Gamewell Middle School Reflection

Lately though, these games have lost it’s purpose and the lessons these players could be learning are far from what is transpiring. The emphasis on winning or losing has significantly outweighed what these sports are all about; teamwork and having fun. Alfie Kohn, author of “The Case Against Competition” found a study researched by David Johnson, a professor at the University of Minnesota, and his colleagues. They previewed all the studies they could find on the subject of competition from 1924 to 1980. Sixty-five of the studies found that children learn better when they work cooperatively as opposed to competitively, eight found the reverse. It is proven that you can get the most out of a topic whether it’s school work to sports, you learn the most from working in an atmosphere where they work together not against each other. In addition, children have been enrolled in intense sport training as early as the age of 4, not allowing them to have a chance to really pick what sport they are interested in. A lot of times parents hope to fulfill their dream, by having their offspring due what they never got the chance as a child. This doesn’t give kids the chance to develop and make decisions for themselves when it relates to the sports they want to play. This causes children to not only unhappy but dependent on

A part of my job as administrator is to work with students on keeping ethical standards throughout their lives. I work with others at my school to instill character building skills. We have a character word for the month that is posted in every classroom and other parts of the school. Part of my job as an administrator will be to work with teachers and how they relate to the students. During my Successful School Observation I was able to pick up on the teachers’ attitudes about teaching with the way they spoke to the students and about the students. Most of the teachers were working really well with the students. There were two or three who, if I was their administrator, would be placed on probation or written up because of the way they talk to the students. Belittling students is a big NO! NO! All students deserve to be treated with respect even on our worst days as

Their eyes met from across the room, and any student paying close enough attention could see the loathing in the teacher’s eyes as the principal walks into the room for the bi-semester teacher evaluation. In the blink of an eye the teacher returns her focus back on the students, but the obvious exchange between the two individuals makes those of us in the classroom that understand the source of the icy gaze extremely uncomfortable. My teacher hates the principal with a passion. Ever since the principal assumed control of the school three years prior to this particular evaluation, she terrorized my band director. Through micromanaging, criticizing relentlessly, organizing meetings incessantly, and sabotaging schedules, my principal fostered a hate from not only my band director, but also from the majority of teachers in my high school. The attitude and leadership techniques utilized by my former principal directly contradicts current theories of the scholarly community on how to effectively lead a school.

Encourage children - To not only strive to do their best, but also to enjoy the process. Trying new activities teaches children about teamwork, self-esteem and new skills.

Have you ever felt unappreciated in a job? Do you feel on edge that at any given moment you could be replaced? Or has someone you are supposed to trust to put down your efforts? An effective leader should make sure you aren't left wondering these questions. I have worked in the special education department at a high school for three years under the guidance of the principal. During that time I have not been told that I am doing a good job or given any recognition. I am not alone because the majority of the department share the same feelings. Instead of mentoring us into the type of employees he desires he makes these negative comments. With no justification, since he rarely takes time to visit our classrooms, he has called us a “toxic department” and has repeatedly said “we should just start with a clean slate”. In the beginning I tried to approach him however, he

I am an at-risk coordinator in the high school. I am also the high school cheerleading coach and the assistant softball coach. Although, dealing with high school students, you have the occasional squabble, I have a good relationship with each of the students. Four years ago, I had a memorable clash with my assistant principal. It all started at a basketball game. We were playing a team that did not bring their cheerleaders. I had told the girls they could cheer for the first half of the girls’ and boys’ games, then sit and watch the second half of each game. We have done that for years when our school plays this particular team, because they never bring their cheerleaders. The assistant principal had recently been hired at our school, and was approximately four months into his job as Assistant Principal and Athletic Director. The next day at school, he called over the loudspeaker for all of the cheerleaders to go to the gym. Not knowing what was going on, I went into the gym with the girls. He proceeded to chew the girls out for not cheering the entire game. I told him wait a minute, this has nothing to do with these girls. This was my decision and I will gladly go behind closed doors and discuss the issue. He said no, this has everything to do with these girls. He continued to yell at them and I told the girls to say nothing that I would handle this. I defended the girls in

Even after all of this mistreatments, we have explained how we felt towards our school policies and education. However, our grievances have been ignored. We have been open enough to follow school rules but these have to change. We can't keep on moving forward with ridiculous policies that should have a second choice or opinion. We are announcing that we will improve our schools with these new Grievances and make it work.

This movie, The Classroom, which was very interesting to watch, discusses all that goes on in the school system, the good and the bad. But it also shows how things at home can affect the way the student acts during the school day. This movie definitely makes you look at students that act out differently, instead of punishing them maybe we should all look deeper into the issue and find a way for the student to thrive and use school as an outlet.

As principal of TWH, I feel it is vital to keep the urgency focused on academics. It is my belief that if we set students up for challenging and engaging classroom instruction, discipline issues will start to lessen. However, my teachers will feel supported and respected, and that will be communicated regularly to our students and school community. “…leaders treat others fairly, equitably, and with dignity and respect—and they establish the expectation that others in the school community act in a similar manner” (Murphy, 2006).

As a teacher, this activity has made me aware of the duties that principals carry out on a regular basis, in addition to the value they place on disciplining students that are referred to the front office.

“You have taken away the discretion of from the teachers and the principles to be able to control their classrooms,” said Malliotakis. “Now you have an environment where students feel they can bring weapons in the classrooms, drugs to schools, they can bully other students, they can disrespect their teachers. We need to restore discipline in the classroom”

Introduction: Mr. Nichols thanked everyone for attending. He explained why the subcommittee was developed; the goal is to have a workable plan ready for the fall. Mrs. Everly thanked Mr. Nichols for his leadership on the Board, and by bringing this conversation to the table, we can only get better. At the administrator meeting last week with Mrs. Joseph, administrators talked about the communication issues within the discipline process that need to be worked out; there is a need to tighten up communication between the office and teacher. Mr. Nichols noted that central office administrators have already been working very hard on this subject, but he thinks it is important for administrators to receive input from teachers and parents.

One of the first ideas that I had was hosting a basketball tournament at my high school. Since we were one of the four specialized high school in the city, I came up with the notion that we could compete in a different aspect from academic performance. The idea was to play against each other after school every saturday during and whoever win the most would be the champion. Our new gym could be used to host the event. Instead of hiring referees, each team had to provide

Although I had stepped into high school classes before I was not prepared for the student’s aversion to participating in classroom competitions if they involved going up to the white board. Not all of my students feel this way but enough to bandwagon out of the idea. I will have to slowly progress from individual working to small group work and finally to classroom discussions and having the students share their knowledge via whiteboard use.

I learned quickly that being an effective teacher is an art that takes time and devotion. Many times, teachers are not provided with the necessary materials in order to maintain the various learning styles in a classroom. It is up to the teacher to create an environment where students can succeed. This is a full time job, meaning that a teacher’s work is not done once they leave the school. A teacher must contribute a significant amount of time and effort in order to see positive results in the school and in his or her own classroom. After observing my cooperating teacher’s strategies and learning more about the profession, I knew that I was going in the right direction with my life. I took a significant amount of knowledge away from this experience and have continued to strive to be the type of educator that I was blessed to work with during this experience. .