Lucky Girl

This week I read Chapter 4 & 5 from the text Human Resources Administration for Educational Leaders by M. Scott Norton. While reading the text I had several connections to my position as a teacher at Chets Creek Elementary. In Chapter 4: The Recruitment Process, the author suggested that in order to improve job satisfaction and prevent the loss of teachers, principals and other leaders should pay more attention to motivation factors. The motivation factors that he listed were: 1) create a climate of appreciation, 2) help employees understand how important they are to the system, 3) add variety and interest to the workplace, 4) increase employee responsibility and respect, 5) encourage continuous and personal improvement and 6) allow them to use personal initiative and to set their own goals. (pg. 126) I am fortunate to say that the leader at my school, Susan Phillips, is a master at all of these suggestions. She is especially good at creating a climate of appreciation for her teachers. There doesn’t seem to be a day that goes by where she doesn’t sincerely thank us for the work that we do. As often as she can, she showers us with different surprises that show how much she appreciates us. We definitely feel the love!

Another suggestion that the book gave was to allow teachers to answer an assignment interest questionnaire at least once a year. (pg. 127) This is another protocol that is standard at my school. Every January, Mrs. Phillips asks us to fill out our requests for the following school year. In my opinion, she tries very hard to fulfill all requests. In my six years of working at Chets, my teaching wish has been granted. This is pretty much the same for everyone who works at my school. For this reason, the voluntary turnover rate at my school is practically nonexistent. My school is a pretty fantastic place to call home.

While reading Chapter 5: The Selection Process, I was astounded at how much effort goes into hiring personnel. When I was hired six years ago, I was hired late in the summer. The school was rushing to fill this position and I got hired after one interview. Admittedly I didn’t know much about what it really meant to be a teacher. The text stated that sometimes in interviews people would be asked to perform tasks (performance interview) on the spot such as “teach us why we invert and multiply in the division of fractions.” Yikes!! I was lucky enough to remember my name in my interview, much less teaching a table full of interviewers a complex mathematical concept. I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have passed a performance interview if I had been given one.

Although this reading was somewhat technical it gave me a good idea of how the recruitment and candidate selection process works in the school system. I am sure glad that I read this after I got hired as a teacher!

Thanks for reading,

Ashley