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

[Anthony Gillman]

*Samantha,I truly admire your personal story about your self-efficacy when
faced with a challenging situation in your life.  I too, had some
challenges to deal with when I decided to go back to school so I have an
idea where you are coming from.  I also have had some rough years as a
teacher and many times have felt a little “deflated.” I am currently
struggling with getting poor results for the Geometry End-of-Course Exam
and it feels like a kick to the stomach, especially after feeling really
confident on the past school year and how things went.  My plan now is the
same as it was the year before. I will keep looking for and trying better
ways to present the content for learning. I am sure that you plan on doing
the same! I appreciate your candid response about your building’s
collective efficacy.  I would agree that a needed step to obtaining
collective efficacy within a building would be good communication between
all teachers.  The word ‘collective’ sort of implies this by definition.
Your approach to the administrator about the matter is commended and
hopefully will impact a change in procedures for you next year.  Keep up
the good work and thanks for all you do!Sincerely,Tony*


Samantha's original answer;

I believe that self-efficacy is the type of motivation that we all have
within ourselves. I have reflected back on my time as a teacher which has
been the past four years. When I first began college, I was really
intrinsically motivated and had all odds against me. I had children very
young and got married. I decided to go back to school when my daughter was
1 and found out two months before I started that I was expecting my son. I
had the drive to complete my schooling so that I could be a school teacher.
I always felt like I could make a difference. My first two years were
challenging as a new preschool teacher but I felt I could do it and really
teach these young children. After my first few years, I really did feel
that I was making a difference. Last year I was moved to first grade but I
was teaching Science and Social Studies for only thirty minute time
intervals. I really felt like how could I make a difference only having
thirty minutes with my students. I really feel like I lost some of my
motivation last year and felt defeated. I think that a teacher does have to
have self efficacy in order to have the drive to keep your own students
motivated. I think there are people in my building who do have this drive
and there are some who do not.

With collective efficacy, I do feel like our district lacks in this area.
Our district as a whole does have goals but I feel like we are all
completely separated by our buiding and that we all have different goals
and different outlooks on several issues. I know that one example in my own
building is the TBT meetings. I did not really have the same schedule as
anyone else that worked with the same grades as me. Therefore, I only
attended maybe two of those meetings last year. One of the things I told my
administrator at the end of the year was that I need to be involved in
these grade level meetings. This really made me feel like I had not part in
decision making for my students and not much communication at all with the
other teachers that I worked with. I think as an administrator, you need to
make sure that all teachers are able to collaborate and attend the TBT
meetings. I also feel like the collective efficacy does need to improve in
our district and in our school. I think the goals need to be reinforced and
be district wide. Our district does have a goal but I think it is not
addressed enough or reinforced.




-- 
*Happiness is a proper balance of preparation and recreation.*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.ohio.edu/pipermail/ous-lp-rp13/attachments/20180624/85278a9f/attachment.html>