Franklin Crowder
Educator/Aspiring Administrator
HUMAN RESOURCES & RELATIONS
An education leader is able to effectively hire, induct, develop, and evaluate all staff involved in the process of continuous growth and improvement. Each staff member brings a unique skill set and level of adult development to the school. In human resources and relations, the education leader unifies and oversees that process. The educational administrator will need to exhibit and reflect on their work in human resources and relationships in experiences and activities over the course of their career.
TEACHER CANDIDATE INTERVIEWS
During the Internship experience, I had the opportunity to sit in and participate on interviews involving candidates for teaching positions at Sutherland Elementary School and Dinwiddie Middle School. As a member of the panel, we were given a list of questions to ask each candidate and took extensive notes based on their responses. Each interview lasted approximately 30-60 minutes and helped me to understand the similarities and differences of the interview process for both settings. There were several aspects that I would like to reference to in the interview process. These would include:
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achieved a great deal in a short amount of time
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worked effectively under a great deal of pressure
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were especially creative in solving a problem
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really had to remain flexible
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wrote a report that was well received by others
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had to make an unpopular decision
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were disappointed in your performance
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didn't handle a stressful situation very well
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were unable to complete a project on schedule despite your best effort.
This project was designed to give students in ELPS 853 experiences in pre and post observation conferences with two different career teachers and two different leadership styles. The project allowed allowed for multiple opportunities in which to explore, practice, and evaluate skills in conducting and supporting the evaluation and staff development process. In this project, we were given the opportunity to engage in two unofficial staff evaluation simulations.
I was able to to engage in a staff evaluation/supervision process with a new teacher (1-5 years experience) and a veteran teacher (more than 11 years). This process includes a pre-observation meeting, a 30-minute classroom observation , and a post-observation meeting in which plans are established to enhance performance in the classroom.
ELPS 853 PROJECT: TEACHER EVALUATION
TEACHER MENTOR: HIGH SCHOOL CADET
Dinwiddie High School offers a year-long honors elective for college-bound high school students who want to learn about the teaching profession called the Teacher Cadet Program. In the program, students spend the first semester studying the history of education, different learning styles, and teacher requirements. They also observe a variety of grade levels to get an idea of where they think they’d like to teach. Field experience comes in second semester when they get assigned to a class to work with teachers. Students learn the mechanics of teaching, creating lessons plans, and classroom management. I had the opportunity to work with a former student of mine who may want to become a Physical Education Teacher once his college requirements are fulfilled. For the first 10 sessions, the student observed the class and took notes on how I run my PE classes. The next 5 sessions allowed him to get his feet wet and co-teach with me in my classes. The final 5 sessions allowed for to observe his strengths and weaknesses while he taught lessons for my students. I provided feedback pon the spot as he taught. We both thought this was a valuable experience and it allowed for me to strengthen my observation skills while he gained experience in front of students.
ELPS 853 PROJECT: SELF-REFLECTION
The ongoing process of staff evaluation and staff development take on the critical elements of peer review. Since effective teaching is one of the correlates in the cycle of continuous improvement, each student must present a lesson, utilizing an instructor/student approved effective teaching strategy found either in current literature on effective teaching, or used in your experience in the field. This submission should be you either teaching this strategy to others or teaching a lesson utilizing a specific teaching strategy. Consensus and collaboration result from open, honest, and thoughtful conversations and critiques of each other’s work. Through the use of peer reviews, I had the opportunity to develop techniques that allow for mutual growth and development through a respectful and honest review of other’s work. In addirion, I recorede myself in a classroom teaching students and critiqued my perfromance as well as my peers. This was a worthwile experience as I got to review what I look like in a sudent's eyes and modify my performance for future classroom interactions.