Vignette #1: Albert,
an administrator who supervises school psychologists and counselors, firmly
believes that his supervisees must “join” with the teachers to gain their
respect and cooperation. He finds
that otherwise the teachers view them as “self-styled experts in an ivory
tower.” He therefore requires that
supervisees observe in multiple schools and classrooms, attend faculty
meetings, and be very familiar with the curricula. He encourages all school psychologists and counselors to
“partner” with specific teachers and spend a great deal of time in their
classrooms. He even encourages
those without teaching experience to serve as substitute teachers! Imagine you are a supervisee working with
Albert. How do you respond to these requests? How do you follow along with his
ideas while still protecting your boundaries as a student? What are some ways
that you can capture these ideals in the work you already do?
Vignette #2: Everything
about Carla bothered her internship supervisor, Matt. He saw her as a perfectionist, whining, self-absorbed,
materialistic “Valley girl.” The
more she tried to please, the angrier he became. He found himself avoiding answering her phone calls and
e-mails, being very curt, and arriving late to or even missing supervision
sessions. He was somewhat
bewildered by his atypical behavior until one day he almost called her by his
ex-wife’s name. “Ah,” he thought.
“I need to work on this!” Imagine that
you are Carla, a hard working intern who enjoys structure and feedback and
wants to have a better supervisory relationship with Matt. You notice he has been less involved
than you would like. How do you approach Matt? What do you hope he might say?
What are some other recourses if it does not go the way you would like it to?
Dilemma #1:
Imagine that you are a supervising school psychologist. An intern who is quite
enthusiastic and eager – and who looks very young—is under your
supervision. The majority of
teachers in your school are mature and close to retirement They have seen many educational
fads come and go and have little patience with young enthusiasm. After 6 months, you perceive that the
teachers in the school consistently turn to you even regarding those cases
handled entirely by the intern. What are the supervisory considerations?
What should be done? What could have been done to prevent this?
Dilemma #2: You
and the other intern in your school disagree about the appropriateness of
social contacts with school personnel and turn to your supervisor for
advice. One of you believes that
participating in social events outside of school hours is helpful and
appropriate in that it enables her to build friendships with colleagues that
facilitate her work in the school as a consultant. Therefore, this intern accepts invitations to dinners,
parties, and after-hours socializing in bars. The other intern believes that participating in social
events is an ethical violation that leads to dual relationships. Which
intern are you? Or are you somewhere in between? Describe your stance on this,
as well as what you think the supervisor should say in response.
Reflective Question
#1: Why do challenges to positive interpersonal relationships between
supervisors and supervisees occur, and how do they manifest themselves?
Reflective Question
#2: School psychologists often encourage the positive social and emotional
development of students. How can
these principles apply to the interpersonal relationships between supervisors
and their supervisees?
Dilemma #2
ReplyDeleteIn this situation I would say I certainly fall somewhere in the middle. While I think establishing relationships with staff is incredibly important I would say that during your internship year there is a fine line that must be walked. For example, it would be one thing for an intern to go out to dinner with colleagues after school one day but I think that it would be totally different for that intern to go out drinking at a bar with those same colleagues. As interns we are representatives of our school and we must always be conscious of this. We also will need recommendations from our colleagues and administrators so doing anything that could jeopardize this would be a poor choice in my opinion. As a supervisor, I would mention these issues to my interns and encourage them to think about the implications of any situation that they may find themselves in. Along with this I would make sure they made the decision for themselves because the choices they make would certainly be a learning experience.
I agree. Some socializing outside of school can actually enhance your visibility and sense of belonging among school staff, but it is wise to make sure we are socializing with staff so that we would be totally fine if parents or administrators heard about the outing. With the speed of gossip at schools, it's likely lots of people will hear about it anyway.
DeleteI think you make a great point on a way to judge if the interaction is appropriate. If you wouldn't mind the principal knowing about your get together, you're probably fine!
DeleteReflective Question #1
ReplyDeleteI think most of the challenges that might occur are typical for any interpersonal relationship, like different interests or conversational styles. The challenges unique to supervisor/supervisee relationships include different philosophical approaches to school psychology (e.g. traditional vs. RTI) and the authority of one person over the other. These challenges probably most manifest as quiet or uncomfortable work environments, as I have not heard of anyone who engaged in open conflict with their supervisor.
