Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow

Oak Crest teachers completed their first Professional Learning Community on Thursday! As I was walking around, it was wonderful to hear the conversations that the teachers were having around the school’s mission and vision, their grade level collective commitments (what they guarantee will occur in their classroom), their grade level goals, and how the work that they do impacts the learning of all of our students everyday!

The 3rd grade PLC talked about:

• The tasks to accomplish throughout September
• The targeted work
• Collective commitments

They were focused. Wonderful conversations were taking place!

3rd Grade PLC

The 4th grade PLC talked about:

• The pacing of our new math curriculum and how to meet students needs
• They  reviewed the norms of the group

The conversations were focused, reflective, collegial, and student centered.

4th Grade PLC

The 5th grade PLC talked about:

• Collective commitments
• Making sure all voices are heard (both adults in the group and students in the class)
• They also started talking about what a goal would look like and how to evaluate the process as you all go along.

The conversations were student-centered and focused.

5th Grade PLC

The 6th grade PLC talked about:

• Setting up norms and aligning it with the mission and vision
• What’s best for students and how to align the work to meet their needs!

The conversations revolved around what is best for the students, how to use the new math curriculum to meet those needs, and what systems need to be in place to do so.

6th Grade PLC

Our Special Education team will normally be with grade level teams, but as a first PLC meeting, they met together to ground their team. They talked about:

• Setting team goals
• Aligning the vision and mission to the team goal.

Their conversations revolved around meeting student needs, aligning themselves as adults to meet those needs, and was jovial in nature.

Sped PLC

It was a productive morning of PLCs. The staff members have the right focus on the growth, learning, and achievement of our students. Oak Crest is well on its way of being a Professional Learning Community!

I sit in my office and it is very quiet. The kids have left the building. Staff is slowly making their way home. People are getting ready for the weekend. This quiet time allows me to reflect on what a wonderful week it has been. Students quickly got back into the routine of school, teachers are focusing their time in making sure learning is exceptional for every student, and all the staff have made sure all students are supported in the Oak Crest learning community.

As a thank you gift to both Chatfield and Oak Crest staffs, Mr. Adams and I purchased the book The Ball by Todd Whitaker. I had bought and read the book myself earlier in the summer at the PLC Institute in Minneapolis. A quick read, but a meaningful read. It is about us as individuals (and organizations, in my opinion) losing sight of what is important and taking our eye off the ball. Losing focus. Losing sight of what is important in our lives (and in education). I think the staff members at both Oak Crest and Chatfield have done a remarkable job of putting out in front of them what is important. They put their eyes on the ball and focused in on what is important at both schools–the achievement, growth, learning, and excellence of every student, every day. They have taken this focus and moved forward with the school year. Thank you.

The first week is finished. But it has been said that the way an organization starts is a good determination for how they are going to finish. Well, if the start of this school year is any indication of how the school year is going to go, it is going to be one heck of a year!

I haven’t blogged in awhile, so I thought it was necessary. I have recently taken a new position in the Belle Plaine Public Schools in Minnesota. I took a principal position at Oak Crest Elementary. Oak Crest has grades 3rd-6th grade. It is a beautiful building that was built in 2007.

The main goal this year and for years to come in the district is to implement Professional Learning Communities. I say ‘implement’ very carefully. I don’t believe that Professional Learning Communities is something that can be done to someone or something. It is something that encompasses a district and/or school. It is a way of being. It is a journey.

I am very excited to begin this journey with the Oak Crest community of learners and leaders. I think putting in to place structures, routines, commitments that revolve around student and adult learning is thrilling. It is the work that we are meant to do as educators. It is the right work.

As I have been planning workshop times and staff meetings with my colleague in the K-2 building, here are our thoughts for moving forward:

1. Align our buildings as a K-6 system–Yes, K-2 is in one building and 3-6 is in another building, but why let physical boundaries stop us. The alignment of what we do as a K-6 system is important to facilitate a seamless stream of learning for students and staff.

2. Incorporate PLC strategies that will focus our work on the right work–student learning. We will have PLC meetings weekly that will focus on our monthly learnings or objectives that directly align to the district’s mission and vision.

