This and That:

• It is no surprise to anyone that we are at the midpoint of this academic school year.  What may be a bit of a shock is how quickly we’ve arrived at this place.  This is a point when I will be reflecting back on what my goals were for this year – and being honest about where I am in this journey.  What has been accomplished, what I’ve begun but not finished, and where I have fallen flat.  Whether individually or with a team you work with, I encourage you to take a few moments and reflect on the first 20 weeks with students and see if you are where you want to be as you lead in your school.
• Our district would love your feedback, specifically if you have concerns, regarding the following three questions.  If you could share any negative experiences about any of these please email me so I can collect and then pass them along in an effort to get better results in the future.
  • With our new “sub finder”, have you been unable to request a specific sub?
  • Is there additional work or steps needed at the office manager level in order to do a work around to get a particular sub for the day?
  • With our 1-to-1 iPad implementation, have your heard concerns from your teachers who have had a sub, or from a sub him/herself, around not being able to deliver instruction due to his/her lack of technology skills?
• Although this is not a new article, I do believe it is a timely one.  “The Disciplined Pursuit of Less,” published in the Harvard Business Review, examines why – in the words of author Greg McKeown – “successful people and organizations don’t automatically become very successful.”  McKeown makes a case that “success is a catalyst for failure.”  Consider that.  Success may actually contribute to failure.  Jim Collins states that some fall into failure because of the “undisciplined pursuit of more.”  In the end McKeown urges his readers to pursue “the disciplined pursuit of less.  Not just haphazardly saying no, but purposefully, deliberately, and strategically eliminating the nonessentials.” After reading this article, consider how this might apply to your School Design Plan.  What might this mean for you as an instructional leader?  What message (singular, focused, essential above all else) should you give your staff to focus on?

Reminders:

• And speaking of mid point in the school year, don’t forget to begin having SLGG mid-year review conferences with your teachers.  If a PLC or team have set common goals then these meetings can be done as a group rather than individually.  During these conversations please get to whether the teacher feels that she/he is on the right path of reaching the goal(s), and discuss any possible modifications that may be needed to the goal(s) [no way to meet, or has already met the goal].  Also, I’d recommend you count these conferences as a mini observation and document it in Talent Ed. (This year’s SLGG form does not have a spot for you to record any information regarding a mid-year conference.)  You should include, at a minimum, the date of your conversation and “SLGG mid-year review” as the subject observed.  You may also want to include any reminder of your conversation under the notes section.
• Monday is a MAC Survey day.  All funds generated from this survey are used to support FAN, so please help encourage your teachers to complete this survey.