My Capstone - Terry F Erickson (to read list .TXT) 📗

a sub. I would spend until 10 or 11 o’clock at night prepping for a sub the next day and that’s not a positive tradeoff for me. So one of the reasons I have not been involved in district committees is that it takes too much time away from my teaching.---Elizabeth
Katherine had a unique perspective on being out of the classroom. Unlike most of the others, she didn’t think having meetings during the school day was an issue if student learning was self-directed rather than dependent on the teacher---much like the “guide on the side” versus the “sage on the stage” philosophy.
If things get paced out, you can miss a day of school but it depends on how you teach. You can’t have the kids so needy on you, where their learning really depends on you. The teacher should be the coach and the facilitator…provoker of their learning, but I should be able to walk away and the learning should still happen. Someone else just keeps the procedure and the routine going for a day here and there and I don’t think the be all and end all of the education that is going on in my classroom is me.---Katherine
Even senior teachers may have children at home to take care of, as Edward mentions. Parents really do have two jobs and two often opposing sets of demands on their time.
It is time. Having kids and knowing that at 4 o’clock the second part of my day begins, so it really is time.---Edward
Other hindrances cited by the teachers were based on individual issues not necessarily shared by others:
• lack of interest in the position
• not having needed skills
• decisions already made by administrators
• give opportunities to others or younger teachers
• philosophical differences with administrators
Future Leadership Roles
With one exception, the teachers did not aspire to a specific leadership position, but all expressed desire to stay involved and engaged in some type of leadership role. It doesn’t appear that any of the teachers will be “coasting” to retirement or checking out from school or community life. I believe this relates to their strong work ethic and desire to be involved in new challenges.
I don’t see myself taking on anything more or doing anything less either. Status quo.---Audrey
Could I stay in the classroom? On the days I have a tough day and I’m tired and I do feel old, I don’t feel the need to be out of the classroom. I think there has been enough in my career so far, enough tweaks and changes, or stimulating things or new understandings for myself, to make it dynamic to be here.---Katherine
I’ll continue to work on anything to do with curriculum. I’ll continue to mentor other teachers and I’ll definitely continue to have a student teacher once a year because I really think we need to have good, strong teachers and I think I do a good job with them. I am trying to back off in some ways.---Eli
Unbelievably, Eli made this last comment with a straight face! It was astonishing that she thought she would be backing off and yet be holding these many leadership roles. What she is backing off from is probably far more involvement than many other teachers ever move into!
Summary
The teachers I interviewed continue to hold vital roles in their respective schools and in the district. Their leadership roles are as varied as their personal styles and passions. I found the primary motivation to be a sense of duty or responsibility to do their share of the work. Benefits of leadership roles were minor and not perceived as motivators by the teachers. The chief hindrance was the lack of time for leadership responsibilities, time away from the classroom, time necessary to prepare for substitutes, and time needed for outside obligations. All stated that they intend to stay actively involved in some type of leadership role and look forward to new challenges and experiences.
Preview of Chapter Five
In Chapter Five I will summarize the findings from this chapter and provide an opinion on their significance. I will use the thoughts and ideas of the senior teachers I interviewed to make a recommendation to district administrators.


Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE
Conclusions
“I look to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life.”
George Burns
Introduction
Initially, this chapter was to be a set of recommendations that would help ensure senior teachers are integral members of the leadership in my school district. However, after collecting the data through my interviews with nine senior teachers, I have concluded that senior teachers do not need external motivation to be involved in leadership roles. If these nine senior teachers are representative of all senior teachers in my district, and I believe they are, they are already enthusiastically participating in leadership capacities, and I believe they will continue to do so until the end of their illustrious careers.
Students, parents, and other teachers should feel fortunate to have such leadership capabilities in our district. The teachers I interviewed have an extremely strong work ethic and sense of personal responsibility. The students could not have better role models to become successful students and good citizens.
