1) I have chosen to use Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model as my non instructional solution to solve the performance problem at my organization. The problem I have selected to have solved is the lack of parental involvement at our Head Start centers due to the lack of encouragement from the teaching staff.
The goal will be to dramatically increase the overall parental involvement at our Head Start centers. Everyone benefits from having parents involved in their child’s education and all parents need to feel welcome and as though they have something of value to contribute. Parents are a great resource for our Head Start classrooms and the teachers need to overcome the notion that having parents volunteering in their classrooms are a hindrance.
2) I am including a video from youtube about an Electronic Performance Support System that I liked. The System is the “Faronics In-Sight” and it helps with the management of computer labs. I chose this system because I can only imagine how difficult it must be in a computer lab with a group full of students trying to make sure that everyone is on task and to evaluate their performance in the best way possible. I am not able to draw from my classroom experience with this situation, because we do not have computer labs at our Head Start centers. If we did I believe it would be total chaos without some sort of system in place.
My thoughts on why EPSS has not been used more often would be because companies are concerned about the cost and effectiveness of the programs. Just like the book stated many companies still don’t understand all of its capabilities and are shying away from spending dollars on something they don’t fully understand.
I feel that use of EPSS will gradually increase over the next few years and eventually all companies will be utilizing some sort of an EPSS. Technology is such a huge part of our everyday lives and in order for companies to keep up it will be necessary for them to have some sort of an EPSS in place to adequately run their organization. Just about everything we do today is electronic and eventually it will be the only way!
3) A real problem in my line of work is helping my teachers fully understand how to be successful using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). This tool is an observational tool that I use to assess classrooms interactions. The tool is a way to help teachers boost student learning if they utilize the information gathered during the observations correctly.
The tool organizes teacher-student interactions into three domains:
Emotional Support
Classroom Organization
Instructional Support
These domains are then broken down into dimensions and one of the dimensions that the teachers are consistently deficient in is the area of Language Modeling. This dimension should demonstrate the teachers’ ability to scaffold the children’s language skill through modeling.
The graph below is a way that I would use the Knowledge Management approach to help the teachers achieve success in this dimension:
Blended Learning Approach
For additional information on this type of classroom observation tool you can visit the following website: http://www.teachstone.org/
This tool is not used as a form of evaluation but as an observation tool that can enhance classroom interactions between the teachers and the students.
4) Informal Learning:
I would have to say that my job as an Education Specialist for Head Start has been an informal learning experience for me. We are a very small organization and have never had an Education Specialist prior to me that had any early childhood experience or background. Therefore, I did not have anyone that I could learn from using Tacit knowledge. What I have learned has been on my own. I have been able to call on our T/TA (Training / Technical Assistant) person for help when needed. I have attended as much training as possible to help me in my role. I also draw from my experience as a classroom teacher in order to better help my teachers achieve goals that I set for them. There was no instructor! It has been difficult without anyone to guide me along the way, but I have a strong support system with the other administrators within our organizations and if they don’t know the answer to my questions they know how to help me find it.
No comments:
Post a Comment