Reflection #12

The last 2 weeks have flown by. I was able to watch both Millville and Cedar Creek play for football sectional titles, complete 23 "desk audit" observations, and continue to see what makes the Creek such a great place to work.

It was cool to see both schools I have worked at be in the finals, even though one of them came up a little short. At that level, with so much talent on each side, it came down to turnovers in both games. Millville won the turnover battle and Creek lost it that day. All 4 teams played hard and had amazing support from their fans which created a fun environment. I was able to see a lot of my friends from my old job after the game on Saturday night and it was great to catch up with them.

The idea of a "desk audit" was new to me upon starting at Creek, but I think it is a great idea. It allows for the regular classroom observation conferences to focus on teaching and learning without having to focus on the managerial side of things too much. I focused this year's desk audits on lesson plans, web sites, gradebook, and parent contact. Although we talked about all of these things in each meeting, the best conversations centered around gradebook alignment.

I feel strongly that students that take the same course at the same school should be assessed in the same way. I also feel that teachers need to be given the freedom to run their class and construct their lessons in a way that is best suited to their personality and skill set. I don't expect, nor do I want to walk into two different classrooms with two different teachers covering the same standard and see the exact same lesson. The ability to find different ways to reach different students is what makes great teachers great. I think that teachers of the same course should assess the same way. They should discuss at what points they are going to give summative assessments and what weight they are going to give those assessments. If they want to use the same assessment, that's great. If they want to use different assessments, then they need to agree on the standards covered on that assessment. The best part about these conversations was that almost every teacher was completely on board with this idea. There were some concerns about time that I agree with, but it's my job to make this easier. My goal is to have everything ironed out for the start of next school year. I am looking at several options involving some changes to how we utilize the classrooms and how we assign preps to the different teachers. I am extremely optimistic that we will start next year with an assessment plan in place and a schedule that supports it.

Finally, I continue to be amazed at the environment where I work. I was at the Students of the Month lunch, where students and their parents are recognized for doing something special in school, usually not academic related. It was awesome to hear the positive things the students and their parents had to say about the Creek. I think in most schools, a lot of students go through without really feeling a sense of belonging. I don't think that's the case at Cedar Creek. Even though I'm new, I feel like I'm already part of the family and I think new staff and students feel the same way pretty quickly too. Parker sums it up pretty well when he says, "Like all families, we have our problems, but we get through them and we're better off from it. We are a family here at Cedar Creek." (That's not a direct quote, but a pretty good paraphrase.)