Week 4 Reflection

1. Chapter 14 discusses the concept and evolution of human performance improvement. Several sections of chapter 14 present a variety of non-instructional solutions to performance problems. Identify a performance problem in your area of work and identify non-instructional solutions that may help solve the problem. 

According to Internaltional Socieity for Performance Improvement, “Human Performance Improvement (HPI), uses a wide range of interventions that are drawn from many other disciplines, including total quality management, process improvement, behavioral psychology, instructional systems design, organizational development, and human resources management."

An issue I have run into this year is having students in my classroom that are from families that do not speak English as the primary language at home. While these students came to kindergarten this year knowing some basic English I have noticed they are having difficulties with ELA lessons. I am ESL certified so I am capable of helping these students in class but I find that when I am sending homework home the families may not know exactly what to do with it. I am fairly certain I am not the only teacher to have this problem on my campus so my solution would be for each grade level to host a family homework night where they can train ALL families (especially those which are culturally diverse) with explicit instructions on how to help their child at home. In kindergarten the focus could be on literacy activities. The homework we send could be changed to interactive homework so the family can be involved and to show the child that learning is fun and their family thinks it’s important.  

2. Chapter 15 presents performance support systems. Define performance support systems and explain how a performance support system might (or might not) help solve the problem you identified above.

Performance Support Systems (PPS) are tools/resources a user can utilize to solve a problem/issue when needed.  PPS could definitely be utilized to help solve the problem listed above.  Grade-level teachers would need to meet together to discuss the type of homework they intend to send home during the year and how they will train the parents. The teachers would need to create handouts with the directions for parents and even consider having the handouts translated into another language if needed.  It would also be beneficial to show parents how to access online technology available to them that their children use at school. Having typed up handouts with these instructions would also be useful.

3. Chapter 16 explains knowledge management: the way we manage information, share that information, and use it to solve organization problems. Organizations, such as schools, accumulate a great deal information/data, which must be organized in a way that we can make sense of it in order to use for making decisions. What knowledge would help solve the problem you identified above and how would that knowledge need to be collected and managed to help facilitate problem solving? 

The students I mentioned above are also non-ESL students. Meaning their parents did not indicate that another language other than English is the primary language at home. This is an entirely different problem as parents are not informed when they fill out registration papers that this information could be used to enroll students in ESL and inform them exactly what ESL is and that it is not a bilingual program and that their child would be enrolled in a general ed. classroom and pulled out for ESL instruction. Data that teachers would need to prepare for their parent homework training night would be how fluent in English all the parents in their classroom are and what language is spoken predominately at home. Since many non-English speaking parents are cautious about sharing this information it could be gathered anonymously either by questionnaire or through an online survey.  This information would be used solely for the purpose of preparing for the parent homework training night and shared just with the grade level teachers. 

4. Chapter 17 describes types of informal learning. What informal learning experiences have you participated in at your organization? Could those informal learning experiences be shared with others? Could the knowledge gained in those settings be codified and managed? And should it be managed or should the informal experiences be replicated or broadened for others?

Much of my knowledge about using instructional technology has been acquired through informal learning. I use the website Pinterest many times during the week. I check out what my friends and fellow educators are “pinning” to use in their classrooms. I seek out more information on my own, see how they implement it in their classrooms, and try to see if I can use it and how I can use it in my own classroom.  I do not have to sit in workshops or trainings on how to use technology can I learn about it on my own and it is driven by my interest.  Many times I take these new ideas and share them with my colleagues and/or friends.  Things I learn about on Pinterest can be codifed by creating new “pins” on my boards but it is my opinion that most informal learning cannot be codified or managed.  Your personal experiences are your own and it is difficult to “manage” experiences.