|
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
Principal
for a Day Luncheon Discussion Questions and a Small Sample of Responses.
What surprised you most today - how was
your experience different from your expectations?
"I was surprised by the number of at-risk kids in the system and
the time, attention and resources necessary for the parents, families
and at-risk students themselves to be successful at school."
"I was surprised by all that the principal needed to do: administrative
role, budget and curriculum issues, planning, coaching, encouraging
and most impressive - her ability to get commitment from all the teachers."
"The level of diversity surprised me most and the beautiful team
work impressed me most!"
"The number of students for which school is the most stable part
of their lives."
What do you feel is the greatest strength
of the school you visited?
"I think the individual attention to each child's needs is a great
strength of the school I visited even though there were more disabled
students than I expected."
"The teachers had control of their classrooms and the faculty has
a 'hands on' philosophy."
"The culture of the school, the positive feeling and the way all
staff pulled together to solve the problems of the day."
"The ability to engage students who are close to falling through
the cracks."
What do you view as being opportunities
for improvement?
"I am not saying that this is necessarily an area for improvement,
but I noticed that every student in the Special Ed class was a kid of
color. I found this very interesting to observe."
"Human and financial resources need to be committed to middle-school
aged children in order to get them to the high school level adequately
prepared. They need mentors, support for at-risk kids in the classroom
and volunteers for supervision."
"I was shocked by the outdated equipment and by how little has
been done to maintain the building itself."
"Need to increase the diversity of the teaching staff. The diversity
of the teachers needs to match that of the student body."
How do you see yourself making an impact?
"I love the idea of 'Adopting a School' and working with that school
and faculty exclusively."
"We always have extra tickets to things - the Civic Center, sporting
events. I would love to be able to send those over to school for students
or faculty to use."
"Businesses can offer intellectual capital to principals, who tend
to work in a vacuum."
"Need to use different avenues of media to spread the positive
message of everything being done in our schools as well as what is needed."
"Support the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools so that they
can continue to do what they are doing today - getting people into our
public schools so that they can make informed decisions about our schools."
"Use UW-Madison School of Education students before their senior
year to mentor public school students."
|
