Classmate #1

Discussion 7:

Identify a scenario where you and someone else are approaching a problem or decision from opposite perspectives. How might you reconcile this?

August 2017, my Principal received an invitation for two teachers within the electives department preferably Business and Technology to attend the Broward College Aviation Awareness workshop.  I had the awesome task to attend the workshop along with our Civil Air Patrol teacher.  Broward College launched a career awareness project with the following goals:

·  To bridge the gap with the Middle Schools and the Aviation Industry.

·  Have students exposed to various career opportunities within the Aviation Industry.

·  Introduction to Broward College Aviation Institute and explore various Airlines to gain hands-on experience and job descriptions within the Aviation Industry.

Chin & Trimble (2015) suggest leadership is influenced by communication. In order to achieve a common goal for this project, we both had to collaborate and remain focus to execute the project. Initially, we were clueless about how or where to begin this project.  As the Student Government Advisor and Business Education teacher, I initiated the idea to incorporate a program along called “Aviation Opportunity Career Awareness Program” for Crystal Lake Middle School.  The idea for the project was to have students exposed to various Career Opportunities within the Aviation Industry, participate in field trips to Broward College to tour the Aviation Facility, and most importantly hear from those guest speakers that shared their testimonies of Corporate Success and Career Path at the workshop.  Ms. Cohen, the Civil Air Patrol teacher suggested to implement and assign days for students to Dress for Success. Students that participated in the Civil Air Patrol would wear their uniforms and my business students would dress for success.   “Dress for Success” assigned days were utilized as a platform to have our students participate and learn about the Aviation Industry.

Our decision-making process was driven by the three goals of communication, a) instructional goals (performing task), b) relational goals (negotiating conflict), and c) identity management (self-image) (Chin & Trimble, 2015). We both proposed that the following Guest Speakers who presented at the workshop would accommodate and facilitate field trips or speaking engagements for the students. We developed a partnership to introduce this program to Crystal Lake Middle with the following team:

·  Ken Richards, Manager Ground Training, Spirit Airlines

·  Mike Nonnemacher, Director of Operations, FORT LAUDERDALE HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

·  Russell McCaffery, Dean of Transportation Programs at Broward College.

Broward College Aviation Institute field trip was conducted on October 4th, 2017. Students were welcomed and introduced to the Institute. After a brief overview, the tour moved to the flight simulation labs, the maintenance hanger, flight dispatch, and finally airplanes on the ramp. Spirit Airlines training Center field trip was conducted on February 1st, 2018. Spirit Airlines Operation Manager, Mr. Ken Richards welcomed the students in the training room and gave a brief overview of the training center. Among the speakers were Pilots, Flight attendants, and Ground control teams. Students were taken to the Simulation building where they had an opportunity to land the plane. There was a training area for the flight attendants and safety regulations with life jackets. On February 14th, 2018, Mike Nonnemacher, Director of Operations, FORT LAUDERDALE HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT visited Crystal Lake Middle as our guest speaker to conduct a presentation on Aviation Opportunity Careers. Mr. Nonnemacher gave an extensive overview of the various departments, job descriptions and salary scales within the industry. He encouraged students to consider the Aviation Industry because some of the departments are underemployed and are overlooked when people are choosing careers. He emphasized the importance of education needed for jobs within the aviation industry and that it does not only encompass pilots and air traffic controllers. He gave an example of an individual that holds a Masters in Business Administration will possess the educational skills needed for office management positions.

Chin & Trimble (2015) state, “Diverse thinkers help a team think out of the box and bring in different perspectives for more creative solutions”. As a result of Ms. Cohen, military expertise within the Aviation Industry and my expertise within the Business Industry, Crystal lake Middle students gained hands-on experience, exposure to the various job descriptions, knowledge about skills, and salary scales within the Aviation Industry. The visit to Broward Aviation Institute and Spirit Airlines broadened their horizon and bridged the gap for middle school students and career opportunities within the Aviation Industry. Crystal Lake Middle was the first school to launch this program. As the pilot school, we plan to enhance and continue the program by allowing more of the aviation team presenters to become involved either by field trips or visiting Crystal Lake Middle in the near future.

Reference:

Chin, J. L., & Trimble, J. E. (2015). Diversity and Leadership. In J. L. Chin, & J. E. Trimble, Dimensions of Diversity (pp. 21-51). Los Angeles: Sage.

 Classmate #2

For the closing of the Summer 1, 2020 (02/20) semester, I along with another lecturer have to prepare for our assigned course final examinations. We are deliberating on the examination format and this has been going on for the past week as the course is totally online due to the pandemic and this format is basically new to us. The lecturer feels that the examination should comprise of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and short essays. I differed as I am of the opinion that the examination should be only MCQs as this would be graded and returned to us the lecturers immediately after the students completes the examinations. Plus, reading and grading four essays for 60 students to me is just too tiresome and time consuming at this time. There is a total of 120 students. The other lecturer felt that the particular cohort of students enrolled in 02/20 should have more essay writing questions than MCQs.

At my university, the procedure for the final examination is to have one common examination for multiple course sections. Thus, all of the lecturers have to contribute evenly to the examination. We have met and discuss the way forward as it pertains to the examination. Notably, 02/20 examination is scheduled to be held on a Friday and the following Monday is the start of Summer 2 classes.

The question of how we can reconcile this matter is a very important one. According to Chin and Trimble (2015, p. 25) there should be team-oriented behaviors amid groups that incorporates cooperative, competent, and diplomatic behaviors. Working together as a team requires working in an environment that is realistic, cordial, and trustworthy. As faculty members we should equally contribute to identify and solve problems as they occur in the organization. To date the lecturer and I have decided to keep a portion of the MCQs, reduce the number of essays to two instead of four and write the essays to have a fill in the blank response. We had to come to a comprise. She opted to structure the essays differently, and I decided to reduce the amount of MCQs so that the examination could be completed in the allotted time requirements.

Chin, J. L. & Trimble, J. E. (2015). Diversity and leadership. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.