Leading the Learning‎-

My Personal Vision Statement for Santa Lucia Middle School

What goals does your organization want to accomplish?

Santa Lucia Middle School students will be at the forefront of technology integration for San Luis Obispo County Shools. Students will be comfortable in using technology across a range of devices to learn, explore, and create content. They will understand the digital world and use technology to connect with others. Santa Lucia Middle School wants to move every student forward at least one year for every year students are enrolled in our school. We want students to be active in their school community and to be connected adults within the school, other students, and the community at large. We want students to be academically successful and to be exposed to a wide variety of educational and social experiences to help them develop into successful teenagers and productive adults. We want students to identify their areas of interest and to see their strengths.

Why are these your goals? (think about society, culture, economy)

The majority of our student population comes from low income backgrounds. Many of our students will be first generation high school graduates. It is essential that we develop our student population into active learners who see education as the key to their future. Because we live in a relatively geographically isolated area, we have a responsibility to broaden our students' horizons and show them the opportunities available to them both within their community and in the wider world. By tapping into student interests early and providing them with the means to create content, we have the opportunity to influence the local economy and develop student career readiness skills. Infusing technology into all areas of student learning and life will prepare students for their interactions in the outside world and will create fearless learners as technology changes and adapts.

What skills do you and your stakeholders need to possess in order to attain these goals?

To attain these goals, our students need to be fearless and willing to try new things. Our staff needs to be able to develop lessons that are differentiated for student learning styles and needs, create project-based activities that mirror real-world skills, and continue to learn throughout their careers. Students need to be fluent in their use of technology and need to understand the connection between the tools they use and their creative uses.

Teachers need to be lifelong learners and be willing to push their comfort zones in allowing students to use technology in innovative ways, choose their own learning paths, and establish methods of extending the learning beyond the classroom and school day.

Our parents need to trust in the school and be and be active in supporting their students learning. At times this may push parents out of their comfort zone as learning may not always look the way they were taught in school. As a learning community, parents need to be willing to allow the learning to go on outside of the classroom and away from the school.

How will know you and your stakeholders have attained these skills?

I will know we have attained these skills when all stakeholders are excited about what we are doing each day, when we are celebrating and sharing our students' products and assignments with others, when our students are consistently taking their learning outside of the confines of the school and continuing to learn, teach, and share with each other beyond the school day.

Specifically, students will:

1. Measure at proficient or advanced on standardized testing measures.

2. Students will actively participate in teaching others in school and outside of school.

3. Demonstrate 21st century skills, as outlined in the ISTE NETS

4. Understand technology and integrate it seamlessly into their daily lives

What are your next steps?

Our next major steps are to develop the infrastructure we are lacking. We are already working towards many of these goals, but we have a fair way to go. We first must establish valid pre- and post- tests for each unit we are teaching. Having these will allow us to move students from one lesson to the next when they are truly ready and will allow us to effectively know what every student needs for everything we teach.

We have already effectively integrated technology through our 1:1 program, and our next step is to have teachers train each other on best practices with technology. One of our staff goals for this school year is to attempt one truly innovative project with the iPads- a project that couldn't be accomplished on any other device.

We also need to expand our parent education and interaction. Parents are currently very supportive, but it would benefit everyone if the parents could experience and fully understand what we are doing at our site on a daily basis.

We will expand our teaching far beyond the school day be extending our already vibrant after-school program to reach more students and provide them with opportunities to be leaders in the community. We will develop a summer program for High School students and continue it through next year.

Write a short vision statement:

Santa Lucia Middle School will be a place where students enjoy learning, achieve at a high level, and understand how they are connected to their community and the outside world. All students will have the opportunity to create and share content that is meaningful and worthwhile. Students will leave the school with exceptional technology skills and will be proficient in 21st century skills appropriate to their grade level.

Reflection: I revised my vision statement at the end of the academy. Upon looking back, I realized that I had included few specifics about technology in my statement. This is ironic because so much of this schoolyear has been dedicated to the use of technology in our 1:1 program. I stand by my vision statement because I am largely talking about the big ideas and big picture behind the learning we do here at SLMS. Our primary goal is to get students educated and make them proficient thinkers in their world.