Supporting growth . . .

Day one of our Leadership Retreat is complete.  I had an opportunity to share my thinking, to revisit what I believe are important parts of the foundation necessary to successfully support teacher growth, and add a couple new tools to our support inventory.  Building teams were also provided with data collected on last year's Classroom 10 goal to influence the decisions they will make to support teacher growth.  There was a moderate to high energy level through most of the day.  So, what did I learn?

Our buildings are at different places on our journey, This is not new learning for me, but the conversations confirmed that my support will need to be differentiated.

• There is a significant gap in the knowledge and tools that building leadership has intentionally shared with staff over the course of our journey with a range of 3 to 32.
• There are culture issues in some buildings that require an intentional focus to support building-wide movement on a stated aspiration.  
• There is still concern that the focus of the two days may not be aligned with what all individuals and teams see as meeting their immediate needs resulting in increased anxiety. 
• The Current Reality/Aspiration activity assisted some teams in focusing on an aspiration, identifying structures and strategies to support change, and uncovering issues that result in resistance to the change.
• We are making progress on our Classroom 10 goal that should be celebrated, but we also have more to accomplish.
• Building teams are concerned with progress on our Classroom 10 goal and are committed to supporting all teachers in meeting this year's goal.  (See slide below)
• This is an exciting and rewarding place to be!

Below, are the Knowledge and Tools that have been shared in our leadership work to support the journey.  One building has shared 32 of these with staff, one has shared, 3 and others are in the teen to twenties range.  Which have been shared with you?  How might this knowledge and these tools influence our building and system cultures?

Our 2013-14 Classroom 10 goal.