Design

Describe your plan of action and how each of your four chosen competencies will influence its design and implementation.

• After receiving input from many stakeholders I will design a folder that will travel from class to class with a student as they progress through each grade level at my school. This folder will provide data for each teacher to find a starting point and monitor growth. Using the reflective practices competency teachers will be able to reflect on their own teaching and monitor student's mastery of a given skill. They will have the data to know where a student starts, and where they are at the end of the year compared to their grade level peers. Interventions can be designed based on those received in earlier grades, and can be started earlier in the year for those students who are already identified as having interventions in place previously. My self and my colleagues will also be able to use our interpersonal effectiveness competency as all educators working with a student both past and present will be collaborating to add data to the folder. Teachers will be able to easily glean ideas from the previous teacher and receive information relative to the student's success. We will be able to explore and challenge inequities because teacher's will have information as to a child's support system, any challenges they face, and social/emotional needs they have before the student ever walks in the classroom. As the new teacher, we will be able to start kids from their level and provide the supports they need to be successful. Finally, the instructional competency that I chose was Facilitating Collaborative Relationships. This project utilizes this competency because it opens communication between teachers of different grade-levels and other professional in the building who provide services to a student. It will also allow parents and students to provide information for teachers.

How will your leadership leverage the strengths and address the needs of diverse stakeholders to support the plan of action, develop capacity, broaden decision-making, and learn collaboratively?

• As a teacher leader I feel I have a good relationship with the members of our staff. They feel they can talk to me and be heard. They also trust me to launch a project like this a get it done. I can effectively lead meetings and take the time to collaborate with stakeholders.

How will you use collaboration, questioning, data, and reflection during the implementation of your action plan?

• Deciding what information would be most helpful requires collaboration at all grade levels and others who work with students. We will have to decide what amount of insight into a student is useful, without it being overwhelming. When we are able to be in the schools and together, again I will do another needs assessment with educators and school staff to see what it is that they really want to know about students.

How will you address obstacles that you may encounter in implementing your plan?

• As with any new idea, there will be obstacles. The most obvious is time. Spring time is busy; teachers are trying to finish the year, while complete grades, keep kids engaged, and continue instruction with many interruptions. Asking them to take the time to provide information on every student is a lot to ask and it will take time. In addition, the beginning of the year is a busy time for teachers as well and some may not take the time to review the folders before schools starts. This challenge of time can be overcome by asking teachers to complete the work early. Aside from spring benchmarking data, all of the information that is asked to be provided in the folder can be done earlier in the year. With encouragement, teachers could be adding to the folders as the year progresses instead of at the very end. As a teacher leader it is my job to remind my colleagues to complete these folders at each stage in the year and provide support to those who need help completing the task. In addition, it is not crucial that teachers review this before school starts. In fact I know many teachers who like to meet the students before they learn anything more about them, but having the folders in their possession means that they always have the data to reference. Reminding teachers which parts are really important, IEPs at a Glance for example, can help them prioritize without overwhelming them with too much information.

• Another major challenge I see is that of space. Where are the folders going to be kept? Keeping them in the classroom and easily accessible to the teacher makes the most sense, but that requires teachers to find storage for them. Keeping the folders relatively small and providing the option to keep them in the work room will allow teachers to find the storage location that works best for them.

How will you know if your action plan is successful?

• Much of the success of this plan will be based on educator feedback. I want these transition folders to be helpful for staff members. If they are more work than they are worth, changes will need to be made. Special Services staff will be especially important to receive feedback from as they are often the ones who see first hand the real challenges of transitioning from one grade to another.