Category: Unit 6

I believe that a leader needs to have a clear development plan laid out for employees so that goals, progress made, and guidance as to what to do next are clear for all employees. A clearly laid out plan, will aid in promoting the highest quality of work from employees which will promote increased effectiveness of an organization as well as an increased level of efficacy, morale and motivation among employees.

Northouse, 2016, suggests that a beneficial approach in team effectiveness and organization is the behavioural approach, “in short, the behavioral approach applies to nearly everything a leader does. It is an approach that is used as a model by many training and development companies to teach managers how to improve their effectiveness and organizational productivity.” (Northouse, 2016, P 82). Northouse provides us with the example of Grid International (Northouse, 2016). “Grid seminars are about increasing productivity, improving morale, and gaining employee commitment. They are offered by Grid International, an international organization development company (www.gridinternational.com). At grid seminars, self-assessments, small-group experiences, and candid critiques allow managers to learn how to define effective leadership, how to manage for optimal results, and how to identify and change ineffective leadership behaviors. The conceptual framework around which the grid seminars are structured is the behavioral approach to leadership.” (Northouse, 2016, P 82).

To establish a tactful plan, I would first need to consult with the people who are at the heart of my plan. Listening to your followers builds trust which is an essential skill in leadership. (Northouse, 2016). I would do this by creating an online community as this would be something that teachers can quickly and easily respond to. For questions that do not require discussion, I would use a survey system in which teachers would be asked questions that promote reflection and critical thinking skills about our work environment. If I were looking for answers that required discussion among colleagues, I would suggest an online tool such as Padlet. Padlet is effective and user-friendly. It is important to establish an online community that is user-friendly and efficient. An effective leader listens, provides opportunities for creative problem solving and critical thinking. When all of the discussion and notes are posted on one page, it is easy and clear for employees to read each comment and respond. “Using combined resources of people (employees and customers) and technology will act as key sources of creative innovation and subsequent market leadership.” (Kandampully et. al, 2016).

Once the teachers have had the opportunity to answer, I would then take the information and organize it to be presented to colleagues. I would present areas of interest particularly with strengths and weaknesses and then I would make suggestions for improvement that are constructive and can easily be implemented. Rockwell discusses the importance of coaching people through questioning and communication. I would want to establish a plan that made colleagues feel comfortable with openly discussing ineffective and effective strategies, and then sharing and communicating these with colleagues.

Building an effective, user-friendly community that promotes constructive feedback, critical thinking and makes suggestions for improvement can create a community that works as a team. People experience higher levels of intrinsic motivation when a team is operating at their highest quality and efficiency. I believe that a development plan for teachers in my school needs to promote all of these things in order for it to be effective.

Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A., Zhang, T. ( 2016). Developing a people-technology hybrids model to unleash innovation and creativity: The new hospitality frontier. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 29 ( 2016) 154-164.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Teaching is a profession in which the employees are constantly learning. Every year, there are new challenges that force us to learn new strategies, tools and processes. What may work well for a group of students one year, can also fail with another group the next year. I have personally experienced this many times in my career and have learned from these experience. These learning experiences are defined as andragogy.

Malcom Knowles shares six assumptions about andragogy:

1. An adult accumulates a growing reservoir of experience, which is a rich resource for learning.

I know this statement to be true because I have personally experienced it. I have had the opportunity of starting my career with teaching grade 4 and I have continued in this same grade. I am now in my fifth year. Every year, I feel like I vastly improve. I am a higher quality grade 4 teacher now than I was in my first year. I can only imagine that this would continue each year in my teaching career.  

1. The readiness of an adult to learn is closely related to the developmental tasks of his or her social role.

As a new teacher starting out, I focused on the skills and lessons required to teach my students and achieve positive results. In my first year, my focus was very narrow. It was about my classroom, the students and when I was teaching specifics of the curriculum. As the years have passed, I am more comfortable in my role. I have become a much more confident teacher. Last year and this year, I have spent more time volunteering at church and in the community. I feel as though my focus has moved from a broader view.  As I learned more about my strengths and my weaknesses as a teacher, I identified some professional goals that would help me improve my skills and took specific professional development courses to target my areas of need. Now, I also take professional development based on things that are interesting to me, even though they aren’t specifically related to my teaching career.

