am lucky enough to have an african-american as my top assistant. He is an educated, hard working man with solid, middle-class values. I have seen him deal with and transform all the athetes in our wrestling room, but in particular our african-american wrestlers. He is able to relate to and deal with these athletes in ways that I cannot. He can talk to them and get through to them in ways I cannot. I am so grateful to have him as part of my program and I let him know that.

I enjoyed discussing motivation of personnel in education. I find it very foreign, but understand that there are some unmotivated teachers in our schools accross our country. I feel blessed that I work with teachers that are highly motivated to provide the best educational experience for our students at my school. In order to understand the unmotivated teachers, we need to understand why they became unmotivated, and what satisfaction teachers get out of their jobs. I enjoyed thinking about my personal motivation, and confirmed that I truly enjoy what I am doing, and am consistantly looking for ways to becoming more effecient at my job, just like all students in this class. Administrators must be able to identify the characteristics in motivated potential employees in order to create a positive atmosphere in their schools. This is a tough job. There are many common factors that tempt teachers to leave the profession. A problem that our schools are dealing with is attracting the best an brightest to become teachers.

Motivation

Yesterday we talked about motivating teachers. I agree that as teachers we struggle to motivate our students. We have learned that we will not be able to reach all students but if we get to most we are doing our job. We will face this same challenge as administrators, motivating our teachers. We can provide the teachers with professional development, but they have to motivate themselves. We can set up an environment where they best motivate themselves - but what is the best environment for all of your employees. So I guess the same is true for administrators, you will not be able to reach all teachers, but if you can motivate most, you are doing your job. This is a struggle we will alwasy face - but taking time to get to know each of your faculty members will help create the best environment. In doing some research for my paper I found this quote from a website. "Simply fill the needs of your staff and they will remain with you until someone who can do it better comes along. But if you deeply connect with them on a human level, they just might remain with you for life." This reminded me of the story Dr. Closen shared with us about the teacher who wanted to quit after 7 years of teaching, but when he became the prinicpal in the district she changed her mind and approached him 20 years later. We can't motivate them, but we can build relationships that may help them motivate themselves.

Saturday 10/25

When I left class yesterday, I went over to my mom's house (my mom is out of town this weekend) to take care of my grandma who is recovering from a stroke.  She asked what I learned in class.  This made me think about how I could explain to her in basic terms what I did all day.  First I said, "We don't learn things but we learn how to analyze information and ask the right questions."  She replied that for a class that went all day long I probably learned SOMETHING.  So later, as I was telling her the basics of looking through the report cards from the iirc website and discussing motivation of teachers, I told her one thing that I learned yesterday was that I would have to pay an hourly custodian for working different hours than s/he had been told to work.  She told me about her brother in law in Kansas City, MO who is a lead custodian at a school.  He told me grandma about one time when he stopped over at the school one night for something and the night custodian came running from across the street out of a tavern and back into the school.  The man had left work to go drinking and when he saw his boss unexpectedly he tried to cover by running back to the school.  Basically, this night custodian had been pulling this for a long time, getting paid for working when he'd actually be drinking.  In light of this, I guess I feel a little more lenient about paying the person who works on Saturday instead of on Friday as instructed, because at least the work gets done.  However, I still agree that it is correct to fire the person for insubordination because they didn't work the hours that they were told to work.  I also told my husband about Harley Davidson Smith because he is an administrator and at school he had told me a story about something that happened back in August with a kindergartner.  I won't share the story,  but I will just tell you the kid's name - Reverend Blue Jeans "Smith" (or whatever his last name was).  Why did the parents name him Reverend Blue Jeans?  Well, have you heard the song "Forever in Blue Jeans" by Neil Diamond?  The parents love that song, but always thought the lyrics were "Reverend Blue Jeans...." So if it isn't bad enough to name a kid after your favorite song, it has to be even worse to name the child the wrong title to the song!!  And the child doesn't answer to "Reverend," his given first name - he goes by his middle name, "Blue Jeans"  Can you imagine calling on this student in class?  "Who knows 2 +2?........Blue Jeans?  Yes, that's correct - 4!  Good job, Blue Jeans!"

