Transitioning

This is the time of the year that teachers transition and we go through the process of new hiring. I am a little concern about our current  teachers  maintaining a sense of urgency for the remaining of the school year. There are 32 more days until the end of the school year. We are in testing season and with high stakes testing comes teacher anxiety, job security, student performance and job evaluation.

The Juggler

The past few weeks have been a struggle to multi-task major projects with deadlines. In my capacity, I am working to complete a feasibility study and application for candidacy for the International Baccalaureate Programme for my school. In addition, I worked on other projects that include robotics, math competitions, gifted programs, IB awareness, design course for PD, and other pop-up projects. At times it became very overwhelming for me to meet expectations. At no point did any project had my full and undivided attention. I kind of felt bad because certain projects where not attended to effectively. I felt like I could have done a better job if I sufficient or more time. Unfortunately, I needed to work on other items given my deadlines. I understand that delegating of task to others would and should help. However, when I delegate a task and the task is not efficiently completed the way I would like, then this becomes a major issue for me. I do not like to relinquish control when I am held solely responsible for the outcome. I have a difficult time trusting others to get the job done the way I would like it to be done. This creates a problem in how I delegate task. However, the past few weeks have demonstrated to me that I needed to improve on how I delegate to others.  Any suggestions on managing and delegating to others? Any strategies on mapping task for completion?

PBIS

My major project is focused on implementing the PBIS program into my school. As a county, all schools are being encouraged to adopt the program but it is not an easy task. As a result, the county has hired a representative to be in charge of assisting all schools with the assimilation process. On a local level, I am the direct contact for my school and I share a major role in insuring that my school successfully implements the program. To date, I have created a website that displays all the rewards, sponsors, and purpose of PBIS. I am also in the process now of trying to determine how to continue to keep students excited about doing the right thing. That includes continuously developing activities that will capture students attention and make them want to earn Campbell cash that will allow them to purchase rewards. Much like last semester a major challenge is to keep teachers motivated with passing out the Campbell cash to students. Data has been collected to show the improvement in school behavior since last year and we will continue to make comparisons of the school climate this year with the previous year.

If Only Teachers Knew.....

This past week as an administrator was a series of learning experiences for me. Our students come to us with so many issues and it is up to us as school leaders to support them academically as well as emotionally. Last week, I had to expel a student, dealt with a student who was so emotionally disturbed he put his fist through a window, breaking the window and bleeding all over the floor, a student who left her class to threaten a student in another class and through all of this, we were undergoing a 2-day instructional audit. I realized that my primary focus as an instructional leader is to keep the teachers and the students focused on teaching and learning. So while my Assistant Principal and I dealt with all the issues, the teachers were able to concentrate on teaching and the students on learning. I realized also that as a leader, I must be able to think fast and provide solutions to situations, even if it is only temporary. Finally, I learned that I cannot save every student, I have to let some of them go and as much as it pains me, I cannot jeopardize the futures of the entire student body for a few. If only teachers knew how much we do to make their jobs easier.....

Motivation

My major project, Together Ownership & Responsibility at Collins Hill (TORCH) is designed to help first year 9th graders who are at risk. This program offers peer tutoring, teacher tutoring, and support every day of the week. The first semester was very successful with almost 90% of the students passing and on track with their cohort. We were so excited about the progress. This semester looks much different!! With 9 weeks remaining in the school year, we are seeing more and more students failing classes. Some of the students who past all classes 1st semester are now failing 3. A lot of students are failing 2. I have met with all students over the past 2 weeks. There is little to no motivation Students are telling me they are tired, do not care, or there is no reply/reaction at all. I feel that we as a school care more about their success than they do. I know it is our responsibility to push these students, to stay on them, to help them see the importance of education and I feel that we do. We want so much for these students. How do we motivate them? How do we get them to understand the importance of education? How do we get them to truly envision what could be? We give them rewards when they are successful. We recognize their successes. We praise them for successes. We tutor them. We bring in motivational speakers. We are active with these students every single day. But right now, we are frustrated with where some of these students are with their academics. The phrase 'meet me half way' doesn't apply here. I feel we are meeting them way more than half way and we are expecting them to do their part. What do we do? What are other schools doing to help students be successful? I need suggestions as we head into these last 9 weeks!!  Any help is appreciated.

