TL;DR: Plan and execute a strategic process for creating and communicating your school’s brand. Create a brand you want people to hear, see, and feel when they interact with your school district. Your school’s brand is how you do things. It is your culture. It is the WHY that drives you. And it’s the WAY you achieve your goals. Create … Read More
3 Suggestions to Make Evaluation More Meaningful
TL;DR: Reduce the teacher evaluation pressure by investing in more conversations and more time in classrooms. See tips for how to make a pre-conference more meaningful. Praise heaping, rating justification, and point proving are three conference styles. The best solution is to give 2-3 key goals for improvement. If anything, last year seemed to be EVERYTHING. I like to say … Read More
5 Tips for Better Grading
TL;DR: Grade better by aligning all of your assessments and creating clear feedback measures. Eliminate unnecessary assignments and involve students in the process. Use tech tools and verbal feedback whenever possible. Coming back to school means many things: students in our rooms, interacting and building relationships in person, learning to instruct in person and online simultaneously. But it also means … Read More
4 Tips to Reimagine Assessment
TL;DR: Assessment should be a series of events, each leading to the next moment of improvement. Reimagine assessment by determining what you value and seeking assessment that leads to instruction. Understand that “one and done” is not enough and consider consistency and recency when assessing. As I am writing this, March Madness is ramping up. It is my favorite time … Read More
Finding the Right Speaker to Connect with your Staff
TL;DR: Choosing a speaker for your staff is a big decision. Tips and strategies to choose the right speaker to kick off back to school, and carry the message throughout the year. District leaders often bring in an educational speaker to kick off the year or assist when launching new initiatives. Frankly, I love this stuff. One of my favorite … Read More