Practice using the triangle framework
Scenario 1: New Director Dilemma
I’m speechless.
ISSUES
--Building and Supporting the Community
* What type of impact do Mary Beth
and Katrina have on the families and children?
* Does the environment promote a sense
of belonging to the children, their culture, and their beliefs?
* Do Mary Beth and Katrina
contribute to the community that offsets the situation?
“The curriculum organized in Toddler room is meaningless and
not very engaging.” This classroom is not
focusing on strengthening the children, which probably means that the
involvement of the families is not present, or the considerations of the
families impute is not present. In order
to develop an engaging and meaningful environment and curriculum, the teachers
should be pairing up with the families to learn and work together to strengthen
the child at home and at school. In this
case Mary Beth and Katrina are planning their curriculum not around the needs
of the children or the family.
--Coaching and Mentoring
* What are Mary Beth and Katrina’s
views and values about the environment and the curriculum?
* Do they understand the importance
of a meaningful environment and curriculum?
* What skills, resources, or
knowledge might help Mary Beth and Katrina build a meaningful classroom?*
*How effective do Mary Beth and
Katrina feel about their environment on the children?
* How do they view themselves as
professionals?
“They tend to ignore you and go about their business when
you enter the room. You have tried
making a few friendly suggestions but cant tell how they are being received.” Mary Beth and Katrina seem to rebel against
me [the director], and my suggestions.
They seem to not take my role as a director seriously.
--Managing and Overseeing
* Do the regulations and standards
for quality on this issue support or programs vision?
* Do Mary Beth and Katrina’s
environment and curriculum affect the quality and safety of our program?
* Are the expectations, policy, and
job descriptions related to creating a learning environment, and creative
curriculum formulated clearly for the program and for Mary Beth and Katrina?
* Are the expectations, policy, and
job description of a teacher as a professional clearly formulated for Mary Beth
and Katrina in particular?
* What resources are available to
help address this problem?
My vision is to have an environment that is creative and
meaningful to the children, as well as have a creative curriculum to supplement
the children’s learning. Mary Beth and
Katrina’s classroom doesn’t support my vision for the program. The issue that Mary Beth and Katrina pose to
ignore my suggestions makes me personally fear for my program; I contemplate
whether my children are safe and parents feel confident in my staff.
STRATEGIES
TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE
This is a
complicating issue. I don’t appreciate
the fact that I am ignored while trying to help the issue out. I notice that the environment and curriculum
is not meaningful to the children and therefore probably the families, which
make me feel that my staff is not competent to accommodate the families and
children of the program.
- I could address the
situation, rather then suggest, to Mary Beth and Katrina and ask them how their
classroom and curriculum benefits the families and the communities. In doing this possible thoughts and answers
may arise in helping them focus on goal of building and supporting the
community.
- I could have a one
to one conversation with Mary Beth and Katrina about their perspectives of
roles as teachers, and about their beliefs on teaching. In doing so I could create possible workshops
on professionalism, creating meaningful environments, or even creating creative
curriculum to help support their roles as teachers.
-I could have a meeting with Mary Beth and Katrina
discussing the vision of the program, and go over them what the program’s
policy, regulations, and job description is for a teacher, and what the teacher
should be providing within their classroom.
I could also discuss with them professionalism and work ethics as a
teacher.
To me meeting with Mary Beth and Katrina is the most
suitable response for now. Going into
detail about what should be discussed may need further analysis of the
situation. I wouldn’t want to loose
teachers whom dedicated many years at this preschool, though I wouldn’t want my
program to be in jeopardy. I hope to
work with the two workers rather then letting them go. What are other possible ways to go about this
situation? It’s especially hard since
I’m the new one in town.
Scenario 2: Messing With
Michael
ISSUES
--Building and Supporting the Community
* What type of impact does
Michael’s decision/philosophy have on the children and the families?
* Does the environment promote a
sense of belonging to the children, their culture, and their beliefs?
