Placing People Above Productivity
Because I am interning for a faith-based organization, showing love to others is the company’s highest value. This governing principle is made evident in the way that each employee is expected to not only treat everyone with kindness and respect, but take the time to develop deeper relationships with those we come in contact with. This emphasis upon relationships as opposed to productivity in the more traditional sense entails some leniency regarding meeting quotas or learning objectives as well as informal communication. I have never felt the need to act overly formal when interacting with my superiors because I know they want to hear my honest opinion. Furthermore, if a teacher falls a bit behind in his/her lesson plans due to dedicating a portion of class to addressing something non-academic affecting one or more student’s life, thereby assuming a more mentor-like role, the school leaders are understanding and do not get hung up on sticking to the original schedule. The leaders clearly convey these priorities to interns not only during orientation, but also each day in the way that they themselves interact with others, never dismissing anyone for the sake of adhering to a strict schedule. Although this prioritization of relationships before results could be categorized as a weakness considering the drawbacks in meeting deadlines, I believe it is a strength because it grants us teachers the freedom to focus on the students’ emotional and spiritual health when necessary, which is ultimately far more important than the extent of their English vocabulary.
Along with this holistic view of people comes a concern for their lives apart from the time spent in the classroom. Because many of the people my organization works with are refugees, there are great challenges facing the students outside of mastering the English language. Rather than simply giving handouts, the organization wants people to be able to reach a point at which they can provide for themselves – teaching a man to fish instead of simply giving him one, so to speak. The school’s leaders are attentive to these issues, and are currently looking into potential work for some of the refugees, such as washing cars, selling bread, etc. This has stretched them beyond being merely educators, but guidance counselors of sorts. Although this extra work is outside their realm of expertise and spreads them a bit thin at times, they are happy to help the refugees in whatever way possible. Through watching their continuous efforts, I get to observe the organization’s core values in action.
Thoughtful reflection. Obviously, one would hope that there would be a human-centric perspective for all educators, but obviously if you are working in the US in k-12 schools, our focus on testing, meeting (questionable) standards, and ‘no child left behind’ (whether it actually works or not) means that straying from timelines, deadlines, etc. is less acceptable. So it is good to recognize that not only because of the faith-based focus of the organization but perhaps also the cultural component – it makes for different ‘rules’ than educators in other contexts. It seems that it is definitely a strength in the setting in which you are working – one might argue it is a strength in any educational setting – but it is perhaps more acceptable (to stray from deadlines, etc.) given your location, the population with which you are working, etc.