presentations

This is the second weekend in a row that I heard a presentation on RTI. RTI in my school is in the infant stage, especially at the high school. It was nice to her the process of the 3 tier system explained again. It is something that is almost a thought of fear to most veteran teachers when we begin to learn the process of RTI. The 3 tier system seems to make a road map to be followed and schools shouldn't have much difficulty implementing it if they are making a good effort. I know we have seen our share of changes over the years, but this change makes sense. Ever since the creation of the inclusion teachers have been trying to make their classrooms more effective for all learners. This process fosters colaboration among staff and will do what's best for every student.

Paying non-certified

I did not know that uncertified staff who coach or supervise are supposed to get overtime if those hours exceed 40 for the week. We have many uncertified staff who take tickets at games, work the concession stand, or run the clock at games. They get paid a flat amount for each event. Unless they work multiple games in a week, I would bet that what they get paid is more than what they would get as overtime pay. I wonder if it matters how the pay for these extra hours is put on the books.

Interviews

I found our discussions about interviews intriguing! I find it interesting that each school interviews candidates differently example, in our district some schools used the traditional interview where we all sit in a circle and take turns asking questions. A few of our elementary buildings interviewed candidates and asked the top 4 to teach a lesson with students in front of the interview team. This worked well except for the leading candidate. She had a great lesson until the last 15 minutes where she completely lost control of the room. Another method that I do not believe has been tried is including critical incidence situations. I would like to do more research to see if one method or style produces better candidates!

Presentations

Although we have done presentations in many of the other classes, I feel that these were the most beneficial. I liked the fact that we were able to choose any topic as long as it related to Human Resources. This allowed us to choose a topic where we were knowledgable or a topic we wanted to know more about. As an observer, I learned a lot about a variety of topics in a day! What a great way to share our knowledge!

ADA

I found learning about the Americans with Disabilities Act to be interesting and valuable. Prior to this class, I had heard of the ADA, but was unaware of specific details about it. Many people seem to have a misconception that it forces employers to hire disabled people and if they don't, they're breaking the law and will be sued. I agree that employers should provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities. I also feel that employees must be able to perform essential job functions, especially in the teaching field. If a teacher can't perform essential job functions, the education of students is likely to suffer. I liked the example the book gave demonstrating how an employee must be able to perform essential job functions.

Co-teaching

I liked the presentation on co-teaching, as it is something that I have always been interested in doing, but have not had the opportunity to do yet. I definitely feel it is important to consider personalities and teaching styles when deciding to co-teach a class, and that an administrator should not have teachers co-teach without discussing it with each of them first. I can see how teaming a special education teacher and a regular classroom teacher could create an environment where students view the special education teacher as some sort of an aide, since the special education teacher would probably have more knowledge of how to assist special education students and would do so more. It would be important for the co-teachers to explain to the class from the beginning the unique co-teaching situation. I also found it interesting that co-teachers haven't been evaluated as co-teachers. If I was an administrator, I would want to evaluate each co-teaching situation to see if it was effective.

changing culture

Kim's presentation on school culture was very interesting. Several of the school districts I work with announce they are professional learning communities but as an observer I don't see that. I think it is the buzz word so some administrations think if they say it--they are instantly PLC's. I don't think they know that as the administrator they must buy into the PLC concept and work with their staff to create the change of culture. It isn't just saying it but it is actually changing the thought process of everyone involved.