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Thursday, May 24, 2001
School Administrators Collaborative
Open Forum
canuk - Is
this limited to admin, or may others join?
Kathleen - Hello,
canuk!
Kathleen - Why not
stay and see what topics come up?
canuk - thanks
Kathleen - Are you
interested in becoming a school administrator, asking questions of school
administrators, or ?
Kathleen - This is
a busy time of year, I'm not sure there will be a crowd here tonight.
canuk - I've just
got my MEd and am wondering about joining the leadership pool in our system
Kathleen - When you
say pool it suggests to me that it wouldn't be a permanent assignment.
Am I misunderstanding?
Kathleen - Is your
MEd in the area of leadership?
canuk - MEd was in
Teaching and learning, but my options were all leadership
canuk - That is the
name for the training program in our system
School Admins. Chat
- In my area it's becoming more difficult to fill admin. positions because
the salary isn't higher enough to attract comapratively well-paid teachers
away from their teaching schedules.
Kathleen - oops,
that's me, "School Admins. Chat" using the wrong window...again. :o /
School Admins. Chat
- School Administrators are encouraged to log on now for informal chat,
networking.
canuk - It seems
that with Site-based management and extra accountability, being a principal
puts you between a rock and a hard place
Kathleen - my husband
is a school administrator. It's not a job that appeals to me..not as a
building administrator for sure.
Kathleen - There
are a lot of misconceptions among teachers about how much control the administrator
has over conditions, budget, resources. Many don't understand that concept
of being between the rock and the hard place, that's where admins. live!
canuk - We have an
interesting admin related problem. Our projections are almost up to where
we would get another teacher, but not quite. Do we go with 8 classes of
27 kids, no resource help, or 7 with some as high as 32, but with a resource
teacher?
Kathleen - wow, 27
or 32, both are huge class sizes. What grades?
canuk - our school
is entirely primary 1,2 and3
Kathleen - Are the
teachers in favor of the 32 with resource support?
canuk - The 32 would
be in 1/2 splits
Kathleen - It's a
shame to have such large classes at that level. No other options?
canuk - We are hashing
it out right now. Our admin will go with whatever we decide
canuk - Any suggestions
for options?
Kathleen - Well,
any and all options depend upon funding. Any hope of grants that could
provide more staff?
canuk - There are
no funds for more staff.
canuk - The most
creative we can be is juggling classroom teachers and resource
Kathleen - What kind
of support staff and specialists do you have? Art,music,phys ed., Library?
Others who could team up and take part of a class to give the classroom
teacher a smaller group for part of the day?
canuk - Our system
demands a certified staff member be in the class. There would be a little
support staff in addition in the class, but it works out to half hour per
day per room
canuk - Our Music
specialist is completely booked given contractual prep tiem. Actualy the
admin has to supplement that to be legal
School Admins. Chat
- If teachers teamed, one could take part of the class for various groupings,
Kathleen - Your classes
are heterogeneously grouped?
canuk - One of the
alternatives would be for the resource teacher to do some grouping for
LA in the morning, then resource in afternoon
Kathleen - one resource
teacher for 7 classes would be stretched beyond a limit. Does your school
use the 4 Blocks literacy model?
canuk - The splits
would be. We could also go two straight one, two twos and a 1/2 if we had
8 classes
canuk - Most of the
teachers use a similsr guideline, but not locked in. Most of the teachers
are really excellent, with strong backgrounds in literacy
Kathleen - I think
with students that young the smaller class would be important even tho
it means giving up the resource position. Five students less is a major
factor in primary grades.
canuk - One more
problem, our population is 48% ESL
Kathleen - wow.
Kathleen - you DO
have great challenges there!
Kathleen - With that
48% ESL population is there no gov't funding to help provide staff?
canuk - The upside
is that they are all from high-achieving families -plenty of support as
far as they can
Kathleen - oh, well
that's something. canuk, where are you located? I was thinking you're in
Canada.
canuk - There is
funding, it allows for one half-time teacher - devoted to ESL. I am in
Canada!
School Admins. Chat
- Is there or could there be a high degree of parent involvement as assistants
in the classrooms?
Kathleen - LOL, i"m
not juggling very well!
canuk - We are lucky
to have parent volunteers, but you only see the same parents once or twice
a month - not really regular enough for continuity
Kathleen - Even if
a parent could spend a morning taking small groups out in a corridor for
sharing a book, playing a game, that would be helpful, support language
development, cut down on the number in the classroom. Could supervise centers
while teacher works with small groups
Kathleen - Parents
often rally when there is a concerted effort to schedule them.
canuk - Yes, we do
do that, but again, it is hard to train parents who are not in on a regular
basis, you get different ones in all the time
Kathleen - Is this
situation common in your area? Why so many students in your school with
too few teachers?
canuk - Its called
the Alberta advantage!!!
Kathleen - LOL, some
advantage!
canuk - At least
we are from a high SES school - there are some high needs schools that
have the sam or worse numbers and other problems too!
Kathleen - You know,
even if the music teacher would take i/2 of the entire population for a
sing a long each morning for 1/2 hour in two sessions, that would give
teachers a full hour of reasonable sized groups with which to work. Or
the Phys ed teacher
Kathleen - that's
1/2
Kathleen - It could
be a community building session with songs, rhythm activity, sharing time,
actually quite a valuable experience
canuk - We do our
own Phys Ed, and as I said, the music teacher is actually fully booked
in providing contract prep time. If she did that there would be no prep.
Kathleen - so I can
see why the leadership pool would look attractive to a teacher facing the
possibility of a class of 32!
canuk - At least
thy are 32, socialised, delightful children who are (usually) eager to
learn
Kathleen - The music
teacher could do this in place of regular class time. Well, there are no
easy answers. But if the faculty could gather and do some real creative
thinking, brainstorming, they can come up with solutions. It sounds as
though there are enough positives to make it work.
School Admins. Chat
- School Administrators: Log on now to join the chat
Kathleen - I think
no administrators are available this evening, and since I can't help you
with your problem, I think I'll move on down the cyber highway for a while...unless
there's something else you'd like to discuss before I leave???
canuk - Thanks for
your input
Kathleen - Best of
luck to you and your colleagues, canuck! Let me know how it goes.
Kathleen - canuk,
not canuck
canuk - I will. 'Bye
Kathleen - bye, thanks
for coming
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