Annual Retreat

I was doing so well at posting more often, and then I got distracted. And school hasn't even started yet.

Last week, I had a great teacher moment. A couple of students were helping set up the staff room. I walked in, and one student greeted me brightly. At the sound of my name, the other student, whose back was turned, jumped up, turned around, and ran over to me. To hug me.

I just returned from a two-day North Star retreat at a conference center in Princeton. It was really fun, and very motivating. In fact, it definitely got me thinking about science leadership roles for the future. I could see myself coordinating science curriculum for multiple schools. In fact, maybe I can write a book on how to incorporate rigorous inquiry education in to the curriculum.

We were shown a lot of the ways our school is awesome. 75% of all North Star 7th graders passed the English NJASK. VMS scored the highest. 82% of 7th graders passed the math NJASK. VMS scored the highest.

Out of all the schools in New Jersey, the NJ Department of Education ranked North Star in the 100th percentile in academic achievement. Not bad.

However, there is definitely room for improvement.

Of the North Star graduating classes of 2004-2008, 44% have a 4-year degree. This is similar to the national average, which is pretty embarrassing. However, of the classes of 2009-2012, 90% of them are still enrolled. That's major improvement right there.

And then there's the future: in 2015, we will switch over to a different standard of state assessments, based on the Common Core Curriculum. And we know how that went in New York. We need to push the rigor, and fast, so our scores don't drop. If they raise the standards, we'll raise them even higher.

I got one major lesson out of the retreat: be a better leader. We had a couple of PD sessions for returning teachers. One was on being a leader. We have to lead by example when it comes to peer interactions and professionalism. We also need to help our peers with their own struggles. Another session was on having difficult conversations with peers, like when a peer is struggling. Basically, I walked out of there feeling pretty bad about the times I complained about a peer without addressing the issue directly.

This year will be different (and already is). We are starting from a clean slate, but when an issue comes up, I will address it immediately. I already decided to remind a peer about a not-well-advertised deadline, with great results.

Today, I had to submit a list of areas of strength and areas of growth for the upcoming year.

Strengths:

Professionalism (Ability to Meet Deadlines) – I will maintain consistency meeting deadlines at school and for Relay, and will not sacrifice sleep time to do so.

Assessment (Ability to Analyze Assessment Results) – I will continue to track Exit Tickets to look for trends, and do data analysis on my NSA Diagnostics in anticipation of the real exams.

Growth:

Professionalism (Relationships with Families) – I will maintain more communication with families. I will average at least one positive communication per day (5 per week).

Classroom Management (Relationships with Students) – I will learn to talk with students. Each Monday at lunch duty, I will ask personal questions to at least 3 students (I may come with a prepared list of students). Every day on the sidewalk, I will speak to at least one student.

Classroom Management(Alignment with School Culture) – As a returner, I need to set an example for my colleagues regarding the use of North Star vocabulary and practices (better use of paycheck and core values vocabulary)

Here's to a brand new year!