Saturday 10/25/08

I find the discussions that we lead into from our personal experiences are very enlightening.  I think they we all have unique and individual experiences and stories to share.  It is interesting always to get a group of educators together for a common reason to brainstorm and share.  I like the policy review assignment, it got me thinking about policies and opened my eyes to situations I would not of thought of before, I would of thought of some of these as petty.

Thoughts October 25

I guess what is really hitting me is the huge number of decisions that I'm going to have to make as a principal that there are really not any right or wrong answers to. We do this as a teacher, but not to the extent that the administration does. It is very difficult to be in a situation where there isn't a right or wrong answer, and you just have to make the best decision for everyone involved. The decisions I will make as an administrator will effect so many more people and much thought should proceed each decision.

This really hit me when I was answering a question about the board policy manual assignment and Dr. Closen did not reassure me that my answer was right or wrong. I realized it will all be up to me and that can be difficult. I'm glad Dr. Closen did that, and it helped me to understand that I have to make up my mind as to what is right. I know that sometimes I can be a little unsure of what to do and I am going to have to work on this because a principals position will require me to make many decisions quickly.

Chris Neville - Ah-Ha for Saturday 10/25

In our discussion about motivation, Dr. Clauson brought up his recent visits to some schools and whenever he went into teacher lounges or lunchrooms, he heard nothing but war stories of how bad these teacher's situations were. He then looked to the PPT and noted that overall satifaction of teachers is high. I suddenly came up with what I consider to be a great analogy to these feelings almost all teachers have; the recreational golfer. You bring 2 to 8 golfers of any ability together and they will complain to each other about how bad they are playing. Yet most are completely addicted to the game. Why?? Because once or twice everytime we play, we hit a shot the way it is supposed to be hit. We read the break of the green just right and actually hit the ball where we aim and the hole gets in the way of the ball. When that happens on the golf course, all the bad shots of that day fade away for a time, but we don't dare talk about those 2 good shots much for fear we will jinx it for the next time. It is the same with the classroom. We complain about the morons openly to colleagues; but when the light goes on (or gets a little brighter) in just one or two of our students per day or per week, we celebrate it in our hearts and minds - and usually don't tell a soul - just in case it may happen again tomorrow. But it is those kids that keep us coming back day after day, year after year. We're addicted - and we cannot wait to get back in there and play with them again :)

Thoughts on October 25th

I like the IIRC web sites, however, I think it would be nice to look at some of the districts in which the teachers are employed. The Policy Review assignment was very meaningful. It is a good place to see where your support is for specific situations. I think it is important that you take some initiative in discovery before you ask for some help.

Tim O'Neill

Importance of a motivated staff

As we talked today about what motivates and keeps teachers in education and why people leave, I was struck by the consistent need to monitor motivation and how it contradicted with what my superintendent said in the interview I did of him for EDL 505. His thought echoed what I've read in Jim Collins' book Good to Great--if you get the right people in the right seats, you don't have to worry about motivation. He said he didn't consider motivation a part of his job at all--he relies more on the hiring process and the retention of self-motivated people. I think the reality here is that, regardless of how motivated people may be, we are all human and there are dips from time to time that should be addressed. Some people become jaded over time or after a particular event or conflict. Since we are all human and live in a human world working with people there are bound to be dips and changes in motivation. Maybe the idea of "developing a good attitude" from one of the scenarios is a valid point--maintaining energy and drive despite the daily grind and the disappointments is essential for students, teachers and administrators. And as educational leaders, administrators have an important role to lead by example and positive communication.

Grey Area

After going through my school personnel policy I was worried that some of our policies were too vague. However, today I realized that some of our sections are not detailed but they don't need to be. Our board has a adopted the policies in a manner that gives them some freedom of decision depending on the situation. That ability to choose could give them an edge in certain scenarios, but it could hurt them in others.

Interviewing

During the first week we discussed ways to hire personnel for our schools. I found this information to be valuable for me as a future administrator. I think when we hire new employees it is critical to take our time and thouroughly screen the applicants. I guarantee all of us in this class have seen teachers that have no buisness teaching students. Mr. Closen mentioned there is more to applicants than what is seen on their resume They might look good on paper but they could be poor teachers. The interview process should give us a greater picture of how they will perform in the classroom.

