New Faces, New Stars, New Possibilities

It was cold on Monday. Regardless, students in the faculty of education, as well as representatives from multiple school divisions, converged on the Butterdome on the University of Alberta Campus. Perspective students had the opportunity to meet with people from different jurisdictions about the upcoming out look for jobs in education as well as what divisions had to offer and the processes involved.

To quickly convey my feelings, I would say that this was an amazing and excellent experience. As a principal of a school it allowed me to meet with possible candidates and talk with them. Through these conversations I was able to see the spark of excitement and intrigue in the eyes and faces of these soon to be educators. I also was excited about the questions the students had, and that many of the people I talked to are interested in getting, for a lack of better words, their feet wet in a smaller school setting. A setting that has a close family-like feel, with tons of support, mentoring and assistance. Something that I personally remember craving when I first became a teacher.

Another element I really enjoyed was being able to convey to perspective students and employees what made Parkland School Division a great place to work and learn and to be part of an amazing team. It allowed me to present the School Divisions’ mission and vision, which makes the division unique. The responses I received from people as I talked to them was great.   They liked the direction Parkland was going and they looked forward to possibly working for Parkland.

What I saw and what I felt reminded me of a great quote that I think all teachers both new and seasoned should post somewhere, not only for themselves as a reminder, but also for their students.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

I will close by saying this: if you are an administrator, next time your division participates in a career fair, I would strongly recommend attending.  In addition, I would suggest that you take a teacher. Trust me, it will be a revitalizing, exciting and memorable experience. I would be happy to hear about your experiences and strategies if you have attended one of these career fairs.

It shouldn’t be about the NUMBER

Although it seems a little redundant to say, I will still say it. There are tones and tones of numbers in education. Aside from the obvious, Numeracy, many aspects and elements of a school are based on numbers. How many students are with in a school, the number of school days in the calendar, what the budget looks like throughout the year, student identification number, even down to how many cases of pencils will be needed to get through the year. It is easy to say that a significant amount of time, with respect to my job, is looking at and working with the numbers. This directs the conversation towards the reason for this post.

Next year my school will join the remainder of my school division in the format used for reporting students achievements, accomplishments and struggles. So, what this means in simplicity is that students report cards will not have letter grades or percentages listed on them, remembering my school is a K-9 school. The high schools in our division will still be using percentages to coordinate with the requirements of the post secondary institutes within Alberta.

As my teachers have been going through the learning process, preparing for the transition to the new division reporting format, I have been developing ideas, presentations and gathering information for parents who I will be meeting with on multiple occasions over the next few months. I will be meeting with parents to walk them through the process and change. While I have been preparing my thoughts and presentations, I have taken opportunities to inquire with parents both in my school’s community and in other communities about their feelings about the transition.

Although there are many concerns, stipulations and arguments as to why the traditional format should remain, during this post I am only going to focus on the need to have a percentage. The most common comment I have heard about the need for percentages it that it tells parents where the students are in the class, where they are in relation to their peers and how much they are learning.

In reality however, a percentage tells you pretty much nothing with accuracy. The reason I say this is that percentages, much like statistics, can be manipulated. Below I have two pictures, for example purposes that show two completely different percentages for grade 8 science. However if you look carefully the raw score achievements are identical. The difference is the weighting for the individual assessment sections such as assignments, quizzes, exams etc.

As you can clearly see there is a 19% difference between the two scores.  What does this mean. Well, according to this, nothing. This is just one of the reasons I am a strong believer in the new reporting process. The new process describes how a student is doing with respect to the skills, attributes and process that are involved in each subject. Basically the new reporting process tells you what a student can do without assistance, what a student can do with help and what a student can not do. In addition there are comments and strategies.

A simple percentage does not do this. When we go to the doctor we wouldn’t accept that we are functioning at a 75% health level, we would ask for clarification. If we took our vehicle in for maintainance and the mechanic said the car is at a 80%, we would ask for clarification. If your boss said you preformed your job at 78%, you would ask for more detail.  Why is it  then so easy to accept that a child has 75% in Language Arts.  Students are individuals with different skills, abilities and talents, so let’s comment on what they can do, are learning to do and need help with rather than just making them a number.

The Three R’s

Christmas break came late this school year. The last day of classes was the 23rd of December, which made everything feel extremely rushed. The last week of school felt as if I was in a hurricane, being pushed and pulled in many directions with not only things to be done at home in respect to Christmas, but also at school. Staff and students busily prepared for our Pirate Christmas concert, Food Bank and Santa’s Anonymous drive came to a close, there was our student of the month celebration, Elementary craft day as well as those meetings that were essential in respect to being an administrator. With everything complete, I was glad when the break started.  I was also anticipating a nice, small family vacation to Las Vegas after the New Year.

