In early January, our school was part of a District Support Visit. After this visit, we were provided with a series of questions to focus on to further our journey of learning as it relates to our School Improvement Plan for Student Achievement. Staff were given an opportunity, during an activity called a ‘dot-mocracy’, to give input on where our school-wide learning focus should be. The activity revealed that staff would like to increase the amount of learning they do from each other. Today’s PA Day was structured to allow staff to ‘share their expertise’.
The structure of the day is included here.
As my ‘reflection’ piece, I’ve chosen to narrate about where I went, what I saw and how I structured my morning.
I visited every room. And I went sequentially, starting in our tech room and ending in our Junior French classroom. There was only geography and methodology behind my thinking, walking from one classroom to another. I’ll post a sample from all rooms on another page and include the link but, for now, and although I learned something in every room, I’ll provide some highlights.
I noticed that a blog post had already been started in Kindergarten. I noticed, and was quite inspired by, Kalin’s desire to not only post about his successes but also what he perceived as a lesson that didn’t go so well. The explanation of the start of the inquiry process gave me great initial insight into the Kindergarten learning environment. I also noticed the links to my own practice teaching Grade 7 & 8 history this year. I have tried my hand at ‘Je vois, je pense, je songe’.
I saw what I perceived to be some ‘messy’ learning. It highlighted for me that student learning can indeed get messy. I’m also guessing that is the best kind of learning for some of our students. The highlight of student voice and student product here highlighted that for me. Student learning seemed evident right along side teacher guidance. I could imagine myself being successful in an environment that allowed my voice some visibility.
I also appreciated process. Going through this classrooms was easy. The process of guided instruction in both Math and Language was laid out for me as if I was a student in the classroom. As a student, I was provided with tasks that helped me practice important skills independently. The purpose of each task was explained clearly. As the teacher, I knew what I would be doing at the guided reading table and what direct instruction for the small group of students would look like.
I could (and will) further share my learning. My intent of this blog was to provide staff with an example of what a blog post can look like. It’s purpose here is to act as both a model (to comment on freely, please), an archive of some of my learning this morning and an opportunity to share some of the expertise people can find in this building. And of course, the blog post made it a working lunch for me. 🙂
Principal Learning 