3. Ease people into change–Change is hard for some folks. It takes time, nurturing, and patience. Change, for others, is something they slid into pretty naturally. managing the varying levels of change is what we will focus on. Making sure that we are meeting people’s needs in their own learning and how PLCs affect them in a daily way.

4. Continuity–It is important to look at the great things that the staff and students are already doing here in Belle Plaine Public Schools. There is good work going on. We need to continue focusing on that good work and not stop it. It is about bridging PLCs with that good work and adding that continuity and focus to the work.

This will be a worthwhile, wonderful journey. Both staff, students, and the learning community will benefit from PLCs. I am honored to be a part of this journey and in a few short days, to begin.

We started negotiations last Wednesday in our district. I enjoy being part of this group as it allows me to work with different teachers and administrators and it gives me a great perspective of the district. As our warm-up, one facilitator had people go around the room and talk about if they were going down the red carpet, what would they be going down the red carpet for. First of all, I am not a big fan of the touchy-feely warm-ups. I use them extensively with my staff, but for me personally, I don’t like being put on the spot in front of others I do not know well. During this warm-up, people started talking and all their red carpet moments were about their family or some aspect of it. I was a little uncomfortable since most people talked about their own offspring and I don’t have that experience to share. But, I still related it back to my own family and how my parents had their own red carpet moment with their three girls. So, yes, I deflected this warm-up a bit away from me. But, it was interesting and the facilitator related back to relationships and how each and all of us had talked about relationships. Nice. At the end of the meeting, the negotiator then had us go around and talk about a red carpet moment that was something we do well. Something we really do well at work. This brought about some great insights to the group. It was a great way to end the meeting.

The same week, we had an early morning Elementary Principal PLC. 6:30 AM! I am not a morning person, but I wouldn’t miss these meetings for the world. They bring support, humor, connections, and betterment amongst us. I love them. As we were talking during the wee hours of the morning, the conversation revolved around instructional leadership and how we help support teachers in getting better.  Slowly the conversation went to how do we know that we are supporting the teachers correctly. How do we know we are doing it right? How do we know WE are meeting the expectations? Since two of us in the PLC were also at the Negotiations meeting, it dawned on us that we should do the Red Carpet warm-up. So we did. There were 6 principals and we each went around the circle and told what we were good at….what we were really good at in our jobs. It was such a revelation to hear about the strengths that other leaders in the district had. One principal in particular had a hard time describing what he was good at. He made what he was good at also a fault. We called him out on this behavior and really made sure he understood that it was a strength. It was a great way to end the Principal PLC. We left on such a positive note, but also with a sense of new knowledge of each other and how we can support each other. We made a commitment to each other that we are going to come back at our next Elementary Principal PLC meeting with the target to talk about what we have improved on since our last meeting and how we know we have improved.

I then relate it to student learning. Do students know what they are good at? Can they define it? Can they tell us why? I think it would be quite valuable to have students know what they are good at and why. That would make such a distinct change in the learning that goes on in the classroom. My next step is to get in to the classroom and start asking students what they are good at and how do they know. Isn’t that a great feeling to know what you are good at and why? As human beings, we all strive for that, even our students.

My husband and I went out to supper last weekend. We ate at Red Lobster. I am not a big fish person, but my husband loves it. So, whenever we go, I usually have lobster, crab, or the delicious popcorn shrimp. This time when we went, I ordered crab. It was quite a treat. When our food came, I got a little plate with one of those little forks. I told my husband, I wish I had one of those cutter things that I have gotten before for crab. He looked at me like I was a little crazy. He asked me what I meant. I told him it was a miniature version of the tape cutter we would use to cut off athlete tape from an ankle. He had no idea what I was talking about. He asked me if it was like a hem cutter that people used to rip out hems of pants. Now I was the one that looked at him like he was crazy. I had no idea what HE was talking about. At that point, we just left the conversation there because it wasn’t moving forward very quickly.

