Reflections in the Mirror: Ponderings that will Guide my Year

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I spent the summer looking out the varied windows of my life to ponder, reflect and contemplate. It was not a summer of intense learning, instead my thoughts and observations revolved around refocusing, improving upon and redefining things that are important to me both personally and professionally. Opportunities, interactions, conversations and simple experiences have enabled me to articulate the following thoughts that will guide me through the school year. This was not at all an intentional process. Perhaps the flexibility of time and structure and the willingness to just “be” served me well. My window has now turned into a mirror where I will see and remember the valuable thoughts of a summertime of reflection.

Ponderings that will guide my year:

• When receiving feedback sometimes a simple thank you is all that is needed.
• There is nothing more genuine than to hear: What can I do to support you?
• Assertiveness is an important component of my leadership style and should be consciously practiced.
• Take time to wonder. Be a Wonder Woman. Be a woman who wonders…….
• Take time to listen. Be a conscious listener. Listen to yourself, your students, your colleagues, your loved ones.
• Pause and  embrace the silence.
• Be intentional: intentional with your words and your actions. Intentionally guide others to think, do, act.
• Remember the power of connection for you, your students, your colleagues. When we see the connections within our world - our world makes a lot more sense.
• When you inspire and trust teachers, they feel empowered, become engaged, and great things happen!

What thoughts will you see in the mirror this year?

Ready to Go with My Leadership Vision!

Prior to initiating my leadership at Wakefield School in July of 2014 I wrote my leadership vision. My professional goals for the year were based on this vision. I see my vision as my map and my goals as the directions that lead me in the proper path to deliver the mission of the school I represent. My vision is a guiding light that leads the way. I waited until the end of the year to share my vision with the faculty I work with. There are mixed messages as to when, if and how to share your vision with your colleagues. I wanted to ensure that my vision, and the direction I was taking was aligned with both the mission of the School and its strategic initiative. More specifically, could I point to specific actions that aligned my vision to the school's mission and strategic vision. Indeed I could!

I have asked the Lower School faculty over the summer to write both their professional vision statement and a vision statement for their classroom. When we return in August we will add the goals (more goal posts later). It will be interesting to see how all of our visions intersect and provide the unified direction that will move us to deliver the mission of our wonderful school!

Margo’s Personal  Leadership  Vision

My vision as Head of Lower School at Wakefield School is to cultivate and support a responsive and authentic learning environment where  members are understood, cared for and challenged.

In order to be responsive I will incorporate opportunities into my practice that will help to understand the backgrounds, needs and interests of all community members.

In order to cultivate  an authentic learning environment, members should have opportunities to develop and practice skills that will help them to navigate and succeed within and outside of the school community. Experiences  that explore and practice collaborative decision making, ethical leadership, interconnected and effective communication, global citizenship, and responsible stewardship will facilitate this authentic learning environment.

I believe that a challenging learning environment includes opportunities for community members to: generate questions, problem solve, take risks, make mistakes, have choice, and have fun.

Although personal reflection is a huge part of my professional practice, this past year it remained just that “personal” or “behind the scenes.” I hope to return to this public space in order to reflect with, collaborate and learn from educators around the world. I look forward to another great year of learning!

Preparing Our Students for Childhood

Before departing for the summer I shared with my educational community a video by Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs. The two questions she considers in the video are: Who owns the learning? and What year are you preparing your students for? No matter where one is in their journey as a professional educator or no matter what lens one uses to view the educational journey of the “students” who will be competing, collaborating and leading within our society, all of us should be contemplating these questions. All of us have unique societal roles;  educators benefit from the guidance of our parent community and our community supporters. Their roles as entrepreneurs, and members of the workforce are essential in helping us understand some of the needs our students will face in their future.

As an Educational Leader with the interests of society's youngest students front and center, I ponder these questions:

Who owns the learning?

• Choice of product and process should be a consistent part of the learning journey.
• Content should be engaging and should tap into and extend the interests of the students.
• Students should establish the norms and identity of their classroom community.
• Students need opportunities to pose and solve problems.

What year are you preparing your students for?

• As educators of elementary school students, we must acknowledge that “College or University” will look a lot different than it does now, therefore, isn’t it our job and responsibility to imagine, predict, plan for and provide diverse and unique learning opportunities that will be relevant anytime and anywhere?
• We do know that our students will face multiple challenges, will interact with a variety of people across continents, and will be expected to innovate, therefore shouldn’t we ensure that the educational journey includes creativity, collaboration, and cross-cultural understandings?
• Regardless of the year we may be preparing our students for, let’s remember that we are guiding them through their childhood. “Childhood” is a time to imagine, play, experiment and interact within the world. “Childhood” is a magical time. There is nothing more authentic, timely and satisfying than to help students discover and grow through the most marvelous learning journey of all - Childhood.

We are preparing our students for Childhood and they own their learning! It is our role as educators to guide and support them through their learning journey.

