Memories that last!

This past Monday, I was walking my colleague, Eric, through the halls of HHS, discussing plans that had been made for various teachers. As we walked around Eric was warmly greeted by so many former students. Every single one of them stood in disbelief that he was walking around their high school and you could see many fond memories of being in his middle school class come rushing back to these kids. Their smiles were as big as his, and my heart was happy!

That connection that we have with our students is truly what makes a difference in their lives. Students might not remember all of the content that we teach, or ever know about the hours that we pour into making our lessons the best they can be. But they certainly remember how they felt in our class every day.

I am blessed to work with such an amazing Digital Learning team. I am looking forward to reconnecting with some more of my own former students and learning about the great things they have accomplished thus far!

Shrink the Change!

In the Don Johnston Snap and Read training today, we talked about how difficult change can be for people. We watched a video that totally resonated with me. It talked about "shrinking the change". Dan Heath gives an example about cleaning the house and talked about taking a 5 minute timer to the worst room in the house and pick up as much as possible in the 5 minutes. The reality is once you start with cleaning, you probably won't stop when the timer goes off. The hardest part is not continuing but rather getting the motivation to get started.

I'm looking forward to the opportunities Snap and Read will bring our students and teachers. The list is growing!!

Instructional Coaching Philosophy

Today at our meeting we were asked to write about our Instructional Coaching Philosophy. I believe that learning is a mindset. I really connected with Carol Dweck's work on Mindsets and the ability of the brain to grow itself. I think that people have a certain confidence level about their abilities when it comes to learning, and that can either help or hinder growth in that area.

As a volleyball coach, we practice the skills we need to be successful, use video to see how we are performing, and then adjust our plans based on the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents. I see Instructional Coaching to be very similar. We start with the needs of the students in the classroom, incorporate different strategies to help students learn, and then adjust our plans based on the needs.

As Instructional Coaches, I truly believe we need to walk the walk. If we expect teachers to be using technology in the classroom, then we need to be using that same technology in our presentations. If we want teachers to be incorporating small groups and differentiating for the various levels of knowledge in the classroom, then we need to be doing the same in our training as well.