As always Christmas was filled with too much food, but plenty of memories and laughter. Now for the Three R’s in Vegas. I intended this year to enjoy the more relaxing elements.

Refreshment: I was able to enjoy some amazing food at some excellent restaurants, something I did not generally do when I previously visited Las Vegas. This time around I went to SPAGO’s (Wolfgang Puck) where I enjoyed some wonderful Duck and Braised Short Ribs followed by a mouth watering PBnJ Dessert to end the night. As well I enjoyed amazing meals at Raos, and Mesa.

Rejuvenate: It felt great to just hang out with my family, no time lines, no schedules, no pressing matters, with the most important decision being whether to buy something at the outlet store or where to eat next. This was also made easier by the fact that we spent more time interacting than inside the hotels and casinos.

Reflecting: You can not exactly call Las Vegas quiet, but it did allow me time to reflect on how my first year as an administrator was going, what I wanted to improve on or change in some areas and what I needed to get ready for my return to school. The latter of this was the hardest. I have found that one of the hardest things to do as a Principal is to plan my day. Although my schedule is generally open, many times my day is reactive, dealing with situations that arise from the goings on during the day and this has been, in my opinio,n one of the hardest elements to come to terms with. I suppose it will just take time.

Supervision and Growth

Just as with all of my teachers, I am required every year to complete a professional growth plan. This plan highlights what I feel as a professional I will be working on over the the school year to better my practice and my skills as an educator.

This requirement is clearly outlined for every teacher in Alberta, under our professional development section, which states:

Teachers have a professional responsibility to keep abreast of new developments in education and to continue to develop their professional practice. In Alberta, every teacher employed by a school system must develop and implement an annual plan for professional growth that outlines the professional development activities the teacher intends to undertake in that year.

Now comes my responsibility, not only to ensure that these are completed, but also to check in with teachers to review and go through their growth plans. One method of doing this is through supervision walk-throughs. As a new administrator I found that I had no issues or concerns with respect to the walk-throughs. I fully understood what these were and what took place. I mean the wording itself is self-explanatory:  just walk through a classroom, observe what is going on, maybe interact with some of the students to see what is going on and what they are learning. This I found no difficulty in doing, it was also great going up and seeing the students learning, answering questions and sometimes participating.

The supervision element was something that I was unfamiliar with and in some aspects could state that I found intimidating. I, as an administrator, was to supervise teachers and provide feed back with respect to the teacher qualification standards. I found this intimidating because I had never undertaken such a task before.  As well, I found that going through all of the standards in one observation would be lengthy and I didn’t know where to start. However, as I have stated before, my colleagues in the division are extremely open and willing to assist.  They not only answered all of my questions but also gave ideas as to what they had previously done and what they found most effective.

These conversations not only put some of my apprehensions aside, but also gave me a direction and some great ideas as to how to set up my own supervision in a way that would work both for me, but would also benefit my teachers and ensure conversations. In turn, I shared my ideas with some of my other colleagues that were new to the supervision process.

Below are the supervision templates that I created, there are nine in total, allowing and requiring me to visit each teachers classroom at least once a month. Your input and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Supervision Goal #1, 2 & 10

Supervision Goal #3

Supervision Goal #4

Supervision Goal #5

Supervision Goal #6

Supervision Goal #7

Supervision Goal #8

Supervision Goal #9

Supervision Goal #11

Meeting, Discussing and Building

My teachers just (yesterday) finished our first set of parent teacher conferences of the school year. A little late in the school year, but it allowed for the discussion of our students most recent report cards.

Unlike many of the teachers in the school, I only had two scheduled conferences. Although I saw this as a possible opportunity to complete some much needed work, I became easily distracted hearing all the voices and chose to visit the classrooms.

This unprompted wandering allowed for me to participate in some conferences, check on the progress of some conferences, observe teachers interacting with parents and relaying students progress. It also gave me a chance to gauge
 parents feelings about the learning atmosphere in the school.

There was also an even larger benefit, parents were also able to observe my interactions and relationships with their children, and it allowed me to create, and improve my relationships with parents.

Personally, I think that parents were able to see that my small school setting has allowed for me, as well as my teachers, to communicate about the progress of many children, even those that they don’t directly teach, thus demonstrating responsibility for all students.