* Does Michael’s decision
making/philosophy acknowledge and respect each individual and the contributions
each bring to the group?
Michael’s philosophy is a meaningful one, but his way of acting
upon it, choosing to let the children decide what gets put in and out of their
cubby’s, doesn’t promote an impact on the children if the activity seems to
become hazardous. The cubby area seems
to promote a sense of belonging to the children, but it seems as if it is not
promoting responsibility and respect if the area seems a mess, and not taken
cared of.
--Coaching and Mentoring
* Can Michael elaborate on his
values and beliefs of giving children meaningful responsibilities and
decision-making opportunities, what are other ways that he can take action of
his beliefs and responsibilities?
* Does Michael understand the
impact of his cubby area/classroom setting on children, families, and
colleagues?
* Does Michael understand the
importance of a clean cubby area/classroom setting in light of children,
families, and colleagues coming into and out of his class?
* What skills, knowledge, and
resources might be helpful to Michael in creating a clean meaningful
environment while acting upon his beliefs?
Michael seems to lack the knowledge of a classroom that
should be clean and presentable. Michael
may not understand the importance of a clean and presentable classroom. Michael may even lack the knowledge of
teaching the children responsibility and decision making, as well as how the
children’s decision making impacts their surroundings.
--Managing and Overseeing
* Does Michael’s environment and
philosophy support the regulations and standards of my program?
* Does Michael’s environment [cubby
area in particular] affect what a quality center should be like? Is his environment developmentally
appropriate and safe for the children?
* Are there policies, expectations, and job
descriptions related to creating an appropriate environment clearly formulated
for the staff and for Michael in particular?
It seems like Michael’s philosophy is important, but his
actions in supporting his philosophy aren’t appropriate for the standards that
I have for my program. The cubby area at
this point seems to be hazardous to the children’s safety and health. I also feel the my families will think that
my program is not well organized and is of less quality due to the mess in this
classroom, this will jeopardize how people view my program and may result in
loosing students.
STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE
This issue needs to be fixed, I am
concerned for my reputation as the director of the program, I am concerned for
the children’s health and safety, and I am also concerned about how my families
perceive my program.
- I could address the issue that’s at hand to Michael and
ask him to explain to me examples of how his philosophy is being portrayed in
the children’s actions. I could discuss
this with Michael when families are not present, but when the children are, so
that he can see and explain to me how meaningful allowing the children to
decide what goes in and out of the cubby’s is to the children. In doing this Michael may sense whether or
not his decision coincides with his philosophy, and if it is actually meaningful
to the children and their beliefs or not.
- I could have a personal meeting with Michael, address the
issues that I have, and explain to him that his philosophy is a strong and
excellent philosophy. I could ask him
personal questions if he knew and understood teaching responsibility to
children, and how he could apply his knowledge of teaching responsibility to
children to his philosophy. Hopefully
this will generate other meaningful activities within the classroom rather then
just at the cubbies.
- I could have a meeting with Michael and discuss with him
the programs standards, and regulations.
I could explain to Michael that his cubby area doesn’t abide by these
standards, and is in fact creating a less quality classroom. I could describe to Michael how a quality day
care should look like. I could also
explain to Michael that his cubby area is hazardous to the children’s safety
and health, and that it needs to be tidy in order for our program to be
licensed.
Although I have discussed the issue once with Michael and no
changes have occurred, I would like to bring the issue up to him once more,
within the classroom with only the children and no families around. I would like Michael to see if this practice
is actually meaningful to the children, then after actually observing the
children I would like to discuss with Michael personally about his teaching methods. I would like to create a site visit to other
quality child cares to see how their classrooms may abide by the regulations
and standards for a licensed center for Michael and the other staff members, to
open their eyes and learn of the importance of a clean and organized site. I appreciate Michael’s contributions and his
philosophy and wouldn’t want to just fire him; I would like to work with
him. Are there other ways that I could
go about this issue?
Written: Monday, September 30, 2013
