What can I expect from the Executive Cabinet Thursday Walks?

How will we as a district accomplish our vision: "Students prepared to make positive contributions and thrive in an ever-changing world?"  What does it even mean to "be prepared"?  One year ago, we embarked on a partnership with Learning Sciences International.  Michael Toth, CEO of LSI, spoke at our welcome back event and articulated why we need to shift our mental model of instruction where the work is student/team centered, students are working on challenging group tasks and there is a high level of cognitive engagement. The world that we are preparing our students for is much different than the world we grew up in.  To ensure our students have the skills, tools, and competencies to be successful will require us to change our habits.  The end result is definitely about generating better learning outcomes and preparing our students, however, I will also reinforce Michael Toth's words that it is also about bringing the joy back into teaching.

The components of our district's Strategic Plan outline the "how" to achieve the vision.  By empowering educators to be instructional leaders, personalizing learning for all students, designing our decisions based on data, and partnering with our stakeholders, we will prepare our students to thrive! We believe our biggest levers initially for continuous school improvement centers around our district priorities: implementation of "Professional Learning Communities, Standards-based Planning, and using Data to Design Decisions".

Thursday Walks provide the opportunity for the executive cabinet to observe the outcomes of the implementation of our priorities and the shifts in our model of instruction as a system.  In addition to observing the shifts, we are also becoming more familiar with all campuses, making connections with staff, students, and principals, celebrating achievements, and identifying possible supports for continuous school improvement.
 

We do collect data on what we observe in classrooms, however, the observations and data are not evaluative.  The data provides information around progress towards systematic implementation and needs for possible supports.

For example, this first round of observations, we are looking for target-task alignment and if students can articulate the target.  We are currently not collecting any data as an executive team on success criteria as we know this is new and we want to you feel comfortable practicing and using it with students. Every Friday I update principals on the collective data overall and I will also periodically update you in future newsletters.

During the visits, you can also expect cabinet members to ask you questions, provide a summary of what was observed to your principals, and posts pictures on twitter to celebrate you and the students. We may periodically leave you a note, but this may not occur at every visit. Please know that where we are is ok, we just can't stay there!

We are on our journey to be "GRAND"-ER than ever before!  The transformation is to benefit all of our students so they can THRIVE in an ever-changing world! Thank you for leading the way!

Who makes up the Leading for Learning Team?

Meet the Leading For Learning Team!  Through a focus on strategic plan priorities, our vision is to build the capacity of our campus leaders to ensure every student, every day, a success! We know that you are all in the front lines and have the biggest impact on student learning, so we want to ensure that you have the resources, support, and professional learning to be empowered and skillful in meeting the unique needs of our students.

Cara Kuhl (G&T), Kim Amick (Admin Assistant-Assess/Online resources), Renee Engle (Dir. of Sped), Amanda Levos (EL Coord.), Katie Ramsey (Science Coord), Barb Hardwick (Admin Assistant-Curriculum), Cindy Beaman (Math Coord), Kris Schneider (Dir. of Fed. Programs), Dr. Amy Mancini (Dir. of Assess/Accountability), Brittney Bills (ELA/SS Coord), Shanna Gannon (Dir. of Curriculum/Prof. Learning), Kate Crow (Title I Coord), Glenda Naughtin (L4L Admin Assistant), Dr. Toni Palmer (Chief Leadership & Learning)

As a team, representative of Special Education, Federal Programs (EL, Title I, Migrant, Immigrant), G&T, Core Content Coordinators, Assessment, Professional Learning, Curriculum and Campus Leadership, Administrative Assistants, we have developed specific goals that directly align with the district priorities, a plan for L4L teams to be visible in your buildings, and a process for monitoring progress along the way. It is our intention to be proactive and responsive in ways that support professional growth, improve implementation of professional learning communities, standards-based planning, and data-driven decisions. Please communicate with your campus principal how we can support you. Our desired effect is to "lead for learning".  It's ultimately about the impact on students, ensuring they will be able to "thrive" in an ever-changing world. 

It's evident already that as a district, we are building cohesiveness.  During Thursday Walks, and C4I days, we heard common language around our district priorities and witnessed teachers experimenting with success criteria.  This is how we grow as professionals, try it, take a risk, put the learning in the hands of our students and assess the learning impact.  The classroom transformation from teacher centered to student-centered is becoming visible. Keep the momentum going!

Please pay attention to our blogs this year!  We heard your feedback from last year and will focus on timely communication of professional learning opportunities, updates and resources from our Curriculum Department, and effective practices around instruction, assessment, and leadership. 

