Clinical Field Experience A: Shaping School Culture Interview and Observation

Donna Meda

Grand Canyon University: EAD 513: Shaping School Culture

December 9th, 2020

 Field Experience A

Introduction

Vision: “Our vision is to be America’s premier STEM school organization, graduating future

leaders, global citizens, and world-caliber talent” (SSA-Peoria, 2020).

Mission: “Our mission is to foster critical thinking, engaging all students in a rigorous STEM-

focused, college-prep curriculum, delivered by a dedicated educational community that

celebrates diversity, where students aspire to be tomorrow’s leaders” (SSA-Peoria, 2020).

During my field experience this week, I interviewed Mrs. Marcela who has been teaching 3rd

grade at our school for the past 3 years now. This year, she’s teaching 3rd grade as a hybrid class

with 20 students in-person and 7 students online at the same time. I interviewed her because I

wanted to see how she makes sure she is teaching according to our school’s vision and mission

with a hybrid class. Another person I interviewed from our school is our Special Education

teacher, Ms. Dosal. From my 4th grade classroom, she teaches 4-5 students every day. I wanted to

interview Ms. Dosal because I wanted to get her perspective on teaching sped students remotely

and how she still manages to teach according to the requirements and to our school’s vision and

mission in order to continue to support a positive school culture.

Interviewee 1 Vision, Mission, Culture

Mrs. Marcela is teaching a class of 27 students, 20 in person and 7 online due to the instructional

models our district has in place during the pandemic. At first, these teachers with hybrid classes

including Mrs. Marcela weren’t happy with the hybrid model considering it required a lot from

them as teachers. Preparation time and instructional time changed completely for her. Instead of

teaching a normal class, she feels she’s teaching two classes. She has asked herself about her
potential as a teacher now knowing that she feels drained. At the end of the day, she does think

about the impact she’s being on her students right now. She notices that her students are learning

and are happy to be in class or online with her. She does think about the school’s vision and

mission daily when planning for the next day’s activities. She tries to implement a STEM

curriculum although she knows that is difficult considering the pandemic and the instructional

models. She still provides the kids with activities to support a STEM curriculum and prepares

assignments that are rigorous for the kids to follow. Their learning is more important than

anything else and this is also important for us when maintaining a positive school culture. She

understands that she still has a responsibility with the students and the rest of our school

community, so she tries every single day.

Interviewee 2 Vision, Mission, Culture

Regardless of students being sent home for the rest of this semester, Ms. Dosal still requires her

sped students to show up to school in person. She tried teaching them online, but as we all know,

teaching students remotely has been difficult especially teaching sped students. It was hard for

her to get her students’ attention through a screen, so she spoke with parents and required them

to show up to school. She understands the vision and mission of our school and believes that in

order to continue to have a positive school culture, we need to provide the best education for our

students. Yes, this year hasn’t been a normal year, but she can’t manage have these kids lose all

this instruction time. They are already behind so keeping them at home does nothing good to

them academically. At school, she’s able to implement a rigorous curriculum to these children to

work on their own pace. Some work is not STEM based, but that’s okay considering these kids

are learning in a different pace to catch up to their grade level.

Interviewee 1 Promote Vision and Mission

It is important for Ms. Marcela to stay in contact with her students’ parents to support the vision

and mission of the school with focuses on the well-being of our students academically. She

contacts parents every day through Class Dojo to keep them up to date on different areas like

behavior, expectations, and assignments due. These days, she has been more in contact with our

principal and the other 4th grade teacher just to make sure she’s doing everything she can from

her side regarding grades and activity ideas. She has also been in contact more with our

secretaries to make sure students have the technological support they need from home. This

promotes a positive academic school culture because everyone is working together to ensure the

students have the support they need from their school during these difficult times.

Interviewee 2 Promote Vision and Mission

As for Ms. Dosal, she still needs to make sure IEP meetings are happening with parents,

principal, and teachers through Google Meet video chat. She makes sure everyone is present for

everyone to be on the same page when it comes to the learning of all students. She makes sure

she’s meeting with students to complete the hours students need daily. She communicates with

teachers when it comes to sharing the grades the students have obtained with her. She

communicates with parents daily. Everything she does is to ensure students are academically

supported according to our vision and mission.

Implications for Future Practice and Conclusion

Well, this has been a different school year because of the pandemic. As teachers, we can’t

approach the curriculum the same way to support students’ learning, but we can work hard to

ensure the vision and mission of our school is being thought about when planning for daily

activities with our students online. For future practice, I will ensure teachers have the resources
necessary to be able to teach remotely according to our vision and mission and still providing a

positive school culture overall. “STANDARD 1. MISSION, VISION, AND CORE VALUES

Effective educational leaders develop, advocate, and enact a shared mission, vision, and core

values of high-quality education and academic success and well-being of each student. Effective

leaders e) Review the school’s mission and vision and adjust them to changing expectations and

opportunities for the school, and changing needs and situations of students” (NPBEA, 2015.) For

our students and our entire school community, revisiting our school’s vision and mission and

making modifications based on the situations going on each year, would be a great practice of a

school’s administration. This year has taught all of us that we need to be ready, not just with one

idea, but to have a plan B or plan C just in case anything happens like this year with the

pandemic. Teachers need to be trained and provided with the resources that support their

instruction in person and online. This year, we were able to purchase the necessary Chromebooks

for all students. For us to have the school culture that we have even through remote teaching and

learning is because we were able to provide those Chromebooks for all students to have with

them. This has helped students and families, but also teachers. Having students on their school’s

Chromebooks has helped us greatly when it comes to helping them understand where to find

their resources and how to log in to different applications. Before this purchase, about half of our

student body had Chromebooks. We used our CARES Act fund to purchase the rest of the

Chromebooks. I don’t think our school would’ve considered the purchase if this fund wouldn’t

have been given to our school. In this case, a survey would’ve been given to parents to fill out

and let us know who needed a Chromebook at home and our school would’ve focused on helping

those students first.

 References:

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional Standards for

Educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author.

Sonoran Science Academy Peoria (2020). Our vision and our mission: Student and Parent

Handbook. Retrieved from

https://sonoranschools.org/files/galleries/PEO_SP_handbook_09-2020.pdf