The Community

This chapter really connected with the book I just read called Black Ants and Buddhists. I read many ideas and thoughts that related to the topics in the chapter such as activism, parent involvement, community liaisons, and bridging the school/home culture.

A very important point I gained from this chapter and actually the book I read as well is that we cannot say that parent involvement is coming into the school constantly. We need to see parent involvement as anything form sending in glue sticks, reading a book to their child, responding to a note sent home, and of course coming into the school. Many families have two working parents and life is busy. I also see the point made in the chapter about past experiences and we may need to be the teacher that helps a parent get past their fear of schools and involvement and gain trust. All parents want the best for the children some parents may just not know how to express it or be an advocate for their child–as teachers we can help. Removing barriers is a term in the chapter that was enjoyable to me as well–a great way to put it.

The School Culture

I thought for this blog I would look at the “Effective Design for Small Schools” and compare to the school that I am currently working in. My school is far from small and I would LOVE to try out working in a small school some day but I thought it would be interesting to look at these factors and see where we are at. Of course this is not for every single teacher –this is just my overall perception of our school.

Personalization–We do not have the ideal smaller classes of 15 per class

Continuous relationships–I have yet to see a teacher loop in our school–it is not a practice that seems open unless you ask and then it might get thought about

Standards and performance assessment–We do have the GPS that we use and I am excited to say that I have been on the K report card committee for the county and we are moving to a standards based report card with a rubric this next school year–very exciting

Authentic curriculum–in depth learning–how about “teach to the test” learning–to me teach to the test is not real-world connection. The principal is excited about the new CRCT Coach books. But I do know teachers use real world connections in their teaching.

Adapted Pedagogy–Differentiated instruction–we have some teachers that just are not open to change and this kind of teaching. We have teachers that still put assignments on the board ands say “go at it”. We have others that do differentiated instruction all day long in all grades–so at least it is happening–that is a start

Antiracist Teaching–Not sure our school seeks out diversity–we are still working on a respectful community for all students–this needs to include everyone in the school–from administration to teachers to cafeteria etc… We are models…

Qualified Teachers–We have incredible teachers in our school. I hate to say not so good ones too because that is just the word out and I actually have not seen their teaching habits.

Collaboration and development–This year we are starting to get more collaboration time

Family/community Connections–I think we could be more family and community oriented

Democratic Decision Making–Shared governance? Common Vision? Not now anyway–I hope this changes. I did see a spot on our committee choices for next year for a “Professional Development Committee” –not sure what that will entail

I see the importance of all of these conditions to promote a positive school culture. All schools should have these conditions as goals to success.