As a teacher, I relied on reflective practices, student and coaching feedback, and assessment data to improve my instructional practices. Throughout my educational leadership journey, these reflective practices remain much the same, just on a grander scale and involve more people's opinions.
Professional Learning Community Coordinator
As the PLC Coordinator, first for Northwest High School, then for the Multiple Pathways, having an understanding of the current practices, and areas for growth, in consultation with building leadership and district expectations, has always guided my decision-making processes. At Northwest, I was involved with the analysis of MAP and ACT scores for the building and implemented PLC instruction focusing on literacy across the content areas and inquiry-based learning for generating student curiosity, among other themes. At the Multiple Pathways, we began with building collaborative goals, moved towards student motivation and engagement, implementing technology, and improving student learning through building stronger lessons that incorporate scaffolding and student processing tools.
Each time I plan a lesson, I consider the School Improvement Plan goals, the knowledge of the teachers, and ways to build on that knowledge. Throughout the PLC meetings, I build in time for collaborative conversations where teacher voices are valued and encouraged. After each meeting, I would engage in personal reflective practices and debriefing with the team and building leaders to continue to build upon the work we would do. Administrative observations of classroom teachers have implied the successes of the PLC work. And, increases in student engagement also testify to the impact of the PLC process
2022-23 PLC Planning Outline: Back to Basics
In the 2022-23 school year, the School Improvement Plan was taking us Back-to-Basics and examining how to effectively utilize the 4-hour block accrual classes and to re-engage high school learners after the pandemic.
The program professional learning kicked off with building on the spring presentation focused on student engagement (see Domain 2: Professional Development Presentations).
Also included on this page are several months of PLC presentations, plans, and handouts. The method for this was to collaborate on the ideas with the PLC facilitators in the other two program locations to obtain feedback from the various staff, research and planning, dissemination of the information back to the facilitators, then implementation of the PLC plan with the various teams of teachers. Feedback from administration would be discussed, then the cycle would begin again for the following month.
The plan shifted towards implementing Canvas into our instruction, while keeping with similar themes of back to basic instructional strategies and engaging students (see Domain 2: Implementation of Canvas).
August 1: All Staff PD Presentation
September 12: PLC Meeting
October 17: PLC Meeting
Advanced Academics Summer Symposium Coordinator
Coming on to coordinate the Advanced Academics Summer Symposium is probably the greatest example of management for school improvement. As a former Advanced Placement Language and Composition Teacher, I observed that many times schools will focus on students who struggle or who are at risk or who do not necessarily have strong support systems. However, many AP students yearned for community amidst their academic endeavors. I was fortunate enough to be part of the original team of teachers to work on the district AP Boot Camp in 2017 under the leadership of the district Gifted and Talented Teaching and Learning Consultant. (See Summer Symposium for details and artifacts to demonstrate the work of coordinating this event.)
Since the Spring of 2023, I have been the project coordinator for this the office of Gifted and Talented in this district-wide initiative to bring attention to the Advanced Academic students for all 9 high schools.
This summer project begins in the early part of the year with planning dates and reserving the Milo Bail Student Center on the UNO campus. Communication with UNO’s catering department ensures that all students receive a meal and snacks throughout the camp. Communication with Advanced Academic Coordinators in each of the high school buildings and the Gifted and Talented Facilitators in the middle schools occurs in the spring to start recruiting student participants. District Communications and social media is essential to getting the word out as well in the spring and in the summer.
The program for the week is developed by a team of teachers who work on AP courses throughout the year. Meetings are held to determine the focus of the workshops based on teacher reflections about student needs. As a follow-up to the conference each year, students are encouraged to offer feedback about what more they would like to learn about and these surveys are taken into consideration in the following year’s planning process.
The Symposium holds panels of current students, teachers, and college students, all of whom need to be recruited and contacted about dates, times, and locations, with a list of sample questions that will be asked to the panel.
The conference portion of the Symposium requires recruitment of presenters, schedule development, including room locations, and presentation to students. The team and I work to recruit metro area programs to present, as well as district initiatives such as Common Sense Media and Apple to present on technology and digital literacy. We have included presentations about stress and mental health as a result of the needs of students from the pandemic and the general pressures Advanced Academic students face. We were able to have a presentation by John Baylor about ACT preparation last year and we are in conversations if we will bring in a keynote speaker again this year, depending on time and budget concerns.
Implementing the conferences is a matter of coordinating all of the moving pieces, including recording attendance, managing materials and resources, ensuring everyone is in their proper place, signage is evident for presenters and students to find their way around the Milo Bail Student Center, and everyone has an enjoyable time.
The coordination of the Summer Symposium is a labor of love for the students of OPS to find community and support for their advanced academic goals and aspirations.
Internship Project: Executive Leadership Training
My internship project, Executive Leadership Training, also demonstrates my ability to manage staff for improved school success. Over the course of the 5-month project, over 10 staff members were involved in a variety of ways. Details as to how I utilized the staff resources are detailed in my ELT Project paper which can be found here.