Adin
Aug 8, 2012
Undergraduate / 'Reading Program by Involving Parents' - Leadership Activity Essay [3]
Hi,
I am a student working on a Leadership essay. My question was to start a leadership activity at work and write about it. Please check my work and comment on it. Grammar mistakes or any short comings!.( Its still incomplete and in the process)
A reflective Report on the leadership
Reading Program by Involving Parents
The Activity:
1. Purpose
As a teacher working for a private tutoring center where majority students are non english speakers, the purpose of this activity was to introduce a reading program to involve parents in children's reading lessons. The last 15 minutes were dedicated to parents reading their favorite children's book to a group of children, including their own child. This activity was set up to encourage children and understand the importance of reading, and to promote Sylvan tutoring center's commitment towards its students.
2. Goals/Objectives
The organizational objective was to develop a promotional reading program, get parents involved to show the institutes commitment towards students and to be taken more seriously, set up a realistic time frame and a willing team to make it operational. Here's a step by step objective plan:
1-To Engage Parents and potential clients in an on site reading program to promote positive image of the institution.
2-Facilitate an avenue for potential clients to see the importance of tutoring institutions and its impact on literacy.
3-Provide support for children through parent involvement by giving parents a chance to read to children after lessons
3. Organizational Success Criteria
An organizational Success criteria was to set up to measure and identify the success and development of the new program. Smart goals were introduced so staff can make sure this activity was well planned and organised. These smart goals were to determine how worthwhile this activity was going to be?, how the organization will evaluate the impact and transformation this activity will make by implementing this new parent-children reading program.
Monthly meetings were held to assess the progress of the reading program, A time frame was set up, problems and issues were highlighted, and evidence was documented to evaluate the measure of success.
4. My Role and Personal SC
I am a teacher at the Sylvan tutoring Center. My Role was to plan the activity alongside the Center director and help in implementation of the program. I settled the parents in the class room at the last 15 mins of every session, and let them chose a book they wanted to read to the children.This gave me a chance to understand team building process and how to manage a leading role in the organization. By working side by side with the staff I not only learned how to effectively assign duties and structure the program but also developed good relationship with parents and fellow staff memebers. Since a lot of teamwork involved parents being involved in the reading program, I benefited by learning view's of both sides.
5. Data Collection Method
Data or Evidence was colleted through evaluation forms given out to staff at end of training session. These evaluation forms were for the purpose of making sure staff understood what to do and how confident they are. Other forms of evidence related to the reading program result were discussed at meetings to see how parents and children were adjusting. Each child at Sylvan learning center is provided with a folder, the folder contains student information, lesson plan and teacher comments at the end of every tutoring session.Their reading improvement or no improvement was recorded in teacher's comment section of their daily folders. Teachers observed and took mental notes during the time parents came in to read to the children and wrote their comments about improvement or any negative points they saw in the program. This method of evidence collection made it possible for the Center director to monitor the progress and success of the activity and prepare reports to show parents during parent teacher meetings. Parents view's were also documented to see their opinion and the positive or negative impact it had on the institute.
6. Amendments in the activity
There were not many changes made to this program. The activity went on slowly at its own pace. However, There were some minor changes like cutting down days for this activity. The reading program started with a lot of enthusiasm from the parents side but later in the stage parents started to show up late or not show up at all. For the reasons of lack of parental involvement changed the days from five days to three times a week. Due to less parents showing up at their assigned time slot, it was then decided to ask parents to give in time and days that suited them.
2- Evaluation of the activity:
SUCCESS FACTORS
Staff Involvement
Management Support
Proper Planning
Realistic goals
Project Milestones
Competent staff
Clear vision and objectives
Focused and well trained staff
Rather than presenting numerous statistics and detailed notes I decided to collect one on one experiances and feebacks from employees and students in tabular form. The observations were in form of personal notes and verbal discussions. However, I will add the questionnaires filled by the staff after the training session. The key measure of success for this activity was to assess its progress and development within a time frame. The success criteria included points like, training staff and setting up meetings to fully equip staff with all information and knowledge regarding the activity, issues and problems, cost management, and evaluation of evidence.
