Enabling Student Success: Integrating Growth at Hazelwood Central High School - Research Paper

Introduction

Located in North St. Louis, Hazelwood Central High school is one of the major public schools in Missouri. The school encourages the improved performance of the students through the teachers' involvement in the enhancement of the students' capabilities (Bayar, 2014). It is thus important to understand the ways in which personal, professional, and organizational Growth can be integrated in the school system to enhance students' performance (Blandford, 2012). There is also need to examine and understand the real-world concerns about Access to Learning materials and tools as well as the strategies that could enhance Adult Education Leadership by the employees at North St. Louis, Hazelwood Central High school.

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There is a significant difference in the learning experiences in both the children and the adults. The main contributing factors to this reality is the disparity in the sizes of the brains of the children and the adults (Craft, 2002). For instance, the brain of the adult is more mature and experienced than that of the child (Dever & Lash, 2013). The high experiences of the adults predispose them to the desire to learn various things that the children may find difficult (Bayar, 2014). The training institution should, therefore, take into cognizance the fact that the children and the adults have different learning expectations (Blandford, 2012).

Real World Concerns About Adult Access to Learning

In the real world, there are clear and distinct cultural differences between the non-western and the western societies concerns regarding adult learning (Dever & Lash, 2013). For instance, the non-western cultures believe that education or learning is much communal and that the knowledge gained through the learning process should be shared with the entire society (Bayar, 2014). For example, the learners in Africa may find it appropriate to be taught about HIV and AIDS because the majority of the population are experiencing the negative effects of the infection.

Another basic characteristic of cross-cultural learning is that the learning process is a continuous process that never ends (Bayar, 2014). However, in the western culture, adult education is an initiative for individual development and that the knowledge obtained through the learning process is meant for the individual success of an individual rather than the entire community (Dever & Lash, 2013).

Strategies That Can Enhance Adult Education Leadership

Adult education is one of the major growing enterprises across the ever-changing world and it has necessitated the need for programs to train the adult leadership to grab the roles in this field (Dever & Lash, 2013). Although several authors have often defined adult education differently, they converge in thoughts at appreciating that adult education should be an organized and deliberate endeavor that is meant to address a particular purpose (Bayar, 2014). In this light, adult education should not take the direction of the regular learning in high schools and universities.

Several authors have always agreed that leadership is a situational activity that is influenced by several external conditions that are surrounding the practitioner (Dever & Lash, 2013). Therefore, training programs for adult education leaders should ensure that the practitioners are trained in conformity with diverse organizational settings. Particularly, the learning experience that is designed for the adults should always take into consideration a number of factors such as the expectations of the learners and their primary knowledge on the subject.

Unlike the young learners, adults are often more independent and they appreciate when they are in control of the learning process (Bayar, 2014). The transformational theory of learning can be applied to the adults where a new beginning is imparted on the initially old meaning. In this case, the old meaning is added a new light. This learning theory takes into cognizance the fact that adults already have high experiences and thus teaching is drawn from what they are already aware of (Dever & Lash, 2013). The kind of knowledge acquisition in this case is based on the addition to the already known past experience. Furthermore, the experimental learning strategy is concerned with the theory that adults enjoy learning through making meanings to their experiences (Stewart, 2014). In this case, the adults learn through experiencing the knowledge that they already have rather than use of many books and memorizations (Bayar, 2014).

There are diverse learning styles that could be adopted for adult learning. These styles include Kinesthetic, interactives, visual, tactile, aural, and print. These learning styles for adults depend on the nature of their senses (Blandford, 2012). Visual students are attracted to diagrams and words thus they could be trained through presentations of images and diagrams in PowerPoint. Some students are majorly aural and thus are majorly attracted to sound presentations (Bayar, 2014). These kind of learners have to listen to the sound presentation to comprehend the content of the material. Interestingly, these learners often tend to read aloud and they really appreciate the class lecture method than silent lone reading of materials (Dever & Lash, 2013).

