Back on the teacher-on-call list, after 3 years of teaching in a single school, I had already been to three different high schools in just two days. After reflecting on my experience and the amount of "welcome" I endured at each location, I sought out their mission statements:
We at Windermere are committed to developing the intellectual, social, aesthetic, and physical potential of all students in a challenging and safe environment. Our mission is to:
Provide resources for the acquisition of knowledge and skills
Enable students to adapt in a changing world
Promote mutual respect, self-esteem, and cooperation
Foster cultural and aesthetic awareness
Encourage physical fitness
Lay the foundation for life-long learning
Tupper Secondary School strives to motivate all students to embrace learning through challenging and relevant educational experiences in supportive environments.
We work together cooperatively as a larger school community to help our students achieve their unique potential and become thoughtful, contributing, and fulfilled members of a much larger society.
Magee Secondary is committed to:
Developing capable young people,
Promoting creative minds, healthy bodies, ethical values,
Providing a rigorous academic program, and
Leading students to take responsibility for learning.
Valuing community and the joy of learning.
From the first school, Windermere, I can recall my visit to the office was friendly, where one member actually escorted me to the sign-in book when I was having difficulties finding it. The second school, Tupper, has less of an emphasis on a "welcoming" culture in their mission statement, but the office staff there were cheerful and polite. The department head also dropped by the classroom to see how I was doing. The third school, Magee, is very vague on whether their mission statement focused on conveying a "welcoming" environment. And sure enough, when I was there, I felt the least welcomed. To give you an example, I had asked where the classroom was and they answered, "I'm not sure, somewhere upstairs in the corner."
Therefore, it is quite clear that the aspect of having a "Welcome Pillar" is quite relative to the school's mission statement, which would make it extremely challenging to establish if it hasn't already been defined or expected. However, I would like to note that despite my interactions inside the school offices, interactions with the students were all quite the same between all three schools.
Reflecting back to my last "permanent" school, I can recall, that being welcoming had nothing to do with our mission statement, and neither was it practiced as a whole school community. To further divide our school, we have specific classrooms of specialized programs that had so many visitors coming in and out that we never knew who really was a visitor or a student that we just haven't seen because they were segregated from the regular classes. Essentially, everyone could be welcomed more, especially new teachers. I remember when I first started teaching there, nearly every other new teacher was introduced except for me. Then what I found was that the new teachers, were rarely ever seen outside their classrooms and had kept mostly to themselves.
If I was the principal at that school or even the department head, I would make a great effort to document all new teachers, including teachers-on-call, and welcome them to the rest of the faculty personally, especially on their first time appearance. I would support more staff social events and activities to make the community more comfortable with each other and generally more aware of their existing colleagues. As a teacher-on-call now, the only way I think I could be welcoming in each school I visit, is to eliminate the title of "on-call," and instead have a permanent position under the district umbrella rather than a specific school.
So anywhere I go I would like to commit to the following for this term at the least to be more welcoming:
1. Introduce myself to at least one other person in the office other than to the necessary secretary
2. Keep my classroom door open during any preparation blocks
3. Say hello to a couple students in the hallway when possible
4. Make an effort to remember school layouts so that when I return I can assist any others
5. Greet each student as they enter the classroom
We at Windermere are committed to developing the intellectual, social, aesthetic, and physical potential of all students in a challenging and safe environment. Our mission is to:
Provide resources for the acquisition of knowledge and skills
Enable students to adapt in a changing world
Promote mutual respect, self-esteem, and cooperation
Foster cultural and aesthetic awareness
Encourage physical fitness
Lay the foundation for life-long learning
Tupper Secondary School strives to motivate all students to embrace learning through challenging and relevant educational experiences in supportive environments.
We work together cooperatively as a larger school community to help our students achieve their unique potential and become thoughtful, contributing, and fulfilled members of a much larger society.
Magee Secondary is committed to:
Developing capable young people,
Promoting creative minds, healthy bodies, ethical values,
Providing a rigorous academic program, and
Leading students to take responsibility for learning.
Valuing community and the joy of learning.
From the first school, Windermere, I can recall my visit to the office was friendly, where one member actually escorted me to the sign-in book when I was having difficulties finding it. The second school, Tupper, has less of an emphasis on a "welcoming" culture in their mission statement, but the office staff there were cheerful and polite. The department head also dropped by the classroom to see how I was doing. The third school, Magee, is very vague on whether their mission statement focused on conveying a "welcoming" environment. And sure enough, when I was there, I felt the least welcomed. To give you an example, I had asked where the classroom was and they answered, "I'm not sure, somewhere upstairs in the corner."
Therefore, it is quite clear that the aspect of having a "Welcome Pillar" is quite relative to the school's mission statement, which would make it extremely challenging to establish if it hasn't already been defined or expected. However, I would like to note that despite my interactions inside the school offices, interactions with the students were all quite the same between all three schools.
Reflecting back to my last "permanent" school, I can recall, that being welcoming had nothing to do with our mission statement, and neither was it practiced as a whole school community. To further divide our school, we have specific classrooms of specialized programs that had so many visitors coming in and out that we never knew who really was a visitor or a student that we just haven't seen because they were segregated from the regular classes. Essentially, everyone could be welcomed more, especially new teachers. I remember when I first started teaching there, nearly every other new teacher was introduced except for me. Then what I found was that the new teachers, were rarely ever seen outside their classrooms and had kept mostly to themselves.
If I was the principal at that school or even the department head, I would make a great effort to document all new teachers, including teachers-on-call, and welcome them to the rest of the faculty personally, especially on their first time appearance. I would support more staff social events and activities to make the community more comfortable with each other and generally more aware of their existing colleagues. As a teacher-on-call now, the only way I think I could be welcoming in each school I visit, is to eliminate the title of "on-call," and instead have a permanent position under the district umbrella rather than a specific school.
So anywhere I go I would like to commit to the following for this term at the least to be more welcoming:
1. Introduce myself to at least one other person in the office other than to the necessary secretary
2. Keep my classroom door open during any preparation blocks
3. Say hello to a couple students in the hallway when possible
4. Make an effort to remember school layouts so that when I return I can assist any others
5. Greet each student as they enter the classroom