The most exciting thing I do is:

when I can work side by side with either teachers or students. I greatly enjoy the grade level department meetings. The meetings are extremely productive and they make a big difference in student achievement and with staff morale. The teachers love the opportunity to work with their fellow colleagues.

Traditionally in the May of each school year, the incoming 7th graders from Sunnyside Middle School would come for a school visit. They would be bussed over in teams (125 students) and I would lead a short (15-20 minutes) info meeting that gave an overview of Tecumseh. It was ok at best. The group was too big and it didn’t allow for students to ask questions and the students really didn’t get a chance to know me and for me to know them. In January, I made the decision that instead of the students coming to see us, I would go and see them. Greg Louk and I worked out the days and he created a schedule that would allow me to over two days go from class to class and speak with 15-25 students at a time instead of 125. In April, I asked a couple of 8th grade students to look over the PowerPoint that I used in the past and asked them to check it over and add things that needed to be added and deleted. The students created a totally new one. I jokingly said that you guys should give the presentations and they said yes. For two days in May (Kinnsey went one day and Allysha went the other) we went over to Sunnyside and gave a total of 17 presentations. It was great. We were able to have great interactions with the students. The 6th graders really enjoyed speaking with the Kinnsey and Allysha. They were able to provide the incoming students the “student view” of the school and not the “adult view”. They were able to ask questions (mainly about the new standard dress code); this is something that we were not able to do in the previous years because of the amount of the students. I think that the students were able to get to know me and I was able to get to know them. I plan to continue this way of introducing Tecumseh to the incoming students.

What have I done and what do I intend to do to improve student achievement in language arts and mathematics?

The past two school years we have made a tremendous commitment to working together within the grade level departments. The grade level departments (7th Grade Math, 7th Grade LA, 8th Grade Math, and 8th Grade LA) meet for two class periods each month. The agenda is pretty basic. We examine the data from our Acuity Assessments or ISTEP. I feel fortunate that we have access to data that is current and useable. The data allows us to quickly see the strengths and weaknesses of our students. It allows us to see which teacher has had the greatest success on the individual benchmarks. The meetings allow that teacher to discuss what they “do” in their classroom to for the students to achieve the great results. The GLD’s have a great relationships with each other, an all for one, one for all mentality. Also during the meetings the GLD create a short term action plan to combat the most glaring weakness that the majority of the students possess. The two basic themes of the short term action plan are: 1. Win small, win early, and win often. 2. Teach – Assess – Adjust.

During the 2010-2011 school year the reading department and the language arts departments will merge into one department. This is something that should have been done long ago. The language arts and reading teachers need to work as one team. Our biggest challenge and one that we must meet head on this year is our poor achievement in reading comprehension. Until we raise the student achievement in that area our overall “scores” will not increase. We need to examine the amount of reading instruction that students are receiving in ALL classes. We need to ask ourselves is the reading that we are having our students read “good purposeful reading”? Does the reading challenge our students to process information and think critically?

The math department GLD’s and full department has worked together to address the low problem solving achievement. This past school year the full math department created lessons that specifically targeted the type of problems that the students would encounter on the ISTEP Applied Skills Assessment. We believe that the students have to be exposed to the specific types of problem that they will have to solve on the ISTEP. But we also believe that students must be challenged to think critically on a daily basis in ALL CLASSES. The students must be challenged to think critically and “solve” problems everyday in every class. During the 2010-2011 this must become a point of emphasis. During our instructional audit/instructional conversation/formal evaluations the administration will monitor and discuss this area with the teaching staff.

I believe that with the great teaching staff that we have at Tecumseh, we will be able achieve even greater academic success. The entire staff is committed to providing the best for the students. In the end an organization can have the greatest plans/programs, but if you do not have quality people those “plans” mean nothing. I am very fortunate to be able to work with them.

What have I done and what do I intend to do to improve student achievement in language arts and mathematics?

This question is apart of my end of the year evaluation. The evaluation is mainly a self-reflection. I am working on my "answers" and I will post them. All comments are welcome.

Summer Work!

Frequently I am asked, "Do you work in the summer?" I emphatically say Yes! The summer is a great time. It is a time for great reflection. It is very rejuvenating and it is time when we can plan out the upcoming school year. A time to map out the vision of the school and how as a group of people we can implement it.

This summer our nurse's station is being remodeled and expanded. We are going to get new hallway carpet, new lights for the 7-1 and 8-2 hallway, a new flat screen TV to display the great accomplishments of the students, mounted LCD projectors for the language arts and social studies classrooms, and we "remodeled" our faculty lounge as well. The building is going to look fantastic once August rolls around.

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell "How little things can make a big difference"

A few of my good friends read this book about 6 or 7 years ago. It is one of "those" books that many people make reference to and I am tired of saying "I have not read that book but I would like to." The book premise is quite simple but is incredibly engaging and thought provoking. Gladwell starts his book with a brief description of how Hush Puppy shoes made an astounding resurgence in the mid 1990s. He believes that it was just a few kids started wearing them to clubs "because no one else would wear them.". Some major fashion designers caught wind of the HP New York trend and word spread. The company went from selling 430,000 to four times that the next year. Amazing.

As I read the first few pages of book and the pages after that I constantly think about how can we have a trend (positive of course) spread through the school. Trends that impact both the students and the teachers. What can we do to have positive behavior spread throughout the hallways and classrooms? How can best practices that teachers use spread throughout the classrooms as well? What can we do the stop the "negative" trends? How do we get the message out and sustain it? Face to Face? Facebook? I do believe that if we can do little things in a school and they we can make a profound change. i think that the little things will be different for every school. I will be pondering those thoughts and I continue to read the book.

What are the "little" things that you do in your school that make a big difference?

8th Grade Honors Convocation May 24th @ 1pm.

My Opening remarks for tomorrow's convocation. Great ceremony.

Welcome to the 2010 8th Grade Honors Convocation. Today we will be honoring the entire 8th grade for their achievements during this school year. This is not a graduation ceremony; it is merely a “pit stop” in the educational lives of these 480 students. The world that these students will enter will be dramatically different than the one the adults in this gym entered. Students you will need to continue your education past high school in order to be competitive in the world of 2014 and beyond.
During today’s ceremony, I encourage the students to silently reflect on their past two school years at Tecumseh. Think about the good times; think about the not so good times. Think about your choices of the past two years. Your education in life lessons is equally important to your classroom lessons. Think about what you can personally do, as you take the next step in your life to try to ensure that the good times outweigh the bad.
I encourage the students and guests to treat this ceremony with the dignity and respect that it deserves. The students have worked extremely hard and deserve their due recognition.

IMAP!

Back in November of 2009, the IN DOE launched a new program for beginning teachers called IMAP. http://www.doe.in.gov/educatorlicensing/IMAP.html I believe that the DOE hit a home run with this new program. The three second year teachers (as did i) that went through the process had an excellent experience. We did a book study group. We read Ted Sizer's "Horace's Compromise". We met 6 times after school for to discuss the chapters. It was great change of pace.

In August of 2009 I began working on a "lesson planning" document. I have been asked several times by teachers "what do you expect?". I spent some time putting my thoughts down and bounced ideas off of several colleagues as well. The IMAP teachers and I went through the planning process. I worked on a unit plan and modeled the process as I see it to the teachers. They created a plan as well. We had many great conversations and I gained as much as they did through the process.