Great response! You have got it down and understand all areas of our business.
Our school works hard at maintaining a balance between purpose, people, and profit. An intelligent heart is being concerned about every one's success.
Dr Pace,
I would have to say that for the most part our school is made up of Intellegent hearts. We have a teriffic resource group of instructors who have a passion for the industry that we teach.
I think my perception of an intellegent heart is that instructor who takes extra time with a struggling student...one who is willing to meet after class or during break, someone who will give time during lunch if necessary to insure the success of a student. An intellegent heart is an instructor or staff member who is willing to help any student they meet..whether they would normally have direct contact with them or not...An example for me would be during our open houses...I talk to many students and parents...I offer to both the assurance that I will be available for them anytime they have questions or issues...even if they are not involved in my particular elective course...I feel this kind of assurance gives peace of mind to both new students and their parents... I know if an educator is looking out for the wellbeing of one of my sons...especially when they are away form home and on their own it brings a whole new level of comfort and trust to the educational experience and in doing so helps student success and retention.
It's very simple...we just need to do it!
My school has been in operation for over 30 years, one would think that they would have it down by now.
Unfortunately, for numerous students, we let them down by failing in the "Intelligent Heart" catagory, and they drop out.
The first priority of a school should be concentrating on a quality product distributed by a caring faculty, in a consistant manner. This will do more for retention than other tricks they have used.
My school seems to be on target with the strategies outlined in this course. The culture involves checking in on students regarding absences, personal problems, as well as progress in the course. An intelligent heart is one that understands that people are "whole". The mind, the body, and the spirit all have to be nurtured and paid attention. It doesn't matter how bright a student might be if they are too stressed to come to school because they have no where for their family to live.
Our school is fully staffed with intelligent heart. We are constantly looking on how we could improve and help our students. I enjoy coming to work because of this. We are always connecting with our students.
Our school is made up of four career fields and all have varied cultures. At some point in getting to know the student, we can connect by saying "Been there, done that" and relay the comfort of understanding where they are coming from and that they, too, can achieve their goals. With concentration, hard work, openess to constructive criticism, fairness and humor (just to mention a few), they can reach their goal(s).
We have a Faculty advisor program where every student is assigned to a faculty member. We then have get togethers to get to know each other better.
My perception of an "Intelligent Heart" includes:
1. Never forgetting that you are a human being working with another human being. It is important to understand and accept the fact that we are not perfect and that there are always alternatives and other ways to work with challenges. We just have to be willing to compromise and go that extra mile.
2. Never forgetting why you became an educator. Changing peoples lives is a powerful and important responsibility. Even though the student is the one achieving the degree, our objective and goal is to do everything we can to help this student succeed. At graduation, we know we've both accomplihed our goals.
The culture at our school is definitely student focused. Granted, each department has its goals and objectives to meet but the last thing any department does is let it negatively affect the student. We meet frequently to discuss the challenges individual students are facing and what we need to do to help the student. Not only being proactive to prevent problems but also being positive in reactive situations is critical to helping the student succeed.
These students need to have goals to stay motivated. The paycheck is not enough to sustain them for very long.
Your are correct that students spend more time with instructors than anyone else at any school.
You are the dream makers!!!
This would help, maybe we would not be expected to teach down to a student, if we think there not smart enough to keep up
The student is so important in many ways,
you always have to be able to seperate the two, but we are placed in the roles by our students.
I agree but you have some that are just here for a pay check and just do enough to get by.
reinforceing the students goals and dreams needs to happen more from the Instructors anf falcuity
I agreed with the Instructor's helping with student issues but all could be a little more involved.
Not ever staff member relays to the intelligent Heart concept, but if every onr did it would make a great difference in the school in a hole
Many instructors have the IQ intelligence but very little Heart or what's know as EQ. The Intelligent Heart suggests that they have both.
