I have been a bit remiss in my postings, I'm sorry. Our final PST is on 8/6. We will devote some of the time to reviewing the Faculty handbook with the new "unwritten rules" section. The rest of the time is cranking out course syllabi, particularly course descriptions.
Course descriptions will begin: The student will learn the following skills/concepts this year/semester...
Think of this as the big picture view, which will be the kernel of our curriculum maps. Understanding By Design by Wiggins and McTighe will be our PD focus for the 09/10 school year.
My learnings during this PST have really convinced me that our standards-based foundation is just a tad shaky, but that must drive everything we do. What is the end in mind?
My question for you this week:
How do we keep our eye on the big picture at all times, and refuse to let the daily administrivia provide us with excuses for why we are unable to do the things that we know we should be doing?
Great PST, see you in a few weeks.
A place to gather and discuss education in general and Altona Middle School in particular!
Subscribe via email
About Me
Altona's Staff Development Reading List
Books I Wish I Read Before Sending My Daughter To Middle School
What I'm watching
- Outsourced
- The Walking Dead
- Justified
- Parks and Recreation
- The Mentalist
- Fringe
What I'm playing
- Black Ops (Way Too Much!!!)
- Halo Reach
- Modern Warfare 2 (Too Much!!)
Latest additions to my MP3 player
- Arcade Fire
- Florence and the Machine
- Miranda Lambert
- Queen - Flash Gordon Sdtrk!
- Waylon Jennings
What's on my Kindle
Latest iPhone Apps
- Words Free (Scrabble)
- Supervision 2.0
- iheartradio
- Midomi
- Air Sharing
- Magic Pad
What's on my nightstand
- The Beekeeper's Handbook
- The Hunger Games Trilogy!
- The Templar Trilogy
9 comments:
Just be proactive. A lot of the administrivia can be manageable if we are just proactive. Also, as was mentioned in our last PST, we can keep our grading under control if we keep our homework assignments and assessments under control. If we can strike that balance, then we can hopefully still keep the big picture within our view.
One of the ways, that I feel we can avoid being overwhelmed by the minutiae of running things, is to take full advantage of our time with our colleagues. The return of grade level meetings and at-risk meetings in rotation can really assist all teachers, especially those new to the mix or that are playing a new role.
My plan is to ask myself when something comes up that I suddenly feel is super important – can this wait until a meeting to discuss? What meeting would it be best to address it in? Who do I contact to get it on the agenda? A stream of emails trying to discuss something simple can really snowball out of control. A two minute conversation, face to face with peers might often be a better use of everyone’s time.
Although we will have the professional time set aside with grade levels and at-risk meetings, I also feel it is very important to organize weekly touch-base meetings with my two teammates that will also be teaching 6th and 7th grade science with me. The three of us will have common plans every day and this hopefully will assist us with implementing some of the key components of the science program that we have been trying to develop during this PST.
My final suggestion is a commitment to professionalism. When I worked at national non-profits in Washington, DC, I never went in to any meeting without knowing: 1) Who was leading the meeting, 2) Who was to be in attendance, 3) What the agenda for the meeting was (this was always shared far enough in advance so that all parties had time to investigate and prepare for all topics to be discussed, and 4) When was the meeting to start and end. Going in to meetings without knowing the specific focus does not create a really collaborative environment. Respecting each other and our time will help us all focus on the big picture.
Well said, Kathleen! I agree with everything you said, and was going to mention the professionalism concept myself along with-- and this is going to sound funny coming from me-- staying positive. Sometimes I'll say We Are What We Teach; it can be funny when we act like middle schoolers, but more often that not it's incredibly toxic to the work environment and totally degrades our professionalism. I myself have a personal goal this year to maintain a positive, professional outlook when interacting with my peers. I will give it the old college try. :)
In truth, the answer to this question has many facets. I think educators are often pulled in many directions and it is hard to complete all of the tasks that are asked of us. Therefore, time management and prioritizing are very important skills to develop. Like Kathleen mentioned, using meeting time in an effective way is essential for this to occur. Being new to Altona, I’m not sure who and how often I will be meeting with my colleagues. Are there weekly grade level meetings? What about department meetings?
I also find that, organization and advance planning is key. I find that if I am organized and well planned, I am much more efficient. That means having a curriculum map for the year that includes completion of the standards and text, formative and summative assessments so that I can teach with the end in mind and learning activities and homework that are meaningful.
I also need to have a plan for implementing re-looping and re-assessments within Altona’s schedule. I would like to view some re-assessments contracts that others have used to help with this. I do plan to use PLC days for re-assessments. If possible, I would also like to use some of the SSR time for re-assessments, filling out/discussing re-assessment contracts and re-teaching.
While sometimes difficult to do, I think that simply focusing and prioritizing are the best way to keep on track with any issues including keeping the big picture in view instead of letting the small, daily interruptions bombard us into frustration. Not that there won’t be potential tensions, there always are, but maintaining priorities – along with an attempt to keep a positive outlook and being as organized as possible will go a long way to keeping the big picture in mind. I do agree also what others have said about professionalism as well.
Effective planning and time management, however we individually accomplish it, should prevent the necessary trivia from keeping us from reaching both our school and educational goals.
For me it is a matter of three things: be organized, be flexible, and know the standards/frameworks. Planning ahead as much as possible and having things ready really helps me handle things better. There are always going to be disruptions, administrative items, or things I forget that will happen. If I am organized though, it is easier for me to be flexible and make adjustments. I definitely had to do this when we were 6 person teams because it seemed one of us would usually come up with some lesson, plan, etc. that required the others to adjust. We just tried to be respectful of the others. If I am prepared with my own lessons, it is easier to adjust and leave things out or go faster if necessary. However, it is also important for me to know the frameworks if I have to make these decisions. There are some things that we cover that are crucial to students’ success on the CSAP and for English in the future. If I am not familiar with those items, I cannot really make informed decisions. Some things we do are more fun than others, but aren’t as necessary and don’t require as much attention. I also have to be aware of my pacing, as I found out last year with our schedule. Knowing the standards and frameworks helps me decide when things should be done, and helps me compensate when things come up that are out of my control. Last year I really felt pressed for time and every disruption seemed to make more of a difference. Hopefully, things will be easier to handle with our schedule this year.
I want to stress the importance of flexibility. We need to be able to listen to our other staff members, and even to some of the student's suggestions. We also need to follow the times and stay involved with current events and new technology to incorporate into our teaching and possibly administrative style. In past meetings, we spoke about the importance of being consistent with late homework rules, SSR, and more. All of this can be clear and enforced by being flexible with finding a common agreement on one's own idea of classroom plans, along with the standards and grade level / subject matter flow.
If the course description stating what the student will learn is the big picture we need to remember what the goal is even when we are sent on administrivia detours (this summer I took two major road trips, so that is where my mind is right now when making this analogy). I remember way back at the beginning of the year when you brought out your pickles. It may not matter that they failed the first attempt if in the end, they have the expected product or knowledge. Or, with my road trip, I may be sent on detours, or have temporary car trouble, but if I keep the goal in mind, I can make it there eventually.
Post a Comment