Crawford, M. (2009) found out that, “Narratives are
a powerful tool to help head-teachers make some of their implicit personal
values explicit, both to themselves and others” and “care and connection can
lead to high performance”.
This
chapter reminds me of a day with my teachers. Every Friday we meet for weekly
planning. Everyone was practicing “Read Aloud “. An hour later I see one
teacher getting upset about her non - English background as she was having trouble
reading correctly and finally she planned to quit. She explained me the whole
problem that why she cannot continue. Her attitude to accept her inability out
of concern for the kids of her class got me thinking. I planned a meeting with my
teaching staff to discuss their issues.
There is a part of
my life which is very dear to me and
motivates me to deal with problems I face.
So, I shared my own story of troubles I faced and how I
overcame them. I told them that I learn a lot while teaching to the elementary kids.
I told them that to run from the problems is not a smart decision in spite of
knowing that there may come a point where to overcome and improve our abilities
may be the only choice we have. So why not overcome the problems when we have supportive
people who understand our problem. I made them believe that the aim of the
school is to educate not only the students but also to improve and help
teachers. My story and vision really
inspired the teachers who were facing problems and were looking for help. I
gave them resources like audio book and dictionaries and few videos. Now they
are teaching with confident and are in no interest to leave the school.
The role of a head-teacher is still undefined to me
as I moved from handling parents, to students, to teachers and also
non-official staff. I find the role dynamic as everybody expects from us to
have the solution to every problem in every situation. It is our job to keep
everything moving no matter what. Though the situations may vary for others but
to me this is what I faced and fortunately handled.
Reflect. What is your experience with the
head-teacher or as a head teacher. Do share.
Reference:
Crawford, M. (2009). Being a headteacher. Blase, J.
& Blase, J. (2004). School principal mistreatment of Teachers; Teachers’ perspectives
on emotional abuse
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