Chapter 14 in our textbook discussed Human Performance Improvement. If provided definitions for the term and some discussion on how HPI has evolved over time. They say that HPI was a likely next step in the growth and improvement of a company. The mission of HPI according to our textbook is, “to achieve, through people, increasingly successful accomplishments directly tied to organizational goals, that are valued by all stakeholders, including those who perform, their managers, their peers, the organization as a whole, shareholders, customers, regulatory agencies and even society itself.” In order to accomplish this mission, HPI calls for the “analysis of performance gaps, design and development of appropriate, economical, feasible, and organizationally acceptable interventions through to implementation and long-term monitoring and maintenance of these interventions…” In my opinion, this sounds a lot like what is already done in schools with teacher evaluations and with the evaluation of students. Teachers (especially new teachers) are evaluated based on their performance in four different areas (professionalism, organization/management, student growth and ). A teacher’s evaluation is based on documentation provided by the teacher as well as observations by their authorities. If a teacher does not meet the Highly Effective or Effective ratings, then he/she must be provided additional assistance in order to meet those ratings. Similarly, with students, teachers identify their gaps and create interventions/modifications in order to meet their students’ needs and to help get them the training they need to be successful. Another similarity to teaching that I found was when the chapter discussed apprenticeship as being an early performance improvement strategy. They defined this as learning through observation, instruction, practice and feedback. That is exactly what teachers go through in their student teaching. Furthermore, the chapter discussed PIPs (Performance Improvement Plans). These sound very similar to what my school calls and IDP (Individualized Development Plan). We could use these tools to see what training is necessary just as Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model and the International Society for Performance Improvement were used for. Overall, HPIs objective is to elicit the best from each individual employee by providing employers a means for rating them and a plan of action for those who do/do not meet the optimal requirements. This sort of system is useful in any line of work and is also useful in a classroom. Teachers must try to get the best from their students. If students are not giving their best, there should be a behavior management plan/intervention plan in place to deal with that and if students are performing up to their potential, there should be some positive reinforcement as well.
Another part of our task this week was to find several Podcasts that we find interesting and/or useful. I found the three below:
- Poem a Day – feed://www.sonibyte.com/rssfeed/poem/4.xml - This podcast is a compilation of different poems. It would be a great way to quickly include poetry everyday.
- NPR Education – http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=1013 - This podcast is created by NPR (National Public Radio). It compiles the discussions on education that take place on the different NPR broadcasts. It discusses all parts of education; bullying, government influence, education in prisons, etc.
- Teacher Created Materials – www.tcmpub.com/podcasts/ - In addition to the discussions on vocabulary, writing instruction, discussions on repeated reading, making words, etc.; this reading podcast contains handouts on different hot topics such as differentiation, repeated reading and fluency.
I see several possibilities for Podcasts in the classroom/school setting. Creating a Podcast would allow teachers to put lessons online so that students can watch/listen to them at home. This would be especially useful for students who were absent or for times when students may need extra support on a topic at home while they work on their homework. Plus, this would be one more communication tool between teachers and parents. We teach things differently today than they were taught in the past. It is not uncommon for parents to feel confused and unprepared to help their child with homework at home. Having the Podcast would provide parents with a quick explanation of how their child is being taught at school and the vocabulary teachers are using. This way, parents and teachers can have a common language when teaching students. Another use for Podcasts in the classroom would be a form of review. I envision students broadcasting their understanding of different topics or questions throughout a unit (of any subject). When a unit is over, students could then go back to those Podcasts to review for their upcoming test. Finally, if you were to find a useful Podcast that fits the needs of your school’s students and teachers, I think Podcasts could be used for professional development opportunities.
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