In Field Experience III, we visited an elementary school in a nearby county. The school is located in a rural area where industry and big business does not provide the schools with lots of revenue. In the recent years, change had occurred. More subdivisions have developed in the area bringing more tax money as well as children. These children are seeking a quality education. The leaders of county and schools wanted to assess the credibility of their leaders to see how effective they are in running these schools. We had a leader, 2 moderators and 2 scribes that switched at different intervals during the focus group session. (The leader never changed positions.) We traveled to the elementary school to conduct a focus group on the participants' perspectives on the extent to which the Six Core Components of Learning-Centered Leadership. Another facet to the focus group was the participants’ feelings on Professional Learning Circles initiative. The fifteen person focus groups were broken into two equally divided groups where each group met with a moderator and a scribe that facilitated the group. The focus group sessions took place for forty-five minutes. During this forty-five minute period the focus group participants were questioned on specific topics that relate to school accountability and performance as it related to the Six Core Components of Learning-Centered Leadership. Being the leader of the focus group was interesting. I was able to migrate from group to group to insure order and consistency occurred. I got a chance to hear the various responses from teachers and really see how some differed as others stayed the same. At times teachers became personal with the remarks and really stood up for their school and the core values they possessed. That was the most remarkable part, they truly believe in their school system, but did not mention how their leaders played a role in their school. Most of the responses related back to the teachers and what they do to attain success for the school. My team members did a wonderful job with controlling the focus groups. They asked probing questions and facilitated conversation even when the participants did not want to speak. They stayed on task. I truly thank them for their hard work and enjoyed the team dynamic we had for this assignment. Many thanks to them and I look forward to working with them on future projects.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Field Experience III
In Field Experience III, we visited an elementary school in a nearby county. The school is located in a rural area where industry and big business does not provide the schools with lots of revenue. In the recent years, change had occurred. More subdivisions have developed in the area bringing more tax money as well as children. These children are seeking a quality education. The leaders of county and schools wanted to assess the credibility of their leaders to see how effective they are in running these schools. We had a leader, 2 moderators and 2 scribes that switched at different intervals during the focus group session. (The leader never changed positions.) We traveled to the elementary school to conduct a focus group on the participants' perspectives on the extent to which the Six Core Components of Learning-Centered Leadership. Another facet to the focus group was the participants’ feelings on Professional Learning Circles initiative. The fifteen person focus groups were broken into two equally divided groups where each group met with a moderator and a scribe that facilitated the group. The focus group sessions took place for forty-five minutes. During this forty-five minute period the focus group participants were questioned on specific topics that relate to school accountability and performance as it related to the Six Core Components of Learning-Centered Leadership. Being the leader of the focus group was interesting. I was able to migrate from group to group to insure order and consistency occurred. I got a chance to hear the various responses from teachers and really see how some differed as others stayed the same. At times teachers became personal with the remarks and really stood up for their school and the core values they possessed. That was the most remarkable part, they truly believe in their school system, but did not mention how their leaders played a role in their school. Most of the responses related back to the teachers and what they do to attain success for the school. My team members did a wonderful job with controlling the focus groups. They asked probing questions and facilitated conversation even when the participants did not want to speak. They stayed on task. I truly thank them for their hard work and enjoyed the team dynamic we had for this assignment. Many thanks to them and I look forward to working with them on future projects.
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Thanks for your reflection. I am glad that the experience of being the Chair of the two focus groups was rewarding. Certainly, good information was acquired by this process. I hope that you can use your expertise in the future.
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