How O Sees It.: Recent Episodes
Oriana Leithoff
Used for my Master's courses for leadership in education, these podcasts are reflection assignments for particular courses.
This episode is a reflection on my experiences with leaders supervising, mentoring and coaching and how those experiences relate to the research provided in the course so far.
References
Hallam, P. R., Smith, H. R., Hite, J. M., Hite, S. J., & Wilcox, B. R. (2015). Trust and collaboration in PLC teams. NASSP Bulletin, 99(3), 193–216.
Hallinger, P., Heck, R. & Murphy, J. (2014). Teacher evaluation and school improvement: An analysis of the evidence. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 26(1), 5–28.
Louis, K. S. & Wahlstrom, K. (2012). Shared and instructional leadership: When principals and teachers successful lead together. In K. Leithwood & K. Seashore Louis (Eds.), Linking leadership to student learning (pp. 25–41). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Retrieved from the Ebook Central e-book database*.
MacKay, J. (2017, September 5). The 7 Essential Qualities of Effective Feedback. Zapier. https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-give-effective-feedback/
Schleicher, A. (2015). Schools for 21st-century learners: Strong leaders, confident teachers, innovative approaches. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
This is a reflection on my biggest takeaways during a recent course, EDLM 550: Communication and School Leadership.
Background Information
This response was created through conversation with colleagues that teach at the high school level in Alberta. Many high school teachers have received the impression from the current government that education is not a priority, but more so, educators are expendable. The many press releases highlight the same 3 possible scenarios without including answers to the burning questions teachers have. High School teachers could not see how any of the government suggestions around cohorting, staggered pick up / drop off and even lunch schedules could accommodate the structure of a high school day. Through reading public forums such as “Alberta Teachers for Public Education” and relevant news articles, there are many perspectives on the re-entry plans, but a similar set of questions that begged to be answered.
On a local level, the two high schools in the Parkland District have at times felt outcast and left to their own leadership teams to come up with the answers. One of these high schools is 50 years old and would struggle to meet the guidelines set forth by the Alberta government. This building has many classroom without windows and adequate ventilation, the number of sinks for hand washing cannot facilitate the number of students in the building, areas in most hallways are only wide enough to accommodate single lane traffic in each direction, and recent budgets have been worked to keep teacher numbers high, but lower custodial staff hours. The screening process is another high priority item in the re-entry guidelines. In a building full of ‘invincible-adolescents,’ school staff must ensure that home screening protocol is strictly done on a daily basis, and that the response to illness noticed in the school is reacted to in a timely manner (Government of Alberta, 2020).
Many of these issues have come up in recent PD conversation at school, and even in casual conversation with colleagues during and after government press releases. It’s very clear that teachers believe their concerns are not being heard, and those that are creating the guidelines and policies have spent very little time in schools or high school classrooms. It’s the voices of students, teachers and parents that are necessary to create an appropriate and re-entry plan and not just parents and government officials that seem to be fixated only on reviving the economy.
References
CBC News. (2020, June 11). Alberta focused on return to ‘near normal’ classes to start 2020-21 school year. CBC News Edmonton. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-covid-19-schools-adriana-lagrange-deena-hinshaw-1.5606250
Government of Alberta. (2020). Guidance for school re-entry - scenario 1: in school class resume (near normal with health measures). Alberta.ca. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/3bc9f561-36aa-4ac8-8e73-afce55227c05/resource/a2d2778d-6a55-4954-b955-1074a4dd7393/download/edc-covid-guidance-school-re-entry-scenario-1.pdf
Vermund, S. H., & Pitzer, V. E. (2020). Asymptomatic transmission and the infection fatality risk for covid-19: implications for school reopening. Clinical Infectious Diseases: An Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2020 Jun 25. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa855