May+2011

Thursday May 12, 2011.
The one to one initiative at our school continues to roll forward- students in grade 9 will be arriving with student owned devices in September of 2011, so we are into the twilight of the school year prior to this implementation. Right now we are trying to establish some baseline documents to figure out what staff, students, and parents need to know- what kinds of tech-competencies ought they to have in place. Our last inservice day of the year is May 27, and so the hope is that the committee can have a document in the hands of teachers by then.

Life has changed for me around the school as well. Today I began a 7 week stint as an interim Vice Principal at the school. The job was posted Monday, I applied Tuesday, and after a brief interview Wednesday I was offered the work, to begin on Thursday (today!). My four classes this semester will be taught and assessed by a very talented and capable teacher who has been one of our "go to" subs in the English department, so I am hopeful that the transition will be smooth for my students. For me, I'll have catch-up work to do grading assignments, and I've started into the "duties as assigned" as well. No ceremonial start to this job- hit the ground and go- it was a full day of the sorts of issues and situations that face high school administrators, and a good reminder of what this job is like.

In 2009 I worked as a term VP for about 9 weeks- same school, but the office staff is all new since 2009, so the procedures & protocols are different. I expect that I'll mostly work with student discipline concerns while the other Admin work on scheduling, budget issues, staffing, and preparing for convocation. It'll be good for me to dip my toes back into the pool as far as the VP thing goes. Mostly I hope that, in retrospect, I can say that I did a good job, served well, and that the others on the Admin team could say the same if they were asked.

May 23, 2011
Victoria Day Weekend- here it is, Monday Night after a great long weekend- got some gardening done- fixed a few things around the house...putter putter putter. Trying to finish off the assessment to hand off to the term teacher that has stepped in to finish my 3 English classes & my Art class has been front & centre- I'm getting closer, but I still have a ways to go. On top of that, this Friday is a school in-service for us, and I'm the one coordinating the planning. A few others are helping me with the heavy lifting, but this week will be busy making sure that loose ends get tied up prior to the day.

Last week I did two more sessions of the Microsoft Peer Coaching program that I'm taking as part of my role in the Dakota 1 to 1 initiative. We are learning about several ways to come along side colleagues and find out relevant and meaningful ways to include technology in the learning process. The last couple of sessions were mostly about lesson design, with a focus on problem based learning. It has been a good program to work through, and going through it with seven other teachers from our school makes it even more fun.

Working in the office has been good so far- very fast pace and I have a steep learning curve to handle. The job is radically different from working as a classroom teacher, and to dive into it with less than a day of notice makes the transition and the contrast all the more noticeable. Ok...now I should get back to that English grading...