Week 4- Solving problems/improving leadership

This was the first official week of the institute therefore everyone was able to share their end of the week reflections and feedback. Though I am not present amongst all faculty, staff, and scholars throughout the week I appreciate being involved at the end to get filled in on how everyone is doing and be able to provide my own feedback on any issues, I guess I provide a “third party” perspective in some instances.

I co-led the reflection meeting for the TAs and was able to hear their opinions, observations, and obstacles that they encountered throughout the week. One of the main issues that all the TAs had involved one of the teachers and their lack of preparation for the class. All of the TAs were very frustrated because the teacher placed a big burden on them in unexpectedly leading a class they were unprepared for. The teachers serve as the TAs leaders and should be prepared with lesson plans and instructions for them to follow to help the teachers as much as they. This teacher in particular lacked in preparedness and communication which for the following TAs made in nearly impossible to feel comfortable or confident helping the class. The TAs serve as leaders for the scholars which in turn makes them look bad because they seem unprepared; so it is a trickle-down effect and impacts everyone in the program.

Another problem that has impacted many of the teaching teams and their leadership roles has been the virtual manner of the program. Most of the time teaching teams, especially those who have worked together for a couple summers, know how to communicate in the classroom, in front of the students, and have techniques of passing on the lecture or assignments and activities. This has proven like a big obstacle for the leadership team as they do not have the physical space to make eye contact, tap each other, or use body language to create flowing instruction. Virtually, this results in direct transitions, confusion, and some lag with the lessons. It is a little distracting for the scholars and wastes some class time as the teachers attempt to gather themselves and have present their instruction well to the scholars. The teamwork needs improvement but a lot of it struggles due to the fact the instruction is virtual and the body language that would normally be used or the physical papers, posters, and projects are no longer existent and present some difficulty for teams to work properly together.

In the wrap-up meeting with the staff which followed the one with the TAs we exchanged information and feedback we heard as other staff members held meeting with the scholars to see their feedback on the classes, teachers, and TAs. It was very helpful to hear everyone’s perspective and to best understand where scholars and teachers felt most and least comfortable. As the staff team, we were able to try to come up with ways to approach issues and eliminate any leadership troubles.