As another year comes to an end (hopefully not in the Mayan
sense of end) it is the perfect time for reflection. I have now been a
principal in the same school for 6.5 years. Over that time we have accomplished much. I am incredibly proud of the students
who have passed through the classrooms at our school. I am also continuously impressed and amazed by the effort of
the educators at the school. Over
the years we have transformed a good school and made it great.
There are over 100 student-designed and student-painted
murals on the walls of the school with positive messages. These messages convey our core values (PRIDE:
Pride, Respect, Integrity, Dedication, Excellence), our school motto (Do The
Right Thing), inspirational quotes, and anti-bullying messages. The school is a warmer, safer place due
to this addition of the murals. In
addition to this physical change to the building, we have also evolved and
progressed in other ways. We now
have student led conferences instead of traditional parent teacher
conferences. This system forces
students to reflect on their own strengths and areas for growth and take more
ownership for their education.
Everyone at the school, students and staff, set goals each year and
develop plans to meet those goals.
Our advisory program has evolved over the years to the robust program
that it is today. Students have a
home base at the school and there is time in the schedule for kids to connect
with teachers, for teachers to provide interventions for struggling learners,
and time for teachers to provide extension opportunities for those that are
doing well and ready for additional challenges. The advisory program brings the community closer together and
each adult in the school has a group of students under their watch. With
murals, student led conferences, and a robust advisory program we have made
three major improvements to the school.
While PRIDE has served us well, I have recently been looking
at other schools to see their mission statements, vision statements, and core
values. The Public Schools of
Brookline, MA have a terrific site on the web http://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=89
Any school that has core values that include Collaboration, High expectations, Excellence, Equity, and Respect
makes me want to stand up and cheer.
These core values align closely with my own and connect well to my
vision for schools. If designing a
school from scratch I would include some of the things we already do such as
advisory and student led conferences, but there is so much more. Some of the highlights of this school I
will list here. The school would be a fully functional professional learning
community including data driven instruction. I would add technology integration
including a 1:1 environment, flipped classrooms where appropriate, and on-going
professional development for teachers to integrate technology in meaningful
ways. I would eliminate homework that is anything other than practice. I would extend the school day – not to
pack in more academics but to slow the pace of the day and allow for the rich
interactions that can take place between teacher and student. I would design a report card that
provided students and parents with more information. I would incorporate time
for instructional rounds so teachers can observe and learn from their
colleagues. Similar to a teaching
hospital, it would be a teaching school filled with interns from a local
university. Each of these items is
a blog post waiting to happen to expand on what these things would look like in
schools.
Hopefully I will find time in 2013 to blog more about some
of these topics.
Do any of these thoughts resonate with you? Leave a comment and continue the
conversation.
