Are you a contributor in your school? What do you do to increase the good work possible?
In most schools, most educators are wonderful contributors. There's a limitless list of what we can do to make schools better, and while no one can do it all, everyone can do somethings to increase a school's capacity and good work.
As one who loves to dream and think about this potential, I have to be careful not to overcommit and then not be able to live up to the contributions I hope to focus on.
So, now and then, I have to purposely focus on what I have chosen to do.
Animation
Thanks to the inspiration of a brilliant student, our team is exploring ways to add animation skill and understanding to our fifth grade curriculum. This is a great creative composition addition that fits the interests, age, and needs of our fifth grade students.
Climate Change Projects
While challenging, our commitment to environmental education is an important part of our fifth grade program. This effort requires good work, time, and collaboration. We've made this commitment, and now it's essential that we give it the good time it deserves as we know these efforts will positively impact our students' lives and learning today and into the future.
Math Program
We have a dedicated team committed to this program. We have a good foundation and now it's all about building the program in ways that translates to positive and engaging success for every student. The work involved in this includes good daily teaching, focused meetings, professional learning, and making sure we give the program the time it needs with regard to success.
Union Efforts
To work collaboratively with our dedicated and diverse local union group to forward the best possible support for educators is the aim here. That requires a good level of respect, listening, reading, reflection, and collaboration.
Student Progress Reports, Portfolios, and Family-Student Conferences
Soon our team will focus on these efforts again--critical efforts with regard to creating opportunities for student success.
Science Teaching
We have everything we need to teach a top notch standards-based science program. The greatest challenge here is making the time to do this well. This is an issue I'll be thinking a lot about as I plan the next few months of teaching and learning.
Teamwork
We have an awesome grade-level team of multiple education professionals. I want to do everything I can to contribute to this team with positivity and support. This is a key feature of our ability to forward a positive teaching/learning program for students, and a feature that I am so grateful for.
This is a full and good list of contributions to focus on. Of course, there are many, many more possible paths, but for now this is where I have my sights set. Let me know if I've missed a critical point or focus.
