Weekend 2: Reflections

     After Jason Glass came to speak to our class about his education blueprint I find myself understanding where he is coming from on some aspects and yet am unsettled on others. I think improving the field-based experiences including student teaching would be very beneficial. The student teacher that Terry had in his class last year must be very grateful, I am assuming, for all the data and general feedback Terry gave him throughout the experience.  There may be some validity in attracting some good teaching candidates by raising starting teacher pay and the requirements for entry into teacher-preparation programs. However, if these candidates are unable to relate to students they may still struggle with improving student achievement.
     I think the tiered teacher compensation system may have some issues within, and outside of, the school walls. As I imagine this being implemented into my district I can pick out quite a few grade levels and individuals with whom this would go beyond competition, become personal and negatively affect one aspect of our school climate. Will the benefits of this system outweigh the potential negatives? Why would we spend the money to test all 11th grade students on the ACT or SAT if they are not interested in taking the test or going on to college? I assume the powers that be will be looking at these scores to gauge yearly improvement. How valid will the results be if the previously mentioned students intentionally give 0% effort on the test? College is not for everyone.
     I also enjoyed our two assistant principal guest speakers (Lara Justman- Urbandale MS, Adam Tjeerdsma-St. Francis, West Des Moines) over the weekend, as although I was a little confused by the apparent differing work loads. I was happy that someone asked during our visit to Urbandale something along the lines of inquiring about the good things about these administrative jobs.  Lara had been talking about how much time she spends at work and then the hours she works at home going through email, etc. We have also heard from others in the profession how it can negatively affect your home life as you can get so engulfed in the endless work.  When Adam spoke to us he said he really separates work and home life which is great. What surprised me is how he is able to show up and leave at reasonable times while rarely taking work home.  If I were to make an assumption or two, I would say their extremely low IEP numbers and behavior issues would have a lot to do with this kind of a schedule working. Even though we do not have super high IEP and behavior issues at my district compared to others, I can vouch for my principal spending great amounts of time on them daily.  A big question for me is: How do I do my job as an administrator to the best of my ability without potentially sacrificing my family?