Beliefs / Philosophies
Belief Statements:
- Everyone can learn, grow, and succeed.
- Everyone is unique with different abilities, preferences, interests, and cultures.
- Teachers and their practice are the most important factors in student success.
- Success and failure in student learning is about what adults did or did not do.
- Positive and caring relationships are essential in student achievement.
- Collaborative and cooperative relationships among administrators, teachers, and parents is the key in developing what students should know, be able to do, and what kind of adults they will become.
Behavior and Discipline:
Leadership
Leadership is not about who you are or where you come from. It’s about what you do (Kouzes and Posner, 2010) Leadership is a choice! A choice to serve. A choice to learn. Leadership is not about characteristics, but rather abilities. It is the ability to influence and/or lead others to a shared belief, goal, or purpose. It is the ability to move people, not mandates. It is the ability to stay relevant and informed in one’s profession. Leadership is permanent conceptual change in behavior and thinking. It’s purpose is to create a sustainable future for generations to come.
Teacher Leadership
Leading from any chair, regardless of one’s role. To inspire positive and intentional change. To develop a sustainable culture where both students and teachers contribute to the overall morale. Teacher Leadership is about carrying your own weather and establishing the climate. To be a thermostat and not a thermometer. To proactively set the tone of the learning experience and not react to it. Teacher Leadership is about modeling great teaching where kids are engaged, excited, inspired, and learning.
School Leader
An excellent administrator is someone who knows when it is time to lead and when it is time to follow. Their list of defining characteristics include: honest, competent, inspiring, positive, and forward-looking. Being honest means telling the truth and having ethical principles and clear standards by which you live. Being honest and competent will provide the credibility that is needed to move people and not just mandates. Inspirational and positive leaders inspire positive and intentional change. They develop a sustainable culture where students, parents, and staff contribute to the overall morale. Schools and their systems have evolved requiring administrators to acquire additional lenses. Today, educational leaders must think as business owners offering a world-class learning experience to every student and their parent(s). Being forward-looking means having a sense of direction and a concern for the future of the organization.
Growth Mindset
Brain-based research informs us that our brain changes, adapts, and rewires itself throughout our entire life. We need to teach kids that it works both ways. Neuroplasticity works both ways, it creates new connections and eliminates connections that are not used very often. Intelligence is malleable and can be improved with effort and encouragement. If we teach children to push beyond their comfort zone and learn something new, the neurons in their brain will make new and stronger connections which is how we learn. With effort, motivation, perseverance, and the right menu of teaching strategies all students can achieve great things.
Creating Collaborative Learning Cultures
A place where our group’s collective thinking as well each individual’s thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted. Where we welcome our students, staff, and parents into an intentionally designed culture of achievement where students and adults act according to ethical standards. Where students learn behavior as they would learn how to solve a math problem. A culture where our language builds others’ sense of agency and identity and leverages errors and mistakes to strengthen the learning process.
PBL
Project Based Learning is a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning important knowledge and 21st century skills through an extended, student-influenced inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and learning tasks. PBL changed the way I architect lesson plans shifting the focusing on “The Doing” of learning!
Social Justice
Making sure every child has the resources, attention, and love that they need to achieve success. Fair is not getting the same, it's getting what you need. High academic expectations without caring relationships is cruelty. Caring relationships without high academic expectations is racism. We must find that balance. Restorative Practice suggests that we are restoring a relationship that was already established. Relationships are the key to helping kids and adults learn.
Professional Development
The path to school improvement is professional learning, which is a permanent and conceptual change in thinking or behavior. If we acquire new learning and change the way we think and practice in the classroom, we will impact learning, engage students, and improve academic achievement.
Technology
Technology has always been key in advancing education, whether it was the chalkboard, pencil, iPad, or the internet. To meet the demands of our employers today and best serve the needs of our students, we have embedded technology into every aspect of a child's learning experience. Technology makes it possible to extend learning beyond brick and mortar walls as well give immediate and descriptive feedback to students, parents, and others who are supporting the student. Technology allows educators to customize instruction based on learning profiles and for students to personalize their learning experience. Technology bridges the gap for those with learning disabilities and/or who may need additional resources while working independently or during collaborative group work.
Leadership is not about who you are or where you come from. It’s about what you do (Kouzes and Posner, 2010) Leadership is a choice! A choice to serve. A choice to learn. Leadership is not about characteristics, but rather abilities. It is the ability to influence and/or lead others to a shared belief, goal, or purpose. It is the ability to move people, not mandates. It is the ability to stay relevant and informed in one’s profession. Leadership is permanent conceptual change in behavior and thinking. It’s purpose is to create a sustainable future for generations to come.
