Definition of Curriculum...

How has your definition of curriculum been shaped by the course readings and discussions? How and why has your definition of curriculum changed?

Initially, I defined curriculum as a document that was used to guide our lessons and control what was being taught in the classroom. (If that had a negative connation it was suppose to be that way:))

But now I have a new found respect for the curriculums that are being developed and revised in our county each year. I look at the curriculums now as a useful course of study that is provided to teachers to deliver explicit instruction in the classroom. Ironically, this is necessary so that school system can meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Before, I viewed the written curriculum as a useless document that was developed by “naysayers” that did not have the competency to understand how math should be taught to students. I felt like the expectations of the teachers were impossible and as long as I made sure my students were delivered the concepts according to the required state standards then I was doing what was needed for a learning community in my classroom.

But now I feel I was so wrong in my interpretation! The course readings and discussions with my colleagues have helped me to see how dynamic the curriculums that are developed in our school district really are. Especially in comparison to some of the curriculums that my team members are forced to use to teach. In an activity we had to examine elements of our team members school curriculum and I was saddened of some of the conditions that other teachers are expected to teach from. This made me have an appreciation for what my school district develops for our teachers.

For instance, In Glatthorn’s text Developing a Quality Curriculum he revealed to me the value of a school district having a quality curriculum for their schools. Particularly, I realized how individualizing the curriculum can simplify teaching students with different aptitudes and learning needs. The curriculum that I analyzed met the requirements of the components of the curriculum to be considered a curriculum of excellence according to Glatthorn’s book.

My only opposition is that the textbook that is being used is not aligned with the state standards. To be frank, they have placed our 5th grade students in a 6th grade middle school book with the efforts to increase the rigor among students learning. This makes teaching difficult to find additional items outside of the textbook materials to reinforce the skills to students. From my research, most textbooks are aligned in a developmental sequence that ultimately gives the students what they should learn by the completion of that grade. Since the textbook for grade five was developed for students in grade six those fifth grade students are missing a huge component that would help them to make connections in mathematics in the future. To illustrate for you what I am saying, when it was time to teach adding and subtracting like denominators, we had to use a previous textbook because the current textbook considered that concept (along with others)a prerequisite skill for their textbook.
But all in all, our fifth grade mathematics curriculum framework is aligned with the Maryland State Department of Education Voluntary State Curriculum. The curriculum framework makes it easy for a teacher to differentiate instruction to meet the goals and objectives for all students in the classroom. Moreover, it provides the resources that teachers need to infuse technology and effective learning strategies for struggling and advanced students.

This class has helped me to determine what to look for in a quality curriculum and how vital it is for a teacher to scrutinize the curriculum they are teaching to students.

For the 21st century learners, it would be ideal to include instructional technology in students’ learning curriculums. Computers and digital media would make learning more engaging for the students of today. In the written curriculum, suggestions can be made of websites that teachers can use for resources to teach or reinforce a concept. The taught curriculum is curriculum of the concepts that the teacher actually teach in the classroom. Teachers can use digital books and web 2.0 tools to connect the students to meaning and understanding of concepts in the curriculum. I would like to see teachers using blogs for student reflections and literature book discussion groups. With the tested curriculum students are expected to know the fundamentals of surfing and navigating the internet and the functions of basic keys on the computer. In retrospect, if students are using the computers and internet in the classroom then they will not have a difficulty with the standards related to technology on the test.

With the science portion of our district testing they are moving towards having all of the 5th grade students complete the state assessment on the computer. My opinion of this is that they will have the students test on the computer to satisfy the NETS-A requirements for the county, however it seems meaningless to me if the technology is not embedded in the curriculum so the students can practice and benefit from using technology throughout the school year.

Our students of today are very different learners. This generations’ thinking requires multiple visual assimilations to grasp their interest in learning new and innovative concepts. As a school leader my goal will be to seek teachers that are willing to use technology, visual aids, manipulatives and other hands on teaching tools to entice students to learn concepts they are trying to teach.

I think that promoting centers and stations are excellent ways to infuse technology into the classrooms. Hence it is an effective way to employ technology into the taught curriculum. I would promote flexible groupings in the classroom so that students could have a variety of tasks and a plethora of digital media that can be used daily in the classroom. I believe that integrating technology is a resource that can be used to differentiate instruction so that students will have the opportunity to learn. I foster the use of technology by including it in activities, lessons, and assessments in the classroom. For example, I use the Interwrite whiteboard for visual and tactile learners, speakers and headsets for my auditory learners and computers for my sequential learners.

