Mission Statement as a Supervisor - Essay Example

? s School Supervision Platform Philosophy Education is a huge asset for the however any flaws on the part of those imparting education can reap disastrous results for the students. For this reason, supervision is more of a social responsibility as education directly impacts the personal development of individuals. Teachers and other academicians have a huge role to play in the development of the society in the larger context, and supervisors having the responsibility of steering the academia in the right direction have a huge burden on their shoulders. The underlying philosophy behind the supervisory practices which I aim at adopting is that the emotional development of a child goes hand in hand with the development of the academic background. Thus, as a supervisor I intend on ensuring that via collaborative efforts between the teachers and other academic staff, each student gets the maximum level of emotional satisfaction possible. The aim is not to produce money making machines in the long-run, in fact to create a lot of highly motivated individuals with the potential to change the world for the better tomorrow. Thus, the supervisory practices which I aim at adopting constitute a collaborative paradigm where every contributor will also be decision maker adding value to the educational practices being employed. Mission Statement as a Supervisor As a supervisor I aim at empowering the teachers as they are directly involved in the personal as well as the professional development of a child. According to a research published in the New York Times by Fretty, Friedman and Jonah (2012), the educational practices adopted by the primary school teachers directly impacts the professional development of the child, i.e. if the quality of a primary school education is enhanced by 1%, the earning rate of the resultant student also increases by 1%. This implies that the quality of teachers needs to be enhanced by persistent training and evaluation, also by transforming the way strategies are designed. When the teachers will directly be involved in the decision-making process, an innate capacity for moral responsibility will follow, thus I aim at developing a collaborative working environment giving way to creativity and innovation. My Role as a Supervisor As a supervisor, I am bound to take multiple roles which are even subject to be extended in the long run. I consider my professional as well as my moral responsibility to understand the needs and desires of the teachers as well as the students, and to sync these needs with the modern day practices to impart quality education. Considering this scenario, it is my sole responsibility to transform the teaching patterns by adding new and updated courses to the curriculum to ensure the progression of the students to the most advanced levels possible. In addition, I intend on taking up this role to add value to the skills and creativity of the students by introducing additional courses relevant to arts. The video illustration; “connecting with the arts: A workshop for Middle-Grades Students” stresses on the significance of combining arts subjects with sciences to create a sense of innovation in the minds of the students (Education Next). Also, the addition of new courses to the curriculum would naturally demand skills development for the teachers to cope up with the transformation, thus skill development would also become an important role in the process. By initiating discussions with the teachers, it will be my responsibility to create opportunities for the teachers to acquire new skills to equip them with the necessary teaching tools and techniques. In this context, as a supervisor my role won`t be limited to the evaluation and monitoring of the current practices, but also initiating new ones whenever the need arise. Evaluations and collaborative practices go hand in hand, being an important role as the supervisor under the systematic procedures. Leadership Orientation The most traditional leadership styles have been the authoritarian styles with a strict adherence to hierarchal discipline and dictator system of performance (Sargiovanni and Starrat 1998). However, I believe that with the evolution of democracy and liberty, each contributor should have the right to voice their concern and give suggestive measures when necessary. Thus, my orientation is naturally inclined towards the participative leadership style where a parallel rather than hierarchal system is bound to prevail (Sargiovanni and Starrat 1998). I will be favoring a walk in supervision style where teachers will be welcomed any time to discuss their issues and concerns. However, weekly meeting would be an essential part of the system where I would take up the role of a moderator. The policy changes will be endorsed by the voting systems, and open participation will be encouraged. The floor will be open to new ideas and any kind of criticism will be taken as a constructive move which will be a point of serious consideration. Thus, more and more participation will be encouraged to ensure that the staff owns and confides in the policies put forth for review. The hierarchal system will therefore be replaced by a more circular structure via empowering the teachers. School Climate and Culture Though the supervision platform will be used to endorse creative and new practices to education, however a strict adherence to the rules and regulations of the school will be ensured. Ethics and morals will be high on the priority spectrum and only those policies in compliance with the school climate and culture will be entertained. However, considering the social strata where the students lie, more initiatives will be recommended to enhance the creative climate of the school. The token economy model can be applied in this context whereby symbols of tokens of appreciations can be used to reinforce positive behavior on children. The teachers will be encouraged to offer these tokens for instance, the weekly best student award, some sweets to all students, a study trip for the students as a token or rather a reinforcer to produce positive results within the students. Well tamed and trained students with a high intellect and creativity are naturally prone to create a viable and a lively culture which is disciplined yet rich at the same time. Professional Development Selection The focus of the