1. There is a change in time perspective as people mature – from future application of knowledge to immediacy of application. Thus, an adult is more problem centered than subject centered in learning.

As children, we are taught certain things in school because we have to learn them. This is subject based learning. As an adult, learning tends to be more problem focused. For example, if a person decides to start their own business, they need to take courses to learn how to manage a business. In my profession, I discover areas that are weaknesses for me and I take professional development activities based on those weaknesses. Developing skills around weaknesses, helps us improve so that we can be more effective teachers.

1. Adults are mostly driven by internal motivation, rather than external motivators.

I believe that teachers are intrinsically motivated. Knowles suggests this as the fourth principle of andragogy. Naturally, there is external motivation in teaching which includes evaluations, testing results and praise from staff who are higher in the division. Although rewarding, these are not the motivators that drive teachers to be good teachers and to learn. Teachers want to be good learners so that they can provide students with the highest quality of education to their abilities.

1. Adults need to know the reason for learning something. (Merriam & Bierma, 2014, p. 47)”

Adults need to have a purpose for what they are learning. An example of a time that I have experienced this in my own career was two  years ago. My boss wanted to send me to a conference on Down Syndrome. At the time, I did not have any students in my class with Down’s Syndrome. She informed me that there was a student in Kindergarten with Down’s Syndrome. It was decided that this student would start in grade 4 half way through the year. Once I knew that there was a reason for me to become more knowledgeable and skillful in this area, I was more motivated and interested in developing those skills.

This unit in particular has really made me reflect on my learning experience as an adult. It is a very different situation for me compared to when I attended university full time shortly after graduating high school, I realize now that I was not as focused as I could’ve been as I was not sure what I wanted to do in my future and as a result, I  took the process of education and learning for granted.  Now that I work full time and have experience in my profession, I value my education much more. I am more focused, more serious, and I want to achieve specific goals. Time is at a premium when you work full time, so I view my education as a gift to myself.  I am much more driven. My current studies are very relevant to my profession.

I am also inspired by this opportunity to learn as an adult because I have realized that the term ‘adult’ is extremely broad and can mean so much. Every adult in this course is so unique and comes from a unique background of experiences and knowledge. We have different interests, careers and are different age groupings. It is interesting to read how each person is experiencing adult learning in this course.

Reference:

Malcolm Shepherd Knowles- Theory of Andragogy

On Wednesday evening, I had the pleasure of interviewing Riggi Solinap. Riggi lives with his wife and son in Langley, BC. Riggi’s family is from the Philippines. He began his journey to Canada about 10 years ago. He worked in California where he aided in building a church. Riggi remembers his childhood years to be happy and carefree.

Currently, Riggi is working for the TWU and taking this course in preparation for his future. Riggi shared that he sees himself moving towards doing work that is more true to heart. He wants to focus more on his interests and doing what feels right in hopes of making an impact on his community.  

Riggi shared with me that a time when he felt at his best was during an important presentation that he gave to a group of people. He felt as though he had made an imprint in these people’s lives. Riggi felt that through his effective presentation skills, people learned that there are greater things in life than just the day-to-day routine of work. He felt like people realized that there are greater things they can do in life beyond what they are doing. Riggi knows that his presentation made an impact as his presentation is still being talked about many months later.

Riggi hopes to continue this kind of work and leadership. He hopes to share words of encouragement, inspiration and motivation, to many groups of people. Something that Riggi said that resonated with me is this, “life is more meaningful when you work for something that will leave an imprint after you die.” I truly agree and believe in this statement and it is one that I try to live my life by. Riggi said this in regards to the leadership he would like to work towards. He wants to make a difference in people’s lives. Riggi wants to volunteer and be a part of instilling values in young people. He wants to be their inspiration. Riggi also wants to give back to his community.

I had a wonderful conversation with Riggi. I find it interesting how each person in this course is so different and comes from different stages of life. Riggi mentioned to me that he recalled being my age and thinking similarly to the way that I currently think. I thought it was interesting and it made me wonder how my thoughts will grow and change as I am influenced by people who are wise and knowledgeable and who inspire me. I also wonder what it will be like to look back and reflect on my 27-year-old self.

Riggi left me with the names of a few books that I will be sure to read. I thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to interact with a classmate.