Life is busy. Too often it flies by at a pace that unless I have intentional time to sit and think about the good in my life, goodness is not always apparent. I appreciate Ruth Ayres hosting a weekly challenge that encourages a mindset of celebration.
This week, I am celebrating:
An Collaboration Grant All Teams Meeting on Monday that yielded strong conversations around next steps to take as my district develops and works to sustain a collaborative culture around professional development, evaluation, career pathways, and compensation. There's ongoing conversations that are uncomfortable but we need this disequilibrium in order to move forward.
I observed and/or had a 1 to 1 conversation with all 13 of the teachers that I mentor. :o)
I co-facilitated a kick-off event for a group of teacher leaders who are leading their schools through some calibration activities related to our Charlotte Danielson evaluation system. The structure is flexible and some teachers have already provided feedback about ways to improve the calibration activities for next school year.
I spent most of Thursday observing data team meetings at one of the schools where I have a large number of mentees. I appreciated observing the dynamics amongst the team members (which included classroom teachers, Title I, Special Education, and the Principal). I saw some real strengths in the teachers I support and made note of some things that I want to follow up on in terms of the types of data used to make instructional decisions. I was most excited to observe the principal, who is a first year principal, ask questions around classroom based formative assessment versus placing so much emphasis on data from state assessments which are summative results.
My sister arrived on Friday. We haven't had a visit from her in many months so it's been fun having her here.
My sister offered to hang with Maddie so Mark and I could go out for Valentines Day. We opted to stay home - we could not imagine spending Valentines Day without her. It's amazing how different and wonderful our life is now with her in it.
The fact that I am "back in business" with blogging is reason to celebrate.
Wow! You did (and noticed) MANY great things this week! I enjoyed reading about your week at school and home!
ReplyDeleteSister relationships can offer so much. I'm glad you are having time with her. I'm far from my sister and only see her about once a year and sometimes not that so I appreciate the time we have together.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your district is doing the hard work about evaluation systems and how to use data to inform instructional decisions. Yeah for you guys!
ReplyDeleteAnd a visit from your sister - definitely a reason to celebrate. It's been over a year since I've seen either of my sisters. Can't wait to get together soon.