I laughed typing the title of this post, and really I need to call my previous boss to apologize to her. I can remember popping into her office frequently because I had questions, and she was always welcoming and helpful. This is the same tone that I have with my faculty and staff, but I…
Category: Accountability
Fostering Independent Learners #1: Responding to “I Don’t Know”
Right now, I’m finishing teaching this online class where we discuss strategies to engage learners. It’s interesting because the class is structured to cater to K-6 teachers, but I find the strategies can be used K-12. One of the first nuggets of teaching wisdom I came across was how teachers should respond when students respond…
My Community Learns Professionally…I Think
My first year as a school teacher changed the way I view many things. I always felt like I didn’t have enough planning time, no matter how much planning I got done. There was always some data that needed to be analyzed, and there were always papers that needed to be graded. As an English/Language…
Develop the Plan, and Remember the Lessons
I was speaking with one of my former students a few weeks ago who has gone on to college now. Its always interesting to speak to my students at the age of 18 and 19 because there’s a level of maturity that happens that is great. For me, sometimes I still see them as 14-year-olds,…
Doing the Right Work
I’ve been reflecting on my school year so far, more so now than ever because we are coming to the close of our first semester. After analyzing some of the data that we’ve gathered over the past couple of months, I’m able to see that there is still a lot of work to do for…
Measuring Student Proficiency…and Reporting It Accurately
I started doing research in 2008 on grading and reporting, and that research eventually led to my dissertation topic, which was titled, “Teacher and Parent Dispositions of Grading Practices in Differentiated Middle School Classrooms.” From the research I gathered, I was able to see that teachers implemented different practices, some of which were not aligned…
Making Way for Year Four
Three years have gone by, and I’m not the same person I was when I first became an administrator. I can recall colleagues making jokes of me “moving to the other side,” and I had no idea of what that really meant. Three years later, I believe I do, and I am 100% positive that…
Creating a Culture Where Mastery Matters
We’ve received our state test scores back, and it’s always interesting to see how teachers respond to the performance of their students. There are teachers who lurk in the hallways to see when administration will release the scores for their analysis, and there are others who may not really care how the students performed. The…
Rethinking Grading…Again
A few years ago, while doing research for my dissertation, I came across an article entitled, “Redos and Retakes Done Right” by Rick Wormeli. This was circa 2012, and our school was working to modify our grading practices. There were students who were failing everything, and our leadership team was working to determine what we…
A Note About Accountability
I had the chance to visit Maynard Jackson High school last week. I was looking forward to the visit because my professor for my Aspiring Principal’s cohort at Georgia State University, Dr. Joanne Brown (@Levleadership), had stated how awesome the place was. She told us how their principal had turned the place around and…