We have so much to be proud of, every consultant that visits our district notices the dedication, commitment, and desire to make a difference for all student!  That is a great compliment!  Thank you for your courage, collaboration, and continued efforts to "Be GRAND"! 

Welcome to the 2018-19 School Year!

It's finally here! The first day of school.  All the planning, professional learning, preparation, and working through all the organizational and operational processes and procedures are well worth it for the students that will walk through our doors tomorrow.  They may never realize all that goes into launching a new school year, but what they will know is how they feel when they walk through your campus doors tonight for the back to school night and tomorrow/Friday morning for the first day(s) of school.  Our parents and community are trusting us to care, model, and teach their children in a high expectation, warm and welcoming learning environment.  What an amazing, yet overwhelming responsibility. 

The past couple of weeks, I took the opportunity to visit all the campuses and talk with custodians, grounds crew, secretaries, teachers, administrators, nurses, and specialists.  Our conversations were inspirational.  They took pride in what was accomplished this summer and how their learning will impact students, they shared their optimism and excitement to build new relationships, and although I heard that it was a "busy" summer, it was also a "great" one.  So, for that overwhelming responsibility? I know we are ready!  Summer for us is pretty much over, but the opportunities to make an impact are just beginning.  I look forward to the celebrations to come!

Here are just a few pictures I shared on Twitter this week.  Please follow me to keep up on the happenings around our campuses throughout the year.  @tpalmertoni

Being GRAND requires us to continue learning!

 Preparing our students to "THRIVE" in an ever-changing world takes all of us-drop the titles and contribute based on your strengths and expertise.

The Leading for Learning (L4L) team is ready to support through professional learning for all educators, planning, problem-solving and ensuring that teachers have the curriculum, resources, and tools to meet the needs of all students. I'll share more about the team in an upcoming blog!

Reflection and deeper learning about our practice will have a direct impact on students.

Support each other in the process, be an accountability partner, set goals with the vision of what will be different once achieved! Plan to monitor progress on goals and adjust along the way!

Small learning communities where all students have an adult advocate/mentor.  Thanks for making that happen! 



The look and feel of our facilities impact the conditions for learning-thank you for the work that goes into creating a welcoming environment for our students!




In conclusion: For those of you that are interested: my one word for this year is-Explore.  It's personal and professional.  I want to explore my capacity to learn and lead in ways that inspire and impact others.  Personally, I plan to explore ways to bring balance to my life, make the most of my time now that my youngest is off to college. 


Have an amazing start to the school year! 

Thank you and Have a Great Summer!

Thank you GIPS (click for video)

From the viewing of the Solar Eclipse way back in August!

To  Graduation Day, May 20, 2018

Be present today, for you can never get it back, and it will influence tomorrow!

Have a great summer!

Happy Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week!

Every day our student's lives are changed because someone chooses to listen, smile, engage, challenge, hug, teach, advocate, care.  It could be the crossing guard, grounds crew, custodian, social worker, teacher, paraeducator, nurse, secretary....it could be me, it could be you!  Sometimes we know, sometimes we don't.  It doesn't really matter I guess.  What does matter, is that we approach every student, every day, with the recognition and understanding of the opportunities and power we have to make a difference!

Think about your own story.  Who made a difference in your life? What do you remember about that person?

If you have never heard Rita Pierson's Ted Talk, it's worth 8 minutes of your time. If you have already viewed it, watch it again.  Listen to the stories, her message, and her charge to all of us.  I know you are the champions of our students every day and for that, I thank you!  The students thank you! 

There is a challenge sponsored by Learning Forward to share on twitter and facebook how you inspire students and each other on this educational journey.  I encourage you to participate and inspire others through your stories.  To make things a little more exciting, they are giving away a brand new ipad to the person who gets the most shares or retweets on Facebook and/or Twitter. The social post/tweet must include #InspiredByTeachers, and only posts/tweets within the Teacher Appreciation Week will be considered (May 7-11). Please include #wearegips with your story.

This is my opportunity to personally send a shout out to all GIPS Teachers and Staff! I know this time of the year it becomes a challenge to keep students engaged, don't give up!  Our students are blessed to have you in their care, in our clean and safe schools, supported by our district team, Dr. Grover and the Board of Education! It takes all of us!  We are #bettertogether.

  "Every Student, Every Day, A Success!  We Teach Hearts, as Well as Minds!"

What Do We Know About Our Students?

"Kids", Second-order change", "Urgency", "Enthusiastic", "Momentum", "Bravo", "Thank you", "Amazing", "Little things make a difference".  These are the words from our Board of Education members at the end of our two-day retreat last Friday and Saturday.  The articles in the paper captured a summary of a few presentations, however, the reflection, processing, and learning that took place went well beyond the newspaper stories.