Preparing Students

During the first session we had a conversation about the rigor of curriculum. Mr. Closen mentioned his own experience with his daughters in the education system. He mentioned how his daughters received a's throughout high school, but they had difficulties when they entered college. I beleive as future administrators we need to make sure our schools are preparing students not only for college, but global competitiveness. Now more than ever we need to make sure our students do not get passed up by other countries.

Traditions

My thoughts stem from our conversations regarding the difficult lives of some of our students. I know at my school we've done away with Halloween parade and other traditional activities because we are afraid of losing instructional time. These activities were part of a tradition that many children looked forward to attending. Those students with difficult lives may not have any stability or traditions at home that help foster a sense of belonging and self worth. If we have some traditions at school, perhaps these students will have something other than academics to motivate them and create a sense of belonging to a larger community.

School Board Policy Issues

I am very surprised that there were differences on some of the issues with Board Policy.  I really thought that some of the issues were going to be pretty cut and dry for each district.  It was very surprising to me that they weren't.  Being from a rural school I also assumed that if there were differences, there would be less wording and issues addressed by our Board Policy.  I found that some of the answers from people in larger school districts had more outdated policies than our small rural district.  Board Policy is something that is probably something that a school district should review/amend more often than they do.  Some of our policies were last amended in the early 1980's and there didn't seem to be any answer for new questions related to the topic.  I have a lot to learn about what I can and can't do related to Board Policy. 

Thoughts on Sat Oct 25th

Teacher motivation is a big issue in every district. In the Davenport district, the main reason is the top-down decision making that occurs with every major decision. I am currently on the committee to develop the freshman academy at Central. We started this process last year, and have deliver our recomendations by this December. This being my 4th year in Davenport, it was interesting to see how the top-down decision making from the district destroyed the motivation of this group. I could tell from the comments and actions of the veteran teachers that they had been beat down in the past and were not willing to put a lot of effort into this because we were going to be told what to do anyway. I cannot blame these people because I asked questions about this and was told about the amount of work they had put in on projects in the past only to have them shot down or trimmed beyond recognition by the central office. We are also in the process of implementing High Schools That Work and our principal is working very hard to convince the staff that this is what we will be for the forseeable future with a little success. Yet, the veteran teachers are wary because this is the next greatest program that they have been involved with in their career. The balance between effort expended and the reward for that effort doesn't exist and it is lowering the motivation of teachers.

Thoughts for October 25 (Saturday)

We have been having a lot of talk about black and white and gray areas when it comes to dealing with personnel in schools. I heard a lot of really interesting ideas when talking about how to motivate teachers to keep doing a good job or in some cases to get better. Someone brought up the idea of getting rid of tenure for teachers. I really don't believe that bad teachers should get tenure or keep it throughout their career. However I'm not sure that teachers being year to year would actually help the situation. It is similar to someone how smokes and is told that their health is failing and needs to quit smoking in order to avoid long term health risks or even death. Studies have found that these people rarely quit smoking nor change any of their lifestyle in order to stay healthy or avoid death. I would agree that bad teachers are going to continue to be bad teachers no matter what the terms of their employment are.

10/25 Hinderliter Post...

Today we talked about motivating teachers. There is a fine line between giving rewards to teachers without creating conflict or competition. So, how do we motivate teachers? Are "teachable moments" the only reward that a teacher can have? What can a principal do to motivate teachers? I would be interested in finding out what these specific things are....

Sunday Class

Get a reference of a reference! When interviewing and screening candidates it may be necessary to get a reference of a reference in order to ensure better quality. I had never really thought of this. I still want to know what is legal to discuss with the new employer and what is ethical. If the information is true, how could you not give it to the interviewer. I understand there are legal issues when it comes to personnell issues, but could we get those clearly defined? It seems that if we are "here for the kids" then protecting a bad/incompetent teacher is ethically wrong. I think I would be an "off the record" person.

Does my kid know what they need to know?

