The New Year 2015

As we return from a long well deserved break, I have had time to reflect and am proud to be part of a great school.  All the staff, Students and Parents have supported the mission and vision of our school thus, positively impacting the School Environment at our school.

When you enter classrooms or stop teachers in the hallways you leave your conversation with a feeling that all staff has a sense of urgency to teach our students the Common Core State Standards and Social Skills.  The staff also understands that the more information we have about what it is our students need to know and understand will help our students encounter successful on the new Smarter Balanced Assessment and their daily interactions with other peers.

What a great feeling to hear from parents personally and through results from our Fall CEE Survey Results that we are meeting and exceeding in areas of the 9 Characteristics of High Performing Schools. I will be sharing this data with my Assistant Principal then Staff and Parents. I am still thinking/reflecting on how I will present this information to our Student Council.

What are those areas we Met or Exceeded you ask?

• Curriculum and Instruction.
• Supportive Learning Environment.
• Teaching and Learning.

Just to name a few.  Next ideas I'm considering are sharing this information with parents in our Schools Monthly Newsletter, as well as on Our Schools Website Page. I also am considering other venues to share our celebrations and areas we can improve in.

January 5, 2015

It was important for me to meet with my Assistant Principal Right away on the first day back from break, I shared my ideas with her along with the goals and expectations I wanted to communicate with staff at a staff meeting that would take place the next day.  

What did I share with Staff?

• Setting High Expectations and reviewing Classroom Rules with students I emailed this out and also repeated it at the staff meeting.
• Fidelity to Pacing Guides, and District Adopted Curriculum.
• We also discussed Trust ( Assistant Principal) shared some thoughts on this and talked about team work and how WE the entire staff are a team and must assume good intentions.
• And other house keeping items.

This information was shared in an email.

Preparing or 2nd Round of Evaluations and Mid-Year Reviews

I am starting to plan for the second round of teacher observations and setting Pre-Conference prior to the classroom observation.

I am also giving much thought to the process I want to use/create as I check in with teachers and ask  the question: How close are you to meeting the goals they set out to meet for the year?

Teachers set goals for: 1. Whole Classroom, 2. Small Sub-Group of Students and, 3. A Professional Growth Goal (PLC/Team goal for entire grade level).

My Goal as the Instructional Leader is to have an open dialogue with staff to see how its going so far?, Do you feel you will meet your goal? Why? Why not?  and What support do you need from me to ensure you are able to meet your goals (The Danielson Framework Language for Goals is,  None, some, most, most all).

I will share more along with documents as I plan these meetings and conversations.