EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT
My name is Jason Lee, and I am an English teacher at Billings West High School where I teach the dual enrollment course College Writing. This is my 20th year teaching. Prior to teaching at BWHS, I was an English and journalism teacher at Laurel High School, and prior to that I taught English and reading in Opheim, Montana.
BWHS is one of three high schools in the Billings Public Schools district, not including the Career Center. As of 2023, BHWS is the largest high school in Montana with a student population of just over 2200 students, according the the Montana High School Association. About 80% of students identify as White, 7% identify as Hispanic, and 4% are Native American. Students who are Black and Asian both make up about 1% of the school's population. Of the 2200 students, 506 qualified for free or reduced lunch during the 23-24 school year.
I have been a member of my local, state, and national unions at all three schools where I've worked. Early in my teaching career at BWHS, a colleague approached me and asked if I was willing to step up as a building representative for our local, the Billings Education Association (BEA), and I served in this role for a number of years. During this time I emerged as a union leader at the school, and because of this I was nominated to serve on the BEA Board of Directors as the High School Director. I have served in this role for three years and will continue to serve for at least an additional year, which is when my current term ends.
CONNECTING SELF ASSESSMENT TO CONTEXT
Biases, Privilege, and Personal Values
Teachers with more experience and teachers in secondary education have more of a voice in the union. This is because teachers with more experience have more confidence to speak up or to ask questions, and teachers in secondary education do not have the same concern for retaliation from administration as teachers in elementary education. This has been a topic brought up by elementary school reps multiple times at representative council meetings. Because of this, I was motivated to find a way to remove some of these barriers for communication within the union.
Overarching Competency #1: Interpersonal Effectiveness, Developing
Rationale: When I began TLI, my goal was to develop a system that can support my fellow union members in bolstering methods of communication, and in order to do so, building trust was necessary before moving into the performing stage.
Overarching Competency #2: Technological Facility, Emerging
Rationale: My initial goal was to explore methods of communication beyond email that would lead to more efficient and consistent messaging between members and building reps and between building reps and the BEA Board of Directors. In order to do so, I needed to explore other technologies available to see what technology options were feasible.
Foundational Competency: Explore and Challenge Inequity, Emerging
Rationale: At the beginning of the TLI program, I felt a disconnect between how this competency could relate to bolstering communication within the union since I was not initially focusing especially on inequity relating specifically to culture, but I had not yet considered diversity as it relates to years experience in education or the significant differences that exist among elementary, middle, and high school teachers, as well as the specialists within our schools.
Association Leadership: Organizational Effectiveness: Leading with Skill, Developing
Rationale: Because of my experience as a building rep and then as High School Director of my local, I had already taken on a strong leadership role, and as a leader I at the very least encouraged all members to stay informed of union issues, and I encouraged other members to take on additional leadership roles, including representing their buildings and volunteering on committees.
CONNECTING ASSESSMENT OF DIVERSE STAKEHOLDERS TO CONTEXT
The stakeholders are my fellow union members, which span from inactive but dues-paying members all the way up to the Executive Board. The stakeholders that I chose to especially address are building reps. BEA has building reps from over thirty different home schools or buildings, all representing diverse needs. Almost half of current building reps have served for less than three years. Some are more comfortable with adopting new technology than others. All of these factors came into play as I considered how to shape my project in a way that could be accommodating for most everybody.