I get pleasure from adding a variety of technology to instruction. Hence, with the proper school leadership teachers can learn to build confidence in utilizing technology; therefore they can facilitate the knowledge to create an atmosphere where technology flourishes in the classroom and we will have schools with productive climates for learning in the 21st century.

My Philosophy on the purpose of school...

My philosophy about the purpose of school is that school is an institution that is for learning.

I feel that it is a place where students go to learn and teachers are there to guide them to learn.

I believe that everyone should be afforded the opportunity to attend school and obtain an education. Additionally, I feel that parents should guide their children to an understanding of the importance of education by making sure that they attend school. In some countries students have to walk miles and miles just to go to school to obtain skills for an education while some do not have them privilege at all because they have to work to help take care of their families. In my opinion, everyone should have the opportunity to attend school.

When a student attends school I feel that schools should be an environment that is conducive for new and innovative learning. A school should exhibit learning on the wall of the hallways, in someone’s voice over the intercom and it should be displayed in students while walking the halls. Students should be happy to attend school each day. When a person enters in a school building, they should see a school climate of learning.

In retrospect, students should learn to read, write, learn a variety of languages, compute math and learn technology as a priority in today’s curriculum. I feel that with the diversity of cultures that are entering our schools it is important that we become more flexible to learning other language as well as the basic skills. I do agree that English should be the first learned language, however we could start our young school starters with diversity when they enter kindergarten.

For me this notion also stands the same for technology as it is ever-evolving. As technology changes I believe that soon it will be including in state standards from K-12. What I have found with using technology and multi-medias in the classroom is that it helps with differentiating instruction as well as enhancing the diverse learning styles in the classrooms. I believe that integration of technology is the pathway to academic success in the 21st century. Additionally, the complexities of computer technology could assist students with the logical reasoning that could be applied to curriculum today.

My career demonstrates my beliefs because I currently teach 5th grade in a Title-one school and my goal is to expose students to as much technology as possible. In our school we have limited resources but that doesn’t stop me from making sure my students learn. I was a career changer that chose to teach to make a difference in American schools. And each year I strive to make an impact on my students by stressing the importance of obtaining an education.

But most of all, I have a strong passion to assist students with learning gaps to get them on track with their learning. I believe that all students can be successful, it just takes a teacher with a passion to teach to engage students to learn.

Post-Observation Reflection

After the post observation, I had the opportunity to review, analyze and reflect on the video conference that was held. It was clear that at the start of the post-conference video we both seemed a little antsy. I think it was difficult for Mr. Novice to see me in the role of a supervisor than his “everyday” colleague. But I think my nervousness was stemming from the anxiety of fulfilling the conference video presentation requirement.

We meet in my classroom at a round table that is normally used for parent-teacher conference or grade-level meeting. I felt this was a non-threatening place to meet because we have had several meetings together here before. I chose to sit adjacent to Mr. Novice as oppose to, across the table from him. I chose this seating arrangement because I wanted it to be a comfortable meeting so that the dialogue would be free, friendly and flowing. As an aspiring school leader, I want to be able to be a “democratic” supervisor that creates a reflective atmosphere for the staff that I work with. Hence, I did not want to seem as if I was “playing principal” but in fact, the information that I was to provide from the observation was information that could be utilized to enhance his performance as a classroom teacher.

One thing that I learned in “communication 101” years ago is that making eye-contact helps to create an effective environment for communication. The person you are communicating with will observe you as someone who is attentive and listening to what they are conveying. So this is what I strive to do from the onset.

Interestingly enough, we had to stop and rewind the recording three times because it was almost impossible for Mr. Novice to keep a straight face whenever I gave the introduction to the post-conference. I was taken aback because I realized that his thinking was as if I was “playing principal” and that I was going to have to switch my position if I was going to appear as a supervisor during this post-conference.

After the third time of rewind, I told the volunteer that was recording to keep rolling the tape and do not stop and start over even if Mr. Novice continued to “act out”. At that moment in my mind, I think that I was thinking that as an administrator there may be some instances where some of my staff may not take me serious or would challenge my authority during times of conferences or disciplinary action meetings. And I would need to be able to successfully conduct a conference without letting those types of antics become interferences.

