After 24 years at Providence Elementary, 14 years as a teacher and 10 years as an administrator, I have accepted a new role as the Elementary Instructional Leadership Director in Clark County. I am truly excited to embark on a new journey that will be as rewarding as the chapter that I have just completed.
Last Wednesday and Thursday I attended the Diversity Conference at Eastern Kentucky University. This conference provided insight on how schools can look at diversity and make changes to benefit all students. I really enjoyed Dr. Roy Jones from South Carolina. Dr. Jones began the “Call Me Mister” program to recruit black male teachers at the elementary level. He was very engaging and thought provoking. Thanks to Mrs. Farris for encourgaging me to attend.
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! We are having a great time at Providence today celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Everyone is wearing a shirt that has words on them. Reading is so important!
Earlier in the year, I was asked by Superintendent Farris to participate in her developing principal cadre. Staff members from within the district that have aspirations of becoming a principal applied for this cadre. The cadre meets every other month to discuss hot topics in administration, book studies, analyzing data, and portfolio preparation. I am very fortunate to be a trainer within this cadre. I see great leaders developing within the Clark County School District.
We have two teachers that have volunteered to serve on the district’s Excel Team. This team will be working in conjunction with the DILT team. Providence’s representatives are Lindsey Campbell and Carol Clements. They have been looking at the new common core standards and deconstructing those standards to write student friendly learning targets. I am very proud of our team from Providence!
Last year Clark County implemented a district instructional leadership team that included staff members from all school buildings to collaborate on district issues. These meetings occur monthly after school (4:00-6:00 p.m.) at Central Office. Our team members from Providence are Amy Green and Shannon McCord. This year so far they have looked at highly effective teaching and deconstructing the new learning goals. I have had the pleasure of working with this year’s team and have learned a tremendous amount of information how to become better teachers.
After the students are on their way, the staff uses the afternoon for additional training. These days were added to the school calendar to allow staff to receive training throughout the school year during the school day. Before the first early release day, the majority of the staff here at Providence had already received 4 days of professional development. Just like our ever changing world, the education world is constantly changing and we need to stay on top of it!
In September we worked on analyzing our Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) data. We looked at our progress in reading, math, science, social studies, and on-demand writing. We also looked at students that were not progessing to their fullest potential and developed an intervention plan for those students. The students at Providence Elementary are a sharp group of students!
In October we had staff members presenting materials from specialized training that they have received from the district to the staff here at Providence. Mrs. Amy Green and Ms. Shannon McCord shared characteristics of highly effective teaching and how this will help our students. Mrs. Carol Clements and Mrs. Lindsey Campbell trained staff on the differences between formative and summative assessments. Mrs. Vonda Vermillion shared the new writing policy that is required by Senate Bill 1 and asked for staff input. A very productive day!
For our December release day, Shawna Mitchell and Amy Green provided the training for analyzing student work. Teaching the content, writing the rubric, and being on a consistent path to grading student work was our task for the day. Great conversations among staff and across grade levels. Everyone walked away with a least one new idea. Awesome training!