Today I had a team meeting with my assistant principal, our instructional coach, our district Innovations Officer, and our 2 building professional development representatives. This was a meeting designed to bring everyone up-to-speed, share some ideas and plans and collaborate on our building professional development plan for the year. Instructional Coaches in our district have a primary role in professional development, but they are far outnumbered and find it difficult to meet the needs of the masses. Our Innovations Officer constantly pushes us to think beyond the traditional ideas of professional development. She is out there searching out "innovative" techniques and encouraging us to transform our practices. So, she is also an asset to our little cadre. Administrators, of course, are charged with devising a building improvement plan that will have a positive impact on student achievement and help the school meet the state targets in our measured areas. But you know who I am really going to count on within this team? My two building professional development representatives, 2 classroom teachers.
Now, make no mistake--we have a passionate group ready to plan and encourage our staff as we embark on some new professional development journeys this year. But the thing I notice about these two teachers is that they lead by example-a very important quality for PD reps. They don't ask or encourage others to do things they aren't willing to do themselves. They put themselves out there to learn and try new things and are always willing to share the good, the bad, and the ugly with others. They aren't afraid to get their hands, arms and feet messy--because they know that the best way to learn is by doing.
If we are to lead and encourage our staff to take steps to transform their own learning, and ultimately transform student learning-we need cheerleaders. We need positive attitude people who can support others. I have a building full of people who are positive and who LOVE to collaborate. This makes it very easy for my PD representatives to gather some momentum for change. I am extremely excited about the possibilities this year. We will meet somewhat regularly to debrief and reflect on our systems this year...always ready to refine and redirect if necessary. I am excited about this year because we have a solid plan to allow personalization by the teachers. While at first it may seem scattered and not as cohesive and clean as a set of predetermined topics, I truly believe that our teachers will enjoy and embrace the opportunity to plan and direct their own PD. Having control motivates us!
Our reflection meetings throughout the year will involve looking at feedback from our staff and improving on our systems to support the teachers. We will celebrate the "cheers" but also relish in the suggestions, pointers, and negative comments. It is through these mistakes that we can improve. We hope the staff will be honest and detailed in their feedback to us so that we will know how to improve opportunities for them.
By the way, Google Drive is like THE. BEST. I honestly don't know how we ever managed without it. The ability to share documents and enable multiple people to edit and add to the document simultaneously is amazingly helpful to any committee of 2 or more people. We shared our Google docs that have calendars and plans with everyone in that group so we can all view and make suggestions. If you are not regularly using it (or something even better--please let me know what that is!) with your immediate teams, you have GOT TO START. It will change your life. I promise!
Now, make no mistake--we have a passionate group ready to plan and encourage our staff as we embark on some new professional development journeys this year. But the thing I notice about these two teachers is that they lead by example-a very important quality for PD reps. They don't ask or encourage others to do things they aren't willing to do themselves. They put themselves out there to learn and try new things and are always willing to share the good, the bad, and the ugly with others. They aren't afraid to get their hands, arms and feet messy--because they know that the best way to learn is by doing.
If we are to lead and encourage our staff to take steps to transform their own learning, and ultimately transform student learning-we need cheerleaders. We need positive attitude people who can support others. I have a building full of people who are positive and who LOVE to collaborate. This makes it very easy for my PD representatives to gather some momentum for change. I am extremely excited about the possibilities this year. We will meet somewhat regularly to debrief and reflect on our systems this year...always ready to refine and redirect if necessary. I am excited about this year because we have a solid plan to allow personalization by the teachers. While at first it may seem scattered and not as cohesive and clean as a set of predetermined topics, I truly believe that our teachers will enjoy and embrace the opportunity to plan and direct their own PD. Having control motivates us!
Our reflection meetings throughout the year will involve looking at feedback from our staff and improving on our systems to support the teachers. We will celebrate the "cheers" but also relish in the suggestions, pointers, and negative comments. It is through these mistakes that we can improve. We hope the staff will be honest and detailed in their feedback to us so that we will know how to improve opportunities for them.
By the way, Google Drive is like THE. BEST. I honestly don't know how we ever managed without it. The ability to share documents and enable multiple people to edit and add to the document simultaneously is amazingly helpful to any committee of 2 or more people. We shared our Google docs that have calendars and plans with everyone in that group so we can all view and make suggestions. If you are not regularly using it (or something even better--please let me know what that is!) with your immediate teams, you have GOT TO START. It will change your life. I promise!