Human Performance:
As a teacher there are always going to be performance problems with different students. This is why I believe that having a relationship with your students and knowing your students is necessary to the success of your classroom. Often times, I found addressing non-instructional solutions helped problems we faced and improved overall educational experience. One big issue I noticed is the quality of home life my students were experiencing. Often times, I had students come to class who would not pay attention or disrupt creating issues for everyone around them. As I got to know these students I realized that there were more pressing matters keeping them from focusing on what was taking place in the classroom. I would always have a box of goldfish and granola bars in my room because a lot of my students were simply hungry. When you are 10 years old and you didn’t get dinner or breakfast, it is hard to come and sit still and focus. Giving a hug and a snack and allowing the student to have a few minutes to take care of their physical or emotional needs was often time all they needed to then turn around and try whatever you asked. I also saw this with students who were very bright and would finish assignments quickly and get bored. It helped to always have activities or jobs for them to turn to instead of allowing time to be idle. These simple non-instructional solutions helped my students work harder and accomplish so much more than if these issues were left untended.
Performance Supports:
A performance support system is set up for users to access when they need support in completing a task. A performance support system would be very helpful when it comes to technical issues in the classroom. My district has a technology help desk that I could contact at any time if I need support for any district issued technology. This gave me confidence to try new things I wasn't sure about, and it helped many times during the execution of lessons utilizing new technologies. My campus also had a performance support system in place for teachers to help us understand the policies in place. We had a handbook that we went over at the beginning of the year but we also had a campus SWAP drive where all staff could access documents and tutorials made by fellow staff members on topics such as how to use our grade book, how to be reimbursed for expenses, how to plan a field trip, etc. We also had a fabulous support staff who were available to come and model lessons, assist with difficult students, help gather resources, etc. I definitely felt very supported as a classroom teacher. As far as the issues I previously mentioned, I knew that I could utilize the counselor and school nurse to help meet the physical needs of my students. The support staff was great with helping to come up with activities to enrich/support my students as well. One thing all teachers know is that you can't do it all. Educating these students definitely takes a village and I am thankful for the performance supports my school had in place to help me be successful in the classroom.
Knowledge Management:
There are two extremely important factors for which educators must have an in-depth knowledge. Knowledge of the curriculum and standards, and knowledge of your students. Both are necessary to create a classroom environment that meets the needs of your students and sets them up to successfully learn the objectives of that class. It is so important for teachers to know their students and their personalities and backgrounds to help tailor lessons to meet their needs. I would always have my students fill out questionnaires at the beginning of the year and I would send one home for the parents to fill out. I would keep these in the student's file to be accessed throughout the year if I had a question. Our school also had cumulative folders for each student with information about previous schools/grades, academic testing, family, etc. These cumulative folders held a wealth of knowledge that helped me piece together information to better meet my kids needs. If one of my students was having trouble with a specific skill I could pinpoint when that skill was initially taught and see where they were in school, what their grades were for that skill, etc. This helped me figure out where gaps in education were occurring. The other important factor is knowing your curriculum and objectives. I had to have lesson plans for class each day. This meant that I had to know what I was teaching so I could tweak it for my students. I had to know what was coming up so that I could factor in evaluations to make sure my students were mastering these objectives. I had to keep up to date with assessment data, curriculum changes, etc. I met regularly with my teammates and specialists to help design instruction to best meet my student's needs. These meetings and regular data analysis made planning for class much easier. Knowing my students would help me trouble shoot if they were having bad days. Knowing the curriculum helped me plan activities to differentiate and make sure all my students were engaged.
Informal Learning:
Some of my favorite "aha" moments have come from informal learning. One of my favorite forms of informal learning for my classroom have come in the form of reading educational blogs. I love seeing how other teachers teach and design lessons and organize and decorate their spaces. Blogs have given me so many ideas and so many springboards to various topics and activities that I have gone out and researched to use with my students. I have also utilized YouTube as a source of informal learning to learn skills that will help me with various projects. These "how to videos" have helped me learn how to edit videos, use excel, and even paint my bathroom cabinets! There is a wealth of information on YouTube that is at our fingertips if we only look. When I become a librarian I hope to help my teachers connect with these valuable tools. I hope to create a school wide pinterest type storage space where teachers can go and add locations of valuable tools and ideas they find online. This will help other teachers access learning opportunities that have been tried and proven true. It will also cut down on time needed to find these valuable tools. I believe that everyone can benefit from these shared virtual pin boards. I am a firm believer in sharing information with others, but part of the beauty of informal learning is the authentic search that is driven by need. We are much more likely to use informal learning when we seek something that is of interest to us.
