[Ous-lp-rp13] EDAD 6020, Response to Answer Question #1

[Dustin Tyler]

Response to Mary Matney



Your answer spoke volumes to what we at Chillicothe City Schools are
attempting to recreate.  We continue to strive for success and are always
looking to improve upon our weakened areas.  .



The rational system that your referred to is very consistent with what I
see in our buildings.  We are transitioning our neighborhood schools to a
grade banded K-2 and 3-6 which made me think deeper about our custodial
staff.  It couldn't be more prevalent right now on how all parts of a
rational system are working together with the custodians/maintenance staff.
Honestly, I feel terrible for the amount of work they are having to do but
it is obvious a good plan and the parts working together they are a
"well-oiled machine".  We can now have faith that our things are going to
be exactly where they need to be when we arrive to our new schools in
August.



I enjoyed reading about your school and the use of the word team.  We are
on Teacher Based Teams (TBT), we create teams for Social Emotional Learning
(SEL), Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (PBIS) teams, we also
have an SSMT Team that comes together to discuss academic/behavior plans
for specific children and next year we will be planning/meeting in teams to
split grade level teachers during our common planning time.  The goals for
each of these teams are much different than any other.  The word team has a
direct connection and is very easily integrated into the natural systems
for us as well.



The open/social system is very similar in each of our schools and I can
relate to your answer.  We set up a system for kids but the outside
environment is ever changing.  Teachers, leaders, and stakeholders need to
be flexible because as the environment changes in order to get the most
bang for our buck we must change the way we do things.





-Rational systems have specific organizational goals, and they work in
concordance with the rest of the organization to make it run effectively.
Like a machine, all parts of a rational system must operate together in
order to function properly. When thinking of my school and rational
systems, immediately the cooks & custodians come to mind. During lunch, the
cooks set up an assembly line to fill the trays for each students’ lunch.
Once students are dismissed, the cooks and the custodians work together to
empty the students’ trays: one empties the trays while another washes the
trays off in order to prepare for the next time of use. Each person has a
specific duty, but also they work together like a well-oiled machine so
that the cafeteria operates smoothly.



Conversely, as described by Hoy & Miskal: “Natural systems emphasize the
informal organization rather than the formal, people rather than structure,
and human needs rather than organizational demands”. Within natural systems
groups, or teams, will emerge who work together to complete tasks. Natural
systems within my school would be the community of teachers themselves. In
my school we are constantly hearing the word “team”: Teacher-Based Team,
Literacy Team, Positive Behavior Intervention Systems Team, Primary Team,
Intermediate Team, etc. Although we are put in teams, which seem like a
rational system in nature, our goals are each different. For example, the
second grade team would have different goals and objectives than the fifth
grade team. Each social group within the school, although they are grouped
together, have different goals and various approaches to meeting those
goals.



Open/social systems are a combination of both the rational (structured) and
natural (organic) systems. All schools are considered open/social systems
because while they are very structured (i.e. students enter school in
Kindergarten and follow the prescribed course of study to graduation), they
are also very natural in the way that students meet friends and create
within their peers various social groups that have very different goals in
mind. For example, some students may go into a trade field, others may go
on to college after graduation, while some may follow an entirely different
path. Open/social systems are influenced by environmental factors, so they
are ever changing and the goals depend on the social group.
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