Communication is Essential – Leadership in #ENGAGE109

“In union there is strength.”
– Aesop

I’m proud to share via the blog a recent Journal article I co-wrote with Dr. Brian Bullis and Dr. John Fillipi, principals at Charles J. Caruso Middle School and Alan B. Shepard Middle School, respectively, in Deerfield Public Schools District 109.

We have focused on organizational culture as a core foundation of our leadership and service.

Please click the image below to link to the article (also linked here)

Our article starts on Page 44
Our article starts on Page 44

 

We seek input on a regular basis through various modes of collection, including, but not limited to:

Innovation Has Many Forms – #ENGAGE109

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself less.”
– C.S. Lewis

IL In our school district we take pride in the words and actions ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER. We aim to do this each and every day with and for each and every student, staff member, and the community! Since July 2013 our Big 5 have been driving our actions and initiatives:

Common Core State Standards (a/k/a Illinois New Learning Standards), Next Generation Science Standards
Teacher Evaluation – Charlotte Danielson Frameworks for Effective Teaching
Technology
Organizational Culture
Superintendent’s Task Force for Middle Level Education

ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER
ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER

We often write about innovation and we often share examples of the teacher’s innovative practices in blogs, Twitter, Facebook, principal newsletters, emails from the district, in person events, etc. Today I’m writing to celebrate an innovative project experience from 7th grade English Language Arts. In the 7th grade ELA class this year the students had to complete a project entitled:  Change the World. One of our students sent a letter to the Illinois Department of Homeland Security. The boy’s letter was so impressive to the staff that the Deputy Director, James Joseph, called principal, Dr. John Filippi, and he shared his delight at the letter. In addition he offered to come visit the student and his classmates!

IMG_0039 IMG_0035 IMG_0034 IMG_0028 (1)

Today Mr. James Joseph, the Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and Deputy Homeland Security Advisor came to Alan B. Shepard Middle School and visited with the student, his classmates and teachers.

In addition he made a brief presentation and answered questions from the students. In the pictures shown to the left we also show another special guest, retired Major General Robert G.F. “Bob” Lee. Gen. Lee was visiting the Governor’s office and it fit into his schedule to join Director Joseph. Gen. Lee shared information about his fascinating service to our country as well as to his home state of Hawaii. Security is a national concern and it’s nice to know we have such able, knowledgeable, talented and able leaders helping defend our nation and our state.

The power of a letter, the power of a communication, the power of an inquisitive student can lead to the highest levels of government, society, agencies, companies, etc. Our amazing teachers are taking learning to new levels with engagement, inspiring lessons and empowerment of students to reach out to “real people” in the world who do the work about which we are learning!

Check the podcast for a 5 minute excerpt of today’s visit:

In Deerfield we truly believe, and we teach our students, that, in the words of Margaret Mead:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

Our students, through agency and voice, are learning that they matter not only in school and at home, but as part of the larger world. It’s wonderful, especially as a public school leader, to show the power ofittakesavillage education and the value of our innovative public education in terms of meaning and relevance.

We are grateful to General Lee, Director Joseph, as well as other dignitaries who have visited our schools like Governor Bruce Rauner, U.S. Congressman Hon. Robert Dold, Illinois Senator Hon. Julie Morrison, Illinois Representative Hon. Scott Drury, Lake County Regional Superintendent of Schools Hon. Roycealee Wood, Deerfield Mayor Hon. Harriet Rosenthal, and many others who visit to engage with students, learn from our teachers, interact with our world class facilities, and in one way or another, show support for meaningful, effective public education!

March Notes – From Staff Newsletter – #Engage109

“Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart. ”
– Ancient Indian Proverb

 

Each month we share a newsletter for staff and I open it with some news, views, and information. I’m sharing an excerpt of my portion in the blog today:

As we approach spring it’s exciting to think about how fantastic it is to work in District 109 – and I’ve recently done some really fun work that has allowed me to see, firsthand, the sharing of learning and teaching across the district. In December, I shadowed a 4th grade South-Parkstudent in Samantha Johnson’s class at Walden, and in February, I was honored to teach Emily Wallace’s first graders at South Park as my “Presence is Present” gift. I loved being a teacher again – and I think the students were happy to have me; at least their notes expressed their appreciation! Across the nation there is a movement and news called “Shadow a Student Day” – I’m thrilled to be part of this in Deerfield. I’m so proud of my administrative colleagues who are also shadowing students, substitute teaching, and walking a mile in the shoes of employees!

bad59220-e2f2-4066-93db-3ae2f394b2b6We like to share the great things that are happening in our schools with other educational professionals worldwide.

Many of you use #engage109 and your school hashtags to share your stories with the Twitter world. It’s fun to see the photos and stories scrolling on the District home page, and the school pages! Many of our administrators also write articles and present at conferences about our schools and our work.  I’m proud to share an article that Greg Himebaugh and I wrote for UPDATE magazine, a publication of the Illinois Association of School Business Officials. The article shares how we’ve managed change in District 109 for the benefit of our schools, our students, and our community. Next week, Caruso will host the Illinois Association of School Boards Lake County Division Dinner; board members, superintendents and other educational professionals from all over the county will come for tours of Caruso’s science, STEM and CMA labs, and will hear from District 109 band, orchestra and chorus students. It will be a full-STEAM evening! Thanks to the staff members who are helping us show off!

As I mention often, this is one source of what’s happening in District 109; you can get more information from Board Briefs, found on the Board of Education Meeting Information page of the website, and feel free to check my blog for periodic postings about leadership, education, and District news.

