Our Future... Our Dreams...

We all know that behind a great school is a well-thought out, articulated, and implemented vision. A strong vision allows schools to look into the future with focus and to set long-term and short-term goals to reach beyond the ordinary.

At CCE’s inception in 1998, teams of teachers with the principal poured over their beliefs and viewpoints to create a foundational vision that would lead Chets into the future. The team agreed on Chets Creek’s vision, mission, and learner expectations, and not much has changed in regard to these since those original planning days. Each summer, as we add new teachers, we spend a day explaining to them our history, our expectations, our vision. We hire those with the same philosophy.

Recently, I’ve given much thought to vision, and wonder if anything has fundamentally changed or if we still believe our vision aligns with where we are headed in our future. I wonder, do we still hold true to the same learner expectations or are there those we would delete or perhaps add? Much has happened in the world since 1998 especially in terms of the fiercely competitive global marketplace and technology. I’m thinking it is imperative to reflect on our vision, mission, and learner expectations to ensure our sustained success.

Where do we see Chets Creek in five years? How will we get there? When will we know we’ve gotten there? Where will our students be five years from now, or twenty years from now? Will our organization have prepared them to lead successful futures?

The Memo

In a school of nearly 100 staff members, one would think that communicating the same message to the entire faculty would be difficult. I’m sure you have images of a crowded monthly faculty meeting where the principal stands before the staff to disseminate information. This is not the case at Chets.

The dissemination of information is important, especially in a school as large as ours, at approximately 1,200 students, but the principal uses the vehicle of digital communication via a weekly newsletter, The Memo. All staff members receive The Memo as an attachment to an email on Friday afternoon. And, this thematic newsletter, although a dissemination tool, offers so much more.

The Memo is a seven part document which includes the following key elements:
o Principal’s Message—a link to the principal’s blog where she leaves a message.
o Pixie Pointer—a staff initiated recognition/questioning corner.
o Weekly Events Schedule—day by day calendar of events.
o A Whole New Mind—weekly academic announcements.
o Keys to the Kingdom—housekeeping items.
o Birthday Wishes—building relationships through celebration.
o Tinkerbell’s Magical Moments—public recognition for teachers.

As you peruse this week’s Memo pay particular attention to Tinkerbell’s Magical Moments. This is a method of public recognition for staff that gives them a pat on the back for work well done. This section of the communication tool reaches far beyond the dissemination of information and slants the focus toward academic accomplishments. It opens the door to each classroom so the rest of the staff gets a bird’s eye view into the work of others. It celebrates success.

As a coach, I can assist the principal in gathering celebrations for this section. My job has a focus on curriculum and instruction, and includes the most time spent in teacher’s classrooms observing and as a classroom supporter. I assist the principal in being the positive eyes and ears of the school’s academic happenings, and debrief with her about the awe inspiring things I see on a daily basis. Other coaches in my school also share celebrations with the principal. Collectively between the coaches’ weekly observations and the principal’s direct observations, she can craft Tinkerbell’s Magical Moments. The public recognition not only pats a teacher on the back but opens the knowledge to the entire staff.

Do you want to get started? I encourage you to share this post with your principal. If your principal embraces this idea celebrate, you can help by building the academic corner and gathering snippets for the celebration’s corner. If your principal declines, move beyond the barrier, and start your own memo. You could begin with a newsletter to staff with the academic corner and celebrations. Perhaps, from there, the idea will grow. Good luck on your journey.

Pangea Day

As I begin writing this post, we are 187 days 6 hours 44 minutes and 56 seconds from Pangea Day. Why is that significant? Because this is my call to my school community to unite and submit a film.

"Pangea Day taps the power of films to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting millions of people to build a better future." On May 10, 2008 the world will unite through a simultaneously broadcast program in an effort to assist in healing our world's conflict. They will broadcast films, speakers, and musicians that offer powerful glimpses into our lives. No longer will they rely on a few to dictate the message broadcast to millions. They are calling on citizens from across our globe, from you and I, to submit films about our lives. The films may show hope, fear, freedom, success, compassion... almost anything.

At Chets Creek, we have a story. We have a story of freedom, diversity, hope, acceptance... Are you ready to get on board? Click on Pangea Day, read about its purpose, look at the contributors list, watch their sample films, then come see me and let's make a plan for film submission. One school can help bring a better future... let's get started.

A Focus on Mathematics

To become fluent mathematicians, students need to build understanding and connections in math skills, concepts, and problem solving. Chets' teachers are committed to teaching in a Math Workshop format which fosters an environment safe for students to explore multiple strategies.

