Transforming School Culture
In my profession with schools I have seen all forms of resistance to change. In some groups of educators their focus on the status quo is difficult to blackheads. The untrained ear hears rational, logical arguments for current methodologies and current approaches. We can be quickly lulled into tranquility ... and waste of action. In other groups, the overt resistance to new initiatives is so obvious that it can be identified immediately. While we are not lulled into inaction, the vigorously-edged, purposeful resistance of an entire school of teachers is nearly impossible for even experienced school administrators to overcome.
In Anthony Muhammad's order, Transforming School Culture he does an excellent job of discussing these challenges. He also provides us a framework for understanding the different levels of refusal we may encounter. In doing so, he codifies the participants in resistance to better enable us to understand who they are, what they believe and how we can have an impact on them. Angelic stuff and very relevant.
However, I found something even more interesting. If you have not listened in on the Voicethread conversation regarding this book, please do it now. Hosted and moderated by Bill Ferriter of the Tempered Out-and-out, this conversation is amazing. Anthony Muhammad contributed to the discussion throughout.
Here are a few of the interesting questions posed by the book and the talk:
- How do we avoid exacerbating an us-vs-them mentality in public education in an age of accountability?
- How are we passing cultural expectation on to new teachers? Are we intended about passing information on to new teachers through our actions or are we letting the "bad apples" pass on their own cultural expectations?
- How do we enable teachers (in an age of increased faith on each other with collaboration, PLCs, etc.) to confront their peers? How can principals and other school leaders teach the skills
what is counter school culture????
Feb 04, 2007 by smyl_chick000 | Posted in Sociology
im doing an undertake on pupil subcultures in sociology...what does counter school culture mean??
domestic schooling i think
blueiichris | Feb 04, 2007
about schooling i think
blueiichris | Feb 04, 2007
why is school culture important?
Mar 16, 2007 by Coreen D | Posted in Higher Education (University +)
I muse over a lot of this is about peer pressure, which exists in school and workplace even if you try to ignore it.
If you go to school with people who don't care about their studies, you gradually won't care so much. Even if you do toil hard and you're doing well, you'll compare yourself to people around you. You think you're doing excellent, but if you were at a good school you might just be average.
If you go to a school where everyone works unalterable, you will work hard too because your friends are, that hot girl/guy is, and it's just expected of you! If you're a good student naturally, you'll still have to compete to be the richest.
On the flipside, if you go to a school there is a culture of hardwork, you might not be as good as everyone and so you get discouraged and might just give up your studies when in fact you're not that bad.
Alec O | Mar 17, 2007
American Society and Culture!!! How does the school system work and what are the holiday traditions and...?
Dec 29, 2007 by Lily R | Posted in Other - Cultures & Groups
why are the holidays renowned and where did the traditions come from?
I just want to know cos I'm writing a series of science-fiction books and it's stamp of but not exactly set in the future and there's this School of Warfare all the way in Britain and it is actually a British school but they've adopted alot of American society and culture including the school system and the holidays even though they can't unqualifiedly celebrate most of them but they do have a good reason for celebrating Independence Day.
Really I just want to know how the american school system works for, sample: grades, freshman, prom, school dances, etc. and also what are the holiday traditions and where the traditions come from, the dates each holidays noteworthy on(I already know what day Independence Day's celebrated on) and I also want to know why the each holiday is celebrated?
For those who know about me writing a book it is still the same one that has the M2F transgender as a critical character.
The way my school system works is nearly the same to what the above answerer said, but I'll be a little more specific.
Elementary school is grades Kindergarten through 6th grade, starting at about age 5 through age 12. Up until about fourth class, the grades are things like E for excelent, S for satisfactory, U for unsatisfactory... I don't remember if there is another one or not. After that, the grade system is:
100 points- A+
99-90 points A (sometimes A+ or A- depending on if the category is higher or lower on the scale)
89-80 points B
79-70 points C
69-60 points D
Anything below that is an F
Elementary schools have about three or so classes for each grade, but the students support in that specific general class the entire day.
Junior high is a separate school, with grades 7 and 8, ages 12-14. This is largely the school where kids start to go to different classes and periods. In my school they had 7 periods, plus advisory, but I don't think that is a standard.
Superior school is for kids in grades 9-12. The students are GENERALLY ages 14-18. I say generally because depending on the student's savvy, they may be able to skip a grade and start earlier or get held back and start later. Students are required to take a unspecified number of classes to graduate, but may take more if they like to either A) graduate sooner or B) get a higher diploma.
After that comes college, and that very depends on what you are studying.
The holidays generally celebrated are:
Labor Day (one day off) I'm not entirely sure on this one
Veterans Day (on day off) to celebrate our veterans of war
Thanks Giving (inveterately two or three days at the end of the week that Thanksgiving takes place...) to celebrate our settling in America
Christmas (on the whole about 2 weeks off) to celebrate really any winter holiday, altough since the majority of us are Christian, Christams Break is what it is commonly called
New Years (distinguished during Christmas/winter vacation) to celebrate the New Year
Spring Break (either in March or April usually) Decent a break from studies to celebrate Spring, I suppose, lasts a week
I THINK that's about it for real holidays. But on the whole every 6 or 9 weeks, report cards of some sort come out, and then during that week, we get that Friday off. In the Spring and Fall there are parent mistress conferences, and we usually get the following week's Friday off, as well as a partial day on Thursday.
My school has this program where we get late start on every Wednesday, so school starts at about 9:20 rather than 7:55. And on Wednesdays and Thursdays, you can get out of school at 2:35, or tarry for help (called Tutorial) until 3:30.
I haven't gone to prom yet, so I'm not sure how that works. And I've gone to only a few dances, but when I last went to one all we in reality did was hang out while music was playing. Very few people actually danced, but the last dance I went to was in 7th grade....Dances regularly start taking place in Junior High.
Another thing you might want to know, is once you enter Junior Lavish and High School, the ammount of feild trips you go on drastically reduces, due to the fact that not everyone has the same classes. Classes are generally based on electives (classes you Scantiness to take,) and required classes, which are based upon what you have taken in the past, and your skill level. Then certain required classes have higher levels, called Honors Classes. (in my school, anyway) I'm in said Honors Classes, which are pretty much the same constituents as the regular class, just a little more demand and work from them.
That's pretty much all I can help you with off the top of my head... I don't remember a whole lot about the older classes, but I hope I covered it well enough. I'm a writer, too, so I wish you good luck with your books.
Raindrops_on_Roses | Dec 29, 2007
In the main
Generally
Pre-eminently
In particular
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Mainly
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