As I was eating my crab and thinking about the conversation we had just had, I thought about context…context in schools. I had a very vivid picture in my head about what I was talking about. My husband had a very clear picture in his head what he was talking about. But since my husband had never participated in sports and I have never sewed anything in my life, we couldn’t connect. I think this is similar to students in class. Teachers teach concepts to students, but at times the students don’t have context for the learning. Then, the connection is lost between the teacher and the student and the learning that was intended to happen either doesn’t happen or it happens slower than planned.

It is so important to have the teachers make sure that students have context for the learning. I think Turnberry teachers try to teach context quite a bit. I had a request from one teacher to build a fire pit out back to students could see what s’mores are all about. Other teachers bring in food, real world examples, and real world activities to help provide context. Context…it provides a bridge to learning and helps move that learning forward.

I have been talking about the parking lot quite frequently lately. Parking lots at schools are the entry and exit point for students to start and end their day at school. It is the entrance point of their learning so to speak. It can be looked at as the gathering area of the Turnberry family. Parking lots are where our families transfer over their kids and entrust the school and its staff with their most prized possession.

Parking lots are the meeting places of families, staff members, and community members. Many a conversation is had in the parking lot. Decisions, opinions, and gossip flow heavily through the parking lots.

Ask any parent, staff, or school administrator about a parking lot, though, and you will probably get a very different perspective. The parking lots at schools are a very stressful, consuming, and intense places….the very opposite of what goes on inside of the school. It is always a source of contention between administrators and parents about the parking lot, how to behave in the lot, and making sure we are safely doing what we need to do in the parking lot.

With the differing perspectives of the parking, I have made it a high priority of mine to make Turnberry’s parking lot more reflective of the learning environment that occurs at Turnberry Elementary. I have been vigilant in making sure I am in the parking lot for drop off and pick up. I stand in the middle of the drop off lane and the through lane, between the parents that are scanning the horizon for their child, and direct traffic, wave at parents and students, say good morning or have a good day to our families, and just give folks a smile.

Those small behaviors are certainly not anything difficult, trying, or a strain. They are small things that go a long way. With a little smile, a high-five, or a wave, I am representing the attributes that go on inside the building; I am just doing them outside of the building now. And what a change it has made in the parking lot. The cars are moving a long at a better pace, there have been less arguments about the parking lot, and students are having a more positive start and end to their days. And it is not just about what I am doing, it is about what WE are doing together. Parents are waving and smiling back. Parents are helping other parents. It is an environment that is more conducive to the school.

As I stand in the parking lot watching the gathering of students and their parents watching them, I watch in awe at community in front of me. So, the next time you are in a school parking lot, look around…really look…and you will see what I see: the learning families coming together for the students.

We are finishing our first week of school for the 2010-11 school year and what a great start it has been! Staff, students, and parents have fallen right back into our routine at Turnberry Elementary! Staff and students have worked very hard to make sure that each and every child is safe, learning, and thriving. The staff and students deserve extra praise for exemplifying what it means to be a Trailblazer: they are Leading, Engaging, Accepting, and Doing.

It was best exemplified on our first day of school for 1st-5th grade students. The bell rang at 8:30 and we had over 600 students running for their lines. During that time we had our teachers out in their lines to gather their kids. But what was most impressive to me was that our preschool staff (who had another week before they got kids) and our kindergarten staff (who had another 4 days before kids), our instructional coach and paraprofessionals, our custodians…they were all pitching in to help the students find the right place. It was such a school movement that we did together; it was synergy. It was impressive. What that shows me is our staff’s dedication to the education and safety of all our students. We are all in this together regardless of what our title is. We are one arrow moving forward in the same direction.

If the first week of school is any indication of how the rest of the school year is going to go, it is going to be one good school year!

During our last Classroom Formative Assessment class for Coaches and Administrators, we read the article, Small Wins by Karl Weick. We read a condensed version of this article, but still worth the read! Below is my response to the Small Wins Article and how we relate it to staff and students:

Much of what I teach and talk with our staff about regarding formative assessment and really everything that we do is intentionality. I used to call it explicitness, but I really think intentionality is a better word for what we are working on. When we talk about clarity of target, feedback, use of data, etc. it needs to be with intentionality. Many of the teachers that I have had conversations with about feedback don’t plan for it, it just sort of happens. Well, we need to get to a point where that feedback is intentional. You plan for it, you know you are going to do it, you know what target you are going to give feedback about, and you know what you are going to do after you give the feedback.