While I genuinely like my supervisor, I respect there is a certain boundary to our relationship because at the end of the day she needs to give me honest, constructive evaluative feedback. I can see that a supervisor-supervisee outside of school friendship is possible, but I think it should be secondary to the professional learning that is the purpose and goal of internship year.
Vignette #1 Response
ReplyDeleteFor starters, it is important to validate the administrator's idea. Personally, I agree that getting to know the teachers, gaining their respect, and spending time observing how classrooms operate is important, especially for someone like me whose background is not in education/teaching. In the beginning, I think I would try to go along with Albert's request as much as possible while the school year is getting off the ground. I think being in classrooms, attending faculty meetings, and getting a handle on the curriculum is important to my role as a school psychologist, and would help me learn the climate of the school and start to evaluate what may or may not be working. When partnering with a teacher, I would try my best to pick someone who I think will understand and appreciate my role in the school and may be open to building a collaborative/consultative relationship.
However, as my other responsibilities increase, and being involved in so many meetings and observations becomes impossible, I would begin to cut back my involvement in those particular contexts and replace them with roles more pertinent to my job as a school psychologist. I may turn my classroom observations into specific student observations, as needed; change my faculty meeting attendance into creating/attending an intervention/problem-solving team that includes some of those same teachers; use my knowledge of the curriculum to help with progress monitoring and proposing interventions; turn my teacher partnership into a consultative role where I can help him/her and other staff members as well.
I think Albert's initial requests are not too different from the skills and roles I have to offer as a school psychologist, and I transitioning to these variations of his original requests would go smoothly. If not, I would try to schedule a time to sit down with him and go over the NASP standards, emphasizing the various ways my skill-sets can best be utilized by him and the school, while still maintaining and building my positive rapport with teachers.
Dilemma #1 - As a supervisor in this situation I would need to deal both with my intern and the other staff members. First of all, when staff members come to me instead of the intern regarding cases the intern is working on, I should consistently refer them to speak to the intern. If I start handling the questions myself I am undermining the intern. It would be important for me in less direct ways to establish and show to the staff the confidence I have in my intern's abilities and skills and help make them more comfortable. If it becomes extremely problematic, talking with the staff members informally and listening to their concerns empathetically may be a good way to get them on board with viewing the intern as a professional. The way I introduce the intern and his or her role to the staff right from the beginning of the year would be important for setting the tone of expecting the rest of the staff to interact with this intern as a colleague. I think it would be important to talk to the intern as well about this without squelching his or her enthusiasm. Talking about the benefits and challenges of working with older, more established colleagues and what sorts of assumptions they might come to the table with is a valuable lesson for any professional. As a supervisor I can't change how old my intern is or looks, but this maybe a problem he/she continues to face early in her career. This can be done without coming off as critical of the intern but presented in a "life lesson" kind of way as it is a challenge many people face at some point early in their careers in many fields. The intern may be naive in this area and having a kind hand to help navigate some of the intricacies of early career challenges can be important.
ReplyDeleteReflective Question 2:
ReplyDeleteThis is a topic that I think about quite frequently. As a self-proclaimed "awkward person", I sometimes find it funny that I am teaching students about being socially competent. For this reason, I love teaching social skills curriculum because I find myself interested in the topics and thinking about how I can incorporate some of the skills into my daily life. I believe it's extremely valuable to use these skills in a supervisory relationship. Some of the instances where these skills would be useful are when asking for more responsibilities, asking for help in a situation, expressing thoughts about something that has happened, and in working together on a case. It is important to think about the best way to approach each situation and use the social skills we teach our students to get the best response from our supervisor possible.
Dilemma #2- I agree with EZ and I see myself as somewhere in the middle or slightly more towards keeping my personal and professional life separate. I am all for developing social relationships within a work setting, but I definitely see how this can be tricky within a school setting. One concern I have would be that I may be viewed as less respected and professional. Another concern is that if I spend too much time with certain individuals that I may also be viewed as being a part of certain school politics, or as juvenile as this sounds a school clique. I have noticed that my supervisor does a really good job of maintaining positive social relationships within her school, without getting caught up in school gossip or politics. I found out recently that she regularly plays golf and goes to dinner with a group of her colleagues. However, she seems to have positive relationships with many faculty members in the building and this appears to be a very appropriate way of socializing outside of school. I think social events like going to bars should be limited or at least the potential consequences should be fully considered. I agree with EZ that we are representatives of our school and I would not want my professional reputation to suffer due to inappropriate social relationships.
