Running head: SUPERVISORY PLATFORM

Supervisory Platform
Kim Mascelli
William Paterson University

SUPERVISORY PLATFORM

The purpose of education seems to have changed little through the years. I believe the
purpose of education is to guide children to develop their critical thinking skills and to help
children find their passions, whereas in 1934 John Dewey stated the purpose of education has
always been to everyone, in essence, the same to give the young the things they need in order
to develop in an orderly, sequential way into members of society. In 1948, Martin King Jr.
stated, the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. The
ASCD Committee on Platform of Beliefs stated in 1957 the main purpose of the American
school is to provide for the fullest possible development of each learner for living morally,
creatively, and productively in a democratic society. Margaret Ammons (Associate Secretary of
ASCD) stated in 1964 that the purpose of education has changed from that of producing a
literate society to that of producing a learning society. And in 1991, Arthur Foshay from The
Curriculum Matrix: Transcendence and Mathematics stated the one continuing purpose of
education, since ancient times, has been to bring people to as full a realization as possible of
what it is to be a human being. Each of the above mentioned, seem to have a similar end result,
even though they believe in a different educational philosophy. But, how does ones educational
philosophy relate to ones supervisory beliefs?
As I mentioned, I believe the purpose of education is to guide children to develop their
critical thinking skills and to help children find their passions. As a supervisor, I believe the
purpose of supervision is to guide teachers to develop their critical thinking skills and to
collaboratively help find the best techniques and strategies that will allow one to see student
growth.
As a supervisor, I will work with the faculty to develop a meaningful vision and mission
statement. This statement will be created in conjunction with staff and myself. I will first need to

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find out what the staff feels the schools vision should be and then draft one with my input. Then
it will be distributed to staff for review, and revised several times before final statement is
submitted. It may be difficult for all faculty members to come to an agreement but without
allowing faculty to become a part of creating this statement it may be opening the door for
opposition. In the end, a positive and healthy relationship between teachers and supervisor
should be built and nourished. This positive relationship will allow for effective collaboration to
take place to create the techniques and strategies we believe will help the students best.
I believe a positive and healthy school climate are two of the most important factors for
effective leadership. As a part of the school leadership team, I feel it is necessary for teachers and
supervisors to have a positive working relationship as encouraged by the philosophy of
experimentalism. Morality is that behavior that promotes ones working with the group to
achieve greater ends (Glickman et.al., 2009, p. 82). Glickman et. al. also states, supervisors
work democratically with teachers to achieve collective ends that will help everyone.
Supervisors are not solely conveyors of age-old wisdom; they are both the conveyors of the
rudimentary knowledge of the time and the guiders of trial-and-error, exploratory learning (p.
82).
Therefore, my main focus will be to work with the teachers to improve student learning. I
will start by working with the teachers to create and test techniques and strategies to help
improve each other, but most importantly see growth in the students. I will also discuss and share
the techniques and strategies that they feel have been working best based on the student
population. I will do my best to motivate, communicate and help teachers learn how to

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experiment with the different strategies and teaching skills currently in place as well as the ones
we have created together. While doing this I will need to make sure the teachers have the proper
resources, from effective proper training, to materials, to working technology such as white
boards, computers, etc.
As a supervisor, I will also need to constantly measure the morale of staff. I will need to
always keep open lines of communication. I must become an effective communicator and an
active listener in shaping and changing dispositions as needed. I believe the supervisor and
teacher should be viewed as equals since both have experience in the field. One can always learn
from the other.

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References
Glickman, C.D., Gordon, S.P. & Ross-Gordon, J.M. (2009). The Basic Guide to SuperVison and
Instructional Leadership: (2nd edition). Boston, Mass: Pearson Education, Inc.