Thank you for continuing your excellence and dedication to the students in the District and for your efforts to engage, inspire, and empower students, families, the community, and each other every day.

ALL Students Every Day – #Engage109

“In teaching others, we teach ourselves.”
– Proverb 


CSWju_OUsAAJMue

 As a teacher, an advocate, and a supporter of public education, I often think about creating systems and structures that allow our students to reap the benefits of “being in the right place at the right time.” I believe the only way to do that is to ensure that the right place and time is our own classrooms. As I have written often, we educators only have a single school year to make the best possible impact on our students. Students only have one chance to be in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, etc. This means we have just 180 days per year to facilitate learning in the most meaningful way possible. We don’t get do overs – we have tremendous power over our students’ lives, and we have tremendous responsibility to ensure that they are in the right place at the right time, set up to achieve success.

Meeting individual students’ needs is an often-elusive goal for American educators. For as long as I can remember, we’ve been learning about and promoting “differentiated instruction,” or providing different students with varied approaches to learning. Certainly a lofty goal, but our industrial-era school system was designed for groups, not individuals. Consider the classroom design of the typical schoolroom: rows of desks all pointed toward the front of the room. Group instruction is based on rigid CScRi5IWsAAIIv8and fixed schedules regulated by bells, mass movement of large groups of students, standardization of assessments and “batch” organization of students. That model served us well from the 1800’s through the 1900’s.

Times are changing. Scores of research reports inform us about more effective ways to facilitate learning, and the buzz around differentiation is growing. Educators and school systems are more interested in how to incorporate differentiation into their approach. The good news is that information on how to differentiate is all around us. Studies focusing on everything from neuroscience to instructional practices inform us of the need to change and the ability to do so.

Early in my career, I published an article that touched on the subject, sharing this story:

With U.S. History Workshop, I was able to teach traditional units of instruction more effectively than before. For example, most U.S. history teachers are familiar with the Civil War and Reconstruction period (roughly 1850-1880). For this and every unit taught with the workshop, I taught the students to view social studies and history as human experiences. This unit, like the others, separates history into five core areas or themes: Civil Rights, Women in History, Science & Technology, Politics, and War & Conflict. I identified key ideas, concepts and so on for each area and allowed student teams to explore these key concepts rather than the whole concept of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Instead of teaching this unit as one big complication, I presented it as one big puzzle–each of the concepts or ideas from each of the areas was like a piece of a puzzle. The challenge for the students was to piece together the puzzle independently, cooperatively, and with direction from the teacher. (Page 11)
I share this experience to provide a conceptual background to passion for meeting students where they are. Fast forward to 2015, and in our classrooms we have differentiation, individualization, and personalization in the mix of instructional improvements.

Another good example of differentiated instruction comes from a third grade classroom I visited recently in our district. After viewing the video Caine’s Arcade, one teacher’s classroom was inspired to spend 30 minutes a day for two weeks working on their voice projects. These students experienced a combination of differentiated instruction (different project for each child/group), individualized instruction (each child’s unique voice and interest came alive in their projects) and personalized instruction (each child had full creative license to produce learning in their own ways).

In addition to this type of engaging and creative lesson planning, our school district also supports digital tools for meeting individual student needs. We have invested time, dollars, resources, planning, training, and support for this transformation of teaching.

To support teacher use of the digital resources to differentiate instruction, our district has intentionally and deliberately acquired services like Discovery Education. We use subscriptions, tools, and programs to support teachers and students. We use combinations of free, open, educational resources as well as paid resources.
images
Some of the companies with whom we partner are web-based subscriptions, which allow for 24/7 school and home access! The possibilities are endless as we truly become a COMMUNITY of learners.

As a superintendent, I see learning every day and my aim is to support every classroom’s transformation into an engaging, motivating, challenging learning space for our nation’s most precious assets – our children! It’s imperative that we act with urgency to provide the most excellent educational system for ALL children.

I originally posted this at: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2015/12/02/defining-differentiation-in-todays-classroom/

Touching and Impressive Story – Technology strengthens Humanity!

Continuous effort–not strength or intelligence–is the key to unlocking our potential.”
– Winston Churchill

The major findings - distilling from millions of studies on what works.
The major findings – distilling from millions of studies on what works.

It’s all about our students. We say this, we write this, we educators truly mean this! An example of how and why we all do what we do in education is captured in the video shared in this blog post. At Caruso Middle School in the Communications Media Arts (CMA) exploratory class, teacher Julie Witczak engages, inspires, and empowers students each and every day!

20150311-111453.jpg
In the video below, “Brothers” “…is a story told by an 8th grader about his 6th grade brother and the bond they have.” I asked Julie to share with me the background from class about this awesome video project:

From Julie: “It actually started when we watched the movie “Front of the Class”. I carried this piece over from Skills 4 Life because it is an inspiring movie about a man who has Tourettes Syndrome and it took him 25 interviews to get a teaching job. At the end of the movie, we talked about abilities and I noticed that Jake didn’t say much at all. I approached him after and said “How come you didn’t share?” He said sometimes it is hard to share because it can be emotional. I said well you have a great story to share, maybe you should make a video so you can share your thoughts. The assignment was for 8th graders to create a video that tells a story they want to share with the world. They could really do anything and Jake decided to share his story. The cool part is that three other kids were involved with it and needed no credit at all or to be featured in the video. I was super impressed with them as most 8th graders enjoy their “stage time”.

This is why we do what we do!