I have to admit, I had an emotional response when Dr. Grover displayed the following numbers: 381, 772,743, 12, 18, 30.8%, 272, 1402, 70%.  By themselves, they don't mean a lot to us.  However, here is little context: 381 preschool students attend ELC (we have over 700 kindergarten students), 772,743 FREE meals served so far this year, 12 students are considered "couch surfers" as they go from place to place for shelter, 18 pregnant teens, 30.8% of 272 homeless students are proficient on state tests, 1402 students are transported by bus, 70% of our students are considered eligible for free and reduced lunch.  A few demographics important to understanding who our students are as we consider the "how" to provide the best opportunities and education so they can "thrive in an ever-changing world".

Our board president Bonnie Hinkle then presented a session on "leading and learning through the lens of poverty".  She shared stories and case studies of districts with fewer resources, higher poverty, and other risk factors, yet overcame the barriers and are recognized as some of the highest achieving schools in the nation. The common thread: know and understand who your students are, build relationships, understand the needs and break down the barriers, maintain high expectations, provide opportunities. She shared a student documentary, "After the Bell Rings" highlighting the stories of her peers.  I encourage you to watch and think about the connection to your students.  How well do you know them?  How do you engage with students throughout the day? How is a community built during your time with them in class? 


Related to this topic, I recently read a tweet challenging educators to learn something new about their students.  I'm challenging myself to do this as well.  How does what you learn inspire you? Motivate you? Impact your planning, Give you purpose? Consider taking part as we close out the 2017-18 school year. Everyday Matters!

It is clear how proud the GIPS Board of Education members are of the work that has been accomplished this year and of all of you for making it happen!  The message I heard, "Keep the momentum going, "Every Student Every Day, A Success. We Teach Hearts as Well as Minds".  It is an expectation for our students to graduate prepared to "thrive in an ever-changing world" and the BOE is fully supportive of our plan to accomplish this through Empowering educators to be instructional leaders, Personalizing learning for students, Using data to design decisions and Partnering with our community. 

After the two days, I was inspired, reenergized, yet still feeling a sense of urgency to do more.  I believe we are not alone on this journey and ultimately "Better Together"! Our students deserve the best from all of us. Thank you for being a part of this work and committed to RISING GI! 

What's Up with Wednesday Walks?

Wednesdays are by far, my favorite day of the week! Not only do I get to engage with students in their learning and observe the talents and skills of our amazing educators, but also have the opportunity to process continuous school improvement progress with principals.  As a result of the walks,  I am more aware of campus goals and what supports might be needed to help achieve those goals.  Please know how much I appreciate the welcoming environments and continued focus on "Every Student, Every Day, a Success"!

As we enter into our final round of walks, I thought I would remind you of our process (see link Wednesday Walk Protocol ) and share with you the data collected throughout the year as we reflect on how standards-based planning is reflected in classroom observations as a system.

Round One Focus: Learning Targets visible in the classroom-making the focus of instruction visible and accessible to students. 85% of 120 total classroom visits had visible targets.








Round 2 Focus: Learning Targets visible (93%) and when asked, students were able to describe the target 78.8%.

                                                               





Round 3: Learning target data was banked as we saw systematic visibility across 93% of our classroom observations. The data collected in this round focused on target/task alignment and when asked, students were able to describe the learning target.

86.2%

81.7%

Round 4: The focus remained the same as we wanted to get to 90% target/task alignment and student articulation of the learning target before adding another data point.   We did notice a slight increase in target/task alignment (82.4%), but a decrease in students able to describe the learning target (77%).  It's exciting to see the changes in how students engage in the learning when they are aware of the targets and what they need to do to get there. It is evident in many classrooms that there is a shift in how teachers are planning and leveraging the PLC questions, "what do we want students to know and do?" and "how will we know when they got it?" as we are seeing changes in the way targets are written (directly aligned to the standard at the appropriate taxonomy or higher) and the way students are able to connect it to their learning.  I have full confidence that we will continue to observe implementation systematically across the district as we stay the course for round 5.

If you are wondering what might be the next data point, it would be looking for students working in groups.  This is an important step to transferring the ownership of learning to the students and is easily observed.  Two specific elements, "processing new content" and "organizing students in groups" provide great references and a resource when planning a lesson that is more student-centered. 

Thank you for demonstrating the commitment to professional growth, willingness to be vulnerable at times, and desiring the feedback to continue to improve instructional leadership in the classroom.  Keep the momentum going and empower each other to finish the year strong!  Every minute counts and YOU Make A Difference!