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

[Miller, Ashton]

I do not have a school of my own, but I completed my student teaching at Wheelersburg Middle School and in this school building, I saw both collective efficacy and self-efficacy.  All of the teachers that I worked around and collaborated with in the fourth grade definitely showed collective efficacy.  They are all supportive of each other, believe in one another, and are always more than willing to do what is best for the students.  When changes need to be made, they take all of the students into consideration, as well as one another and how changing the situation will affect one another.  The principal at Wheelersburg Middle School, Dave, also shows collective efficacy to his staff, from what I observed.  He is very supportive and motivating and he is always willing to listen and help and do anything he can to help his staff and/or help the students.  For collective efficacy to be present there has to be teamwork and each member of the team has to care about one another and want to achieve a goal that the group has set.  I could definitely see that occurring at Wheelersburg.



I think that self-efficacy is something that you have to have in order to be a good teacher, and especially to be a teacher that makes a difference.  You have to care about others and you have to have the motivation to make a change.  I feel that all it is obvious when a teacher has high self-efficacy.  You catch the feeling when you walk into the classroom.  My mentor teacher for my student teaching was Lori Suter.  I truly have never in my life met someone who has more self-efficacy than her.  Not only is it apparent that she knows what she is doing, but also she is always very confident that what she has planned is going to make a difference and help the students learn. She cares about her job more than anything and her motivation and confidence is sky high.  She is so determined and committed and when you enter her room, you just know those things about her.  She does not need anyone else to tell her that what she has planned is going to work and she does not need reassurance.  I hope that when the time comes and I am a school administrator, I am lucky enough to have teachers with self-efficacy like hers.  More than that, I am thankful for the experience that I had with Lori because it taught me so much about myself.  I learned so much from her about how to teach and that experience definitely built on my level of self-efficacy.

I could also observe that the other fourth grade teachers also had high self-efficacy, which I would say was one reason that their collective efficacy as a grade level was so high.



Collective efficacy and self-efficacy are both extremely important in order for a school to run smoothly and for goals to be met.  All team members have to support one another, as well as be encouraging and willing to help to benefit the team.  Before collective efficacy can be a thing, self-efficacy in each individual of the team or group needs to be stable and established.  If you have confidence, care, motivation, and drive in yourself, you are more likely to spread that to others and build a strong sense of collective efficacy.

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