supervision practices will continue to be the professional development of a child as that is the sole aim for seeking education in the long run. This will take up multiple steps and levels. A thorough analysis of the market needs and conditions, also prediction indicators will be assessed to come up with the most desirable skills required in the market. Also, the most advanced courses and skills programs will be incorporated to produce a complete course outline, both for the teacher as well as for the students. Also, emotional development of the child will also be focused upon as it directly effects the professional development of the child in the future. The hierarchal needs theory proposed by Maslow identifies the pattern of the hierarchal development of individuals as they progress towards self actualization (Gawell 1997). The pre-requisites being the satisfaction of physical needs, safety needs, love and belongings and high self esteem. Teachers have an important role to play in satisfying some of these needs, especially the self esteem needs (Anderson 1994), thus as a supervisor, I will make sure that certain activities are being included with the course work aiming at enhancing the self esteem of these individuals to assist them in the journey for self actualization where they are now highly motivated and result oriented individuals who have the capacity to professionally prosper and grow. To keep up with the changing needs of time, and to update the teachers with the most updated methods and methodologies for the professional development of the children, various workshops will be arranged for the teachers, and they will be facilitated via flexible schedules for the trainings and assistance on how and where to take these trainings. This can thus turn out to be a source of motivation and inspiration for the staff. Thus, the teachers and the students will be assessed regularly to analyze if there is room for improvement or if the emotional quotient of the students is being enhanced, at the same time ensuring that the modern day requirements are being met in such a way that the students have the capability to survive in the market. Methods Lecture, collaboration and creativity are three aspects which will be addressed in the methods used for supervision. The methods include tools and techniques being employed to reap the desirable results. Firstly, teachings methods will be in compliance with the behavioral supervisory continuum (Glickman 2005) to enhance the motivation level of the teachers. Secondly, the taxonomy model as well as the motivational theory of Maslow will be used to transform the curriculum to meet the needs of the children. Lectures will be assessed and discussed with the teachers after ad hoc visits to classrooms to improve on the content as well as the methods being used. A collaborative environment will be created so that the teachers are free to discuss their concerns and queries openly and without any hesitation. Punitive actions will be avoided and will be replaced by counseling sessions aimed at emotional development. Moreover, creativity and innovation will be encouraged by adding interesting subjects to the coursework, also diversifying the content of a subject to enhance the interest of the students. The Bloom Taxonomy model proposed by Dace for that matter implies that a child develops in steps which can be classified in a few clusters, i.e. imitation, manipulation, precision, articulation and naturalization (Bloom 1956), thus this aspect will be kept in mind while designing the methodologies. The teachers will be encouraged to assess the students on this spectrum, to introduce reforms in terms of subjects and skills to bring the students to the highest possible level, as this would add to the climate and culture of the school. Supervision methods include a close observation of the school affairs and an in depth know-how of the staff as well as the children. Studying the behavioral patterns of the teachers as well as the students will remain the crucial concern from the supervision point of view, and the problematic areas will be addressed via collaborative help. Conducting Evaluations Assessments and evaluations will be central to the supervision as this will the core component of the process. The evaluations will be conducted at various levels in different ways. At the most basic level the VA scores of the students can be complied and analyzed to check the teachers` performance and progress reports, which will act as tools to assess the teacher`s performance. However, weekly reports may also be analyzed to keep a check on the teachers on a regular basis. Apart from analyzing and evaluating the student`s reports, the teachers can also be accessed directly. Different methods include direct or indirect interviews, counseling sessions, assessment test taking, emotional testing etc. These test can be used as direct indicators to assess the teacher`s as well as students performance. These evaluations will be aimed at achieved various goals. Clear and timely assessments will be conducted to ensure that deadlines are being met. Performance tests will be conducted to test if the learning outcomes are being achieved. Moreover, the teachers will also be encouraged to give timely feedback on the assessment methods. If the need arises, clinical administration and psychological counseling may also be conducted, Though deadlines will be given and efforts will be made to ensure that they are being met, however, feedback will also be required to make sure that the deadlines are flexible and the workload is manageable, as pressure situations often affect the outcomes and learning, being deterrence for creativity. Technology Teaching has now become a specialized field as the tools and equipments used to ensure performance have been increased over time. Owing much to the significance of the professional for the social and moral perspectives of the field, much research has been conducted to improve on the teaching methods, thus new observational paradigms will be incorporated to ensure that technology is being used for the purpose. With compliance and collaboration with the staff as well as the decision makers, observational practices can be refined by adding video cameras to classroom, so that the problematic areas can be identified and removed by the teachers themselves. Also, adding this technological