Thursday, January 31, 2019

What I've Read

What I've Read This Month...

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Report Cards


My new role as Instructional Coach has many aspects that thrill me. If I am being honest, not writing report cards is one of them. I'm not sure whose brilliant idea it was to have me oversee the process of improving and aligning report cards across the school, but it has happened. 

I loved the PD aspects; conversations, pushing thinking, collaborating, etc. This year K - 8 have taken on the challenge. The process has been a journey I am proud to be a part of. Teachers are digging in and doing the work and now the rubber hits the road as the first semester ends. With 800+ students and only a handful of native English speakers in the school I am ending up with WAY more time on report cards than I ever spent in the classroom. The irony is not lost on me.

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

OLW Epiphany



It wasn't the start of a new calendar year that got me pondering. These aren't even thoughts that percolated as the school year started and I'm just now getting around to posting. (Though, looking at how few blog posts I have from this fall, that would be an understandable hypothesis.) 

You can find my previous thoughts about not being a OLW person here. OLW isn't the bandwagon for me and I put it out there for all the world to see. Reading all of your OLW posts I have had an epiphany. (Appropriate this week!)

Thanks to something a consultant said September of 2017 I started using a particular filter. I have been placing a filter in front of conversations and decisions. The filter has been the starting point for meetings and training. That filter is actually one. little. word. 

Purpose.

What is the purpose of the conversation or decision or meeting or training? Pulling purpose to the forefront and explicitly stating it keeps things focused. Continually asking the purpose keeps things focused. 

 Purpose, as a filter - a mantra - is now a part of my professional life.