Self-efficacy exists within most teachers, especially fresh new teachers who are eager to make a difference. When in college, I observed a teacher who didn’t have much self-efficacy. She would often laugh when I’d speak of making a difference in children’s lives. She’d say things like, “Oh, I remember when I thought I could make a difference.” She did not believe in her capacity to make a difference. She felt all the outside influences in children’s lives predetermined if her students would succeed or not. This leads me to believe that she had an external locus of control. There are a few teachers at my school with similar self-efficacy as this teacher. However, I attempt to surround myself with like-minded people and every day I witness teachers with a strong sense of self-efficacy- those who believe they can make a difference in student lives, regardless of any outside influence. Interestingly enough, the teacher I mentioned quit teaching very shortly after I observed in her classroom. Collective efficacy can be found both small and large scale in my building. At a smaller scale our fifth grade team truly believes we can have a positive effect on our student’s lives. During TBT grade level meetings this can be seen throughout the entirety of the meeting, we constantly strive to better ourselves, so that we can better our students. It is a collective effort, and we all share the same vision for our students. By the same token, this mentality of collective efficacy can be found building wide. The majority of staff members share the same perception that our building as a whole can make a difference. I believe one factor that has affected our collective efficacy is our new principal. Prior to adopting him, we had a principal who had basically given up, and was waiting for retirement. The school climate was unenthused, and it was extremely disorganized. With our new administrator, however, he has restored collective efficacy by convincing us we do make a difference. He is constantly sending emails telling us just that. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: < http://listserv.ohio.edu/pipermail/ous-lp-rp13/attachments/20180622/6677a49f/attachment.html >
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