Standing United with Staff #SAVMP 2:2

Participation is Paramount for a Leader's Credibility 

#SAVMP 2:2

When asking your faculty and staff to take a leap of faith and try something new, it is critical that the leader step out in faith as well. I have joined with my amazing staff in hosting a program for our students. I always believe it is critical to be ready to commit to anything that I ask staff to commit to so that we are partners in the rewards AND my presence will continue to provide credibility and solidarity for our team.

This year we have begun a significant initiative to try and provide an after-school network of clubs and extracurricular activities for our students. Simultaneously, several of our teachers are taking the opportunity to tutor students since we have budgeted to provide transportation for these programs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The longer we can keep our students on campus, we can be assured they are safe. We provide snacks, and we can be assured they are fed. We provide rich academic opportunities and content exposure, and we are assured they are learning!

Several teachers and staff have chosen to create and participate in rich experiences for our students. I have also chosen to be a member of our after-school activities.

Here is our COMING SOON flyer from last spring for the programs we have begun on campus: Cherry STEMS (STEM project-based learning club), My Brother’s Keeper (a mentoring program partnered with local community leaders to reach out to young boys), Cheetah Harmony (a Music Academy with exposure to instruments and community music programs), and a thriving Chess Club! The emphasis in each of these clubs is expanding the background knowledge of the students through exposure to high-level academic content and experiences.

In addition, this fall, as part of the STEM program, our STEM Teacher has begun a GEMS Club: GEMS is Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science.

I have been able to participate in two of the clubs myself and share in the joy! I attend every My Brother’s Keeper and Chess Club meeting. The experiences have been intensely rich for me.

The My Brother’s Keeper program is led by a local pastor who has scheduled to bring in multiple guest speakers. He first brought in local law enforcement officers to speak with students. He and one of our male staff members teach character lessons, and the pastor is currently developing a lesson for the boys that has an obstacle course in conjunction with our PE Coach. It is so awesome to watch how these developing young men respond to the instruction of these community and school mentors. Here are photos from the last session:

The other club, the Chess Club, has been the club that makes me laugh, and I leave each meeting with a huge smile! I have taught several students how to play Chess. It is very rewarding to turn the fledgling players loose and let them play other students. We have club norms like, “No bragging if you win.” AND….one young lady in 3^rd grade asked me if she could check out a chess board to take it home to teach her family how to play. Now, that was a worthwhile experience for all the time that our team of three adults puts into the club. Here are photos from our first session:

I am grateful for the staff who extend their work day to provide these experiences for our students, and I make certain that I participate because we are ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!

Connecting with Video: Our School Community - The TouchCast #SAVMP

Connecting with Video: Our School Community- The TouchCast 

#SAVMP 2:1

Our district took a huge and worthwhile leap this year! We took on the cause of Professional Learning Communities. The … “model flows from the assumption that the core mission of formal education is not simply to ensure that students are taught but to ensure that they learn. This simple shift—from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning—has profound implications for schools.” You can read more about PLC’s at the link below.

This process takes time, and the collaboration that teachers naturally use to walk through this process can get very complex leading to multiple levels of analysis such as student data reviews, test item analysis conversations, question formatting discussions, and ultimately standards dissection. This has been around for many years. I was involved in such a process at the high school level about 10 years ago, and the benefit was that I knew the standards for my curriculum, and I also knew when lessons and assessments were a complete mismatch for learning targets. I thoroughly enjoyed the process, and I also know how long it can take. I worked with a team of 8 teachers, and 3 of us spent several weeks during our summer vacation creating aligned curriculum to match our standards.

Due to the time required for such an undertaking, I have chosen to use alternative methods to communicate with our staff. We no longer have faculty meetings where we discuss procedural items. We have professional development opportunities. Further, I used to write a weekly Chat and PUPdate for the staff where expectations and celebrations were covered. I have continued with the PUPdate which is a simple Friday email full of images and sometimes containing videos and/or links to resources. However, rather than using the Monday Chat which required teachers to stop and read a document early on in their work week, I  now create a weekly TouchCast which is shared every Monday with faculty and staff. The video has a time limit of 5 minutes, and it allows staff to multi-task while watching/listening to the broadcast. I had one teacher tell me she watches on her phone while she is getting ready for work in the morning. I love that staff can multi-task and can replay the video or pause and reflect at any point. A nice feature of the TouchCast is that you can embed links and documents and videos that the viewer can use with TouchScreen devices such as tablets and smartphones. The viewer needs to only touch the screen (when viewing on TouchCast and not YouTube), and they can access all of the embedded resources at their fingertips. If they really like it they can download it instantly.

I think this is a way to give back time to our staff, and it certainly allows me to share a more personal method of communication with everyone as the nuances of speech, intonation, and facial expression are highly superior to a weekly Word document.

Here is my Thanksgiving TouchCast. I encourage you to use video at every opportunity. Video is a great way to communicate!

If you are using a smartphone you may need to use this link:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYvxA4A5IlA

ASCD What is a PLC?