innovation to classrooms will also highlight various strategies employed by various teachers to enhance performance, which can later be utilized by others as well. Moreover, some of the teachers have an immense amount of knowledge and know-how about their field, however lack of communication skills lead towards bad performance. To eliminate such issues, facilities like bug-in-ear technology may be added to offer support to some teachers so that they can be their own judge to decide where the issues lie. Also, to give guest lectures or to include influential figures to make learning interesting for students, technology like Skype and Youtube can also be used. Technology can thus add high value to education, and for this reason the inclusion of high tech tabs and electronic devices will highly be encouraged to ensure quality education. Thus, the introduction of Ipads, Smartphones, Laptops and other devices which facilitate the students in getting the most updated information will be high on the agenda. This also has a time saving value which is very important for the student life, and can be utilized to achieved other high end goals. Also, to make the teachers as well as the students familiar with the practices, training sessions can be incorporated to support them to adapt to the rapid changes. Curriculum Curriculum development naturally becomes the domain of the supervisor as the decision making power and the need for reform is being assessed and analyzed by him. Considering the teacher`s and the student’s performance and the needs of the market the curriculum will be altered and modified. However, this curriculum will be designed after direct consultation with the teachers and the supervisors. The curriculum development will be aimed at achieving various goals, for instance, to enhance the emotional quotient of the students, to inspire and motivate the teachers to become mentors for the students, to impart the most advanced knowledge aimed at professional development of the student. However, the development of the creative energies of the students will also be kept in mind, and creative sections including arts, drama and theatre, society and ethics etc would be added in the curriculum to develop the interest of the students. To achieve the goals, subjects relevant to arts along with the practical applications relevant to artistic subjects will be added to polish the creative minds to think big life changing ideas. Also, the needs assessments will be made to identify the levels of motivations where the individual lie. This implies that the individual will first be assessed on the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model, then by the taxonomy classification models based on their learning levels, analyzing power and the ability to produce original work. Considering the motivational level, various additions will be made to the curriculum intended on enhancing motivational level and creating a course outline based on the interest of the students as well as the teachers. Trainings will be added accordingly, however the coursework won`t be sacrificed in the struggle to achieve high motivational levels. Curriculum will thus be developed to achieve a perfect balance to satisfy the teachers as well as the students. Community The overall supervision practices will be taken as a social responsibility to produce not only money oriented professionals, but also socially responsible citizens striving for justice and equality. This will be achieved through moral development throughout the coursework via different techniques. Along with the business entrepreneurial principals, social entrepreneurship will also be introduced aimed at community development. Throughout the school time, the students will be encourages to take part in voluntary work and to incorporate morally just practices in their lives by training the teachers in this regard. The students will be motivated by adding an incentive value to the social responsibilities which will be incorporated in such a way so as to implant it in their minds and hearts for a lifetime. The teachers will thus be encouraged and trained to assist and support the students in identify the right and wrong to blend them into the community as morally responsible individuals taking responsibility for community development. This will achieved by involving the students into community development projects including eco-friendly activities (recycling etc), good citizens projects to create awareness about civil rights, projects relevant to governance, ethics and morality etc. Conclusion Thus the supervision platform will be devised in such a way so as to create a friendly, creative, yet a disciplined atmosphere to assist the teachers in achieving their maximum abilities to give their best. For this reason, a sense of creativity will be incorporated in the curriculum with the direct correspondence with the teachers. A rigorous evaluation will take place to ensure the disposal of quality education, and a high focus will be built towards the inclusion of technology to education to impart quality services in the field. Community development will also be one of the core features as education is more of a responsibility rather than a professional field. Thus, a sincere effort will be put in to take out the best from the teachers as well as the students to produce a lot of skillful yet responsible individuals. Bibliography Gawel, J. E., & Educational Resources Information Center (U.S.). (1997). Herzberg's theory of motivation and Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation. In Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. New York: Longmans, Green. Anderson, L. W., Sosniak, L. A., Bloom, B. S., & National Society for the Study of Education. (1994). Bloom's taxonomy: A forty-year retrospective. Chicago: NSSE. Glickman, C.D., & Gordon, S.P. (2005). The basic guide to supervision and instructional leadership. Boston: Pearson Education Sergiovanni, T. J., & Starratt, R. J. (1993). Supervision: A redefinition. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Raj Chetty, J. E. (2012, June 6). Education Next. Retrieved 6 6, 2012, from http://educationnext.org/great-teaching/ Learner`s Resource: Connecting with the arts: A workshop for Middle Grades Teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved 6 6, 2012, from http://www.learner.org/resources/series199.html Read More