On Saturday, Closen told a brief story explaining parent-teacher conference where he was the parent. He kept asking "does my kid know what they need to know to succeed in college?" Of course the teacher's answer was always the same "This is a great kid, blah, blah, blah." I know that most parents want to see that shining letter "A" on their child's report card to give them piece of mind. However, we (parents and teachers) are doing an inservice to students if we are not challenging them with standards that focus on each particular subject matter. If all high school classes were treated as AP classes where they begin with the assessment in mind (which adheres to college level standards), then classes could be better organized. However, without parent understanding of the "vision", teachers would find themselves being constantly nagged by the ever-popular helicopter parent. And it seems like those parents are multiplying by the hour.

Gray/Grey Areas

There Are no black and white areas: My thoughts as well! I was thinking today what I was going to title my second (Sunday) post, and the black and white quote came to mind. I came to the board only to find that those words were already used. I think that we all have to come to accept the fact that we are going to have many sleepless nights as we analyze our decisions (right or wrong) that we will face and make as administrators. There aren't going to be any textbooks for us to turn to to give us the "correct" answers. There are so many gray areas. Someone said it in an earlier post that it is so important to surround ourselves with competent and worthy colleagues. In the end, if we can truly answer the question, "Is it in the best interest of kids....?" and we truly base our decision on that mantra, then it is a decision that we can justify at any time. Again, we will meet many roadbumps along the way, but shouldn't the ends be able to justify the means?

10/12 thoughts

I didn't get a chance to mention it in class, but in spite of the fact that Richwoods seems so wonderful, I want to point out that their test scores are not that great if you compare them ot themselves in the past.  If you look at the scores listed for all the previous years, Richwoods in 2007 had the lowest scores in both science and writing as compared to Richwoods in previous years listed.  How is it ok for their test scores to decrease, but just because most students are still proficient the school is considered a success?  Some schools show improvement each year, but still haven't reached high enough.  The schools that started out with high scores have more cushion and can slowly fall and escape notice.  However, it did not escape MY notice! So take comfort - even the "Rich" schools don't have an easy time showing actual progress (which last time I checked meant you had an INCREASE in achievement, not a slow decline).  I hope all of that made sense.....  Also, does anyone else find it scarily ironic that the school called "Richwoods" appears to be THE "rich"-est high school in Peoria?

Wish I had already taken Educational Finance class!

I think what struck me most about Sunday's class was my lack of knowledge of school funding and how that made looking at some of the numbers in the data exercise difficult. I know as there is talk of turning the Western program into a cohort this may be remedied; my colleagues and I currently in the program will unfortunately not be able to enjoy the planned sequencing the cohort model will have. Sadly, however, I feel that our brief exposure to two data sets from the IIRC is more than many principals already on the job for many years have had until recently. In this case, I'm glad Dr. Closen listened to his wife and decided to have us work with the data. I must admit, I found myself a bit lost with terms like Safe Harbor, being an Iowa educator. Having had to maneuver through data for the marketing plan in 519, I can see a distinct difference between the Iowa and Illionois websites. Some of this I'm sure stems from how each state handles NCLB. I look forward to working with more data in this class and getting a better handle on 'things that aren't quite right,' as well as how to pair up the numbers between various schools. I honestly believe that all of us in education, be we teachers or administrators, need to keep a serious handle and eye on the data--especially test scores and finances!

Nothing is ever black and white

As I go through the Western program, I try to look for different mantras that professors use over and over, which is often, at least in their eyes, the most important thing to remember from the class. "I have no particular recollection of that individual" and 1-800-UHAUL are two items that quickly come to mind. The first words Dr. Closen used to start the class were "Nothing is ever black and white." Put simply, this could easily sum up many days of being an educator and, from Dr. Closen's unique perspective, an administrator. In Saturday's class this idea came up time and time again. I was fascinated to find a professor/ former superintendent that had so much inner city experience. I must admit, as the first hour moved on, I found myself unfamiliar with many of the terms used, such as RESPRO, having been out of teaching in Illinois for the past 3 years. Fortunately, the internet was close at hand and I was able to bridge my ignorance. I have found so many things that I want to understand and know more about that, as a world language teacher and ESL tutor, I don't run across because they don't have a direct effect on my classroom. I feel that so often as high school teachers we are isolated in our little 'subject islands' and not always getting the whole school picture. I look forward to the items and experiences that are to come in future weekends. Nothing is ever black and white...

