Innovation – Construction update – August 1st!

“Dreamers are mocked as impractical. The truth is they are the most practical, as their innovations lead to progress and a better way of life for all of us.”
– Robin S. Sharma

INNOVATION – that is the key word for this upcoming school year! Innovation through relationships, innovation through construction (as shown in the gallery of pictures attached to this post), innovation through innovative learning, innovation through our motto: ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER!

As we’ve shared in our blogs this summer, the leadership team in DPS109 is truly inspired and we gain a ton from our Board of Education’s vision and support, as well as the vision and support of our community. We also gain a ton from our innovative professional learning communities (PLC) and professional learning networks (PLN). Twitter is a huge source of pride, sharing, learning, connecting, and growth and innovation for our District. Anytime you are interested in discovering what we are up to, check out our District’s Hashtag on Twitter, #Engage109.

Through our local, regional, statewide, national, and international communications and contacts, our leaders (teachers, administrators, staff members, board members, parents, students, community members) LEARN and GROW through the connectedness of today’s reality … we live in a digital information age and we live in a digital information age. It’s revolutionary and transformative to live and work in an era of such growth and of such wonderment. Truly I wish for all of our stakeholders to leverage the power of the world resources at our fingertips in support of education, economic growth, and one day – world peace – that would be truly innovative!

Here in DPS109 I have shared many photos of work in progress at our school and district sites. This summer we have completed what many might have called un reasonable … this summer, under the able direction of our amazing Steve Kenesie (Director of Buildings & Grounds) we have accomplished a ton in support of our innovative teaching and learning. Now … since it’s August 1st and administrators like me tend to get a bit nervous about opening school … I have to acknowledge that we are not complete yet … but as you will see … thanks to Steve and the many crews, we are making PROGRESS and our aim will be realized – that aim is to open on time!

Of course I express appreciation and amazement! Of course I explain that our teachers at the affected schools will be inconvenienced this year in that they cannot prepare their classrooms and learning spaces in advance of the student arrival. Of course I support our principals (school “CEO”) in getting their respective school year off to a great start!

We will innovate PK-8 in all classrooms in all areas this year with respect to our Big 5:
1. Common Core State Standards – combining training, “maps”, the 1:1 transformative learning environment and subscriptions to multiple high quality services – we are ready for the Core!

2. Teacher evaluation – we believe in coaching, guiding, supporting, and growing all of our stakeholders, students, staff, faculty, administration, etc. We use an evaluation system based upon the Danielson Frameworks – we are ready for accountability and excellence!

3. Technology – 1:1 here we come! It will mean increased student engagement and increased student creativity, it might mean increased student achievement … we’ll measure for that! It will mean changed instructional practices – it’s our FIRST year at this – we’ll celebrate teacher risk-taking and experimentation – through failure and struggle will come success and transformation. We are ready for innovation!

4. Organizational Culture – we will re-administer an internal Culture survey on the first day of teacher work, we will administer a climate survey to all stakeholders, teachers, parents, students, those involved in our special education programming, we will survey and collect data on the impacts of the 1:1 programming, we will institute Let’s Talk! We are ready to listen, learn, plan, do, study, act, and improve – continuous improvement is our way!

5. Superintendent’s Task Force for Middle Level Education – we have implementing to do in many areas (science curriculum, instruction, facilities, exploratories: STEM & CMA, science “seminar for all” concept, study of world language programming and materials, fine arts and social emotional study and interventions). We are stepping up our game on every level!

Happy August 1st – we start back in a few weeks … please check out the photos in the gallery to see how construction progress is supporting our innovation.

Construction at Kipling School including new LED lighting

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Look at the new exploratory rooms (STEM lab/CMA lab) and science labs (still in progress)

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