Reading about climate and morale in the textbook was an interesting reflective activity. With all of the upheavel in education Wisconsin has experienced over the past two years there has been plenty of times in which teacher morale has been low. It has been challenging for teachers who are feeling unappreciated and disrespected to have the same zest and energy in the classroom. Although most do truly love what they do and their sense of responsibility and professionalism have kept them working hard, it may be some time before things stabalize. It will be an important responsibility for both administrators and teacher leaders to keep morale up and facilitate a positive climate.
On top of being in a department with an at-times negative climate a lot of what I read about in the book rang true. Over the past year the climate in the department has improved dramatically and it has felt as though the group has become more productive and collaborated better. As our school moves more to working with data it will be interesting to see how the climate of the building corresponds to student achievement and if there is a way to measure it.
Data and morale can be a real tricky thing. When success is measured by one metric, a lot of staff can feel like their hard work went for nothing. I really feel it's important for administration to understand data well and draw from robust data sets before sharing with the staff. It's not necessarily about working the numbers until they say the school is improving, just making sure that they're getting an accurate read.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the chapter reading about climate and morale, it was an interesting reflective activity. I has been a tough two years in education in Wisconsin and it is important for staff and administration to keep a positive attitude and morale in schools. Students are very perceptive and will quickly pick up on whether or not their school is a positive place to be. The perception of a negative environment will certainly have some effect on student achievement.
ReplyDeleteI do think climate can hugely change student's success. Just like a student's homelife can negatively affect a student's academics. If the student's don't feel comfortable it will be hard to learn. Also, if teachers don't like their jobs or working with their coworkers they tend to not want to give 100%. It will be interesting to see how student test scores might change in WI with all of the things that have happened in the past few years.
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