Section 4 Questions

Section 4 Short Essay Questions

1.      There are two performance problems in my area of teaching HS that came to mind while reading through chapter 14.  These are probably a stretch, as I had a difficult time coming up with issues that are resolved in a non-instructional way, but they are teacher attendance and maintaining teacher positivity throughout the school year.   

Often times, especially during heavy sports times during the school year, we find it difficult to find enough substitutes to cover for all those who are out.  In a district I used to teach at, not my current one, they gave a huge non-instructional incentive for us to be in attendance for everyday, or at least most days, of the school year.  Each teacher who signed up for a 403B account through the company the district used was granted 3% matching costs of whatever the teacher put into their account that school year as long as they missed no more than 3 days.  3% doesn’t seem like a lot, but I know it was a huge motivational factor for most of us to attend this amount of school days throughout the year. 

Another performance problem, although some may not see it as such, that I see often in my fellow teachers is an inability to remain positive, both inside and outside of the classroom.  Teaching any age students can be a very stressful and hectic job, but I think the importance of positivity is looked over often in the mix of grades, sports, TAKS testing, and extracurricular events.  There are several ways I think the positivity can be enhanced and maintained.  One thing that could be done is for the administrators and each other show each other support and give kudos when a job has been well done.  My principal, for example, sent me a short email last week telling me what a good job I’m doing and how much he appreciates my positivity and energetic attitude toward my students.  This is the first and only time I have ever had a principal do this in 9 years of teaching.  That’s sad, but true.  This email alone made my positive attitude heighten even more than it already was.  The need for this from our colleagues is important and useful as well, but hearing things like this from the administration can have an even greater effect, I believe. 

Another way positivity can be encouraged in a non-instructional way is through a monthly “teacher of the month” could be voted on by the entire student body at lunches or by the members of the student council.  Being recognized like this could be the difference in a teacher having that positive attitude or slipping into the ever nasty negative one. 

A third way I think a positive attitude in teachers could be increased is by participating in more team-building or group activities outside of school which would force people to meet and get to know other teachers in the building they may not otherwise get the chance to.  Last year our staff went bowling and they purposely grouped us with people who are not in some kind of “click” and who are not necessarily friends outside of work.  This really started the year off on a positive note and many of us could see that come through in our interactions with one another, in our attitudes toward our students, and in our teaching in general.

2.      https://www.msu.edu/~sleightd/epss_copy.html

Using the website above, I was able to see a slightly differing definition than the one offered in the text.  “An Electronic Performance Support System is, according to Barry Raybould, ‘a computer-based system that improves worker productivity by providing on-the-job access to integrated information, advice, and learning experiences’ (Raybould, 1991).  The difference or addition that I noticed here was the term “advice” being used.  Of course this “advice” could just refer to a kind of “help” feature offered by most EPSS’s, but I found it interesting still.  It would almost be nice for these systems to offer an instance “help” feature or even a feature where you could talk to or chat with others who are using that specific system.  This feature could also include suggestions or tips made by prior users.  A characteristic of EPSS’s offered in this source is that they “reduce the need for prior training.”  This is something I could see as being untrue, as there are still employees hired who may or may not have the technology experience and/or abilities to work their way through the EPSS and their questions, concerns, and issues with the system could cause more harm than good.  I know there have been times I’ve had to sit through some kind of instruction through a EPSS and was not given proper instruction beforehand, which led to even more confusion for myself and an increase in negativity toward the skills or lessons “they” want me to learn or be exposed to. 

This lack of technology experience with computers, the internet, and/or websites or software may be the reason EPSS’s have not been more widely used.  If a EPSS is going to cause more time for the management or administration because of their having to answer questions and make clarifications constantly, I can see where the installation of such a program could be seen as “risky” or more trouble than it’s worth.  I do believe, however, that EPSS’s will only continue to grow in popularity and use in all types of workforce areas.  In the last 5 years I would say that most of the trainings that we, as teachers, are required to attend are usually in the EPSS format and I have to say that more often than not I don’t feel I get the whole gist of things from this alone.  In my opinion, and maybe it’s because I’m an auditory learner, nothing beats an actual person there to train you and guide you through the processes step by step.  Maybe I just need to get with technology and the way things are going. J

3.      There are several KMS’s that are used in my HS that came to mind while reading chapter 16.  The first is the “Parent Portal,” which allows parents to view their child’s current grades in a class.  The program allows them to see specific assignments, their due dates, the grade their child made on the assignment, if they have any missing or incomplete assignments, and it allows them to email the teacher if they have any concerns.  Another program we have that can be seen as a KMS is the program called “Aware,” which allows us to access the TAKS scores, all the way back to the 3^rd grade, of our current students.  We are able to see the data in many ways whether it’s based on specific objectives they had difficulty with, by ethnic or social economic status, by sex, etc. 

The TEA website and its features is the KMS that I will focus on, as it’s the one which has assisted me most in difficulties in instruction and design I have had in the past and continue to have.  The TEA website offers released TAKS tests, along with scoring guides that offer examples of actual student work on their essays and open-ended questions. The ELA open-ended questions have been and remain the biggest area of concern in regards to the ELA TAKS exam.  The website offers detailed rubrics for each score of the open-ended question, offers student examples of each score, and offers detailed descriptions of why each answer got the score it did.  Another aspect of the website that brings in the collaboration that is so essential to KMS’s is that there are links to teacher blogs, teacher forums, and even lesson plan sites that are geared specifically toward the teaching of open-ended questions and many other skills tested on the ELA TAKS test.  One thing I think we need to do more of is sit together as a department and look over these samples and suggestions together, as someone else’s view or way of looking at or teaching the material could be the answer for another teacher who is having difficulty.  Like I’ve said in previous posts, this is an area my department lacks.  We could even bring in samples of our current students open-ended responses and talk about how we would score each one and write descriptions or explanations, like those provided with the samples on the website, as to why we scored them like we did. 

4.      I may be stretching the term “informal” on this one, but I had a difficult time coming up with examples of informal trainings I have had in my adult life.  Some examples of training, some more formal than others, I have received in my adult life are summer AP or PAP workshops, writing workshops such as Write Traits (FABULOUS), Gretchen Bardabee’s workshops, TELPAS training, AWARE training, and even a defensive driving course.  Some of these trainings featured an actual human being and others did not.  In reference to the ones where a person was leading the training, they tended to be more engaging and even entertaining at times.  These are not primarily social in nature, but do tend to include several times for kinds of social interaction, such as sharing your thoughts with a neighbor, having to introduce yourself to others in your group, or having to collaborate with strangers to come up with a final product.  Any group training involving teachers, at least in my opinion, tends to be social in nature at least to some extent.  As far as the trainings that were computer based alone, these tend not to be engaging at all, unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past year or something.  The most boring and unsocial trainings in my experience have been these types of trainings.  These include, for me, such things as TELPAS training, AWARE training, Crosstec training, etc., in which the user must go through the training on their own without a person leading it or even there to give guidance or answer questions.  After writing this out and thinking about it, I think there is so much to be said for some social interaction during trainings such as these, as that is where true learning occurs.  I’ve gotten some of my best teaching ideas and materials from other teachers who were in workshops with me at AP conferences or TEA sponsored trainings in English.