Jared's Module Six Reflection

1. As you explore the resources, reflect on the role teacher leaders can play in the strategies of engaging school community resources. Post your reflection on our course blog.  

So I have been drawing this triangle for years.  I usually throw it on the board the first day of class to illustrate for my students what I feel makes an effective school.  It’s pretty simple, but I feel that it’s true:  If all corners on the triangle are present and putting forth effort, the school program will do what it’s supposed to do and the student will find success.  I show them this, so they will notice that the whole thing is pointless (pun intended… sorry) without the student.  It’s a flat line.  As long as the student is there and is trying, learning can happen.  Without him, it’s over.  As for the teachers and the parents, they are of secondary importance.  The student can learn without them, but it will be much more difficult.  Unfortunately, plenty of students find no support from parents.  It’s a harsh reality in some of the tougher neighborhoods, and there are all sorts of things that cause this.  Think of the problems that break up a family or make a home difficult to live in (addiction, abuse, extreme poverty).  In homes where these things are a factor, then day to day survival and not education become the main focus of life.  In a community where many students come from homes like this, again, day to day survival and not education are the focus for the entire community.  This is often reflected in drop out rates, test scores, and other stats we use to evaluate schools.  A student can still succeed with no parental support, but it is so much more difficult.  It takes an exceptional student to look beyond his current situation and muster up the desire to learn Algebra or write a paper.

This is where I think teachers have to be leaders.  If you call yourself a teacher, it’s up to you to help re-establish the connections where they have been broken or help create them where they don’t exist.  And if parental involvement is not possible (and unfortunately, for some families, it is not), the teacher is just going to have to work harder find a substitute support for that student.

Many may argue that “teachers are not paid to do this.”  No.  No, they are not.  But if teachers want an effective school program they should try.  Do you know any school that has found success without teachers doing more than they are paid to do?  I don’t.

Too often, bystanders make invidious comparisons between schools.  They point out that one school is succeeding (“making AYP,” etc.) or is failing.  They focus then turns to curriculum, teaching methods, etc.  I often feel that the focus should turn to community.  Consider this: if you switched all of the teachers in the successful school with all the teacher in the failing school, would the numbers flip?  Probably, not.  I think the answer is in the community itself.  This means the teachers at the “failing” school face the giant task of making education desirable, relevant, and important in a community that, for whatever reason, does not or cannot place education as a top priority.  (This is tough, by the way.  It could be as simple as feeding people, or as complicated a facing a drug or alcohol addicted culture, or standing up to political corruption). 

Now upon visiting the Communities in Schools website, I think I was introduced to a few more possibilities.  My triangle had become an intricate circle, containing mentors, tutors, food banks, health services, job shadowing, college visits, and service learning.   It’s a much more developed model.  I truly think, this approach is the best hope for schools where students are having trouble finding support.

2. Reflection on Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times (Chapters 11-12):

Sheninger provided two brief but powerful chapters here at the end of the text.  Chapter 11 is great list of possible supports that teacher leaders can use to help create the community students need to learn.  The idea of leveraging social media to make these things available to the public is something every digital leader should heed.  I also think Sheninger’s call to action in the final chapter was balanced.  There is a wisdom to knowing that we are not just promoters of technology in the classroom, but that we are meant to be examples of it’s effective use.