When the recording started again, I watched my disposition and body language on the video. I observed my body language as if I was trying to exert power from the onset. Initially, I was speaking very fast and my eyebrows were lifted. I was also using finger gestures that appeared as if I was demanding attention. To confirm my observation, I rewind the recording and muted the sound to watch my actions. I seemed very frustrated and in a haste pace to finish the conference.

Contrary to my actions, Mr. Novice changed his course of disposition as well. He suddenly demonstrated a rather closed body language with his arms and legs crossed. At that moment I think that I was backing him in a “defensive” position, which is what I was striving so hard not to portray.

My tone was soft and firm and as I commended Mr. Novice on the areas that I revealed to be his strengths. His arms almost instantly unfolded. He then began a steady nod of agreeance as I praised him for relating the context of vocabulary to real life situations so that the students in his classroom could understand. He then responded with “ it is important to me that students understand the context of words and not just memorize the definitions so I believe providing them with examples can help apply an association with the word.” That statement open positive doors for me and at that moment I knew that we were very close to to the reflectivity that I was aiming for with this conference.

When I pulled out the classroom observation form, I asked him had he had the opportunity to look at the observation form that I previously sent him via e-mail. He interjected and stated that he wanted me to know that I did a very thorough job at capturing the events of the lesson. He continued by stating he was impressed to see that I had forwarded it to him for review before the post-conference and that I should mentioned the process to our current principal. I then asked him how did receiving a copy of the observation before this post-conference make him feel? He answered that it helped him to recall the events of the observation which creates dialogue in the meeting. He continued by saying that he has had two informal observation and both times they were rushed or he didn’t recall the lesson because he wasn’t given the opportunity to reflect on the lesson. At this point, I felt that the post conference had taking a turn for the best.

In retrospect, it was a complex meeting. I am not one for center-stage but what consistently raced through my mind was that my professor was going to view this video and I could not look as if I could not handle a post-conference. It started out rocky but as it continued I think that my novice teacher took a different perspective of my role and advice. All and all, I think that the post-conference was collaborative and it offered an enormous amount of reflection.

At the end of the video, Mr. Novice thanked me for the recommendations and said that even though this was a video for my class he wanted to try some of the suggestions and provide me with feedback on the outcome. (I smiled.)

I had the opportunity to observe the set up of classrooms on the 3rd grade level. It was very interesting to see how all of the room arrangements were very different among the four classes. One room was arranged in a traditional room set-up (Room A), two of them had the students seats arranged collaboratively (Room B and C) and the last room didn’t seem to have any order to the arrangement of the classroom (Room D). My initial reaction was that the classroom setups were probably geared to the teaching style of the teacher.

Room A was a huge open space that had desks arranged in rows. It was set in an array of 6 rows of 5 desks. The teacher’s desk is located at the front center of the room. On the walls there are maps and posters that clearly identify this is a science and social studies classroom. The teacher seemed to position herself at the front of the classroom during instruction time. It was more of a directed instruction. The students did not get out of their seats but the way the desks are arranged it seemed to be a tight squeeze to move around between the desks.

Room B and Room C were set up similarly. The two classroom teachers team teach so therefore I noticed that the two rooms mirrored one another. My assumption is that though the students switch classes the teachers wanted to have continuity between the two classrooms for the students. The desks were arranged in 7 quads of 4 desks. I gathered this was done this way so that the students could engage in collaborative work more freely. In Room B the teacher’s desk is off to the side near the closet area. In Room C the teacher’s desk is located behind the visualizer. Both classroom teachers appeared to walk the floors of the classroom as they gave instruction to the students. Room B had students working in groups at all measures of the classroom. Some students were even stretched out relaxed on the floor as they collaboratively worked in groups.

Room D seating arrangements did not seem to have any order. Some groups had 4 desks some had 5 one group had 6 and there were a row of desks toward the back. There was not a teacher desk visible. As I walked around the room I found the teacher’s desk in the back of the room hidden behind a divider. Ironically, this is where I found the teacher J as the students were working independently.

All of the rooms had at least five computers. However, none of the classes had students utilizing them while I was scanning the room.