Although having interviews in the evenings, right after school can make for a couple of long days, I believe that the interviews facilitate meaningful parent involvement and ensures that parents are informed about their child(s) learning and development. The relationship building is also an invaluable addition and definitely worth it.

A Reminiscent Thank You.

I have read the posts of many teachers thanking those they have learned from. I myself have written posts about this as well.  Thanking colleagues for information and ideas, thanking students for their views and their insight and thanking the families for, well, just about anything.  In addition to this I have spoken to many colleagues who, like myself, believe that the biggest compliment in an educator’s career is given when a former student comes back and says that you made a difference or helped. As I have previously written I am lucky to had this happen once or twice already. Does this mean that my work is done?  NO, not by any means.

An event that occured recently started me thinking.  It started me thinking about and reflecting upon the fact that I have thanked those who have assisted and influenced my learning in the last five years, but I do not recall thanking those that influenced, assisted and well, molded my formal years of education.

I know that like many of my students, I have gone back and personally thanked my teachers, but that has depended on being able to track down those teachers. This is the event that caused my thinking. Last week I was in a meeting with outside division participants. One of the participants looked extremely familiar, but I could not put a name to the face. About a third of the way through the meeting, the individual, Mr. McPherson, remembered where we had crossed paths. Oddly enough Mr. McPherson was my elementary Principal. It had been roughly 26 years since we had seen each other. Needless to say whenever we had a break we caught up on the events that had occurred since, and why I had chosen to become a teacher. While going through all of my reasons for becoming a teacher I realized there was a central theme and I thought I should share it with everyone.

Mrs. Kashmar – my grade two teacher at Caernarvon Elementary.   From what I remember, she really emphasized that I get my printing and hand writing correct. I am sure it is her I should thank for the fact that, to this date, I still have better writing than most of my friends.

Mr. Badger – my grade five teacher, also at Caernarvon Elementary.  He is the teacher I should thank for planting the seed of wanting to learn as much about science as I have.

Mr Clark – Middle years Social Studies teacher.  He not only brought forth a passion for history and understanding, but also (now this may found funny) reminded me of Santa. This was not only in his appearance, but in his kindness, joyfulness and caring. I will always remember Mr. Clark for his willingness to play along in my jesting about him being Santa.

Mr. Klak – Middle years Math teacher who, thankfully, did something I thought could never be done. Mr. Klak made Math fun.

Finally, from my middle years, there was Mr. Farrel who was my gym teacher at Rosslyn Junior high and later on moved on to be the Principal at Queen Elizabeth High School.

Now for the trip down memory lane in High School, which I attended at Ross Sheppard Composite High School.

Mr. (Coach) Kauchman – was one of the most unique math teachers I knew, and learning from him was an entirely new experience. Still think of those Pilot Sunglasses.

Mr. Paulitsch – was not only my football coach, but also one of my physical education teachers. Mr. Paulitsch was also a Social Studies teacher, however I was not fortunate to be in any of his classes. Mr. Paulitsch brought a passion to his teaching, a great belief in relationships and a wonderful level of humour.

Mrs. Campbell – famous for the different hats that she wore at school, but more importantly, known for her love of Social Studies and for being one of those teachers that loved building relationships.

Mr. Caskanett – by far he was the most eccentric and extraordinary English teacher I had. Making class both unpredictable and exciting.

There are many many more teachers that I could list from my past that made a difference, influenced me and most of all, through our relationships, showed that they cared. My only regret is that for some of them, it has taken me this long to come out and say thank you.  A simple thank you for making the difference, understanding how I learned, for keeping me responsible and accountable and for being my teacher – Thank You.

Increasing Communication and Awareness

As with any school, one large issue that is faced by my current school is trying to communicate effectively and efficiently with all staff, students and parents. Every month the staff and myself diligently create news letters, send notes home and even email to increase communication and awareness. When needed, we even fall back on the traditional formats such as making phone calls, and in some cases conduct home visits.  And now with the use of technology, send text messages. However, even with all these tools, many times messages and information is not shared, which not only decreases communication, but in some situations leaves parents out of the loop making them feel disconnected from the school.

I know that the school also has a website and information is shared on this site, but I wanted something more instant. I sought to communicate with parents whenever something note worthy occurred at the school. Call me a little slow, but it took chatting with some friends on Twitter to realize that I should not only create the school a Twitter account, but that I should also create the school a facebook page.

