C4T#3 Assignment

Teacher’s Blog     

    In an educational blog by Mike Prater he ask the question What Effective Principals Do. Most see principals as the big top dog in a school who is there to scare the students and you only see them when a student has really messed up. This is not the true role of a principal though. Mike goes on to hit three main jobs of a principal. The first is they ensure that the school is operating smoothly daily. The second is being competent in instructional and curriculum manners. The third is they lead the school in a collaborative and transformational manner. There is a lot more to these three task then most would realize.
    Principals ensure that the school is operating smoothly on the daily basis. This means they are responsible for making sure that their staff and students have a safe learning environment. If students and teachers do not feel safe and secure in their environment they can not effectively learn. Principals are also responsible for creating guideline for students and teachers to follow. This is a very important part of operating a school smoothly. Evaluating teachers and other staff members is another important task. This has to be done fairly and consistently. Evaluating teachers and staff is important so principals know what is going on in the classroom. It is also important for when a teacher may need to work on something specific to better equip their classroom.
    Principals must be competent in instructional and curriculum manners. They need to know the most up to date and best instructional process that benefits their school. As well as knowing the different instructional process principals have to make sure they are being followed by the teachers. Principals must also work with students in order to create effective assessments. Classroom engagement and learning is to be analyzed by them. This is done to assist the teachers in developing different instructional strategies.
    Principals should be leading their school in a collaborative and transformational manner. This is done by accomplishing many different task. One way is by setting an example. THis lets teachers know what is expected of them. Principals doing this also allows for teachers to be inspired by the goals and visions that their principal has for their school. Principals also need to let teachers know that they are a very important part of the school and each one of them has an important opinion and role. A big part of their time goes to working with their staff collaboratively to solve issues that can help improve the school.
    All of these are very important jobs and for a school to run correctly as well as effectively the principal must be willing to work at all of them. Teachers as well as students are looking toward their principal for guidance and leadership. Not doing so can end with teachers not receiving the help they need, students with severe behavioral problems, and even some very unhappy parents.

My Comment
I am currently attending the University of South Alabama and am taking EDM310. I was very impressed with your blog. I have encountered some very good principals that strive to know us as students. I have also had some very invisible principals. Ones that were hardly ever seen outside of the office and never dealt with any discipline problems. Principals are such an important part of our school system. For me being a future educator I know that I want a principal that has good leadership as well is there for their teachers and students. I have never fully taken the time to think about what all a principal should be taking the time to do. Reading your blog has opened my eyes to what their full job in tales as well as what I should be doing as a teacher to assist them.

Teacher Blog #2
    On March 23 Mike Prater write the blog titled, “No More Teaching”. In this blog he really focuses on the fact that technology is starting to make its way into the classroom, or at least needs to be. In this blog he makes the following statement; “Schools use to be a place where parents sent their kids to learn stuff. Now they are places where we facilitate learning.”.He makes this statement because kids are no longer just learning at school. Technology gives kids the opportunity to have limitless learning sources. They are provided with these sources in their everyday lives from their phones to the iPad.
    Prater goes on to give four things that would be beneficial inside the classroom to keep up with the technology as well as the students. One is we welcome technology and embrace it. Teachers need to learn to make adjustments to this new learning. If we are scared and do not except it then we will fall behind and it will hinder our students. Second, we actually have to form heartfelt and meaningful relationships with our students. In today’s society we are taught that you must earn respect to recieve it. That is the mindset of most of these kids. We are no longer receive respect just because we are teachers. As teachers we must also learn to return the respect given. Third, we must make the learning applicable to our students. We have to understand our students and make them interested in what is inside the classroom as well as outside. Students can tune us out easily; however we need to learn to keep them tuned in. Fourth, we have to remember to make learning fun. We need to get them involved in the learning as well as the teaching of the material. We became teachers because we love to learn and in order to get our students to learn we need to share that love.

My Comment
  I am a student in EDM310 and we are learning how to incorporate more technology in to the classroom. In the class I have seen first hand the amazing resources that technology can provide for us as teachers.I am also going in to Special Education and technology is so useful in this field. Students are equipped with this resources daily and enjoy using them. As a teacher we can not be afraid to use the resources instead we must embrace them. In doing this we will give the students an enriched learning environment.