Sunday, October 14, 2012

Reading Reflection Week 7


                While reading Chapter 14, I had a hard time relating human performance improvement to my role as an educator.  I couldn’t see past the business lingo because I don’t view my students as employees that need to meet a certain quota.  However, once I saw the HPT model of the International Society for Performance Improvement, it became a little clearer to me.
                One of the ways that I felt HPI related to my role as an educator was how it focuses on behavior and performance.  As an educator, the way my students behave during a lesson can directly affect how they “perform”.  For example, during a math lesson I have a student who gets up very often to use the restroom, blow her nose, etc.  I have found that this behavior greatly affects her learning the math concepts that I am teaching.  The “performance” in the classroom means to me that the students take what they have learned in a lesson and apply it to an activity.  That activity may simply be a worksheet to complete or a test.  Behavior and performance are definitely evident in a classroom environment.
                The other way that I felt HPI related to my role as an educator was the HPT model.  It created a clear cut pathway to describe how to analyze performance and decide what interventions, if any, are needed to improve performance.  I do this in teaching every day.  Every day I assess students as I am teaching them.  If there is a disconnect somewhere and the students are not picking up on a certain concept, I need to figure out what is causing the disconnect.  Is it the way I am presenting the material?  Was the student not paying attention?  Is there an outside cause, such as, illness or home life that is affecting how they are learning?  After looking at all of the factors, I need to decide what the next step is.  For example, if the problem is how I am presenting the material, maybe I need to present it in another way.  Maybe the child needs one-on-one  attention for a certain concept.  All in all, I could see this type of model, or something similar, being very helpful to educators.
                As I said before, I had a hard time looking past the business talk of HPI.  To me, business (especially one with quotas) can be a very cold, harsh environment.  Teaching and especially a classroom community is a warm, safe, inviting environment.  To think of “performance” in a classroom just sounds cold.  After looking past the business sense, it made it a little easier for me to find a connection between teaching and HPI.
                The podcasts I found and subscribed to are great for teachers.  They are very helpful and provide valuable resources for the classroom.  The podcasts range from ideas for literacy and math, as well as, other classroom strategies, such as, tips for differentiating instruction.  The podcasts feature educators with years of experience and others in the education field.  I found the podcasts to be suitable for many grade levels.  Check it out!
                I could see using this podcast and others like it in my classroom, as well as, sharing with fellow teachers.  They have some great ideas and tips that are very useful.  Other podcasts could be great for student use.  I saw several that had music for different subjects, which I know my students would just love.  I could definitely see the use podcasts as beneficial in classrooms.

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