Saturday and Sunday's Class

I felt Saturday and Sunday's classes were very interesting. The group tied into what we were talking about in class. Evaluating staff is an area that stuck out in my mind. As an administrator it would be difficult to give a poor evaluation to an older teacher or friend. However to do what is best for students, an administrator does not have any other choice. Like I said before, I really like listening to Dr. Closen's senarios and experiences. Those is what I will remember the most out of the class and be able to take with me. Keep them coming Dr. Closen.

The final presentation powerpoint is one of the assignments I really enjoyed. I selected Evaluating Coaches/Extra Curricular Personnel because I felt our school lacked an appropriate evaluating process. I did a lot of research by obtaining other school district evaluation process material. I evaluated all the material and came up with one I felt was adequate for our school. I presented it to my building principal and he wanted a copy of the pp for his files. I believe in the near future our system will change for the better too.

Classroom senarios

I feel the classroom senarios are more relevant than the book work because it is situations that I maybe in someday. Dealing with incompetent teachers would be the hardest situation to deal with. I know we have a couple here at Bellevue and it drives me nuts how they don't follow adminstration instructions.

Sunday Thoughts

My Sunday thought is kind of a continuation from Saturday. Dr. Closen brought up the Peter Principle. (You keep getting promoted until you reach your level of incompetence.) That principle has really got me wondering, "What is my level of incompetence?" I'm a pretty confident fellow, when I know what I'm talking about, but put me in a situation where I am around much more intelligent people than myself and I go quiet because no one wants to show thier achilles heal. I've always said that I will not become a principal until I am much older and wiser than the parents of the students at my school. Each year that passes the gap is getting bigger especially with some of our parents who had children when they were 14. Looking forward to continuing this new journey of finding my level of incompetence. Hoping its a long adventure and not a short day trip.

Saturday Thoughts

"Nothing is black and white." -Dr. Closen
Dealing with the complexity of students, parents and staff, nothing is black and white. Every situation is different. We all come from different walks of life. We all have our own unique instruction manual. When trying to handle a situation, following the Code of Conduct book is not always the best solution. Good 'ole common sense and the ability to relate to people can take you a long way in life. Not a lot of book smarts here, but fortunately for me I was blessed with common sense and the ability to relate to people.

Sunday Thoughts

One aha moment for me was dealing with the role of the guidance counselor and some of the roles that an administrator sometimes assigns to this person. Dr. Closen made reference to the fact often times an administrator will assign clerical tasks to someone in this position. Unfortunately, I think that this position often becomes too much of a "catch all" position. We have both a first year principal and a first year guidance counselor in our building, so it has been a learning experience for both of these people while trying to manage student and staff schedule accommodations (among other things). I can definitely see the importance of protecting the role of the position, as it is often one that gets put on the chopping block when it is budget cutting time--especially in the middle schools where it is such a needed position. Districts also end up combining the roles of social worker, counselor, etc together in order to cut costs.

References

Prior to this weekend’s class, I had never heard of asking a reference to provide another reference for a potential employee. It seems like a great way of getting a better idea of who the applicant truly is and how they respond to other individuals in the workforce. I am sure this technique could conjure up positive and negative responses.

10/11-12 Class

I enjoyed the IIRC presentation, and felt that the IIRC website is a useful tool for Illinois teachers. I think school administrators should inservice their classroom teachers in the application and use of this website in order to clarify their classroom goals, and to understand the strengths and weaknesses in their buildings.


Sunday's class:

The situation specific interview questions were interesting, but it took 5 of us 20 minutes to come up with our best solution. It seems it would be difficult for an applicant to formulate their best response in just a few minutes.

Tim O'Neill

October 11-12 Class

I enjoyed the IIRC presentation. The IIRC website is very informative for Illinois teachers.

10/12

I thought the critical exercises were extremely valuable. It's great to create one of our own. To use situations that occur in most schools, it is beneficial to see how the candidates would respond. The other beneficial aspect of this exercise is how careful you have to create the benchmarks.

As far as the hiring process, it is very important to be aware of candidates that would benefit your school. I was very impressed with the idea of the three deep references. This would make the school and district very strong. It would create a more positive experience for staff, faculty, administration, and students.