AWOL Students

We are experiencing mass amounts of students leaving campus each day, and/or are skipping classes.  Many of these classes are their Guided Study class which is in combination with their lunch period.  First, we are struggling to get students to attend GS because they see no value and often say that class is pointless.  To an extent, I see their point.  They explain they don't receive a grade so why should they have to go.  We have students walk out the doors, go to lunch, and try to come back on campus.  They leave for periods at a time.  We are the largest school in the state of Georgia.  We have 35 trailers and too many places for students to exit the building.  Many of our students leave out the side door where are trailers are located and keep walking.  Some leave out the back doors and walk around to the front of the school.  On a daily basis we are catching up to 10 students at a minimum walking back on campus to catch the bus.  The majority of these students are not engaged in school and we are working to fix that next year when it comes to instruction.  However, we can't teach the relationship piece.  If students have a teacher that engages them and that they have a good relationship with, they attend that class.  It has been the fault of the administration team to not keep track of these students since the beginning of the year.  Because we are so large and have so many different issues, the students who are AWOL has fallen to the side.  Attendance is a huge issues at our school and next year we are looking to make this top priority.

Over Testing Students

March is a stressful year for most educators and students.  Schools are preparing for the "Big Test". Students are in the "March Madness" mode.   I am struggling with the fact that I have been mandated to test the kids weekly for three consecutive weeks, 2 days a week, in order to prepare them for testing.   Although, I disagree with this method of preparing students, I have to comply.   My concern is how must testing is too much testing.  What constitutes preparation vs "over kill", because at this point I am sure if the data gathered from the students is reliable and really shows what they do or do not know.

Handling a Crisis

Two weeks ago a very close coworker passed away. I have worked with her for several years. This school term, I was paired with her to teach our social emotional advisement class. We developed a close bond and shared personal story with the students. The day she passed was the most difficult day in my teaching career. My principal called me in to inform me about my coworker's death around midday. I was informed that a crisis team from the district was on the way to the school. The principal inform me that the students will know near the end of the school day. My principal informed that I should get my bearings together and be strong for my students. I was assigned to the grief room as the crisis team went from room to room. A senses to sadness and quiet covered the once vibrant halls. Once the students started to come to the grief room crying, it became really hard for me to manage my emotions. I had never had to comfort children in a situation like this before. I had no idea what to say. The only thing I could do was hug them. This experience helped me to relaize that leadership takes on different forms. This includes the ability to relate and connect emotionally with others. Sometime words are not enough, but having an emotional connections is very important.

Sustaining Beyond the SIG

Much work and success has been attributed to the School Improvement Grant that my school received three years ago. The school has gone from a 25% graduation rate to 49.5% graduation (GaDOE) and a completion rate of 80%. This grant has funded the following positions: A school improvement specialist, a reading coach, a math coach, half-time graduation coach, half-time social worker, an attendance specialist and a parent liaison, all of whom were extremely instrumental in the gains that we experienced. The instructional coaches provided much needed support for teachers to become more effective in order to increase student achievement. Through this grant, we have been able to fund a SIG week where teachers are paid to return to work a week before teacher pre-planning to receive training, instructional support and to plan for the upcoming school year. Collaboratively, the graduation coach, attendance specialist, social and the parent liaison all track attendance. The social worker makes home visits based on their recommendation. Of course our teachers have also personalized the learning experience for our students.
In addition, this grant allowed us to fund a mobile health van to provide on-site medical services to our students and counseling services as well. This grant has allowed us to truly provide a circle of support around every student that matriculates in our building. With the grant ending in September and even though, we have been working on a sustainability plan to transfer the instructional coaching duties to the department chairpersons, and request funding for some of our other positions and services, I am afraid that we might lose the momentum that we gained with the grant.