Teacher Leadership
Leading from any chair, regardless of one’s role. To inspire positive and intentional change. To develop a sustainable culture where both students and teachers contribute to the overall morale. Teacher Leadership is about carrying your own weather and establishing the climate. To be a thermostat and not a thermometer. To proactively set the tone of the learning experience and not react to it. Teacher Leadership is about modeling great teaching where kids are engaged, excited, inspired, and learning.
School Leader
An excellent administrator is someone who knows when it is time to lead and when it is time to follow. Their list of defining characteristics include: honest, competent, inspiring, positive, and forward-looking. Being honest means telling the truth and having ethical principles and clear standards by which you live. Being honest and competent will provide the credibility that is needed to move people and not just mandates. Inspirational and positive leaders inspire positive and intentional change. They develop a sustainable culture where students, parents, and staff contribute to the overall morale. Schools and their systems have evolved requiring administrators to acquire additional lenses. Today, educational leaders must think as business owners offering a world-class learning experience to every student and their parent(s). Being forward-looking means having a sense of direction and a concern for the future of the organization.
Growth Mindset
Brain-based research informs us that our brain changes, adapts, and rewires itself throughout our entire life. We need to teach kids that it works both ways. Neuroplasticity works both ways, it creates new connections and eliminates connections that are not used very often. Intelligence is malleable and can be improved with effort and encouragement. If we teach children to push beyond their comfort zone and learn something new, the neurons in their brain will make new and stronger connections which is how we learn. With effort, motivation, perseverance, and the right menu of teaching strategies all students can achieve great things.
Creating Collaborative Learning Cultures
A place where our group’s collective thinking as well each individual’s thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted. Where we welcome our students, staff, and parents into an intentionally designed culture of achievement where students and adults act according to ethical standards. Where students learn behavior as they would learn how to solve a math problem. A culture where our language builds others’ sense of agency and identity and leverages errors and mistakes to strengthen the learning process.
PBL
Project Based Learning is a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning important knowledge and 21st century skills through an extended, student-influenced inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and learning tasks. PBL changed the way I architect lesson plans shifting the focusing on “The Doing” of learning!
Social Justice
Making sure every child has the resources, attention, and love that they need to achieve success. Fair is not getting the same, it's getting what you need. High academic expectations without caring relationships is cruelty. Caring relationships without high academic expectations is racism. We must find that balance. Restorative Practice suggests that we are restoring a relationship that was already established. Relationships are the key to helping kids and adults learn.
Professional Development
The path to school improvement is professional learning, which is a permanent and conceptual change in thinking or behavior. If we acquire new learning and change the way we think and practice in the classroom, we will impact learning, engage students, and improve academic achievement.
Technology
Technology has always been key in advancing education, whether it was the chalkboard, pencil, iPad, or the internet. To meet the demands of our employers today and best serve the needs of our students, we have embedded technology into every aspect of a child's learning experience. Technology makes it possible to extend learning beyond brick and mortar walls as well give immediate and descriptive feedback to students, parents, and others who are supporting the student. Technology allows educators to customize instruction based on learning profiles and for students to personalize their learning experience. Technology bridges the gap for those with learning disabilities and/or who may need additional resources while working independently or during collaborative group work.
Grading and Homework
Purpose of grading/grades
The Purpose of grading is to provide students with descriptive, constructive, and immediate feedback to help teachers, parents, and students make an informed decision on their progress and where they must go next. We can learn without grades, however, we can’t learn without descriptive feedback. Grades are simply communication from teachers to both students and parents of what students know and can do. They are NOT a form of compensation and should not be used as a bargaining chip to accomplish the teachers directive.
Averaging Grades
In the real world, we don’t average our high stakes test scores. Can you imagine if we averaged our SAT, ACT, Bar Exam, and driving dest? Good thing we don’t. Over a period of three months, students can grow and develop their understanding of concepts. Why would we want to consider scores the student received while still in the introductory stage of learning a concept? If we must use a central measure of tendency, then we should focus on the mode. The mode will provide a much more accurate picture of the student’s level of understanding. The mode eliminates outliers such as ‘Zeros’ which could create inaccuracies.
Extra Credit
Extra Credit is not necessary and has been traditionally used as a way to boost grades by awarding those who already understand the material and by compensating those students who do not. If we must have Extra Credit, then it should be designed for everyone to extend their learning.
Student Self Assessment
Students need immediate feedback and the opportunity to reflect on the work they completed as well as the work they did not complete. Student self assessment is the key to student motivation, higher academic achievement, engagement, and learning. It guides students to better understand their thinking or actions.