The set up was easy, and at present the posting and maintainence has also been easy; well……except for trying to load pictures. Depending on how Facebook is feeling, sometimes loading pictures takes 30 seconds and other times it takes …..a long time, which can be frustrating.

If you click on the individual pictures, assuming that I have set everything up correctly, it will take you to the appropriate site. The only part that scares me is trying to figure out whether I can keep up with everything.  Someone did, however, suggest Tweet Deck.

Door Decorating

It is a simple thing teachers do to make their classrooms welcoming and inviting to students and to parents. Decorating one’s classroom door is something that I did at least once a month as a teacher; either having welcome back signs on it with leaves to signify fall or creatively making a Christmas scene when it came to that time of year.

However, this year I was unsure about decorating my office door. Being the Principal I don’t always have students coming to my office and if they do they aren’t always happy about having to come down.

I was, however, pleasantly surprised, both in September and here in October, finding my door already decorated.  It was wonderful to see.  My Kindergarten and Grade One students, with the help of their teacher, have been decorating my door. The best part of it is that the majority of items that are placed on my door are student created, rather than store bought.

It is a pleasure to see the students work, their faces when they come down and show me which item they created and the look on parents faces when I tell them that I had nothing to do with the decorating; that it was all students.

Honestly, it puts a great big smile on my face and I look forward to seeing what the students are going to create each month to decorate my door.

Instead of posting every month with a new picture of my door, please feel free to follow along at http://www.facebook.com/stormSBSprincipal our school’s new Facebook Page.

Absence = Disjointed

This is the first week during this school year when aside from feeling that I had a lot of things in the air did I feel that I wasn’t realling doing what I was supposed to.

Due to professional development choices that I made, and some meetings that are necessary, I was only in my school for a day and a half. An entire week of school and I am present for a day and a half. If I were still a student I may have been very excited. I mean come on, I was out of class, excused, it was approved and all my assignments were technically considered complete.

However, now things are different. Being out of my office, away from my students and my colleageus, I felt, well a little lost. I also felt that I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing. I know that there are many, many responsibilites that I have and this means that sometimes I will be out of my school. However, I felt that this was, well a little excessive. Not to mention that once I was back it was time to play catch-up.

Being away from the halls and the staff room, I was unable to interact with those in the building. I wasn’t able to check in with my students to see how they were doing with their projects, vollyball games and with their reading programs. I was not there to support my staff in their teaching and their learning. I was absent to answer those parent questions and concerns.

What I learned from this little adventure, is that I need to look at my calendar very closely check to ensure that when I am out of the building that it is spaced reasonably. I also learned that even though I am not in the classroom, I can say that I still miss my students when I don’t see them. I think it is for thess reasons that I made sure that at the end of the day I was outside for supervision – wishing every student a Happy Thanks Giving and a great long weekend.

Fashion Crisis

Many teachers, parents, community members and business people would agree that the first element that an individual should be

Borrowed From Betadaily.com

aware of when starting a new job is . . . their wardrobe.  A great deal of my colleagues would agree that looking the part can be 25% of playing the part.

There have been many conversations, blog posts and comments that I have read and made about the appropriate dress that is required, and at times expected, in relation to being an educator.  This belief carries even more weight if someone is an administrator.  There is an underlying belief that does hold some merit, that dressing appropriately brings a level of respect and authority.  You know the old cliché, “Look professional to be professional.”

I am a believer that a lot can be achieved if people see you in the role that you are playing.  Keeping this in mind, there is one element directly related to this that we may not remember or may not realize until we are faced with the situation.  I am sure many educators do what I am about to share, but it was in hindsight of experiencing the ordeal that I came to this conclusion.

In regards to attire I have only one piece of advice to teachers, and more importantly administrators, and my advice is this:  Have an extra pair of clothes.  Whether they are in your car, hanging behind your door or in a suit bag in the staff room closet.  TRUST me there are many things that one can prepare for, but you can never be completely prepared.  Yes, sometimes a fix can be easy, like throwing on a blazer to cover a stain, or removing your tie (for guys if you spill), but you can’t exactly tie your jacket around your waist if you rip your pants.

At this point you may be giggling or smirking to yourself – but just think for a moment.  You are helping the Kindergarten students and your pants rip or you spill paint on your shirt.  And of course you have a meeting in the afternoon.  Now, this is when that extra set of clothes comes in handy.

You can’t prepare for everything that can happen in a school day, so why leave it to chance.  Take an extra set of clothes to work with you and if at the end of the week you haven’t used them, you’ve got them for next week.  A simple idea, but something we don’t think about until it is too late.