One of the things I love about being in my building by myself in the summer is that it gives me an opportunity to reflect on the previous school year and begin to focus on goals and priorities for the coming year. As I pulled out my team leader notes from last summer's meeting, I began to reflect on goals we set for ourselves and the progress made toward achieving them. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in myself that we didn't follow through on some of the things we set out to do to the extent that I had hoped. I then asked myself, "why"? Of course when human nature kicked in I began to place blame on some of the people I had "delegated" responsibility to in order to accomplish these goals. Then, when common sense and reality kicked in, it hit me like a brick wall that I am the leader on this campus. If goals were not achieved or carried through to the extent we intended, it is ultimately my responsibility! I did not do my part in follow through and perhaps did not make my intentions and expectations clear to all stakeholders in order to make these goals a priority.
It's time to ask myself the question, "What then, will I do differently in 2012-2013 to empower the people in my school to make great things happen for kids?" The first thing that comes to mind is to lead by example. If I expect my teachers and students to be lifelong learners, I must set the example and seek opportunities for professional growth consistently throughout the year. The second way is to complete "formative assessments" throughout the year. Just as teachers are expected to have checkpoints throughout a unit of study, if I have delegated responsibility to someone on my campus to take the lead, I must continuously assess the level of implementation and provide timely feedback. The third strategy is to provide my staff with the tools they need for implementation. One of the goals we established for last year was to implement opportunities for students to bring their own electronic devices to school to enhance the integration of technology in our classrooms. There were very small pockets of implementation, and as I reflect on why more teachers did not embrace this concept it dawns on me that we did not provide enough support. This is such a new concept for many of us who are digital immigrants and did not grow up with technology at our finger tips. Teachers need to be exposed to a variety of ideas for ways to implement this kind of technology in a valuable, meaningful way.
Time during the school year is such a commodity and does not often allow me this kind of time for reflection. (As you can see, my last post was September of 2011!) However, I intend to make time for self-reflection, professional growth, on-going assessments of implementation, and looking for ways to empower my teachers in 2012-2013!