As I reflect on my analysis of the room arrangements of the classrooms I think that how your room is set up can clearly help supervising staff know what method of instructional teaching you use in your classrooms. I think that as teachers we all have different teaching styles and in lieu of that students’ have a variety of learning styles. In my opinion, it is important to add that same diversity to the classroom so that you do not force your teaching style on students that may learn differently.
I learned that as a future principal it will be vital to inform my staffs of the importance of arranging their room so that it meets the needs of all students because how a room is arranged could impact a student learning.

Week 6:Reflection

Creating a positive school culture could assist leadership with growth while performing school reform.. The climate of the school impacts the way students learn, teachers teach and administrators lead. With a positive school culture we are able to fulfill our mission and educate our youth. School culture makes up the cultures, differences or values that allow the environment of the school to function. The culture itself is not limited to nationalities but also differences in learning. In entails how people treat each other, what their values are, and traditions/ rituals they might have in the school. The culture of the school depends on the students, staff and the parents. Peterson supported this definition in his article Positive or Negative by saying that "School culture is the set of norms, values and beliefs, rituals and ceremonies, symbols and stories that make up the 'persona' of the school.”

With this in mind, the positivity of the school culture could drive the steps of school reform. The type of reform a school chooses to use will warrant all of the stake holders to participate in order for the reform to be successful. With the reform, and looking at differences in cultures it is vital that equity is fostered to for all individuals.

One thing that I learned that will shadow me as a school leader is that you must engage in equity among your staff. I say this because in my school there is a lot of inequitable actions that are directed to some of our teachers. Some are giving more resources, some are given newer technology and in many cases some have known. From the readings I learned that in order for a school to grow, equity is important not only to change the mindset of the staff but to promote motivation to buy in to the reform.

Another thing that I ponder greatly with this segment of the course is the understanding of our idea of special education students. I am going to ensure, when I become a school leader, that all students are given the opportunity to learn regardless of their disabilities or inabilities. Since I am the inclusion teacher, I normally have a mass of students that are different from special education to emotional disturbed. The way I handled them in my class is to treat them as each one should be treated individually. Fair is considered by what your needs are. This concept is very difficult for my general education students but they have to learn to have empathy for others and that they are different and should not be compared to someone that may be physically or academically challenged. In my opinion it is important to recognize and acknowledge the differences in others in a positive manner so that they will know their differences are accepted. At my current school our handicapped students is addressed in a way that satisfies the school mission with the differences in the school culture. For example, when a student is unable to participate in Physical Education alternative activities are created for them. Some examples are viewing videos pertaining to the course, participate in the lessons by observation of the classes and then they write about what they observed. In many cases, they find ways to incorporate the student so that they can be involved with the class. Another example that I recall is when a class was reading The Charlie Bone books(similar to Harry Porter) and a parent did not want her child participating for religious beliefs. The teacher and administration addressed in a positive manner by giving the student an alternative reading book to complete the assignment on. This made the parent happy that the school respected her beliefs and took her culture and values for consideration. This differentiation of instruction ensures the equity of all students.

Week Three: Effective Leaders

This week we have learned a vast amount of information in regards to how I now view an effective leader. I was given a portrait of how an authentic leader is one who is genuine and sincerely has the vision of the school among their forefront. In my opinion, they will do what is necessary to reach the goal because it is a part of their belief system. They are able to strategic plan for success and when problems arise they can solve them in a constructive, concise manner. These leaders, to me are very confident in what they do and it would be presumed that they were born to lead.
Next we compared and contrasted servant and steward leadership. As stated in the Jossey-Bass Reader on page 80, "Servant leadership is to give a sense of direction, to establish an overarching purpose." I agree and add to that by saying a servant leader is one who leads by serving others. The best cliché that we often hear that comes to mind, when thinking of servant leadership is,” when you find a great leader your have found a great follower.” Abraham Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs states in order for someone to obtain personal growth they must go through the different tiers of needs. With that mentioned, an administrator would need to care and serve their staff in order to help them to reach their full potential in life. Stewardship on the other hand, would be define as the administrator who is responsible for taking care to make sure all parties that are related to the school are taking care of. The school is not theirs; however, they have responsibility to make sure the school climate is a positive working and learning environment. The main difference I comprehended between servant and steward leadership is that the servant assist and helps and stewards manage, administer and delegates task that should be done.
With all of that learned I think Leadership has to implement and encourage vision in a school. I believe characteristics of successful leaders should promote teacher leadership and student learning, they should be great listeners and have strong communication skills, they should be willing to lead by example, and possess the traits to have a genuine concern to assist their staff with personal growth.