Recruiting Effective Teachers - Essay Example

The knowledge gained from the course will help students obtain higher levels because the administrator is expected to have coaching and mentoring skills. Therefore, it follows that if the administrator motivates his teaching staff, the same concept can be transferred by the teaching staff to students (Skretta, 2007. The underlying concept is that the administrator will be able to perceive and direct his efforts toward connecting professionally with the larger teaching and learning community.

Journal Entry 2: Hiring Effective Teachers

Staff experience is critical in hiring effective teachers (Melnick & Meister, 2008). Experienced staff can design interview questions during the hiring and determine levels of effectiveness. Essentially, this means the staff can also participate in the development of the new teachers. Teacher development knowledge can be related to staff members by ensuring it is an ongoing process (Bloom, 2007). Equally importantly, professional development will need to be differentiated from academic development. Ethical decisions during hiring include just and unprejudiced judgments.

Teachers will be hired strictly on merit rather than vested interests. This also entails having the right recruitment and hiring teams in place. Guiding principles that ensure interaction with teachers is fair and characterized by integrity must be based on teacher support systems (Perez-Katz, 2007). The essence of this approach is apparent when viewed from the angle that such relationships must stem from the need of developing teachers, create appropriate learning environments, and ultimately aim at improving student performance.

Journal Entry 3: Retaining Effective Teachers
One strategy to improve teacher support is to first identify the different levels of support needed by different teachers (Skretta, 2007. Again, the key tool is differentiating professional from academic development. It is also crucial for the school to own the curriculum and then pair teaching time in which teachers learn to work collaboratively (Perez-Katz, 2007). Differentiated, learner-centered can be used for professional development by scheduling regular meetings, probably once a month but can be twice if time allows.

In such meetings, teachers can be paired up and develop appropriate content as per the established needs revealed through surveys. The significance of this approach is that it facilitates teachers to develop a shared objective and vision. As a leader, an administrator’s vision and energy are significant in the development and retention of teachers and instructional improvement mainly because of the motivational role vested in such a responsibility (Reddekopp, 2007). If the vision matches the shared organizational objectives and meets ethical standards, it will impact positively teachers. Read More