This discussion is your opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the objectives; Analyze ways to create a collaborative school culture to promote professional growth and leadership; and Recognize the importance of knowing personal strengths and weaknesses in conflict resolution. Additionally, the discussion represents your master of the Course Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3 and the MAED Program Learning Outcome 8.
Throughout the course you have learned the importance of collaboration between teachers in an inclusive teaching environment, how each person plays an important role as part of a team effort, and how an array of opinions can be united into one common goal using proactive problem-solving strategies. The same foundational theories can be applied to a larger system when creating a proactive school culture that is fully inclusive, and requires each stakeholder to play an important role in the team and to use proactive problem-solving to avoid potential conflicting situations.
According to Nadine Engels article Principals in Schools With a Positive School Culture (as cited in School Culture Matters, (2013), contributing factors to positive culture include “a shared sense of purpose and values, norms of continuous learning and improvement, collaborative collegial relationships... and sharing experiences” (para. 4). Furthermore, according to chapter eight in Murawski and Spencer (2011), creating a collaborative school culture is akin to writing an IEP, where team members evaluate the school’s present level of performance; create a long-term goal to be reevaluated annually and short term, scaffolded objectives for meeting the long-term goal (p. 139). As Murawski and Spencer (2011) explain, we begin by thinking about where the school is in its current condition as a social culture, the parent/teacher collaboration...