[Ous-lp-rp13] EDAD 6020, Answer to Question # 3

[Sylvia, Molly]

On Monday, our principal accepted a position at our Educational Service
Center and turned in his resignation.  He was liked by all of the staff and
dearly loved by many. During his time at Green he built a positive culture
and nurtured self and collective efficacy. He was a servant leader, who
exemplified inspirational motivation and individualized consideration
regularly with his staff, which lent itself well to building efficacy. He
believed in his staff and helped us to believe in ourselves. He brought us
together, along with his vision: that every student could complete every
assignment and that every assignment could be a quality assignment so that
no student would fail and student achievement would increase. Not everyone
was sold on the vision immediately, but he spent time each teacher
individually, mentoring us and bringing us all closer together under his
vision. We truly believed that if we worked on our assignments and ensured
that every student completed every assignment, we could greatly affect
student outcomes.

And, it worked. Over the last two years under this vision, we nearly
reached that goal, dropping our failures from 89 two years ago to 8 this
last year. It was hard at times, when students would have 20-plus missing
assignments. But, as we helped them chisel away at their missing assignment
list, students' motivation and self-efficacy increased, as well. They
became more engaged in class and ultimately were exposed to more curriculum
than when we'd simply given them a zero for the assignment. Staff were
motivated, believed in themselves, and worked to make better quality
assignments. It was not always easy to get the assignments turned in at
times, so we wanted to be sure the assignments were aligned to the
standards and would truly benefit the students. It was a big job. We
processed and made many adjustments individually and collectively. At
times, we experienced individual setbacks, and a teacher's self-efficacy
would wane. Other teachers shared their personal success stories and
reminded each other of the steps already taken forward. Over time, teachers
recovered and pushed through difficulties on their own, making adjustments
to their processes as needed.

Currently, our collective efficacy is low. We don't know who our new
administrator will be and if they will continue the work we've begun.
Challenging times are ahead, yet self-efficacy can motivate much of this
work to continue, with or without an administrator on board.

-- 
*Molly Sylvia*
*7th/8th Grade Social Studies Teacher*
*Jr. High Quiz Bowl Advisor*
*Youth in Government Advisor*
Green High School
4057 Gallia Pike
Franklin Furnace, Ohio 45629
office 740.354.9290 ext. 3212
fax 740.354.9904
*BELIEVE*
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