Term Paper on "Interview With a High School Principal"

Term Paper 6 pages (1856 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Charter School Principle

This case study examines the case of Ms. Aloe Cathin, the principle of the Open Lotus Charter School. This school includes grades seven through twelve. The school is developed around constructivist and liberation-pedagogy theories, and aims at creating totally inclusive and student-directed classrooms. For this purpose, multiple grade levels are included within each classroom setting, and classes are divided more according to interests and personality coherence. The racial division of the school is remarkably multi-cultural, with significant African-American, Asian and Hispanic student populations. The school is additionally diverse in that the population is composed in almost equal parts of high-achieving students drawn here because of its exceptional academic programs and students who were originally defined as "oppositional" in their original settings -- troublemakers, kids who were suspended or chronically absent, and children whose low grades stemmed from an unwillingness to cooperate with teachers. The diverse groups within the classrooms require a great deal of sensitivity to racial and cultural issues, and classes often spend time discussing interracial and intercultural communication styles. One of the stated goals of the school is to create a social structure which is open to intellectual, emotional, and cultural development. All students are given a one-semester trial period within the school before it is determine whether or not they will be able to function within its settings. According to the principle, the 90% of the students not only want to stay, but experience significant increases in their academic scores.

Teachers at this school undergo a rigorous training process to prepare them to work with racially and developmentally diverse, student-directed classrooms. The role of a teacher is not to transmit information, but to guide students in their personal construction and discovery of information, and this difference can be confusing and difficult for teachers. The majority of teachers here come directly to the school either from schools where they were not allowed to explore constructivist teachings, or are themselves new graduates. It is very rare to find a new teacher with experience in the style of education performed here.

This school is unique in its district, and for that matter it is unique even on a national level, because of the way in which it encourages students to take responsibility for their own education, and its integration of classrooms across grade levels. The development of this school was actually the brain child of Ms. Aloe Cathin, who campaigned for years for the opportunity to establish an what she calls her areas "first truly egalitarian educational experience." For a principle of one of the most successful schools in the district, she is relatively unassuming. Ms. Aloe insists on being addressed by all students and faculty by her first name, and generally forgoes top-down decision making in favor of consensus and discussion. Despite her deep concern for the interests of what she terms her "fellow educators" (a word she applies to both students and teachers), Aloe has a great deal of vision for her school and deeply educated opinions on the direction in which it needs to be moving.

Ms. Aloe has double masters degrees in education and child development, with a doctorate in the field of education theory. She wrote her dissertation on the subject of constructivist schooling methods and their application to low-achievers. Despite her reserved manner, Aloe has a surprisingly large body of knowledge in this field. Her academic understanding is easily matched by her experience. With a little over thirty years educational experience under her belt, Aloe describes the Open Lotus school as "the fulfillment of a lifetime's learning and dreaming." Through-out her career she has worked in private experimental schools similar to this one, one large public school, and several overseas schools. She says that, other than her current position, her most fulfilling work was with a series of small schools she helped to develop for street children and low-income families in Latin America in the mid-80s. (Aloe speaks fluent Spanish)

Aloe's day revolves primarily around interactions with her "fellow educators." She believes in keeping her finger on the pulse of the school, she says. Every day she attends at least one of the classes, sometimes just observing and other times taking an active role in the conversations. She sets aside at least three hours a day to talk to students. At least a third of this is used to recognize outstanding student success. "I want students to know that being called into the principal's office isn't just about being scolded," she says. In talking to students, she focuses on asking questions and exploring with them what they are learning and encouraging them to continue their studies. Another portion of this time is set aside for "interventions," in which she speaks to students who have been having problems of various sorts. These are not punishing conversations, nor do they contain threats -- "I studied psychology, though. When I talk to kids who are in trouble, I try to get to the root of it and make a plan to address those issues. Why are they acting out? ... that's what needs to be addressed." These sessions have led to results as varied as changing a child's classmates to calling child-services regarding their family situation, to changing a child's lunch schedule so that they are not "too hungry to think" in one of their classes. The remainder of her time is open for students to come and speak with her about anything on their mind, from college to relationships to homework. A surprising number of students take advantage of that fact. Every day Aloe eats lunch in the cafeteria, sitting and talking to the students as equals. In her remaining time she has meetings with teachers, instructs conferences on teaching techniques, holds meetings with parents and school board officials, and spends a great deal of time analysing student portfolios and state-required test scores. She also often serves as a substitute teacher when there are emergency absences.

The majority of the paperwork and administrative bureaucratic function of the principal's role is handed over to her "life-saving" aides, who handle the majorities of the financial and political maneuvering. Aloe says this is one of the most important differences between what she does and what many other principals do -- "I have learned that it is absolutely, entirely necessary that I delegate." She has three aides that help her with a variety of administrative tasks. These tasks including answering government queries on questions like racial counts and finances, assuring that the school is functioning properly in a technical sense (that repairmen, substitute teachers, and such are hired, or that the busses are running on time), and scheduling meetings with students, teachers, and parents. She suggests that no principal should assume that she or he can do this job properly without delegating a lot of the "busy work" to other people while focusing on leadership.

Many of Aloe's daily activities could be considered instructional leadership. In her style of working it can be very difficult to separate out what is instructional leadership and what is merely a very active participation in the school-wide dialog. The Constructivist approach, of course, focuses on teachers serving not as instructors but as co-learners. That said, in the last year Aloe has been involved in a large number of educational "conferences" within the school in addition to her daily involvement in the dialog of individual classes. Every year during the summer she runs a six-week seminar for prospective and current teachers which focused on understanding and maturing in the constructivist approach. This year the school tried something slightly different than past years and had one four-week seminar that was conducted at the school and a four-week retreat (which was jokingly entitled the "Co-Learner's Advance") at a large nearby ranch where teachers not only studied constructivist theories but also took charge of working together on the daily operation and care of the gardens, chickens, goats, and ranch house. (Teachers were only expected to attend one of these two events). This Advance was attended by about 25 people, including teachers, staff members, aides, prospective teachers, and even a couple of advanced students who expressed interest in going into education as a career and had been selected to participate in senior year projects as teacher's aides. Both the seminar and the Advance were coordinated and led by Aloe.

She also runs conferences through-out the year after school in which teachers are actively involved in dialog with her and with each other regarding teaching styles, students, and inter-personal faculty relations. One focus of these seminars is "keeping it real," in which teachers are encouraged to stop passive-aggressive behavior towards each other and their students, and directly confront each other about issues that bother them. Students are also frequently invited to "keep it real" in dialog with teachers and fellows -- Aloe is very the prime mediatrix in these activities, which she herself defines as her most important instructional leadership activities, which indicates that it may need… READ MORE

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