Case
Science Department Chair

A teacher was given the responsibility of becoming Science Department Chair. The principal has challenged the teacher to help increase test scores in the area of science as they have been quite low in the past few years. After meeting with the teachers of the science department, the teacher realized that the morale is very low, and that many of the science teachers are teaching multiple subjects, in multiple grade levels, so are stretched very thin. What can the teacher do to raise the morale of the science department teachers, which in turn could improve test scores?

Posted on: 10/19/14 | Views: 881
Solution #1
The teacher could create a more engaging environment to improve the morale of the teachers. They could have a whine and cheese party where they could name things to whine about and things to cheese about. I think this could bring them closer together and then they could come up with suggestions for improvements.
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Solution #2
To improve moral and test scores, it may be helpful for the department chair to develop some hands on inquiry lessons for these teachers. Give them the tools to use, taking some of the load off their shoulders. Often, the planning is harder than the implementation. Inquiry based science increases student engagement as well as positive affects test scores.
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Solution #3
I think that offering some additional resources to make teaching two subjects easier would be helpful. I have to teach science and social studies this year, and by having some veteran teachers share resources with me has been extremely helpful! I have also been provided with tons of labs to do with students to increase their engage and help me not spend as much time planning for two subjects.
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Solution #4
One possible solution would be to see what is actually causing the low morale for the department. Is it lesson planning, student engagement, stress from leadership, or is it state testing issues. When a cause analysis has occurred begin to develop solutions to the problems that all team members can help with. One high-impact way to help with test scores could be to look at the assessments developed in each unit of study and re-creating them as a team. Also could look at dividing the work in content areas that are the same. Share the responsibility of the work load to create buy-in and that shared responsibility for the department.
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