Re-doing Work
Students should be allowed to redo their work as well as their assessments. If we take the time to create and teach authentic real-world lessons, we should follow real world rules such as the ability to redo high stakes testing (SAT, ACT), college entrance exams, the bar exam, driving test, and employer projects/tasks. Summative assessment should be treated as formative assessment allowing students immediate feedback and the opportunity to retake until mastery is reached, indicated by receiving a predetermined satisfactory score. Regardless of how many times the student needs to redo the work, in the end…they are to receive full credit.
Dealing with Late Work
In the real world, people often miss deadlines, i.e. employers, teachers, and yes, even, Washington. Why are we so rigid on children? One thing we learned about children is that they are all at different levels of learning with various learning styles. No one believes children learn at the same pace, but yet, we expect them to. If we do not except late work from students, we are telling them that the work was not that important to begin with and that they do not need to understand it to move on. Yes, we must except late work without any penalty.
Purpose of Homework
Homework is designed to sharpen skills and practice concepts that students learned in class. It should look differently for students as they vary academically. Students should not be struggling at home fighting with parents about homework they cannot complete due to a lack of understanding.
Grading Homework
More efficient, effective, and purposeful grading is key. We need less emphasis on low rigor assignments and a greater focus on fewer yet higher rigorous performance tasks. Homework is designed to help students practice. Although it is not important to grade it, it is important to check for understanding and provide feedback. Practice makes Permanent! If the student is practicing a skill incorrectly, then he or she will have a much more difficult time to correct that behavior later on. If we must grade homework, we must give it a distinct grade, without weighing it with other grades targeting mastery.
Purpose of grading/grades
The Purpose of grading is to provide students with descriptive, constructive, and immediate feedback to help teachers, parents, and students make an informed decision on their progress and where they must go next. We can learn without grades, however, we can’t learn without descriptive feedback. Grades are simply communication from teachers to both students and parents of what students know and can do. They are NOT a form of compensation and should not be used as a bargaining chip to accomplish the teachers directive.
Averaging Grades
In the real world, we don’t average our high stakes test scores. Can you imagine if we averaged our SAT, ACT, Bar Exam, and driving dest? Good thing we don’t. Over a period of three months, students can grow and develop their understanding of concepts. Why would we want to consider scores the student received while still in the introductory stage of learning a concept? If we must use a central measure of tendency, then we should focus on the mode. The mode will provide a much more accurate picture of the student’s level of understanding. The mode eliminates outliers such as ‘Zeros’ which could create inaccuracies.
Extra Credit
Extra Credit is not necessary and has been traditionally used as a way to boost grades by awarding those who already understand the material and by compensating those students who do not. If we must have Extra Credit, then it should be designed for everyone to extend their learning.
Student Self Assessment
Students need immediate feedback and the opportunity to reflect on the work they completed as well as the work they did not complete. Student self assessment is the key to student motivation, higher academic achievement, engagement, and learning. It guides students to better understand their thinking or actions.
Re-doing Work
Students should be allowed to redo their work as well as their assessments. If we take the time to create and teach authentic real-world lessons, we should follow real world rules such as the ability to redo high stakes testing (SAT, ACT), college entrance exams, the bar exam, driving test, and employer projects/tasks. Summative assessment should be treated as formative assessment allowing students immediate feedback and the opportunity to retake until mastery is reached, indicated by receiving a predetermined satisfactory score. Regardless of how many times the student needs to redo the work, in the end…they are to receive full credit.
Dealing with Late Work
In the real world, people often miss deadlines, i.e. employers, teachers, and yes, even, Washington. Why are we so rigid on children? One thing we learned about children is that they are all at different levels of learning with various learning styles. No one believes children learn at the same pace, but yet, we expect them to. If we do not except late work from students, we are telling them that the work was not that important to begin with and that they do not need to understand it to move on. Yes, we must except late work without any penalty.
Purpose of Homework
Homework is designed to sharpen skills and practice concepts that students learned in class. It should look differently for students as they vary academically. Students should not be struggling at home fighting with parents about homework they cannot complete due to a lack of understanding.
Grading Homework
More efficient, effective, and purposeful grading is key. We need less emphasis on low rigor assignments and a greater focus on fewer yet higher rigorous performance tasks. Homework is designed to help students practice. Although it is not important to grade it, it is important to check for understanding and provide feedback. Practice makes Permanent! If the student is practicing a skill incorrectly, then he or she will have a much more difficult time to correct that behavior later on. If we must grade homework, we must give it a distinct grade, without weighing it with other grades targeting mastery.
