CHOOSING YOUR FOCUS
Running head: CHOOSING YOUR FOCUS 1
Junius Applewhite
Choosing Your Focus Assignment
Psy620
Professor: Keral Kirwan
January 29, 2018
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1. Keral
Jeral [Jeral Kirwan]
CHOOSING YOUR FOCUS 2
People make decisions on a daily basis. Every occupation involves some levels of people
making different choices. When employees and managers can make the same decisions, the
workplace thrives, and everyone is on the same accord. Educators have to make different
decisions day-to-day. Most educators that teach at the same grade level collaborate. Most of
them typically come together as a team and make small decisions. All educators should be a part
of the decisions making process that is happening within their school district.
In any event, despite how much logic people put in their decisions, personality will
always affect the way people make choices. In this case, experience, and most importantly
individual character are inevitable factors, but proactive self-awareness is fundamental in helping
how people weigh their decision making. Therefore the most exciting thing about decision
making is that they are dependent on the individual. Usually, every human being will make their
own unique decisions because personality informs every decision people make (Higgins, 2000).
Comprehensively an individual personality defines how he/she respond to others and the world
around them. Generally speaking, teacher profession plays an adamant role to mold the future of
future generations. Also, this career involves high commitment such as caring, understanding as
well as making critical decisions regarding students (Freeman, 1989). People, on the other hand,
have different factors that motivate them to choose teaching as a profession. My primary
motivation career as a teacher emancipate from my urge to transform society into a better place.
Decision-making and teaching as a profession are much related in the sense that teachers make
many decisions in efforts to promote students learning. Therefore in alignment with teaching as
my future career goal, I expect to plan, implement as well as assess to be part of my day to day
activities.
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2
1. school district.
Good introduction. [Jeral
Kirwan]
2. Usually, every human
being will make their own
unique decisions because
personality informs every
decision people make
(Higgins, 2000).
It seems like you are trying to
do a literature review. This
assignment called for an
annotated bibliography.
[Jeral Kirwan]
CHOOSING YOUR FOCUS 3
Teachers are faced with a myriad of expectations. For instance, they are expected to meet
a specific standard with explicit definitions of what they must accomplish. Similarly, they are
also faced with high expectations of the community concerning their careers. Referring to
McKinsey data about in what way the world’s best-performing school-system came out of the
top, the primary drivers of the variation in students learning rely heavily on the quality of
educators. In this case, the quality of educators dramatically contributes to learning outcomes of
students than other factors such as the teaching methods or the role of parents to mention a few.
Participation in decision making and teacher’s commitment are two sides of the same
coin. They are essential components of the proper functioning of an organization that includes
the entire institution and most important the student’s development. For instance, due to high
competition globally institutions are interested in both organizational and professional growth of
employees especially through active participation in decision making and employees training
(Trevino, 1986). This being the case, it is also applicable to the institutions of learning.
According to Robison, commitment is a feeling of obligation to the job. On the other hand,
organizational involvement is known as a strong belief in and acceptance of organizational goals
and objectives. It is imperative because it depicts willingness to exert considerable efforts on
behalf of other stakeholders toward achievement of organizational goals. In this case, employee’s
commitment is vital in ensuring learning institutions operate efficiently. Further, decision
making is a factor that cannot be ignored in any learning institutions. Teacher’s collaboration in
decision making can lead to positive change.
For this reason, participation in decision making is of prime importance for effective
management (Guskey, 1986). More often than not, teachers are excluded in the process of
decision making. According to research conducted by Muindi, decision making particularly on
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CHOOSING YOUR FOCUS 4
school staffing, resource allocation to name a few are made by selected members of an
administrative, managerial team. The study further found that in many cases, teachers are not
involved in the process of decision making. From another perspective, teacher’s participation in
decision making is adamant because it helps to achieve organizational goals as teachers. Also,
teachers’ involvement in the decision-making process is fundamental in the sense that it
improves job satisfaction and equally important commitment. Basing this on my interest in social
psychology, through collaborative decision-making approach, educators benefit from one
another experience which in the end enhances their teaching effectiveness. Through this
interactive approach, teachers share constructive suggestions as well as appropriate feedbacks to
each other. In essence, teachers getting together to make decisions can transform learning
institutions positively.
Conferring with Wadesango, learning institutions needs to exercise inclusivity in the
decision-making process at a level that satisfies their needs. However, people who engage in
decision-making processes in an organization feel like they are part of a team with a common
goal. Also, participation in decision making allows educators to share their opinions, share their
knowledge with all stakeholders in a learning institution. Not only does this improve their
relationship but it as well encourages a strong sense of teamwork. Through their profession
teachers are confronted with a lot of challenges situations that require decision making. The
definition of teaching as the process of making as well as implementing decisions reflects the
importance of teachers involved in the decision-making process in an institution. Moving on,
when teachers experience professional development that promotes effective instructional
decision making, they can learn and also make decisions based on students’ behaviors, and
teaching behavior to name a few (Parker, & Fischhoff, 2005).
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CHOOSING YOUR FOCUS 5
To conclude, my teaching inspiration greatly correlates to the context of decision-making
processes in learning institutions. It’s almost impossible to discuss one without the mention of
the other. In this case, decision making and teacher as a profession are inseparable. Basically, the
idea is that teachers can take a more significant role in the overall success of an organization
especially if they are involved when it comes to making decisions. This is because they need to
feel that they have more to offer to the institution rather than just teaching within classrooms.
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CHOOSING YOUR FOCUS 6
References
Freeman, D. (1989). Teacher training, development, and decision making: A model of teaching
and related strategies for language teacher education. TESOL quarterly, 23(1), 27-45.
Higgins, E. T. (2000). Making a good decision: value from fit. American psychologist, 55(11),
1217.
Trevino, L. K. (1986). Ethical decision making in organizations: A person-situation interactionist
model. Academy of management Review, 11(3), 601-617.
Parker, A. M., & Fischhoff, B. (2005). Decision‐making competence: External validation
through an individual‐differences approach. Journal of Behavioral Decision
Making, 18(1), 1-27.
Guskey, T. R. (1986). Staff development and the process of teacher change. Educational
researcher, 15(5), 5-12.
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