Hi,
I am a student working on a Leadership essay. My question was to start a leadership activity at work and write about it. Please check my work and comment on it. Grammar mistakes or any short comings!.( Its still incomplete and in the process)
A reflective Report on the leadership
Reading Program by Involving Parents
The Activity:
1. Purpose
As a teacher working for a private tutoring center where majority students are non english speakers, the purpose of this activity was to introduce a reading program to involve parents in children's reading lessons. The last 15 minutes were dedicated to parents reading their favorite children's book to a group of children, including their own child. This activity was set up to encourage children and understand the importance of reading, and to promote Sylvan tutoring center's commitment towards its students.
2. Goals/Objectives
The organizational objective was to develop a promotional reading program, get parents involved to show the institutes commitment towards students and to be taken more seriously, set up a realistic time frame and a willing team to make it operational. Here's a step by step objective plan:
1-To Engage Parents and potential clients in an on site reading program to promote positive image of the institution.
2-Facilitate an avenue for potential clients to see the importance of tutoring institutions and its impact on literacy.
3-Provide support for children through parent involvement by giving parents a chance to read to children after lessons
3. Organizational Success Criteria
An organizational Success criteria was to set up to measure and identify the success and development of the new program. Smart goals were introduced so staff can make sure this activity was well planned and organised. These smart goals were to determine how worthwhile this activity was going to be?, how the organization will evaluate the impact and transformation this activity will make by implementing this new parent-children reading program.
Monthly meetings were held to assess the progress of the reading program, A time frame was set up, problems and issues were highlighted, and evidence was documented to evaluate the measure of success.
4. My Role and Personal SC
I am a teacher at the Sylvan tutoring Center. My Role was to plan the activity alongside the Center director and help in implementation of the program. I settled the parents in the class room at the last 15 mins of every session, and let them chose a book they wanted to read to the children.This gave me a chance to understand team building process and how to manage a leading role in the organization. By working side by side with the staff I not only learned how to effectively assign duties and structure the program but also developed good relationship with parents and fellow staff memebers. Since a lot of teamwork involved parents being involved in the reading program, I benefited by learning view's of both sides.
5. Data Collection Method
Data or Evidence was colleted through evaluation forms given out to staff at end of training session. These evaluation forms were for the purpose of making sure staff understood what to do and how confident they are. Other forms of evidence related to the reading program result were discussed at meetings to see how parents and children were adjusting. Each child at Sylvan learning center is provided with a folder, the folder contains student information, lesson plan and teacher comments at the end of every tutoring session.Their reading improvement or no improvement was recorded in teacher's comment section of their daily folders. Teachers observed and took mental notes during the time parents came in to read to the children and wrote their comments about improvement or any negative points they saw in the program. This method of evidence collection made it possible for the Center director to monitor the progress and success of the activity and prepare reports to show parents during parent teacher meetings. Parents view's were also documented to see their opinion and the positive or negative impact it had on the institute.
6. Amendments in the activity
There were not many changes made to this program. The activity went on slowly at its own pace. However, There were some minor changes like cutting down days for this activity. The reading program started with a lot of enthusiasm from the parents side but later in the stage parents started to show up late or not show up at all. For the reasons of lack of parental involvement changed the days from five days to three times a week. Due to less parents showing up at their assigned time slot, it was then decided to ask parents to give in time and days that suited them.
2- Evaluation of the activity:
SUCCESS FACTORS
Staff Involvement
Management Support
Proper Planning
Realistic goals
Project Milestones
Competent staff
Clear vision and objectives
Focused and well trained staff
Rather than presenting numerous statistics and detailed notes I decided to collect one on one experiances and feebacks from employees and students in tabular form. The observations were in form of personal notes and verbal discussions. However, I will add the questionnaires filled by the staff after the training session. The key measure of success for this activity was to assess its progress and development within a time frame. The success criteria included points like, training staff and setting up meetings to fully equip staff with all information and knowledge regarding the activity, issues and problems, cost management, and evaluation of evidence.