Samantha Hillgartner

EDU 73630 HR

UNIT 4 REFLECTION

Our focus topic for week fifteen and sixteen pertains greatly to my current work situation.
Though I am working at the same school I have been for the past three years, I feel as though I am at a
new job. I see the same students in the hallways, the same teachers at the faculty meetings, and the
same receptionist in the front office, but the mood, the feeling, the morale has all shifted.
As pointed out in our Week 16 PowerPoint, leaders (administrators) are called to keep the field
clear so teachers can do the work. At our school, the opposite is occurring. We have new people
working in administration who believe they are supporting the faculty and streamlining the systems of
the school in order to provide easy to navigate and simple to understand processes and procedures.
However, somewhere in the process things have become muddled. Administrators are micromanaging
and teachers are becoming nervous. Our administrators attempt to unite the faculty through fancy
speeches and pushy emails, but instead they are alienating a dedicated faculty.
Somewhere over the past six months we have lost perspective. We have lost who we were as a
school, and we are no longer valuing each others talents and no longer respecting the human dignity
(feelings) of our colleagues. We have lost sight of what is best for the common good of our school and
instead are focused on what is good for me and my classroom.
We must remember to find a just way for teachers to respect students, fellow teachers, and
administrators. We need to remember that the phrase its just business, nothing personal, is a total
myth, and that especially in a Catholic institution, everything is personal. We must uphold the human
dignity of those around us, or risk losing our school community completely. Just as an effective teacher

supports and guides his/her students towards success, so to should an effective administrator guide
his/her faculty towards unity, efficiency, and success.