Math instruction does not consist of a teacher showing students a set of procedures to solve a problem. And, does not require students to regurgitate an answer. We foster the process. We foster student's next steps. We foster understanding. This is a much different approach in contrast to traditional math education in this country, and one we embrace and celebrate for the achievement of our students.

However, we know that because teachers were not taught the way we are now teaching, professional development must take center stage. Therefore, our principal makes sure to support a math coaching position in her budget. Presently, two coaches share that one position. They share a classroom, and each have half a day of release time to coach in other classrooms. Weekly they run teacher meetings in grades 3-5 where teachers discuss curriculum and instruction, analyze diagnostic assessments, work on common assessments, analyze student work, discuss professional literature, and explore multiple strategies. They also have an entire day each quarter to spend with a grade level where they observe demonstration lessons and debrief the lessons.

In grades K-2, two math teachers who carry full day classroom loads, act as math lead teachers. They run their grade level teacher meetings and WOW Days. On occasion, they are released from their classroom to coach in other classrooms.

In addition to coaching, we embrace digital professional development. We've utilized Math Video Clips of two of the coaches talking teachers through math strategies in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I'm sure they will be delighted that I've linked you to their site :) We've used video streaming demonstration lessons, and one of our math leads, Melissa, has used her blog to begin sharing s wealth of information including linking sites to her posts that she finds useful for students to use from home. Two other sites I've found helpful include the National Library of Interactive Math and a Teacher Resource site. Also, we've used our CCE website to share math information.

You'll notice as a list on this blog, I also recommend math texts that every math teacher and coach should have in their bag of tricks. If you have further suggestions for professional development that we can embrace to move our work forward, please pen me a comment on this post. I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Be Our Guest

Throughout the year, Chets Creek hosts hundreds of visitors. Educators and business people alike come from near and far to capture a glimpse inside our magical kingdom. These go-getters spend the day with us in hopes of capturing the essence of what we do and replicating best practices in their own schools.

The day consists of a focus walk, lesson observations, and debriefing. We also spend time sharing artifacts and showing blog posts or video clips in the conference room. Visitors walk away enthusiastic to implement some of their new ideas, and we benefit when they bring suggestions to the table for how best to improve our own practice. Another benefit to us comes from the reflective nature of explaining our work to others and clarifying when they ask specific questions. At the end of the day, when we bid goodbye to the visitors, you can commonly find the host team chatting away in the conference room about the day's experience.

If you are a Chets Creek teacher that would like a bird's eye view, drop me a comment, and I'll be sure to invite you to help host a visiting group. If you are an educator that would like to visit our magical kingdom, drop me a comment, and we'd be delighted to have you Be Our Guest.

It Is All About Alignment

You will often hear educators and parents who are against standardized assessment say that high stakes testing just makes teachers teach toward the test. As an educator and parent who values accountability, I say, why not teach toward the test. If the guiding standard is good enough and curriculum and instruction are aligned, then why not teach toward the test. At the very least we are holding teachers and students accountable.

With that said, I understand that some states have standards that are not strong enough or aligned enough with the assessment. This does offer a pitfall. But, rather than bashing the assessment piece, let's work toward making sure every state has strong standards, curriculum, and instruction. Let's ensure that every student can reach a high standard and that we will offer safety nets to ensure their success.

I found this article, What's So Bad About Teaching to the Test?, very informative. If you want to find out how your state's standards and assessments measure up, be sure to click on the study by the American Federation of Teachers and scroll down to page 8.

In my state, Florida, we appear to measure up in Math and Science across the board in grades 3 through high school. However, our Reading analysis is scary with only grades 3 and 4 meeting the recommendations. Hopefully, my state will take a good hard look at this data to make needed improvements.

Find of the Week

One role in coaching is as a resource provider. Coaches expand teachers' use of a variety of resources to improve instruction. They are avid readers of professional literature, surfers of the web, scouts of educational conferences, connoisseurs of children's literature, and great collegial conversationalists. They are constantly in search of new ideas to improve student achievement.

The only thing better than a coach with a great new resource is a self-directed teacher who has spent hours delving into books and searching the web for a great idea. Who hits a gold mine and immediately alerts her whole team that this great tool exists. This week's find of the week comes from a 2nd grade teacher, Eyleen. If you are in search of Readers' or Writers' Workshop Lesson Plans written using the architecture of a mini-lesson then you'll love this Denver Ed. website. Enjoy... http://curriculum.dpsk12.org/index.htm#lit_pg.