Assigment for "Dr. Eric" ONLY - Human Resources Management

Decisions

What decisions do you have to make without consulting your supervisor? When must you consult a supervisor?

When teaching curriculum it is up to the teacher to decide how and when to teach certain topics. The daily activities of a teacher are directed by ones own practices. It is rare that a teacher needs to consult his supervisor for daily decisions. Although that is the case, a teacher usually should consult his supervisor when there are circumstances that go beyond ones classroom. For example, a disciplinary issue that is extreme (fights, threats, bullying, etc). It is also good practice to have ones supervisor approve any out of school activities before they can be organized, for example field trips. Lastly, it is necessary to consult a supervisor in a school before any purchases are made on the schools behalf, for example ordering new equipment for a classroom.

Responsibility

What are your daily, weekly and monthly responsibilities?

A teacher’s primary responsibility is to ensure the safety and well being of all students. This is the basic duty of any educator. Beyond this, it is the responsibility of the teacher to plan lessons daily and keep up with student feedback (marking assignments and tests). On top of this, a teacher should continuously provide communication with a student’s parents. Teachers must meet deadlines for reporting periods and attend meetings as they become scheduled, usually twice a month. On top of this there are other responsibilities such as extra curricular activities, parent-teacher interviews and other things that do not relate to teaching curriculum.

What types of losses can occur through an honest error?

This can range from lost materials (lost textbooks if they are not recorded by the teacher) to an extreme case such as an injury to a student. For example, a student once fractured his skull during basketball practice by falling and hitting his head on the wall. Even though sometimes all precautions are taken, overlooking one small thing can result to big problems.

Records and Reports

What records and reports do you personally prepare?

Personally, everytime I need to take action in regards to discipline of a student I record it. If it is an extreme case I am asked to complete a report of the incident and share with administration. I keep all of my marks recorded in order to ensure accuracy when administering grades and the most obvious of a teacher is report cards to show student progress. We are also asked occasionally to complete reports for student progress when asked by specific teachers or administrations.

What is the source of the data?

When creating these reports it is usually data that we have gathered through our evaluations and assessments. When dealing with discipline it is the qualitative observations we make that is used to comprise these reports.

What materials are required when teaching?

This can range from very little to everything. Of course the more materials we have, the better/easier teaching and learning becomes. There is no minimum, as some schools do not have very much and there is no maximum as teachers/students can always use more.

How do you know what to teach and when? (Teacher Meetings, Manuals, etc.)

What to teach is outlined in ministry documents for each specific course. These documents tell us what students NEED to learn in order to be successful in the class. It outlines what we should teach and gives some suggestions on how to teach it. Although this is the case how/when is usually at the discretion of the teacher. We also try to plan courses with colleagues that are teaching similar courses. Co-teaching/co-planning is very helpful and productive as it allows for new and bigger ideas.

Verification of Your Work

How is your work inspected, checked or verified?

The work of a teacher is rarely verified or checked. On occasion an administrator will observe a teacher in the classroom to ensure that they have kept up the quality of their practices. Other than that, it is not good practice to have someone critique or comment on ones professional jusdgement.

Who does this?

When we are observed it is by an admistrator (principal/Vice-principal)

Working Conditions

Describe any hazardous conditions present in the location and nature of your work, such as noise, dust, fumes, etc. What precautions are taken to reduce this hazard? What are you responsible for, as compared with your supervisor, in deciding how to approach these hazards?

Hazards

Describe the dangers or accident hazards present in your job.

There are few direct hazards with the working environment in a school. There is a health and safety committee to ensure that teachers and students are safe including things such building upkeep, safety protocols and to ensure an overall safe environment. Of course different subjects pose different threats. Teaching in a math class poses fewer risks to someone’s safety as opposed to teaching phys ed or auto-mechanics where there are many more things that can happen (getting hit with a ball, burning oneself with a tool, etc)

Education Requirements

What are the educational requirements for this job?

In order to become a teacher in Ontario, one must have successfully completed an undergraduate degree at a University. They must then complete a post secondary program to receive their bachelor of education. High school teachers must also have a certain amount of courses in their specific study area to be qualified to teach those subjects where elementary teachers do not need to be specialized in a subject area. Once someone becomes a teacher, they are usually required to continue expanding their knowledge by taking further courses (although these are not always required)

How much experience is required?

When completing ones bachelor of education, the main purpose is to provide the teacher candidate with teaching experience. Beyond this it is rare now that someone begins teaching full time right out of teachers college. Because of this, many teachers gain further experience by completing occasional teacher work (supply teaching)

Previous Experience

My previous experience in education was some volunteer experience in high schools and then what was completed in my bachelor of education program.

What kind of previous work experience is necessary for minimum satisfactory performance for a new employee on this job?

There is no minimum, but it will help the teacher by gaining more experience.

Give the length of experience required.

Training

Assuming that a new employee on this job has the necessary education and experience to qualify for the work, what training is necessary after the employee is on the job to achieve an acceptable performance level? (Specify training and period of time to acquire it.)

What training is required when starting a new teaching job? How long is training?

When someone is hired by the school board there is no further training although there are some workshops to help teachers become familiar with board protocols and expectations. Other than that, it is up to the teacher to adapt to the job.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

Describe the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to carry out this job.

Subject knowledge, people skills, ability to present, adapt, follow orders, work with different people, organization, etc.

What types of issues do you encounter with this career?

We may encounter small issues such as technology not working to larger issues such as helping students get through issues in there home life or when someone in our school community has passed away.

What percentage of the time do you spend on the following?

a. Teaching 40%

b. Marking 50%

c. Meetings 10%

Although the above is divided, there are many more things that make up our day such as, speaking to parents, coaching/extra curricular, planning field trips, helping student after school, organizing classrooms/materials etc.