Motivators and Hindrances
Surprisingly, I found the primary motivator to be a sense of duty or responsibility. I had expected to find a more self-serving or extrinsic reason for their significant involvement in leadership roles. As I stated above, I thought I would conclude my study with a set of recommendations administrators could use as a tool to motivate senior teachers, like a teacher issuing some sort of token to students when they demonstrate respectful behavior. Teachers did identify greater job satisfaction as one personal benefit, but it seemed to be viewed as a by-product of their efforts, and even this benefit can’t be seen as completely self-serving because employers usually want their employees to be happy in their work. On the other hand, Ramirez (2001) contends that extrinsic rewards have a negative effect on employee motivation:
Extrinsic reward systems create illusions of employer control but at the expense of the full involvement and commitment of dedicated, enthusiastic employees. Extrinsic reward systems divert resources and energy from what is much more likely to move the organization to higher levels of performance. They discard the most valuable resources in the organization: the brainpower, problem-solving ability, and innovative thinking that every employee brings to their job (p. 17).
Ramirez doesn’t specifically mention money as an extrinsic reward, although politicians and policy makers seem to think money is the “silver bullet” that will save public education. An alternative teacher-compensation program, called “Qcomp” by the governor, was passed by the legislature last year. Several school districts have already implemented the new teacher-pay system. My district, however, is still in the planning stage with hopes for implementation by next year. One aspect of the new system might be extra compensation for some of the leadership duties teachers presently perform for free. Will extra money motivate teachers to hold leadership roles, or will the money be viewed as a minimal benefit?
Like Al Ramirez, Frederick Herzberg (1987) found in a study of employee motivation that an extrinsic reward such as money actually diminished employees enthusiasm for their jobs.
Organizational policy and administrative procedures, supervisory practices, employee-employer relations, working conditions, and salary proved to have greater potential to be dissatisfiers than satisfiers. These dissatisfiers are important and need the attention of employers. But the satisfiers---the motivators that are essential to spurring performance to higher levels---included achievement on the job, recognition for one’s contribution or for a job well done, the work itself, job responsibility, opportunities for career advancement, and professional growth (p. 115).
Are school boards and administrators taking advantage of teachers’ sense of responsibility for their profession and students? It is commonly known that employees of organizations and companies perform duties outside of what’s prescribed in a job description. Labor unions use this fact to sometimes threaten an action called “work-to-rule” during negotiations or work disputes. Work-to-rule means doing only those duties as directly prescribed in the labor contract. My district’s labor contract, or Master Agreement, calls for teachers to perform only “basic duties” and does not require teachers to hold leadership positions.
In my district, the school board and teacher’s union negotiate a new contract every two years. Without fail, there are always one or two sticking points that cause protracted negotiations. Union leadership then begins planning actions its members can take to place pressure on the school board to quickly settle. Usually one of these actions is work-to-rule. Taking this action would preclude teachers from performing most leadership duties since they are not contractual obligations. The school board and union leaders clearly understand that a significant part of the work it takes to operate a school---outside of teaching students---is done voluntarily by teachers, and work-to-rule would be a hardship. In my 14 years of experience in the district, teachers have never approved of taking this action. Teachers have been very resistant because they recognize their leadership work also benefits students. Teachers have not only a strong sense of responsibility to their profession, but also to their students and they would not purposely take any actions that would do harm. The school board and administrators recognize this sense of responsibility as well, and this is why they may have an advantage.
Just as money is not usually the motivation for teaches to enter the profession, I believe money will never be the motivator for teachers to take leadership roles. However, this sense of responsibility should not be exploited and teachers should be fairly compensated for performing work beyond their basic duties. Loretta, one of the nine teachers I interviewed, thought that money would not necessarily motivate her to take leadership roles, but it would be a sort of recognition for the extra work she performs. She states, “I do think there is an issue with some type of compensation though, for putting in those hours beyond and taking on responsibility, because we already have a lot of responsibilities for what we do. I don’t know if I would be more likely to take leadership responsibilities, but I feel like it is the right thing to do.”
I found issues centered on time to be the unanimous hindrance for the teachers I interviewed---such things as time away from the classroom, time needed for other obligations, time needed for teaching responsibilities, and time needed to prepare for a substitute.
There was little consensus among the teachers of when