INTRODUCTION
Effective communication of supervisor’s with their direct reports is essential to the productivity of any organization. In the case of an area school district, principles must communicate with the department heads, who in turn must communicate with their fellow teachers within the department. If the communication chain breaks down at any of these points, the department productivity will suffer, hurting the teachers’ ability to effectively teach his/her students.
Being a communications teacher yourself, you’ll understand the importance of communication within a department. This report evaluates the current communication method of an area school district and includes my recommendations to improve the communications between department heads and their direct reports.
In my report you’ll find general information on the pitfalls of the current communication practices at an area high school, in particularly the science department, as well as my recommendations for improving their overall communications process.
Background History of the School
At the end of the 2006/2007 school year, the science department of an areas high school lost half their teachers and performed interviews to replace the ones they lost as well as recruit for the new positions needed for the growing enrollment rates. The department ended up hiring four new teachers for the 2007/2008 school year.
The area high school had undergone a large amount of change in the last seven years and has continued to revamp their current curriculum to meet the recent changes in the education laws. The previous administration had been in office for several years and had a track record of being well organized and supportive of their staff. Seven years ago, the majority of the administration retired/left along with a bulk of the tenure faculty, causing a number of inexperienced individuals to take over key positions. Therefore, the faculty left to replace the head of the science department lacked the inexperience and may not have been the best person for the position.
The current supervisor of the science department is new to the position. Although the supervisor had taught for a number of years in the school district, she is inexperienced in a leadership role. The supervisor is not well liked by the student body because she does not believe in offering tutoring to help the students or second chances for improvement. The last couple of years, the science department had problems keeping their staff and hired new teachers. This report focuses on one of the new teachers hired for the 2007/2008 school year.
Ms. Hall has had many years of public education experience and higher education training in which to hone her leadership style and framework. She started her career as a teacher in the Kirkwood School District. She then served as an assistant elementary principal at both Ritenour and Pattonville School Districts before being selected to serve as the assistant superintendent of the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District in 2008. Throughout her career she continued to pursue her education as a means o...
assignments. In the case of Miss Hiller, she was becoming very discouraged because she didn’t seem to know how to motivate her students to learn. She is also bothered of the fact that the students didn’t seem to like her, and that she is having problems disciplining her students. Stansbury and Zimmerman (2000) suggests that to make life less stressful for new teachers like Miss Hiller, the principal may reduce the number of students in a beginning teacher’s classrooms, refrain from assigning them the most challenging students, and minimize their extracurricular and committee assignments.
Gorton and Alston (2012) pointed out in Chapter One that effective leaders “provide direction and meaning, generate and sustain trust, display an eagerness to take action, and spread hope”, through motivating and empowering others to reach the desired goals (pp. 7-9). Thus administrators must be skilled communicators, attentive and responsive listeners. Meanwhile they must also be able to build relationships with others, multitask, prioritize, delegate wisely, relate to, and motivate others. Reading that both the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the American Association of School Administrators have noted the importance of communication to the school system's success (p. 101), has affirmed for this student that the need for outside assistance with communication is indeed a serious concern for administrators.
Tobey, E., Rekart, D., Buckley, K., & Geers, A. (2004). Mode of communication and classroom
Effective communication is a key principle for developing positive relationships with children, young people and adults. By ensuring that communication is effective it provides clarity on what behaviour is expected and a clear understanding of the tasks. In providing this children and young people will feel they are able to join in and it also provides positive experiences in variety of situations. The result is children will feel more at ease within the school setting and with those around them. By listening to what a child, young person or adult has to say a sense of value and self-worth can be achieved, which forms another factor in developing positive relationships, trust.
Hybels, Saundra, and Richard L. Weaver. Communicating effectively. 4. ed. New York [u.a.: McGraw-Hill, 1995. Print.
For the lead teacher interview assignment, I had the opportunity to sit down with and interview my son’s EC teacher from last year, Mrs. Hamm. Since my son started at the school last year, Mrs. Hamm has helped him in so many different ways. Mrs. Hamm has been teaching for over 20 years from her home state of Pennsylvania and more currently at Mount Energy Elementary School in Creedmoor, NC. Mrs. Hamm has been teaching at Mount Energy Elementary School in Creedmoor, NC for the last 12 years and recently awarded “Teacher of the Year”. Mrs. Hamm, up until this school year, was the main EC teacher for all grades Kindergarten through fifth grade at Mount Energy Elementary School. As of the present school year, the school district made the determination that she was over the acceptable number of students. As a result, they decided to hire an additional EC teacher and assistant to teach grades 3-5th and Mrs. Hamm would teach grades K-2. Mrs. Hamm was the teacher of 18 students until this decision was made, now with grades K-2, she has 9 students in her class.
Cooper, P. Simonds, C (1999). Communication for the Classroom Teacher. 6th ed. Needham: Allyn & Bacon. p1-2.
...d more when instigating change. If time constraints had not been so limiting I would have preferred to conduct one-on-one interviews with staff, as this would have allowed me to draw out greater details regarding individual experiences. What became clear from staff responses is that communication is viewed as a key tool in school but that informal communication methods are slowly being eroded away by changes that have occurred over the last five years.
Chapter one of Ten Traits of Highly Effective Principals opens with one of the most influential traits of what an effective principal should possess, the communication trait. To be successful in any venue in life, you must be able to communicate with people; this is especially true in the education world. Principals are responsible for communicating with people in all walks of life, parents, students, teacher, administrative office personnel and the general public, as an administrator, you must make each of these individuals feel a sense of trust and belonging while communicating with them. Principals use conversations and gesture to build confidence and open lines of communication for learning and growth.
Glickman, C. D., Gordon, S. P., & Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2010). SuperVision and instructional leadership (9th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN-13: 9780132852135
Glickman, C. D., Gordon, S. P., & Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2010). SuperVision and instructional leadership (9th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN-13: 9780132852135
Glickman, C. D., Gordon, S. P., & Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2010). SuperVision and instructional leadership (9th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN-13: 9780132852135
As you can see the school board handles many issues from budgets, to tenure, to performance scores, to conferences. Although this paper did not cover everything in the meeting, it summarized what took place, and what affects it would have on teachers. The decisions made no matter how big or small can influence how and what task a teacher performs. The school board meeting was interesting because you are able to see how the changes could affect you personally.
As in all aspects of personal and professional life, having effective communication is a key element of success. Effective communication can benefit your relationships with people. By conveying your message and integrating them as a member of the team and not just a subordinate leads to better production. By effectively communicating you can clearly define job responsibilities and expectations. The better you are able to communicate the less likely organizational turnover of personnel will occur. Supervisors and leaders in the professional workplace find that the most important factor in advancement and retain ability is effective communication. Senior level executives and human resources managers are stressing the importance of communication and providing more training for mid-level management. Emphasis is placed on communication being clear by being transmitted strongly.