CPSEL #5: Growing as a Leader

Hallmark 7, SNDdN

The Opportunity:

We are a small independent school of 450 students. While there are numerous benefits to this environment, it also means that in order to ensure a strong, equitable curriculum that keeps pace with (or exceeds) current education models, we have to work a bit harder. We do not have the benefit of a large district to draw on for expertise and ideas. Instead, we have to seek out learning opportunities for ourselves as Administrators as well as for our teachers.

The Process:

The 2015-2016 school year has been something of a "boon" with regards to providing opportunities for everyone to grow in their understanding of best practices. Specifically:

1. it is our WASC self-study year

2. we are preparing for significant construction (that is more than 10 years overdue!)

Both of these fall directly under my oversight as the curriculum lead on campus so they have allowed me to really stretch my leadership capabilities.

WASC

With respect to WASC, each department has had a continuing directive this year to review their curriculum in light of CCSS, NGSS, content-specific standards, and College Board standards (for AP courses) and create a data library that is reflective of the content covered. This is allowing departments to look with intent on the scaffolding in place as well as identify the gaps that need more attention to ensure ALL students are reached and ALL students receive the college preparatory education we promise to our parents. This has not been easy for many departments as they are discovering that their curriculum was not always developed with clear intent. The conversations that I have been able to have with the departments has been fantastic. The data library will be completed during one of our June PD days but the shells look similar to this for each department:

In addition, the departments have actually been requesting MORE time to work together on curriculum mapping which is a topic that has not been discussed by the faculty in years. As a result, I have been granting departments more release time than ever before, supportting their desire to have meaningful curriculum conversations. It is actually exciting to see departments really taking ownership of their content.

The upgrades and standardization will begin to create more flexible learning spaces that allow better integration of technology. This will provide greater support for the teachers and students because meaningful integration of technology allows greater access to content by students with various learning needs. Additionally, with upgraded technology access and effective placement of basic needs such as electrical outlets, the teachers will be more likely to integrate technology as they will have a simpler transition than currently exists. The images in the Board Report such as the one above provide evidence that in the past, technology was added to classrooms as an afterthought, with limited to no pre-planning. Over time, this has served to frustrate the faculty more than encourage them to try something new. There is a sense of gratitude among the faculty that "finally!" this quite obvious need will be addressed.

I am also coordinating the work with OneWorkPlace Design to create some "beta" classrooms that will be fully equipped with flexible furniture. The goal is to allow the faculty time to experience teaching in rooms with flexible furniture so as to facilitate a re-imagination of their pedagogical approach. While two or three different departments will have the beta-furniture installed, ALL faculty will conduct peer observations in those rooms to jump-start their planning. We will also have on-site PD provided by OneWorkPlace Design to give the faculty clear guidelines regarding how to approach their planning that is content specific. These are some of the drawings prepared for us by OneWorkPlace Design:

Where We Are Now:

As the school year winds down, the planning is ramping up to ensure that both of these projects are completed during the short summer months and all classrooms are fully functional for the start of the 16-17 school year. I will be meeting with the Department Chairs in the coming weeks to walk their classrooms and ensure that the electrical and technological upgrades are explained fully and any requests are noted before the contractors begin their work.

I will also meet with the departments that will get the new furniture to clarify the expectations of them as well as identify any concerns that need to be addressed prior to the start of the school year.

Making technology easier to use (as well as increasing our infrastructure which is a behind-the-scenes project that I have been working on with IT this year to improve the access points and boost our connectivity strength) removes some of their "go-to" reasons for NOT using technology when it is appropriate. Adding in flexible furniture removes yet another excuse that more traditional furniture can provide since it is very difficult to quickly rearrange a classroom that has carpeted floors and VERY heavy desks. With the absence of some excuses, listening to teachers, hearing their concerns and working to provide them the support that they need has been a constant area of growth as well as an important practice.

I am much more a "let's do it!" person, cannon-balling right into the deep end, while many of our teachers are still dipping their toes in the kiddie pool. I have been reminded numerous times this year that the kiddie-pool contingency is still there and that I need to work to bring them to the "big kids pool", even if they aren't ready to cannon-ball quite yet. One of my plans for next year to help address this hesitancy is to use the Instructional Rounds model and create PLC teams that can visit the beta classrooms together. For many of our faculty, working with others removes some of the the fear. The bonus is that working in cross-curricular teams to talk about ideas that can be used when they too have their own flexible learning space will garner much richer conversations. The idea for cross-curricular teams actually came out of a recent PD day that incorporated an ed-camp model for the morning with some big-picture topics for discussion.