Collaboration Amongst Peers

I have had the privilege of being a principal in a small rural district (BOLD Schools-700 students), a large metro district (Eden Prairie Schools-9,000 students), and now a medium sized district (Sartell-St. Stephen Schools-3,000 students). One of the things I have found to be true at all three districts is that there are never enough principals to collaborate with and to learn from. We can always be reaching outside of our own district to learn from each other. I have been fortunate to work alongside some very talented people with skill sets that include relationship building, equity, curriculum development, climate and culture, and many other talents that are needed to develop our students and staff for life in the 21st century. With the additions of  Twitter, following blogs, Voxer, and listening to podcasts I have been able to connect with so many more talented people. It has been just amazing. We now have the ability to be connecting with school leaders from all parts of the world without much effort. It is simply amazing to think of all of the possibilities that building a Personal Learning Network(PLN) can do for us as educational leaders. If you are reading this blog, you are already well on your way to reaching out and trying to connect with others as there is not much of a following to this blog yet.

While the advances of technology have helped broaden my PLN, it has been the face-to-face interactions with educational leaders that has helped me the most. I was fortunate to be in Eden Prairie as Michelle Ament (@mlament) helped take the outstanding iLearn@EP team to a new level and challenged us to start on Twitter. The Learning and Teaching Department under the direction of  Stephen West (@stephenWest731) and the Technology Department headed up by Josh Swanson (@swansonus) also took to Twitter to help with our work around Professional Learning Communities,  English/Language Arts, and the development of the iLearn initiative. It is the conversations with the people around us that help steer us to different educational leaders for our PLN and push us to go further in our journey.

Through my PLN, I was able to reconnect with Brad Gustafson (@gustafsonbrad) this summer. We had been a part of Southwest MESPA a few years ago while we both worked in the southwest corner of the state, but had not seen each other in a couple of years. I have been really intrigued with his work using TouchCast and Aurasma, but had not had the chance to attend an EdCamp that he was at to learn more about it. I had kept reading his blog (adjustingcourse.wordpress.com) and following him on Twitter to find out about the work. The best thing I did though was to connect with him personally and we were able to find an afternoon to meet. I drove in to his school and we spent the afternoon sharing about items that we both thought were really cool in our schools. I was able to learn more about augmented reality and how it amplified student voice and creativity. It was so much better to see it in person than it was to read about it. The face-to-face interaction is what I needed to grow in that area.

It is that day with Brad that brings me to a challenge for those of you that are reading this. It is summertime and we have more flexibility with our schedules than we do during the school year. Reach out to someone in your PLN that is within driving distance. Find a date and time that works for both of you (make it during lunch time as that is a good time to socialize) to get together. Spend some time sharing about what is going well in your school, what are some challenges you are facing, and what is something you are hoping to try for the first time this upcoming school year. I am certain it will be worth your time and effort!

New Challenges

It is day 2 in my new role as K-4 principal at Oak Ridge Elementary (ORE) in the Sartell-St. Stephen School District in central Minnesota.I am very excited to be part of this very successful district. I felt very welcomed yesterday when our new superintendent took time out of his first day to swing over to say hello. It was a very positive way to start at ORE and I look forward to the students, families and staff returning to the building after summer.

 Starting this blog is part of a Summer Learning Series designed by Todd Nesloney from Navasota Middle School in Texas. He originally started this challenge for the teachers at Navasota Middle School and it has grown through Twitter. I know I am not much of a writer. In fact, I would say writing is one of my weaknesses as a leader, as talking to you in person is my preference. If becoming a better writer is a goal however, I need to write. So, thank you Todd for opening your challenge up to the greater population and for asking us to take time to reflect. We will see if I can follow through by taking time to reflect on the happenings at Oak Ridge going forward.

I chose the title for this blog based on the PBIS slogan for ORE which is, "BE ON TARGET". Sadly I may have used up the first hour of my day trying to come up with something clever to name the blog. I thought of using The Lynk Letter or The Missing Lynk, but ultimately decided I did not want the blog to be about me. It should be about the students and staff at ORE and the amazing work that is being done here. It is my hope to use this blog to showcase the learning that students and staff are doing at ORE and throughout our district, as well as look for insight from others to meet the challenges that are presented to us.

Being new at a school, one has to learn the expectations and the culture to be successful. That is tough to do in the summer when the building is fairly empty for the month of July. Therefore I am thankful that the staff at ORE has established school wide expectations by using PBIS, and creating a common language for all students. I am able to find pamphlets, posters, and flyers throughout the building that share with students how to BE ON TARGET by being ready, respectful, and responsible in the different common areas around the building. The staff start the school year by demonstrating to students the expectations that are in place for them. Each area has a poster that defines what being ready, respectful, and responsible looks like and sounds like. These posters and flyers give a newbie a good sense of the expectations and culture of ORE.

Thanks for reading. I will try to be more insightful as I become better at being a blogger!