These two activities were both very informative and a great experience.

10/12 Reflection

I really thought that the critical incident exercise was very valuable and practical. I can not believe that the things that you can not imagine ever taking place, do take place on almost a daily basis just in our regional area. The examples used in class were all based on actual incidents which did happen. This goes along with my post on Saturday's class that you had better be prepared and keep a copy of your policy manual close by.
In terms of the hiring of personnel, I feel that as an administrator you should constantly be networking and be aware of good teachers and personnel that you might need to contact in case of an opening in your building. This list can come from recommendations of other administrators, or people that you are personally aware of. I think that recommendations are valuable, but I feel that your personal research into references is more valuable. I feel that by contacting those references and talking with them that you can get a much better feel for the quality of the candidate.

Second A-Ha Moment: Cynthia

After reading the text, I tended to agree with the author that reference letters should not be an essential part of the hiring decision. Often times, these letters are generic references or there have been times that I have written the letter only to have the someone sign it (their request - write the letter and I'll sign it). I found it interesting in class that Dr. Closen sorted resumes based on the reference list. I haven't done a reference list in about 10 years, however I know now that you should be very selective in listing references. They should be knowledgeable, reputable leaders; the 1st year teacher next door probably isn't going to be a good reference. However, if you can list those people that you know will say good things about you, and are respected in the field of education, it might just make the difference if you get an interview or not!

10/12 Critical Incidence Activity

The critical incidence activities this weekend were a great learning experience. Not only are they scenarios that we need to think about as future principals BUT also scenarios we could pose to future teaching candidates in our buildings. The activity really made me look at each scenario carefully from every angle and to be sure all bases were covered. Definitely a great learning experience!

10/11 Aha!

The biggest Aha that I had on Saturday was when Dr. Closen mentioned gaps in people's resumes. I personally had a gap and I was uncertain what to do; I worked for a year as a mortgage broker when I moved to Iowa from Florida. Until Saturday I had never even thought of the one year gap on my resume as a red flag.

Sunday, Oct. 12 thoughts

The importance of hiring the right people as teachers, secretaries, custodians, etc. has been something I have been thinking about lately, however, Sunday’s conversation increased my thinking in this area. I have seen first hand how having the right people in the right places can affect student achievement as well as school morale in a positive way. One thing that stood out to me during Sundays conversation was the importance of going three deep when checking candidates references. It is difficult to get a well rounded understanding of an applicant through just an interview or just talking to the people that the applicant provides as references, however, by going three deep we can get a bigger picture of the candidate and therefore make more intelligent and informed hiring decisions.

Saturday Oct. 11 Thoughts

Among many interesting conversations one thing really stood out to me on Saturday. I had never thought about there being conflict between the principal and the counselor. This was something that was mentioned but not elaborated on much. My thinking was that if we are all out for the same goal (student achievement) that we should avoid much conflict by using data to together look at what the schools needs and then implement research based methods to increase student achievement. I guess where the conflict arises is when we have the same goal in mind but feel different ways of implementation are necessary.

Critical Incident Scenarios

One of the most beneficial aspects from this weekend was the class discussion and analysis of critical incidents. That activity was very enlightening for me. It was great hearing extreme scenarios and then dissecting them to determine the best course of action. After we finished the exercise I was thinking about other instances I have encountered and I became very intrigued to find out how my current administration had resolved the issues. I gained some very applicable knowledge from that activity and I think I will be more prepared for the day when I have to make the decision.

10/11 Thoughts

I feel like the big thing that came across to me from Saturday's proceedings were the fact that if it can happen, it will happen. In just a little over a month in my new position at DMS, I have encountered several incidents that I would never have realized, or thought about. I think that you learn to rely on the student handbook for discipline procedures and the board policy book for other matters. I feel like our discussions Saturday confirmed what I have found out on the job very quickly. I have found that I get to school very early (6:00am) just so that I can get my "paper work" done so that I will be able to focus my time and energy on what I call the "bombs" that drop throughout the course of the day. These range from student discipline to needing subs, to referees cancelling out on games. In other words if it can happen, it will happen! I think that I spend an awful lot of my spare time on possible scenarios and how I might handle them. This class will be a good reminder and I am sure it will prepare us for these type of scenarios that can, and will, happen.

