The responses to my recent post have given me much to consider as I think about what I should say and what we should do on the all-district day. It makes me want to add more time so that I could include information about our Classroom 10 vision in some detail, share the journey we have been on for many years, and the importance of community in our work.
For some time now we have been engaged in the work of becoming professional learning communities at the building and system level. At its core, a PLC is a collaborative culture. I need to spend some time on this as well as on the need to expand this culture beyond our classroom walls. Have we engaged classified staff at the level necessary to understand and support Classroom 10? Does the community understand Classroom 10 and agree with this as the direction we should be taking to prepare their children for success beyond K-12? As we prepare for a spring 2009 bond measure, what should we be considering related to sustainability and the types of spaces that will support our academic journey? And again, what questions should I focus on for this wonderful opportunity with the majority of our staff in one place for the only time of the year?
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3 comments:
That sounds like a pretty solid presentation in and of itself - title included. That seems to have been my experience in learning, in teaching, and in technology. Reminds me of a great lyrics from my favorite band, Switchfoot: "The more we learn, the less we know."
Excellent! Your synopsis has covered several of the responses in a succinct way. I like the idea of classified staff being incorporated in understanding some of these new teaching techniques. Although I am in the custodial department, I want to be more informed of what's going on. It's embarrassing and awkward when the public ask me questions about certain aspects of the district's goals and I have to say that "I don't know." I enjoy being involved with and sharing in instructive interchanges with teachers and administrators alike. I believe other classified members who do not directly interact with the specific goals intended for the students would also appreciate being included in the overall goals of the district as they relate to students and parents alike.
Twelve years may not seem like a great many, but I have been in the district long enough to have witnessed incredible growth in our ability to help our students acquire the knowledge, skills, and habits defined in our district outcomes. I have also been in the district long enough now to at least have the potential to develop the disease TTSP (this too shall pass). There is an innoculant that could help us all avoid this inertia magnifying disease.
In the past seven years or so in particular I have seen any number of new initiatives rolled out. Some we have owned as a system and continue to be regularly visible. Some were interim measures that helped us prepare for another, better initiative. Regardless, there have been too many to keep track of them all. What will keep me from developing TTSP in the future is understanding how each of the steps we have taken in the past have been part of a larger vision for the future. What I would like to hear from you, Mike, is a story that helps us see what we have, how far we have come. I want the connections to be made plain and obvious. You know how hard it is during the school year to think about anything but what feels urgent. I think this can cause all of the initiatives we have undertaken in the past to seem like nothing but a blur of activity. The truth, the real story, is a so much more. But do our teachers see that that is so?
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