The Organization and Administration of Schools is the fourth course in the Johns Hopkins/ISTE program. Previous courses, although online, have followed a pretty traditional format. Read the readings, complete team and individual activities and write papers. This course is drastically different in structure and activities.At the outset of the course, participants were teamed with others that have similar positions in their district. My team consists of three other ladies, one in Philadelphia and two from Chicago. The team has worked well together. Although we hold similar positions in our districts, we have been able to also contribute unique perspectives, making the group better as a whole.
Team discussions have been more frequent as the material and concepts in this course take more effort and time to grasp. I have found that in order to have the concepts more clear in my mind, the more discussions we have, the better. In past courses, I have enjoyed the team activities, but felt they were supplemental to the individual activities. This course is the opposite. The team activities are THE activities. Without careful attention to the team activities, the individual work would be much more complicated to complete. It seems to me that figuring that out is one of the hidden objectives of the course. The team has decided that this course, while providing us with information, is also teaching us that the life of a principal requires teamwork and flexibility.
The drafting of the action plan in sections is very important for me. I tend to leave assignments to the last minute and am very thankful that the course is not going to allow that to happen! The team activities leading up to each part of the action plan work like research, in my opinion. Each member contributes effort and information that each member can then incorporate into the individual action plan. Taking the time to think out the team challenges before working on the written component makes the action plan more complete and 'real'.
As mentioned above, the structure of this course has been an eye opener into the life of an administrator. Keeping the upcoming weeks hidden seems like a preview to the fact that a principal can never be sure about what will happen next. I'm hoping there is not a huge curve ball in one of the last weeks! The components of the action plan are distinct areas, yet we have seen that they are each intertwined. As an administrator, it will be important to realize that although a school (or district) has many parts, it is the parts that make up the whole. They are all connected.