Jason McLaughlin Post #2 Aha

One other thing that struck me this weekend is how much information a principal needs to know. Every class that I take it seems that I find another area of knowledge that I have a lot to learn.  This weekend I saw that hiring is a process that you better have a specific plan to accomplish the task.  (including the procedures you will use, the questions, who will do the interviewing, when you call references, when to call and notify candidates that you do not want, etc...)  I am thinking that for each of these principal tasks I am going to create a document with the procedures that I will follow that I can refer to and change as I learn what works and what doesn't.  Is it common to have a document for each area/task a principal is responsible for? 

Ed's Thoughts

I thought the critical incident activity was a valuable tool for us as future administrators facing the application and interview process. It could give the interviewer a quick glance at the applicant's problem solving skills. It also might be a good activity to develop critical incident activities at a student level to teach the students problem solving strategies. In our district, we use a program to teach social and problem solving skills called Second Step. Students are presented with a problem and are asked to role play different scenarios. It teaches them to monitor their behavior.

Thoughts from 10/12

I am glad we are going to be doing the data analysis activities, even if they make me feel like the dumbest person on the planet. Again, I have worked for the past five years in facilities that have not had to collect data, and make AYP. This is something I need to keep up on, even if I just look at the data from neighboring school districts to where I live. Through the class discussions, I have realized some of the disservice that a few of the educators in the youth facility did to both the students and the schools that they went back to. These are the teachers that we discussed  who went to "work" and shouldn't really be in education any longer. They only made the students fill the seats. They did not set high expectations for achievement in their classrooms. Then the students went back to their home schools, and possibly negatively affected the AYP. 

Thoughts From 10/11

I teach in a very security conscience setting (a prison). So, my big aha moment came first thing  in the morning when the discussion began pertaining to the article about the threatening letter. My thoughts went immediately to what would happen where I work, chargeable offenses, incident reports, segregation, shipment to a different facility etc. Not to what I would do as a principal in a public school. I realized that if I am to someday work as a principal, I need to think outside the razor wire. I need to get back in touch with the public schools that I left five years ago.  

Thoughts on class 10/11

Hiring and recruiting teachers is a daunting task. As we were doing the case studies in class, it was a little shocking to understand that this is a process that happens every year several times over for a principal. To try to find the most qualified teacher that fits best with your school is always going to be a gamble. Yes there are things you can look for to help you decide, but in the long run your decision will affect every staff member and student and parent that your hire comes in contact with. This person will also affect the principals job security. Lastly, to add to the pressure of the hiring decision, the principal and the school will only be as effective as those the principal decides to hire.

Thoughts on class 10/12

When we were talking this morning about administrators living in the district where they worked, it touched a topic that I feel very strongly about. I do believe that administration in a district should live in and their children should attend schools in that district. In my mind, what message are you sending when you live and/or send your children to another district. We have a lot of this going on in my district. I believe in loyalty and as a parent I would wonder why administrators are saying we have the best schools in the state yet choose to send their children to the neighboring district. I also belive that it sends the message that maybe our schools are not safe or not as good. Last but not least, your livelihood depends on the very district that your are choosing not to support through property taxes. Not sure how one can justify this.

Ah-ha for 10-12

I guess I didn't realize how stupid people are when it comes to applying for jobs, interviewing, and hiring staff members. It seems some people really have no common sense when it comes to having sending resumes on legal paper, not dressing up for interviews, and hiring your spouse to work under you at the ROE. I realize Dr. Closen is right when he says that there are jobs available for everyone if you are willing to move. I would then guess that idiots have a high mobility rate within the state of Illinois.

A-Ha: Cynthia Hinderliter

I have been in several classes where data is seen as the Holy Grail. I was surprised that in this class, we also have spent time looking and analyzing data. I am finding out that data is instrumental in making many decisions, no matter who you are. It has many uses especially for principal candidates – provides background information on the district, shows areas that need attention, and gives the candidate background for questions to ask. However, one must also know how to read that data to be able to quote and interpret it to ask questions.