As a special education teacher, there are many variations of the teams that I work on in the school. Each student has a primary team which we call the IEP team, this includes the parents, teachers, administrators, and specialists. On a day to day basis, the other teams that come into play are other special education teachers, reading specialists, grade level teams, and paraprofessionals. The goal and moral purpose of each team is to do what is best for the child and meet his or her needs.
When addressing the statement “Get the right people on your team, and get the wrong ones off,” there are many factors to consider. Some people in a team are essentials and must be on the team no matter what, for example, parents. For these team members, it is nonnegotiable to make the relationships as positive as possible. When thinking about other team members and getting the right people on your team and the wrong ones off, we need to know who the right ones are. The right people aren’t necessarily the ones that all agree on the same ideas. Fullan (2001) states, “By supporting the like-minded, leaders trade off early smoothness for later greif. If you include and value naysayers, noise in the early stages will yield later, greater implementation” (p. 75). In a sense, getting the right people on your team is getting a diversity of people and ideas. However, I don’t necessarily think that to get the right people on a team, the wrong ones must be pushed off. If we think of the “wrong” people as ones that disagree with us, they are actually bringing diversity. If we think of them as the people that agree with us too much, they also don’t deserve to be removed from the team. The “wrong” people may be those who don’t have a common moral purpose and create damage to the team, they may need to get removed. It is important to remember that, “the absence of conflict can be a sign of decay” (Fullan, 2001, p. 74), so we need to know how to work with a wide array of people. Grant (2016) says that diverse teams tend to focus more on facts, process the facts more carefully, and are more innovative. His reasoning for all of these is that a diverse team allows you to “dodge the costly pitfalls of conformity.” He does caution that the team must be organized to have inclusive practices so that every person feels heard. As a 23 year old, I was a new graduate that was put into a role of managing people who were twice my age. This was a very intimidating task! I have learned quite a bit, but still have so many areas to grow in. The more I read about emotional intelligence (EI), the more I realize how instrumental it is for a leader to have. I took a quiz on mindtools.com to find my strengths and weaknesses of my EI and it seemed to come back pretty accurate. It gave me ⅘ stars on self-regulation as my strongest category and ⅖ stars on social skills, definitely an area that I need to work on! The times I have felt the most flustered in a leadership position are when someone reacts angrily to a decision that I made that was not intended to make them feel that way. Knowing how to deal with conflict is an area that I struggle with and need to strengthen to become a better leader. Alguilar (2015) lists many indicators of weak and strong EI in a group and she says that, “Emotionally intelligent teams have ways of managing the moods that one member is experiencing as well as their moods as a team.” Knowing that EI can play a huge role in the culture of change in a team can help us focus on relationships and clear communication and expectations. I know I need to work on my social skills in the areas of conflict and difficult situations. Luckily, EI can be learned, developed, and practiced. Conflict helps a team come up with new, innovating ideas and allowing everyone to be and feel heard requires relationships with each member of the team. Aguilar, E. (2015, June 29). The Key to Effective Teams in Schools: Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved March 29, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/key-effective-teams-schools-emotional-intelligence-elena-aguilar Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Grant, D. R. (2016, November 04). Why Diverse Teams Are Smarter. Retrieved March 29, 2017, from https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter Manktelow, J., Eyre, E., Jackson, K., Cook, L., Edwards, S., Bishop, L., . . . Moss, I. (n.d.). Building Great Work Relationships: Making Work Enjoyable and Productive. Retrieved March 29, 2017, from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/good-relationships.htm
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This week we discussed the difference between teaching children and mentoring adults. This is a very relevant topic considering we are currently mentoring an adult and most are teaching children. It made me very reflective of the learning that I have experienced as an adult. Most have been in scenarios where there is a lecture hall, a powerpoint, a professor, and a notebook in front of me. I can’t say that these are the most pleasant experiences nor the ones where I learn the most. Reading the text opened my eyes to how important mentorship is to learning as an adult.