On the other hand, some learners enjoy writing and they quickly comprehend materials through jotting down what is contained therein (Stewart, 2014). These kinds of learners are referred to as the print learners and are characterized by taking notes and they may not look at the written records again. Furthermore, the tactile learners often prefer more hands-on experience and they need to practical performance of the tasks (Bayar, 2014). Interactive learners on the other hand like discussion of concepts in an interactive forum where there are questions and answers (Craft, 2002). In this light, learning institutions should adopt the learning materials that take into consideration the various types of learners. For instance, the visual learners should be provided with adequate presentation devices to enhance learning through images, pictures and diagrams.

Behaviorism, Cognitivism, & Constructivism Analysis in Adult Education

In the behaviorism theory, it is believed that knowledge exists independently outside of individuals (Craft, 2002). Theorists and various authors perceive the learner a black book that should be filled with experience. The suggestion in this theory is that learning is achieved when the there is an association between the stimuli and the response. Because of this, the training institution needs to be advised to ensure that there is favorable environmental stimuli that enhance adult education (Zepeda, 2013).

On the other hand, the cognitivism theory is rooted in the idea that humans can process received information and do not merely respond to stimuli (Craft, 2002). It argues that the changes that are observed in a learner are a clear depiction of what is happening in the mind of the learner. Therefore, the institution should ensure that the learning styles result in a substantial change in the learner's mind (Zepeda, 2013).

Furthermore, the Constructivism theory bases on the foundation that people construct their perspective of the world depending on the knowledge and experience (Guskey, 2002). In this sense, therefore, learning occurs based on what the person interprets and creates meaning (Blandford, 2012). It should thus be born in mind that adult learners are concerned with the earning process that results in practical changes based on the prior experience (Dever & Lash, 2013). The adult education institution should, therefore, recognize that each person and particularly the adults generate the mental perceptions based on their life experiences and their prior knowledge of a particular material (Craft, 2002).

Significance of Backward Design in Adult Education

As the School Resource Officer, I would encourage the utilization of the backward design, which starts by focusing on what students will learn by the end of the course and then work in reverse form this point to formulate a framework for assessment, and then create learning activities that are in alignment with the content (Blandford, 2012). Additionally, in backward design, instead of treating all concepts as equally relevant, contents are categorized by relative importance (Craft, 2002). Upon finding out the most significant topics, the educators should develop activities and curricula based on this significance (Dever & Lash, 2013).

Backward design is highly relevant and significant to adult learning. This is because adult learners are willing to know the impacts of the learning process (Guskey, 2002). They do not want to memorize textbook contents that do not apply in their specific areas (Dever & Lash, 2013). Therefore, the use of backward learning to determine what adult learners will achieve at the end of the course is the most vital way in the design of curriculum for the adult learners (Blandford, 2012).

Conclusion

In conclusion, learning in adults varies from that in children because unlike the children, they expect to learn through adding to the new experience that they already have. Therefore, there is need to identify various learning strategies that could be used to train the adults adequately and effectively. For instance, the backward design is encouraged because it aligns the content of the training to the significance of the curriculum and the expected outcomes.

References

Bayar, A. (2014). The Components of Effective Professional Development Activities in Terms of Teachers' Perspective. Online Submission, 6(2), 319-327.

Blandford, S. (2012). Managing professional development in schools. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203021606

Craft, A. (2002). Continuing professional development: A practical guide for teachers and schools. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203420041

Dever, R., & Lash, M. J. (2013). Using common planning time to foster professional learning: Researchers examine how a team of middle school teachers uses common planning time to cultivate professional learning opportunities. Middle School Journal, 45(1), 12-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00940771.2013.11461877

Guskey, T. R. (2002). Professional development and teacher change. Teachers and teaching, 8(3), 381-391. https://doi.org/10.1080/135406002100000512

Stewart, C. (2014). Transforming professional development to professional learning. Journal of Adult Education, 43(1), 28-33.

Zepeda, S. J. (2013). Professional development: What works. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315854878