On-boarding Success

A recent success I’ve had was when my leadership team and I planned the on-boarding process for this school year. This year we had two key words intentionality and practice. Many of our regional leaders attended a training program in Denver this summer hosted by Relay. As a result our onboarding efforts have been embedded with intentional practice. This looks like teachers practicing specific action oriented skills in front of their peers to receive affirming and adjusting feedback. This type of intentional practice builds teachers capacity to enhance student learning by practicing relevant, rigorous, and effective teacher skills.
Some of the skills we have had teachers work on this summer comes from the book, Teach Like A Champion. which lays out concrete teacher skills that can be practiced and immediately implemented. Our region has identified several skills that indicate a new teacher is having a “ strong start”. We used the pre-identified  skills to create professional development sessions that allowed for staff to practice the strong start skills. We have differentiated this professional learning so that veteran teachers do not have to attend unnecessary or mastered sessions. This has been done with great success and teachers are really growing from one practice session to the next.

The sessions are also pretty rigorous as they are role-playing scenarios like, an angry parent calls you and you have to diffuse the situation. Or, a student is using a cell phone how do you intervene (Phones are not allowed at my school)? The following scenarios allow staff to practice real life situations and then get feedback, only to redo it once more. Just last week one  teacher learned a valuable lesson. In a scenario where she was on the phone with a parent concerning grades, she asked them if they were having problems at home. The person playing the  parents obviously got upset and the teacher learned that this is probably not the best way to go insight about what is going on at home. I am grateful that she had that experience in practice and not in reality. With intentional practice I'm excited to see our staff grow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is it Safe to Stop Worrying about DeVos?

I'm not sure how many share the sentiment, but when Betsy DeVos was actually came into office I was #shook. Her inexperience, and comfort in her own ignorance made me think she would push to enforce an oversimplified, impractical, and hopelessly romantic one-step solution to the numerous, deep-rooted, and complex issues facing our educational system today. Luckily, it's looking like she might be all talk. Ideally, the Secretary of Education should improve the educational world for our teachers and students, at least a little. Not moving at all may be better than taking to many steps in the wrong direction, however. It has been six months, and Devos is still struggling to become fully staffed and slow to implement her school choice initiative. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/07/25/what-has-betsy-devos-actually-done-after.html We'll continue to keep an eye out.
Read more

Afghan Robotics Team Makes it to the States

One of the results of president Trump's travel ban was the exclusion of an all girl robotics team from having the opportunity to compete in the United States. Although I understand the intention of the ban was to keep everyone safe, I am one of the many who believe in providing everyone with an opportunity to seek a better life, and especially a better education. This was a classic example of how the ban limits many with good intentions. While it may be safer to say no one can come to the United States, the overwhelming majority of people who will suffer are those seeking a better life, an opportunity, and education. I considered how hard these girls had worked, and what sacrifices they had to make to qualify for an international competition. It is a shame that so little discrecion or care was used in crafting the ban. Fortunately, these girls were able to come after getting their visas rejected twice and the "international outcry" that resulted from the injustice. ...
Read more

What Georgia Educators are Facing

Being an educator in Georgia is no easy feat. The Georgia Partnership for Education came up with 10 problems that the field of education is facing in Georgia. Of the issues specific to Georgia some stood out to me. Georgia has seen a trend of more and more teachers leaving the profession, and less and less teachers interested in joining the field of education. Districts have also been given more responsibility, and the demand for quality leadership has increased. Our high school graduates have not been soundly prepared for college (based on incompletion rates) and are ill-prepared for the workforce. Students in impoverished areas receive $1,200 less per student. Georgia also has about 10% of students with mental health issues that directly affect their school performance. http://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/georgia-top-education-issues-2017/EUiJGHsurmxSYeNuowylpK/ In my experience as a Georgia educator, I feel these are genuine concerns. Many of the problems that our school f...
Read more