My thoughts this week contributed to the learning of Sarah and Natalie. Natalie agreed that adults should be offered many modes to accessing information, just like we do with children. Sarah also could connect with my thoughts and would like to see a change in the ways professional development is offered to teachers. I read and commented on Sarah’s blog this week. She talked about the difference between teaching and mentoring. I really connected with Sarah when she said that she does not have more knowledge than her mentee, but a different perspective. I added to her idea and noted that a mentorship relationship works when both parties are motivated and learning. Matthew shared about adult learning and how the characteristics are different and more complicated than children. He talked about how his mentee is a man who is one year away from retirement. I offered encouragement for Matthew and helped him keep his focus on mentoring to help a colleague engage and experiment with a 21st century classroom. Overall, this week showed me the complexities of adult learning. Often adults are required to use their skills of sitting and listening to learn. This, however, is not the best way for adults to learn. A mentorship relationship allows for adults not only to have someone to motivate them and guide the way, but it allows for constant reflection. When it comes to teaching children, there seems to be so much effort put into making lessons engaging, creative, and motivating for students. This effort tends to fall short with adult learners. In many scenarios where adults are required to learn, the setting includes a room full of adults with a notebook and a speaker with a powerpoint presentation at the front of the room. This is in no way how we would teach young children how to learn because it is not motivating in any sense. Do adult learners not deserve to be motivated?
One reason that this technique of teaching to adults may be used is that it is an easy way to get a plethora of information to a large group. Another reason may be that adult learners will learn the best in a mentoring environment (Papa, 2011, p. 103). Mentoring scenarios allow for collaboration and communication between adults. Adult learners become more productive when they are seen as colleagues by their leaders and both can learn together (Pullagurla, 2014). A mentorship can also target the way that each adult learns the best, this may be written or verbal, visually, kinesthetic, or auditory (Papa, 2011, p. 103). Mentorship relationships with adults are different than teaching children because adults have wide array of background knowledge. Each person can bring different insights and backgrounds to the conversation (Gaetano, 2016). When mentoring adults, the primary way to make sure learning and deep understanding occurs is to ensure that the adult is motivated. Adult learners are often motivated by how the information relates to previous experiences and the need to know new information. Papa (2011) states, “Contextual understanding by the education leader is as critical as the transfer of knowledge and how it is transferred through strategies and activities” (p.98). If we are to mentor other adults, we need to make sure that the information that we are trying to convey has context and is transferred in a way that is motivating to our mentee. A mentorship is not always available for all the information that leaders need to deliver to their staff, but there are a few points to keep in mind when thinking about the adult learner. Elena Aguilar (2011) says there are five components to keep in mind: adults need to be motivated and the experience should feel positive, they want to be in control of their learning, they need realistic and important objectives, need concrete experiences to apply what they learned, and adults have self-direction and past experiences. Mentoring adults and teaching children both require time and effort to make a lasting impact on learning. References: Aguilar, E. (2011, August 22). The Science Behind Adult Learning. Retrieved March 23, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/adult-learning-pd-elena-aguilar Gaetano, K. (2016, January 13). 5 Ways Adults Learn Differently than Children. Retrieved March 23, 2017, from http://learnkit.com/2016/01/13/adult-learning-needs/ Papa, R. (2011). Technology leadership for school improvement. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Pullagurla, A. (2014, August 16). 6 Top Facts About Adult Learning Theory. Retrieved March 23, 2017, from https://elearningindustry.com/6-top-facts-about-adult-learning-theory-every-educator-should-know This week I had the honor of hosting the twitter chat for our class. It was really fun to pre-read the material and try to think of questions that could really cause some deep conversations. I was surprised at the questions that did cause conversation. One question specifically that I was holding off on was, “Should a leader's motives be egotistic (self-centered) or alturistic (unselfish)?” People had many things to say and contributed and added ideas to one another.
https://twitter.com/andreacolvin91/status/839309922311401472 This week I read Jule’s blog and she talked about teaching the whole student and using SEL to achieve this moral purpose. I loved how articulate she was with her moral purpose and can definitely connect with her. I added on to her thoughts by sharing an article about SEL for students and why it is essential to their learning. Natalie talked about how SMART goals can help us see results in our moral purpose. Fullan talks about how we should have measureable goals to help others achieve results from a guiding moral purpose. I can relate to Natalie with wanting goals, as a special education teacher, my entire job is focused on the goals of my students. Jim talked about how his moral purpose was doing what is best for kids. I shared with him that my daily motto when making decisions is, “what is best for kids?” I also shared a reading challenge that our school does to motivate students to read. Getting kids to have fun and learn at the same time creates lasting habits and memories. This week my blog impacted the learning of Gerald. He was really moved by the video that I shared. It was about a principal in a low income school. She needed leadership with a strong moral purpose to create a learning space that was loving and welcoming. I will post my twitter session as soon as I have access to my computer again.
