So what do you guys do all summer?
While no one has actually come right out and asked me this question. However, I can tell at times it’s on people’s minds. First off, Mr. Withers and his custodial staff work harder than everyone else over the summer. Period. They empty every classroom, clean, strip, wax and polish every inch of the floors in this building. They are also cleaning walls, bathrooms, you name it. It’s a thankless job. But Wes and his team do an outstanding job. It really looks like a million bucks when they are done.
Scheduling…This is the one everyone is asking about. Before I go any farther let me build some context here. This coming school year we will be focused on teaching and learning to a degree we have never been before. It all begins with finding time for true teacher collaboration. This coming school year core content (math, science, social studies, and language arts) teachers will have common planning by grade level. What does that mean? Well it means all 9th grade teachers in those areas will have planning together during the school day to collaborate. The same is true for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade teachers. Collaboration within their department AND collaboration within their grade level. Just to put this in context, most high schools don’t have this. All high schools wish they did. This type of redesign takes some time to pull off. Now the schedule is set. It is a reality for next year. However, we need to go student by student and check schedules for holes (missing classes) and other weird things that might have occurred during this process. I admit PowerSchool is a huge step forward for master schedule design but it is far from maintenance free. We still have work to do. As we start the “fixing” process, we begin with seniors and work backwards. All schedules are important. However, seniors need to graduate so we make darn sure they have everything they need. We, who am I kidding, it’s Ms. Shackleford-Robinson and the counselors, who are going student by student, schedule by schedule. Until this is done we don’t let kids see their schedule. It would be irresponsible of us to release schedules that are complete.
Opening of school…Right now I am working a few things at once. One of the biggest is putting together a framework for school-wide professional development for next year. Teachers are helping with this as well. I don’t want to go into too much detail because we haven’t had a chance to announce things to the whole staff yet. I will say this. At the end of last year the school leadership team (admins, dept chairs, and other school leaders) engaged in a day long retreat. We reviewed key data from the year and collaborated on a series of focus areas for next year. That’s where we begin. This is my favorite work. I love teaching. I love design of instruction. This work is ultimately for the students but it begins with teaching teachers. I can brag enough about the quality of teacher we have here at level in the career cycle. Many are taking an active role in designing school wide teacher PD.
Staff hiring…This is another area right now that is taking some time. Every school has a certain amount of attrition. It’s natural. Ms Caldwell, our AP calculus teacher is moving and has resigned. Mr. Brust will be taking the reigns as our new AP calculus teacher. He and I met yesterday morning. I couldn’t be more excited for this. Parents and student who don’t know Mr. Brust are going to love his energy and commitment to student achievement. Ms. Garlock is also moving so we have and Earth & Environmental teaching position to fill as well. Math and science are sometime hard positions to fill. The current NC teacher salary issues aren’t making it any easier. Good Luck to Ms. Caldwell and Ms. Garlock. We wish you continued success.
Before I forget, please join me and welcoming Ms. Teague! She is or new Counselor here at Hopewell. Kelly comes with a wealth of knowledge about HS scheduling and working with high school students. We are so very lucky to have her.
If you have any specific questions about what’s going on please don’t hesitate to send me an email. [email protected]
While no one has actually come right out and asked me this question. However, I can tell at times it’s on people’s minds. First off, Mr. Withers and his custodial staff work harder than everyone else over the summer. Period. They empty every classroom, clean, strip, wax and polish every inch of the floors in this building. They are also cleaning walls, bathrooms, you name it. It’s a thankless job. But Wes and his team do an outstanding job. It really looks like a million bucks when they are done.
Scheduling…This is the one everyone is asking about. Before I go any farther let me build some context here. This coming school year we will be focused on teaching and learning to a degree we have never been before. It all begins with finding time for true teacher collaboration. This coming school year core content (math, science, social studies, and language arts) teachers will have common planning by grade level. What does that mean? Well it means all 9th grade teachers in those areas will have planning together during the school day to collaborate. The same is true for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade teachers. Collaboration within their department AND collaboration within their grade level. Just to put this in context, most high schools don’t have this. All high schools wish they did. This type of redesign takes some time to pull off. Now the schedule is set. It is a reality for next year. However, we need to go student by student and check schedules for holes (missing classes) and other weird things that might have occurred during this process. I admit PowerSchool is a huge step forward for master schedule design but it is far from maintenance free. We still have work to do. As we start the “fixing” process, we begin with seniors and work backwards. All schedules are important. However, seniors need to graduate so we make darn sure they have everything they need. We, who am I kidding, it’s Ms. Shackleford-Robinson and the counselors, who are going student by student, schedule by schedule. Until this is done we don’t let kids see their schedule. It would be irresponsible of us to release schedules that are complete.
Opening of school…Right now I am working a few things at once. One of the biggest is putting together a framework for school-wide professional development for next year. Teachers are helping with this as well. I don’t want to go into too much detail because we haven’t had a chance to announce things to the whole staff yet. I will say this. At the end of last year the school leadership team (admins, dept chairs, and other school leaders) engaged in a day long retreat. We reviewed key data from the year and collaborated on a series of focus areas for next year. That’s where we begin. This is my favorite work. I love teaching. I love design of instruction. This work is ultimately for the students but it begins with teaching teachers. I can brag enough about the quality of teacher we have here at level in the career cycle. Many are taking an active role in designing school wide teacher PD.
Staff hiring…This is another area right now that is taking some time. Every school has a certain amount of attrition. It’s natural. Ms Caldwell, our AP calculus teacher is moving and has resigned. Mr. Brust will be taking the reigns as our new AP calculus teacher. He and I met yesterday morning. I couldn’t be more excited for this. Parents and student who don’t know Mr. Brust are going to love his energy and commitment to student achievement. Ms. Garlock is also moving so we have and Earth & Environmental teaching position to fill as well. Math and science are sometime hard positions to fill. The current NC teacher salary issues aren’t making it any easier. Good Luck to Ms. Caldwell and Ms. Garlock. We wish you continued success.
Before I forget, please join me and welcoming Ms. Teague! She is or new Counselor here at Hopewell. Kelly comes with a wealth of knowledge about HS scheduling and working with high school students. We are so very lucky to have her.
If you have any specific questions about what’s going on please don’t hesitate to send me an email. [email protected]