Problem of Practice
During my principal residency, I was assigned to revamp the homeroom lessons. I collected data from teachers about the previous year's lessons. They were not happy about the presentation of the lessons or the topics that were delivered. The teachers did not have any input in what they were being asked to deliver to the students. I knew that in order for homeroom lessons to be successful, I needed to have feedback from the teachers and students.
I sent out a pre-homeroom survey to gather information on what type of lessons the teachers would like to see for the upcoming school year. I used the data gathered from the surveys and create practical lessons that the students could use during their high school career, after they graduated from school, and off into the real world.
Below is feedback from teachers from the pre-homeroom survey.
To help determined what each grade level should do in homeroom, I created a schedule of lessons to be used during the year. Some lessons overlapped at various grades because I felt it needed to be addressed in multiple grade levels. This tool helped keep me on track weekly in preparing lessons.
During the school year, I visited classrooms during homeroom lessons and students seemed to enjoy what they were learning. I got solicited feedback from students and teachers about how the lessons were going as well. At various times during the year, I would address certain issues if we were dealing with a similar situation at school. There was one subject in particular that was hard for some teachers to present. I presented the lesson during a School Improvement meeting to ease the staff's nerves about the feedback they would receive from the students. The lesson was created to make student's aware of the ramifications that go along with choosing to partake in behaviors that could have a long lasting effect on their lives. I received great feedback from the staff who presented the lesson. They told me that their students were not aware of what could happen and now seemed to be more cautious of the things they sent through text messages.
Staff Feedback
After they presented the lesson on sexting, which some were apprehensive about, I sent out a survey to get feedback about the lesson, what was liked, what wasn't liked, and what could be done to make it better next time. Most staff gave honest opinions about how they felt about the lesson being presented. From the data, it was determined that students received the lessons they could relate to (bullying, self-esteem, time management,etc.) better. The staff's data determined that they didn't feel that teaching homeroom lessons was "another thing to do", but something they felt students would appreciate more and get more out of.
Below you will see the staff's feedback after presenting the sexting homeroom lesson. Overall staff felt the lesson went well, most felt comfortable presenting the lesson, and most felt their students received the message from the lesson and walked away with more knowledge about sexting and the consequences associated with it.
Student Feedback
About 85% of the student body gave feedback to the survey that was sent out after the first few lessons were presented. Most felt that the lessons would be helpful to them in the future. My main goal was to present lessons that would be helpful once they became adults and leave them with information they would not necessarily learn in their core classes. The students listed lessons they liked and the reoccurring theme was bullying. Bullying is a huge problem for school aged students and the need was there to teach students how to handle bullying and look for signs of bullying as well. The students also listed topics they would like to see during future homeroom lessons. This helped me created what they voiced as major concerns on topics they needed more information on.
What I Learned During the Problem of Practice
When I was given the task to recreate the homeroom lessons, I thought it would something that would take a massive amount of time to create and not interesting. As I moved through the process, I enjoyed what I was creating. I looked at the previous year's lessons and the data I collected to create a plan of action and the direction I needed to take. I spent two to three hours weekly creating the lessons. It was important to make sure they were relevant, vibrant, and interesting enough to keep the student's attention. My major goal was for students to walk away having learned something from what was presented and to be able to apply the new learning in their current and future lives. I talked to students after lessons and they gave me their honest opinions on the lessons. I was always looking for ways to improve week after week.
My main goal was to have the students remember or be exposed to things they will encounter in their daily lives. I felt they needed some life skills that they usually learn well after high school. When I was in school, I was given character education, but not life skills like writing a check or learning how to manage my money. In the world students live in now, I felt it was necessary to expose them early. This experience has been eye opening, as some students did not seem to get anything out of the lessons and yet many students were grateful for the opportunity to learn these life skills. I hope they remember the lessons they were taught as they begin their journey to becoming young adults.
Examples of Homeroom Lessons
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