My moral purpose has been deeply ingrained in me since I was a small child. When I was 21/2 I became a big sister to my brother John. One thing that I didn’t know about John until I was a little older was that he had Down syndrome. My whole life, I have grown up as an advocate for people with disabilities. John is my brother, I didn’t know any different from any other brother. He helped me learn that people with disabilities are people just like me and you, they have feelings, enjoy life, and, most importantly, should have access to everything anyone else does. When I was in 2nd grade, my teacher inspired me to become a teacher myself one day. Fast forward to high school, I realized that my passion for people with disabilities and my passion for teaching children overlapped and I could do both. Here I am today, dual certified as a special education teacher and elementary education teacher.
In my current teaching position, I have had the honor of working with 3 students for the past 3 years who qualify for “intensive funding,” this means that they get individualized support throughout the day to support their inclusion in the general education classroom. My moral purpose has contributed to my leadership with these students by advocating for them and supporting them to gain access to what all children receive in the school system. At times, it was (and still is) really hard, but I know all students deserve the opportunity to participate in and access the general education classroom. Fullan (2001) describes leadership that has a strong moral purpose must have an explicit “making-a-difference” sense of purpose, use strategies to get people to tackle tough problems, have measurable indicators of success, and awaken people’s intrinsic commitment (p. 20). I know my moral purpose and I think it is an important one, I am far from being perfect leader, but I am trying! An example of a woman who is a great leader with a very strong moral purpose is Linda Cliatt-Wayman. She became a principal at a very low poverty school. She shared that on her first day a student said, “Why do you keep calling this a school? This is not a school.” This motivated her to make the school a welcoming learning environment. She shared that her 3 slogans are:
Her moral purpose helped improve this school not only in academics and attendance, but made it an overall welcoming place for the students. Palmer (2007) talks about how teaching goes beyond technique by saying, “good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher” (p. 10). This reflects what Fullan says about moral purpose. Our moral purpose is our identity and integrity, it is required in leaders like Cliatt-Wayman. All students are deserving of an education. They all deserve access to peers and teachers who will shape them to be great people. If we take this access away from any child, we take away their right to pursue happiness (Kushner 2004). My moral purpose, all children can learn and deserve equal opportunity, has shaped me as a teacher and how I lead with those around me for the benefit of each student. References Cliatt-Wayman, L. (2015, May). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from https://www.ted.com/talks/linda_cliatt_wayman_how_to_fix_a_broken_school_lead_fear lessly_love_hard/transcript?language=en Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. John Wiley & Sons. Kushner, T. (2004, November 10). The Power of One: A Teacher Can Make Every Child Feel Important. Retrieved March 9, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/power-one Palmer, P. J., Jackson, M., & Tucker, E. (2007). The courage to teach: exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. https://biochem.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/labs/attie/publications/Heart_of_a_Teacher.pd f Mentor Project Update
My mentorship project is with the speech language pathologist at our school. There is a student at my school who has very low language and accuracy in body movements. They have tried to use proloquo to go with this student, but she is too young. What they have found is a device called the Dynavox. It is in the form of a tablet and has a communication system on it. There are categories for the student to choose from and then lists of questions, statements, positive comments, and negative comments. The student got this device about a month ago. The speech language pathologist is setting up the Dynavox for the student and I have been helping with the process. I have also been helping her implement the device and had conversations with her to talk about what that will look like in full usage.
We had plans to set up the dynavox for her to communicate happy feelings as an initial lesson. In our first meeting, however, my mentee expressed an immediate need for the student to be able to express her wants and needs. The student often communicates in the form of hitting adults around her. I made low-tech cards to mimic what the student would see on the screen. These have been working in the speech room and she has been using them. Another idea that we came up with was using a peer to model the use of the dynavox. This student is very motivated by her peers, so seeing a peer using it in a positive way that got a message across is one of the first steps in her using it by herself to communicate. Overall, this device has been very difficult for both the speech language pathologist and myself to learn. Being able to ask each other questions and troubleshoot together has been a great resource. The majority of our work together has been talking about how to scaffold the usage of this device for the student and the adults who work with her. This starts with a low-tech communication system that mimics the actual technology and slowly teaching the student how to use it. This week I found the leadership topic making me reflect not only on strong leaders in my life, but on my own leadership qualities. Reading others blogs opened my eyes to the reading in new ways and made me think about leadership from a multitude of perspectives.
