Reflections from 2015

I have been reflecting on this last day of 2015 on what I think has been the most impactful educational strategy for me and my schools this year. Without hesitation I would say having a growth mindset.

 All of the schools in my Superintendency serve needy populations.  Often teachers and administrators become caught up in the circumstances affecting the lives of their students over which they have no control and they lose sight of what they can control. Educators feel powerless to create positive change for their students and they accept mediocre results as the best their children can do. They love them, they feed them, sometimes they cloth them but they really don't have very high expectations for their students academically.

Such was the belief of many of the teachers in my superintendency. They were hard working, committed teachers doing the best they could given the children they taught but they didn't really see how it could be any different. Beginning to look at things through the lens of growth mindset became a game changer for many of my schools and I believe it will continue to be so in 2016.

Some of my administrators went through an exercise with their teachers looking at what they could control and what they couldn't. When the staff collectively began to look at what was within their control, amazing things started to happen. Teachers and administrators started to look at their instruction strategies. They used "If and Then" statements to challenge themselves based on what the student work told them and they used the 30 day challenge concept as a frame for their work. Collaboration became a powerful tool with student work at the table and administrators worked to become co-learners along side their teachers. They were also gifted with talented instructional coaches to help guide the work.

Believing that we, as educators could make a difference for our children, was a liberating concept. The belief that collectively we are much stronger than working alone became our modus operandi and in some of my neediest schools we began to see change.

In 2016 I think growth mindset will still be a powerful tool for helping us to move forward. The challenge for me as a superintendent will be to assist my Principals in being as open and as vulnerable as they have asked their teachers to be.

As administrators we need be co-learners and accept that collectively we are much stronger than we are individually. My motto has always been, "If we want them to do it, we have to model it," and I believe that is so true in this particular instance. So, in January, we will begin. We will be setting our "If and Then, statements as administrators. We will learn what collaborative inquiry looks like for leaders in a System, and we will embark on our own growth mindset adventure for the benefit of our students.

How will we measure our success you might be asking?? By the improvement of our weakest schools because we are a team!

Best Wishes for a Happy and Successful New Year!!