As a school leader there are three things that are non-negotiable for me. First, I need all staff members and myself to feel safe at our school. I want a school climate in which people feel open and accepted and are free from harm from anyone or anything. This is non-negotiable. Second, I need all staff on campus to trust each other and myself. If there isn’t trust between staff members or staff members and myself, I need to have a serious look at why that is and address the problem. Trust is vital to moving forward and causing change. Without it, our school will not be at its best. Third, I need all staff and myself to have a growth mindset. Everyone needs to be willing and open to change to move our school and students forward. Having a growth mindset means we can see the potential and are willing to work to drive towards success. These are my non-negotiables. They need to be expected from me and my staff. If these are not met, we need to have a conversation. I believe a safe school, that has trust between its staff members, and a growth mindset, will allow anything to be accomplished.
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As a school leader, my style can best be described as the Democratic leader. I believe the best type of leadership includes shared decision making between all stakeholders. Teachers would not be seen as my followers, but as my equals who will work with me to achieve our desired goals. I would rely on teachers to work with me to make group decisions through discussions and consensus. Further within the Democratic leadership category, my style can be best described as the Distributive Leader. My teachers and I would share the leadership responsibilities at my school. We would work together to create a successful school. This requires that I create a climate in which my teachers feel that collectively we can achieve success which would motivate them to work with me to create change. I want my teachers to feel that I trust them, respect them and need them to make our school the best school in the universe.
I have been in education for about eight years altogether. This is my sixth year teaching in my own classroom in the Cajon Valley Union School District, but I was a substitute teacher for two years before entering the credential program in the Lemon Grove School District. Of my six years in my own classroom, I have taught fifth grade for five of those years. After earning my Multiple Subject Teaching Credential I got hired my first few months out of the credential program as a support teacher. I worked at Chase Avenue Elementary as a part time teacher for three years. My first year was as a support teacher, teaching various subjects to third, fourth and fifth graders, and my second two years were as a part-time fifth grade classroom teacher, teaching math, science, social studies and English language development. I then transferred to W.D. Hall Elementary School and have taught fifth grade for two more years. At W.D. Hall I departmentalize with the other fifth grade teachers and teach math to all the different fifth grade classes. My team and I work really closely together and provide a great experience for our fifth graders. Outside of the classroom, I have served on the Performance Task Development Team at my district, piloted digital and print math curriculum and am currently the grade level chair for fifth grade at my school. Last year, I was also exceptionally flattered to be nominated for Teacher of the Year.
I believe this because the times I remember from my school experience were the times I spent with my friends laughing and playing. I remember very little from the times in the classroom unless it was an extremely memorable lesson in which I used skills besides listening and memorizing content. This is unfortunate. I look at my students today and wonder if they will remember their fifth grade year with me when they are older. What makes a great learning experience for students? It’s not acquiring content and memorizing facts. It’s the times when you used skills like collaborating with others, solving problems that mattered to you and being creative. These are the skills that students need to have when they are older and they are also the most engaging strategies to use when learning. Why aren’t these used more? I remember one lesson in middle school in which my teacher read an incredible, fantastical story about how he was a shape-shifting wolf and we were asked to write the ending to the story. The story was obviously fictional, but to my 12-year-old brain, and a convincing teacher, I thought it had to be true. This drew me in. I wrote the ending to the story and remember how invested and interested I was in that activity. These are the types of things that children should be working on in school. Not memorizing multiplication facts (we have calculators) or spelling every single word correct on the spelling test (we also have spell check). Instead, we should focus on things that students are interested in and will challenge them to be critical thinkers and creative beings. These experiences will help them thrive and live up to their full potential in our global society.
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Andrea JacobsFifth Grade Teacher Archives
October 2015
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