Department Chair Meetings and 2016-2017 SY

I am currently in the process of determining sections for the 2016-2017 SY. In other words, determining teacher needs based on student requests, part year teacher hires, teachers' transfer requests to and from our school and finalizing the 2016-2017 Master schedule with department chairs, department APs and my principal. I am trying to leverage the leadership skills of the department chairs while building their capacity by including them in the process. Interestingly enough, this is the time of the year that some teachers are starting to "become more endearing" towards me hoping to determine early what they will be teaching during the next school year.

Death of a Teacher

Teaching programs prepare us for teaching  students and provides us with the content knowledge to be a successful teacher.  However,  what these  programs cannot prepare is life.  Last week, my school lost a teacher and I lost a friend.  We received the news around noon on Monday. I along with other staff members met with the principal to discuss a plan.  My principal asked us to set our feelings aside to support the staff and students. This was not going to being an easy task.  However, we proceeded with the plan, which consisted of being visual and releasing teachers as need be.  Once we delivered the news to the teachers, we proceeded to meet with individual classrooms to discuss with students.   We called upon the school district crisis team to assist.  I held one of the crisis rooms that students could come to discuss their feelings or perhaps sit in silence to gather their thoughts.   We relocated the teacher's classroom to help ease those the students grieving process. We made it through the week, by going into survival mode and allowing students to grieve.  On Friday, we the students shared moments they had with the teacher and released balloons in honor of her memory.  As a staff, we traveled out of state to her funeral during the  weekend.  Reflecting on the week and this week,  I've realized as a leader, there are things that you deal with that may appear to be in sensitive and seem harsh to some. However, I do not think if we had remained in our feelings rather than focusing on the students and the staff, the transition through this ordeal would have been as smooth.  As a leader, there will be times, where difficult times, will require a mindset not clouded by feelings in order to work for the betterment of all.  As we discussed school crisis, I noticed that school crisis teams normally do not think of the death of a faculty member  as a crisis that a school may need to address.  Hopefully, this blog will serve as a reflection for school leaders to consider as you plan for crisis.                                          

Student Registration

Looking for suggestions! Registration for next year has started and I am seeking ways to get everyone on board. For a month, we have been notifying teachers on the registration process. Students have a registration form that they present to each teacher. The teacher looks at it and determines placement for students and then signs off. Elective classes are also listed and students choose their elective. Again, it is checked and signed off.  Students who have an incomplete schedule will participate in ‘Elective Arena’ that is over a 2 day period during student lunch time. During this time, counselors are available to look at student schedules and determine any class(es) that a student is needing or missing.

As we wrapped up this process, we identified over 450 students that have incomplete schedules. The majority of the missing classes for these students is NOT electives but core classes. This means that core teachers did not do what was asked of them. Again, teachers were notified for over a month and reminded daily of the process. Now this grueling task falls on administration to look at course history, ask teachers, and complete the schedule. Our administrative team is happy to help however it is frustrating that we have to now clean up what some teachers should have handled. We understand that there will be a few ‘stragglers’ but 450 students is a lot of students.

So I am looking for suggestions of how to get teachers (not all teachers) on board with the process and help them understand the importance of this. How do other schools tackle this process? Any suggestions are welcomed!!! 

Veteran Teachers Teaching Upper vs. Lower Levels - Building the Master Schedule

As we begin to think about planning for next year, I feel stuck as an Administrator when planning the master schedule for our teachers.  We have many veteran teachers who only want to teach upper level because that has been the attitude and "culture" of the school.  The feeling is that beginning teachers and teachers with minimal experience should have to be "baptized by fire" and learn the ropes.  It's almost like buying their time before they move up the ladder and the "low man on the totem pole" philosophy.  I am struggling with having the conversation with our veterans that they are the ones that belong in the lower level/college prep classes because they are to better prepare our students for upper levels.  They are the ones with the classroom management that have the procedures and rules that our beginning teachers just don't have yet.  But then we also don't have the experience and knowledge in our beginning teachers to teach upper level courses as well.  I am just trying to figure out how to start the conversations with the upper level teachers and getting them change their mindset in regards to teaching the lower levels.