ReplyDeleteVignette #1
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is my teaching background but I actually appreciate Albert's approach. I think it is very easy for the counselors and psychologists at schools to become disconnected from the rest of the staff if there is not an effort made by both parties. I think if I was working with Albert, I would definitely do as much as I could to comply with his requests. While observing, attending faculty meetings and partaking in other activities a school psychologist might not regularly do will take up a lot of time, I think that is time well spent. Spending the first month really getting to know the faculty and understanding the basic systems of the school is going to pay off in the long run. Teachers are going to be much more willing to work with you when they feel you are working with them and with their best interest in mind.
I agree with JD that as the year progresses, it might be harder to do all the things that Albert is expecting but I do not think it would be as important later on in the year to attend every committee meeting if the foundation has already been laid. I do like JD's suggestion though of transition certain tasks, like classroom observations to individual observations, to better fit the role of a school psychologist. I think if it became obvious that complying with Albert's requirements was hampering my own learning experience as a student, then I would request a meeting. I would explain my feelings and see if he had any suggestions on how we could make it so both our needs are being met.
I think in many ways I am already doing many of the things listed above in my current work. I have made an effort to observe in many different classrooms in the school and have offered my help to many of the teachers. In just a few short weeks I have seen that my observations and conversations have already paid off. When I am sitting in a meeting and a teacher talks about a certain student, I am able to make a connection and can support the teacher in what she is saying. I also know that when I come to certain teachers with suggestions they are willing to listen to me since they know I have seen how their classroom works and I am more than willing to help them out with implementing my suggestions.
Dilemma #2: Like others have posted, I think I am a mix of these two personalities. I have seen firsthand how useful building positive relationships with coworkers can help facilitate a strong relationship. I think being overly social or not approach the social environment in a mature manner (getting out of control, for example) can be very damaging to one's career and relationship with coworkers, though refusing to engage in social or non-professional interaction with coworkers can also be equally detrimental to the work relationship. As for the supervisor's response to these interaction styles, I think it would greatly depend on the culture of the school. Some school settings encourage such interaction and personal relationships with coworkers, while others may look down upon social gatherings. As long as the interns maintain a professional attitude and use judgement in their behavior, I don't think such an approach would cause a problem as long as an intern's social life does not begin to interfere with his or her working environment. Hopefully a supervisor does not need to counsel his/her interns on professional behavior and maintaining a state of maturity in dealing with others.
ReplyDeleteThe most important point to make would be to encourage interns and school psychologists working full time to use their judgement in their social activities with coworkers and maintaining a professional relationship in the school setting. If one feels he/she is not being taken seriously in the workplace or feels a teacher does not listen to what they say at work due to their relationship outside of work, I think it is important that this is addressed in a timely manner.
Dilemma 1:
ReplyDeleteAs a supervisor, my biggest concerns would be making sure that the intern is getting a positive internship experience. It would be my job to make sure she is getting a wide range of opportunities and if there are obstacles in the way, I need to help her tackle those obstacles to get what she needs. I think it would've been a good idea to talk to the staff about the intern that will be joining our team for the school year. I think sharing the intern's credentials and expertise would be helpful for getting the staff on board to utilizing the intern's services. I think it would have been beneficial to have the intern start the school year teaming up with me on tasks that the teachers requested and eventually let the intern start to take over these requests. The teachers would already be familiar with the intern at this point so the transition would be easier. I would make sure to talk to my intern about the strong views that staff members will have in a majority of schools. Change is a difficult thing to implement in a school setting and everyone will need some time to get used to it. The key is to be open to new experiences and challenges because they are so valuable to an intern's growth. The intern's ability to deal with challenging colleagues will grow from this experience and that is a valuable tool to have in the field of education.
Reflective Question #1
ReplyDeleteESF pretty much nailed it. I agree it's unlikely to have a combative relationship with ones supervisor, but I could see how the dynamic could become uncomfortable- with little constructive communication occurring between both parties. I think of the challenge as being somewhat similar to getting a new roommate. Whenever you spend a lot of time with someone, it's easy to get annoyed with them- even if you'd generally get along in a different context. With a poor roommate relationship, resentment often builds as each person's actions irritate the other without communication about these problems. The same thing can happen with a supervisor-supervisee relationship. If one person operates in a manner that is off-putting to the other person, feelings of resentment could snowball until there is no positive dialogue occurring. This highlights the need to communicate well with the supervisor or supervisee. Each person should be able to raise issues about the other person in a respectful manner and work together to come up with a mutually satisfactory solution to any conflicts.