2015 - 2016
Always, a work in progress.
Always, a work in progress.
Well, here we are at the end of another school year! As I reflect on this year, in many ways it was a learning journey, yet again! It is wonderful working with the admin team I do! We all bring different skills and talents into the position and balance each other out. One of the most powerful learning experiences for me this year was attending the BlendEd conference in October. I learned many new things but I think the most important part was the connections I made with other administrators and teachers across the province who do similar things that we do. In this networking opportunity, we were able to learn what others are doing and adapt some of these ideas to what we were trying to accomplish in moving our school forward.
Each of the three projects outlined below, added to my knowledge and skill set for the year. Instructional leadership is one of the foundational tenets to good school leadership. In subtle ways and quiet conversations, I was able to talk to teachers about assessment, about thinking differently in course delivery and content, about putting students needs first. It was about individualizing and personalizing instruction and assessment. There is still a ways to go but the conversations have started and the thinking changed.
The Class of Leaders Fellowship gave me some direction and support as I explored the idea of the best practices in online and blended learning. And while this project is still not complete, it gave me the opportunity to support teachers as they were also exploring similar topics for their graduate degrees. Much of the reading and research, along with experiencing the realities of student success, gave us a good starting point for our plans for next year and our School Education plan. We are going to lead and support our teachers into a more blended model where teachers design courses and assessments around the touchstones of the curriculum and provide regular, ongoing, face to face support for their students.
In moving the school forward, we participated in the High School Redesign workshops. Our redesign is going to look different than most schools as we don't have a structured environment. There are no bells and there are no official attendance requirements. Some staff joined me at the March meeting and we began talking about how our school/courses/assessments could be designed for maximum student success. So our conversations with staff about High School Redesign had to be about those other foundational tenets. I think this is where it all came together, or at least sort of. The instructional leadership conversations, the networking and research, gave us a strong foundation to move forward next year.
I will begin my 25th year in education in the fall. In many ways, it has gone so fast. I'm proud to say that I have evolved as an educator over that time but am still excited to go to work every morning! And now, for a well deserved break!
Each of the three projects outlined below, added to my knowledge and skill set for the year. Instructional leadership is one of the foundational tenets to good school leadership. In subtle ways and quiet conversations, I was able to talk to teachers about assessment, about thinking differently in course delivery and content, about putting students needs first. It was about individualizing and personalizing instruction and assessment. There is still a ways to go but the conversations have started and the thinking changed.
The Class of Leaders Fellowship gave me some direction and support as I explored the idea of the best practices in online and blended learning. And while this project is still not complete, it gave me the opportunity to support teachers as they were also exploring similar topics for their graduate degrees. Much of the reading and research, along with experiencing the realities of student success, gave us a good starting point for our plans for next year and our School Education plan. We are going to lead and support our teachers into a more blended model where teachers design courses and assessments around the touchstones of the curriculum and provide regular, ongoing, face to face support for their students.
In moving the school forward, we participated in the High School Redesign workshops. Our redesign is going to look different than most schools as we don't have a structured environment. There are no bells and there are no official attendance requirements. Some staff joined me at the March meeting and we began talking about how our school/courses/assessments could be designed for maximum student success. So our conversations with staff about High School Redesign had to be about those other foundational tenets. I think this is where it all came together, or at least sort of. The instructional leadership conversations, the networking and research, gave us a strong foundation to move forward next year.
I will begin my 25th year in education in the fall. In many ways, it has gone so fast. I'm proud to say that I have evolved as an educator over that time but am still excited to go to work every morning! And now, for a well deserved break!
Skill OneInstructional Leadership
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