Why, you ask, am I talking about feedback with the Small Wins article? It really resonated with me the line that states, “Small wins are controllable opportunities that produce visible results.”  Small wins are intentional (or certainly can or should be). As educators, we need to wrap our brains around how we plan for those small wins–with ourselves, but also with our students. Once we plan for those small wins and those small wins occur, we get in the upward trajectory cycle of success. According to the article, “Once small win has been accomplished, forces are set in motion that favor another small win. When a solution is put in place, the next solvable problem often becomes more visible.”

I had vowed to myself that I would write on this blog at least once a month. It has now been almost two months! It must be the snow that inspires me because several of my blogs have been written under the falling of the snow.

Anyways…I was able to meet with all the students during out Turnberry Learning Community time. Ms. Hall and Ms. Yamamoto met with the staff during their scheduled meetings, while I was able to meet with the students. Generally, we focus this time for students on Positive Behavior Support, Anti-Bullying strategies, and additional behaviors. We usually have an activity for the students to do to show their learning (caring caterpillars, learning links, etc.). On Thursday, I just read to them. I read two books out loud to the students. All students in Kindergarten through 5th grade had the same two books read aloud to them.

It was amazing to see the students sitting there and enjoying the books being read aloud to them. I think it just reiterates the importance of reading to our students and no matter what the age, it is good for them AND they enjoy it!

I always enjoy my Thursdays, whether it be with the staff or students, but I particularly enjoyed last Thursday as I got to read to every student in the building. I enjoy spending time with our students, I like watching them learn, I learn just as much from them as they do from me. It grounds me to spend the day with our students. It brings me back to what ‘it’ is all about….why we are here, why we do what we do….the students.

I invite parents, grandparents, community members to come in and read to our students. Let it ground you and see what reading a book to a student can do!

Turnberry Elementary hosted it’s first Spaghetti Feed tonight for our students, parents, and community members. The idea was spurred on by our Collaborative Advisory Team. They were talking about ways to give back to our community because our community supports us tremendously here at Turnberry Elementary. The Spaghetti Feed was one way our staff could give back to community, especially during this holiday season.

What a success it was! I estimate we had around 300 family members come out to have dinner here. It was a time to come together as a community and share a meal together. Parents, students, community members all came out to eat a little pasta, break, and cookies!

I am very proud for our staff for taking this endeavor on. It showed what we value here at Turnberry. Congratulations to a job well done!

A special thanks goes out to Melissa Packer and Amanda Hall for all the prep work that went into the whole night. We also had alot of staff and district members helping: Shannon McLean, Kayce Calcote, Cindy Zancanellie, KIatie Ashely, Melissa Free, Elizabeth Spetnagel, Katie Berg, Jessica Lowe, Elizabeth Ruhrmund, Kim Bailey, Breanne Bussar, Audra Peterson, Erin Federico, Erica Hermsen, Jolene Prieto, DAve Devincenzi, Sarah Fornwall, Hung Huynh, Robb Steven, Pam Whitlock, Lyn Yamamoto, Brenda Jones, Jack Landon, Jennifer Northcraft, Kevin Waggoner, Belinda Bruin, Ginny Orr, Juanita Castillo, Dwayne Marquez….these are just our staff members that were there!

Also from the district we had: Martin Pearson, Tom Delgado, Andrew Wright, Bev Esquibel, Jason Packer, Kelly Corbett, Sandra Mendez, Joan Root, Nancy Ross and Terry Lucero!

Our School Board Members present were: Patrick Day, Joan Kniss, and Lynn Ann Sheats!

I want to thank all of our staff members and district members that came out to support this effort. The old adage of ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ rings true in this instance. Our whole district ‘village’ came together as a community. It truly was a fantastic night! It’s a great day to be a Trailblazer!

Learners today, Leaders tomorrow!