School Environment: Fired Up for Education

My school is, of course, not perfect, but in general, we're doing many things right.

It's an excellent-rated school in a suburb of Columbus, the capital of Ohio. Columbus is a rapidly growing area. There are three large high schools in the district (approx. 2000 students in each). My school is in its fourth year of existence. It is located among cornfields that are rapidly being overtaken by new apartment complexes and cookie-cutter subdivisions. The other high schools are in more established areas.

Our district is generally middle to upper-middle class. Approximately 10% of the students are "economically disadvantaged." We have plenty of involved parents and a generally supportive community.

Yep, I'm lucky.

But what I feel even luckier about is the climate at our school. And this doesn't apply to the entire district. I credit our principal for establishing it for the most part. He got to set the tone from the beginning at a new school and had to meld teachers from other schools to form a new identity. And part of that was hiring the right teachers.

It's certainly not perfect. We don't have all of the supplies we need. We have more access to technology than many schools but it's certainly never enough. And many teachers have a problem with the lack of discipline and punishment.

More importantly, though, many of the teachers here are allowed to, even encouraged to, and excited about trying new things. Teachers want to be innovative. That energy and passion makes a real difference.

I know I mentioned before that I almost quit teaching in the beginning of my career. Part of the reason I was so miserable is that I felt like I was stepping back in time at the school that hired me. I was fresh out of college with all these idealistic visions of how my classroom would be. But many of the teachers at this school were rather set in their ways and stuck to their materials and methods even though there was no indication that they were effective. I felt alone. I didn't know how I could learn to be a better teacher in that environment.

If you are interested in the idea of what makes a good school environment, check out Zapp! In Education: How Empowerment Can Improve the Quality of Instruction, and Student and Teacher Satisfaction. It is a really quick read, and a bit cheesy, but it would be some good food for thought for any principal.

Just as Pink advocates for autonomy, purpose, and mastery, Byham advocates for empowerment in a work environment.It's essentially the same idea, just different terminology. And this book is written specifically for schools.