My blog this week reflected mainly on my leadership qualities of moral purpose and relationship building in terms of a special education teacher. I think this was a new perspective to many people because it seemed to have an impact on many of my peer’s learning. Tristan, Jule, and Gerald both shared how it was good to hear about leadership through a special education teacher perspective. Josie and Jim both connected with the moral purpose that I shared, “What is best for kids?” I read Sarah’s blog this week and was moved by the amount of different leadership qualities she shared and how well they aligned with one another. What she seemed to lack was actual implementation of the qualities, so I shared a website with her that gave some in-practice examples. http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/ed-leadership/5-school-leadership-qualities-every-teacher-possess/ Jule shared a fascinating image about how a leader helps with the process versus just telling a team what to do. She reflected on her strengths of moral purpose, relationship building, and understanding the change process. She mentioned feeling a lack of confidence in knowledge creation and sharing, I provided her encouragement in this. Her blogs weekly always seem to have great ideas about making a 21st century classroom and this is valuable knowledge to share with peers. Larissa shared how critical it is for a leader to have a strong moral purpose to be a great leader. She talks about how some of the components carry more weight than others. Without moral purpose, she talks about how a leader would have a difficult time staying on a straight and narrow path. I told Larissa that I agree that moral purpose is very important for a leader and it drives the rest of the components. Week 7: Why are all five components of leadership necessary for success in leading through change?3/3/2017 As a special education teacher, I have many different roles in the school; Learning support, behavior specialist, case manager, etc. One important leadership role in my job is managing paraprofessionals and their work with students. Fullan (2001) lists the five main components of leadership as moral purpose, understanding change, relationship building, knowledge creation and sharing, and coherence making. These components are critical in leadership roles and I have been learning (and working on) these to better myself and work toward what is best for the students.
The first and foremost component of leadership is moral purpose, which Fullan (2001) describes as, “acting with the intention of making a positive difference in the lives of employees, customers, and society as a whole” (p. 3). They has been a key factor in my first 3 years of teaching. With moral purpose as a driving factor, I can ask myself in any situation, “What is best for the kids?” This has been critical when working with students with large behaviors and paraprofessionals that work as 1:1 support for those students. There have been times where I have wondered what is the best decision and the right course of action to take. Times where I have wondered what if the goal is for a student to complete a worksheet or develop transition and social skill to navigate the school day. As a special education teacher, my moral purpose as a leader is crucial to giving the students the best education they can have. Elias (2013) says, “To follow any leader, others must be convinced of that leader's dedication to equity, fairness, overcoming disadvantage, and giving voice,” working with paraprofessionals and other teachers, my moral purpose must show and always be the forefront of my work. Another component that I find to be extremely important to lead a team with the purpose of making a student’s program the best it can be is through relationship building. Relationships with parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, specialists, and administration can ease feelings of hesitation and nervousness with any of the parties involved. Rush states, “Building positive relationships might involve active listening, demonstrating respect and incorporating others’ ideas into your proposed plans for helping students.” Building relationships as a leader makes communication with all parties open and promote problem solving in a positive manner. Fullan (2001) talks about how relationship building leads to purposeful interactions problem solving. I can’t say that I am an expert of either of these areas, but I do find them to be extremely important in my job. I am working on becoming more consistent with sharing my moral purpose and intentional with relationship building. As a special education teacher, it is crucial for me to take a leadership role to ensure inclusion for my students (York-Barr, 2009). I need growth and consideration in all areas as a leader, but I can start working on all components in my career to make positive changes for all students. References Elias, M. J. (2013, July 18). 6 Paths to Better Leadership. Retrieved March 02, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/educators-improving-school-leadership-maurice-elias Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. John Wiley & Sons. Rush, M. (2013, November 24). Leadership Skills for Special Education Teachers. Retrieved March 02, 2017, from http://work.chron.com/leadership-skills-special-education-teachers-27448.html York-Barr, J. (2009). Impact Newsletter: Special Educators as Teacher Leaders in Inclusive Schools. Retrieved March 02, 2017, from https://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/161/over9.html |
AuthorAndrea Colvin Archives
April 2017
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