A. School Vision, Mission and Strategic Goals: The school’s identity, in part, is derived from the vision, mission, values, belief and goals of the school, the processes used to establish these attributes, and the ways they are embodied in the life of the school community.
Establishing the Vision with Students: As the administrator over the seventh grade, I had the opportunity to set the vision with students and align their work as students to the mission of the school. I spent the first two weeks of the school year teaching cultural lessons to the entire grade level around their theme for the year to shatter paradigms. The series of lessons started by having students reflect on current graduation rates for students in their county. Students then compared these statistics to the mission of Henderson Collegiate and the greatness they are driving toward by attending this school. Collectively as a grade level, students created a future vision for themselves and aligned this vision to the work they need to do everyday in school. Students then explored the different ways they could shatter paradigms of what is expected of a typical teenager. |
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Communicating the Vision to the Community:
As the grade level chair for the seventh grade, I had the opportunity to work with the seventh grade teachers to create a vision and script for our students to perform at Parent Pride Night. Parent Pride Night is an annual performance where students perform songs, skits, and spoken word showcasing the mission of the school and portraying the vision students have for themselves and their future. Our students looked into the future to their ten year reunion and showcased the vision they had for themselves as community change agents.
As the grade level chair for the seventh grade, I had the opportunity to work with the seventh grade teachers to create a vision and script for our students to perform at Parent Pride Night. Parent Pride Night is an annual performance where students perform songs, skits, and spoken word showcasing the mission of the school and portraying the vision students have for themselves and their future. Our students looked into the future to their ten year reunion and showcased the vision they had for themselves as community change agents.
Establishing Strategic Goals:
I had the opportunity to work with leaders throughout Henderson Collegiate's network to bring strategic goals to life to ensure the mission and vision of Henderson Collegiate is living in all areas of each school in the network. Throughout the year, four different inspections occurred for the elementary, middle, and high school. Inspection topics included student culture, rigor, operations, and staff culture. I served on the inspection team for one inspection for each category and was a part of the strategic planning for the results of all inspections for the middle school. During each inspection, a team of leaders from across the network convened and performed observations and interviews through the lens of the specific inspection topic. Based on what was observed and heard, the inspection team created a list of accolades for the school, quick fixes and big rocks for the school to tackle to help the school further reach the mission and vision for the network. Each school then took the results of the inspection and turned the big rocks into a strategic plan for the next nine weeks of the school year.
I had the opportunity to work with leaders throughout Henderson Collegiate's network to bring strategic goals to life to ensure the mission and vision of Henderson Collegiate is living in all areas of each school in the network. Throughout the year, four different inspections occurred for the elementary, middle, and high school. Inspection topics included student culture, rigor, operations, and staff culture. I served on the inspection team for one inspection for each category and was a part of the strategic planning for the results of all inspections for the middle school. During each inspection, a team of leaders from across the network convened and performed observations and interviews through the lens of the specific inspection topic. Based on what was observed and heard, the inspection team created a list of accolades for the school, quick fixes and big rocks for the school to tackle to help the school further reach the mission and vision for the network. Each school then took the results of the inspection and turned the big rocks into a strategic plan for the next nine weeks of the school year.
B. Leading Change: The school executive articulates a vision and implementation strategies for improvements and changes which result in improved achievement for all students.
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Co-creating the Vision with Teachers: As the grade level chair for the seventh grade, I had many opportunities throughout the year to work with my team to set the vision for the seventh grade. As a team, we determined strategies that would work best for us a team and for our students. We frequently revisited this vision throughout the year to problem solve issues or gaps that occurred. |
Implementing Strategies for Change with Teachers: On the instructional side, I was able to work with teachers during weekly data meetings to analyze student work, identify gaps in student understanding of the standard, and create a strategic plan close the gap in the classroom. I completed this process weekly with teachers throughout the school year, leading to increased student mastery of the standards. Throughout the year, teachers learned how to do this process on their own, which allowed them to apply the skills we practiced in the moment during class to close gaps for students that arose within a class period. It was a powerful experience for me to observe the transfer of learning from my perspective as a coach, to the teacher, and then all the way down to students. |
C. School Improvement Plan: The school improvement plan provides the structure for the vision. Values, goals and changes necessary for improved achievement for all students
Establishing and Maintaining the School Improvement Plan: Above I outlined the inspection process that Henderson Collegiate completes several times throughout the year to diagnose areas of growth for individual schools. After each inspection, the school leadership team develops as response plan based on the results of each inspection. Quarterly, the leadership team also develops a nine week win plan for the upcoming quarter to help ensure the school reaches their end of year goals. As a part of the leadership team, I participated in both establishing the vision and action steps of the plan and executing the action steps of plan through my role as both a grade level chair and an instructional coach. |
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D. Distributive leadership: The school executive creates and utilizes processes to distribute leadership and decision making throughout the school.
Distributing Leadership To Teachers:
As a grade level lead, I was able to practice distributive leadership among the teachers on our grade level team. Throughout the year, we have various team tasks and team events where I empowered different teachers to step up and own different roles and parts in these events. The artifacts provided show a team agenda where task ownership was distributed, as well as the details for a trip where teachers were assigned different roles to complete and lead for the event.
As a grade level lead, I was able to practice distributive leadership among the teachers on our grade level team. Throughout the year, we have various team tasks and team events where I empowered different teachers to step up and own different roles and parts in these events. The artifacts provided show a team agenda where task ownership was distributed, as well as the details for a trip where teachers were assigned different roles to complete and lead for the event.
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