As a teacher there are always going to be performance problems with different students. This is why I believe that having a relationship with your students and knowing your students is necessary to the success of your classroom. Often times, I found addressing non-instructional solutions helped problems we faced and improved overall educational experience. One big issue I noticed is the quality of home life my students were experiencing. Often times, I had students come to class who would not pay attention or disrupt creating issues for everyone around them. As I got to know these students I realized that there were more pressing matters keeping them from focusing on what was taking place in the classroom. I would always have a box of goldfish and granola bars in my room because a lot of my students were simply hungry. When you are 10 years old and you didn’t get dinner or breakfast, it is hard to come and sit still and focus. Giving a hug and a snack and allowing the student to have a few minutes to take care of their physical or emotional needs was often time all they needed to then turn around and try whatever you asked. I also saw this with students who were very bright and would finish assignments quickly and get bored. It helped to always have activities or jobs for them to turn to instead of allowing time to be idle. These simple non-instructional solutions helped my students work harder and accomplish so much more than if these issues were left untended.
Performance Supports:
A performance support system is set up for users to access when they need support in completing a task. A performance support system would be very helpful when it comes to technical issues in the classroom. My district has a technology help desk that I could contact at any time if I need support for any district issued technology. This gave me confidence to try new things I wasn't sure about, and it helped many times during the execution of lessons utilizing new technologies. My campus also had a performance support system in place for teachers to help us understand the policies in place. We had a handbook that we went over at the beginning of the year but we also had a campus SWAP drive where all staff could access documents and tutorials made by fellow staff members on topics such as how to use our grade book, how to be reimbursed for expenses, how to plan a field trip, etc. We also had a fabulous support staff who were available to come and model lessons, assist with difficult students, help gather resources, etc. I definitely felt very supported as a classroom teacher. As far as the issues I previously mentioned, I knew that I could utilize the counselor and school nurse to help meet the physical needs of my students. The support staff was great with helping to come up with activities to enrich/support my students as well. One thing all teachers know is that you can't do it all. Educating these students definitely takes a village and I am thankful for the performance supports my school had in place to help me be successful in the classroom.
Knowledge Management:
There are two extremely important factors for which educators must have an in-depth knowledge. Knowledge of the curriculum and standards, and knowledge of your students. Both are necessary to create a classroom environment that meets the needs of your students and sets them up to successfully learn the objectives of that class. It is so important for teachers to know their students and their personalities and backgrounds to help tailor lessons to meet their needs. I would always have my students fill out questionnaires at the beginning of the year and I would send one home for the parents to fill out. I would keep these in the student's file to be accessed throughout the year if I had a question. Our school also had cumulative folders for each student with information about previous schools/grades, academic testing, family, etc. These cumulative folders held a wealth of knowledge that helped me piece together information to better meet my kids needs. If one of my students was having trouble with a specific skill I could pinpoint when that skill was initially taught and see where they were in school, what their grades were for that skill, etc. This helped me figure out where gaps in education were occurring. The other important factor is knowing your curriculum and objectives. I had to have lesson plans for class each day. This meant that I had to know what I was teaching so I could tweak it for my students. I had to know what was coming up so that I could factor in evaluations to make sure my students were mastering these objectives. I had to keep up to date with assessment data, curriculum changes, etc. I met regularly with my teammates and specialists to help design instruction to best meet my student's needs. These meetings and regular data analysis made planning for class much easier. Knowing my students would help me trouble shoot if they were having bad days. Knowing the curriculum helped me plan activities to differentiate and make sure all my students were engaged.
Informal Learning:
Some of my favorite "aha" moments have come from informal learning. One of my favorite forms of informal learning for my classroom have come in the form of reading educational blogs. I love seeing how other teachers teach and design lessons and organize and decorate their spaces. Blogs have given me so many ideas and so many springboards to various topics and activities that I have gone out and researched to use with my students. I have also utilized YouTube as a source of informal learning to learn skills that will help me with various projects. These "how to videos" have helped me learn how to edit videos, use excel, and even paint my bathroom cabinets! There is a wealth of information on YouTube that is at our fingertips if we only look. When I become a librarian I hope to help my teachers connect with these valuable tools. I hope to create a school wide pinterest type storage space where teachers can go and add locations of valuable tools and ideas they find online. This will help other teachers access learning opportunities that have been tried and proven true. It will also cut down on time needed to find these valuable tools. I believe that everyone can benefit from these shared virtual pin boards. I am a firm believer in sharing information with others, but part of the beauty of informal learning is the authentic search that is driven by need. We are much more likely to use informal learning when we seek something that is of interest to us.
I found your thoughts on Performance Support Systems very interesting. I noticed that you specifically mentioned your district help desk. I was wondering what your experience with them has been. I have found that many times, district's help desks have many areas where they could greatly benefit from a more comprehensive and streamlined knowledge management system. Do you have any feedback on how you would improve your district's help desk?
ReplyDelete- Michael J Ruiz
Hi Michael, I really valued our help desk and thought they did a great job supporting teachers. I could call at any time and they could access my computer and help remotely if I was struggling with a problem during class. They were also great about sending people to repair or replace technology quickly. Anytime you use technology it helps to have a plan b. I did think the help desk gave me the courage to try things knowing their support was a phone call away.
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