TO DO:

• If you, at any point this spring, modify your staffing plan, please make the updates in your Google Drive folder as well.  Your school plan will be referenced by HR and myself prior to gaining approval for posting. As always, let me know if you have any questions on this.

THIS AND THAT:

• A couple of weeks ago I heard someone speaking who used the illustration of a basket with two handles.  In order to safely carry that basket, a person needed to use two hands in unison.  If she/he didn’t then the contents within that basket would fall out and the effectiveness of that basket would be lost. I think of learning in a similar manner. It is both art and science.  It is part pedagogy and part relationships. It is content knowledge and understanding of developmental stages. The question could be posed then, of which is more important, curriculum or culture, to a youth’s learning. You may have a leaning (slight or strong) to one of these being more important, but likely we would all agree that the best learning happens when both are present in positive doses. Here is a recent (and short) article entitled A Look at How Principals Really Drive School Improvement from EDUCATION WEEK that I hope will spur you to reflect, discuss, and analyze how the two-handed basket of learning is being carried in your building.
• We need science teachers as our PASS Level Review Assessors for 2017-18!  PASS is the professional learning and salary advancement schedule for our early career educators.  We currently have 105 teachers on this system.  Each year we have a different group of teachers submitting for Level Review.  They submit 3 tasks and then those tasks are scored by a Level Review panel.  The panel consists of a teacher in the content area, a teacher in the developmental age range and an administrator (not at the same school).
  We currently have 3 secondary science teachers who are submitting for Level Review and they need content area teachers on their panel. Last year, we had 2 amazing science teachers participate on the Level Review panels and they enjoyed the professional learning that they gained but this year they had scheduling conflicts.
  If you are interested, you need to be available on June 18, 19 and 20.  You will be compensated at curriculum rate.  Please read the job description and submit the application and recommendation form which are located in the Staff Portal.
  If you have any questions, feel free to email Michele Oakes.

REMINDERS:

• As a reminder, you are getting this week’s update a day early because I am leaving this afternoon for my daughter’s graduation in CA. Feel free to call or text me on my cell if you need anything.  Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday afternoon at Leadership!
• If you haven’t completed the admin leadership survey yet, please do so by this weekend so we have your input prior to our meeting on Monday.
• Monday is MAC survey day.