Concepts on Display

The concepts I have learned in my specific disciplines are present and in practice at my internship at Navajo Elementary School. The first concentration that makes up my BIS degree is Business. Within the classes that make up my Business concentration my management class discussed globalization and the need for businesses to focus now more then ever on a global vision instead of a local or national one. In the school there are posters and collages that present and describe the world outside the United States. Students are reading and doing assignments about the world and even communicating with other students from around the world. One great example is a math website that pits students from around the world against one another in fun mathematical games. I have watched my son compete against kids from Japan, China and Canada. The concept of “Globalization” is alive in our local schools and growing. The other concept I pulled from my classes in my Business concentration is the concept Empowerment. This idea stresses empowering employees to do their own work without needing and seeking approval from supervisors. I have witnessed Principal Holmes stressing to employees to trust themselves and to act as if he was there. We have discussed this approach and it is all about empowerment. He wants the lunch staff to handle daily problems and not stop activities to check with him and the maintenance department to get creative and fix things as they arise and not make a list for him to review. Empowerment is not always easy for habits and behaviors can be hard to break. My second concentration is Education and I see many different theories and concepts in practice at the school. The first concept that I have witnessed come up daily at the school is the concept of Feedback. Principal Holmes communicates through e-mailing his teachers and looks for Feedback from his teachers on whether his messages and/or meeting requests have been received. The idea is that all involved are very busy and he would like his staff to check their messages and respond accordingly to save calls and notes sent to and from the office. It seems the younger the teacher the better this format works but in the long run this will save time and energy for all involved. The other concept I see being employed is the concept of Mass Media and it is done in a creative way. The students select a student government and news, lunch menus and a variety of other items are presented on closed circuit TV for all the students to see in their classrooms before school starts. Messages for the school during the day are also broadcast this way by the office staff and also by intercom. The other way in which mass media is being used is by the school’s website and each teacher has a webpage that outlines daily homework and reading lists plus a variety of other things. Technology is a beautiful thing and used correctly by all involved is a time saver and keeps teachers free from answering questions about information that is on the web pages. These basic concepts and more are on display at my internship daily.