Looking Out for My Students' Wonderful Summer Adventures

To All my Wonderful Students,

I wish you a fabulous summer full of fun adventures that spark your interests, follow your passions and engage your minds!  Please be in touch:

• Have you found the perfect reading spot?
• Have you gone on a walk, observed nature or history unfolding before your eyes?
• Have you doodled, created, put together an artistic creation?
• Have you baked, cooked, or otherwise experimented in the kitchen?
• Have you written a story, made up a puppet show, or used your imagination?
• Have you taken a trip to a new place - five miles down the road or on the other side of the globe?

Whatever your summer learning adventure is, I want to hear from you! WRITE ME A COMMENT ON THIS BLOG OR….

• Send me a tweet @drmisabel12
• Send me a postcard or letter to my school address at PO Box 107, The Plains, VA  20198
• Send me a photo or a drawing
• Send me an email to my school address

Have a fantastic summer. I will miss you up here on the Hill. Sincerely,
Dr. Isabel

Let’s change “Up There” to “Out There”

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Mid-March through Mid-June can be a tricky time for educational leaders. It’s a time where the past, present and future continually collide!  Reflecting on what we have accomplished this year, where we are now, and where do we need to go, are a part of each and every day. From the Big Picture panoramic view that pushes us to look beyond our communities toward the vast educational landscape to imagine how to better serve the needs of our students, to the still life painting which helps focus our attention on the needed details of our end of the year events, activities, reports and reflections, our reflections collide.    

This winter I have been encouraging my Lower School Team to reflect on the WHY behind the WHAT of their teaching. Sharing Simon Sinek’s message, Start with the Why, was an introduction to this thought process which includes precise examples to help us consider the Why behind what we do. In essence, this is the panoramic view I am asking educators to contemplate.  

Using the KUD planning strategy (articulating the Know, Understand, Do) and asking teachers to focus specifically on the, Understanding, the Why, of a lesson or unit, has been introduced as a priority. Teachers have been encouraged to review past and present lesson plans under this lens, and to ensure that the Why/Understanding is front and center to all future planning. Simply put, if the Understanding cannot determined, then why bother with it. This process can be seen as the still life of this reflection process, a necessary focus on the details of why we teach what we teach.

When I think about the Why, I am thinking about relevance – how can what I am learning be applied to another situation or context. This is a tough question at times, but one worth always pondering. It is important to look at that context beyond the next stage of one educational journey and toward one’s life journey. Whether we are four and starting our educational journey, 17 and ending our "school" journey, or teachers in our 20s, 30s, 50s and beyond, we all have a life “out there.” Our professional learning journey also must consider our “out there” lives and the “out there” lives of our students.

My present school is somewhat divided into sections, PS-K, 1-3, 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12. This is what I hear often as an answer to this question, Why are you doing this that way?:

• Because that is what they need to be successful “Up There,” pointing to 4^th and 5^th grade floor
• Because that is what they need to be successful “Up There,” pointing to Middle/Upper building
• Because that is what our Alumni say they needed to be successful in College

Let's not forget about their "Out There" lives, their real journey.....

Are we educating students for College or for Life? What will life be like for the Kindergarten students in the division I oversee when they are ready for College and beyond (Class of 2027)? Do we have to wait until our students are ready for college to educate them for life? Are we preparing students for what life is like now, and should we shift our thinking toward what life could become? 

Whether our students are 4 or 17 as we plan and prepare....

Let’s change “Up There” to “Out There” If education is relevant, the Why must answer how we are preparing our students for life "Out There." 

It is only this way that they will be ready to change the world.......

Authentic Learning: 5th Grader presents to the Board of Trustees

In January Andrew shared his story of entrepreneurship and commitment to service with the Board of Trustees at an official board meeting. Being true to his commitment he passed out Smile Train donation envelopes to the Board Members. I have also since learned that Smile Train tripled our donation through their triple match program. What a fabulous example of authentic learning for Andrew and our 5^th Grade!

As an educator, I have no greater sense of satisfaction than seeing the “stars align” through a student-led, authentic, collaborative and compassionate service project that sprang from a conversation between a grandson and his grandmother about the challenges and complexities of our world poverty, friendship, and the need to serve humanity.  Pair that with encouraging teachers who appreciated this student’s interest and were willing to support him through lunch, recess and after school work sessions.  The end result was that this authentic project, a Lower School bake sale, earned $873 to be donated to The Smile Train organization.

Fifth Grader Andrew Renz and his grandmother were having a conversation about poverty in our world – which led to a conversation about the main character, August Pullman, in the Fifth Grade Literature book, Wonder, by R.J. Palacios.  August was born with extreme facial deformities.  Because of constant surgeries, he was homeschooled for much of his life, but thereafter was fortunate enough to attend a school much like Wakefield.  Accepting him was difficult for some of his classmates.  As you might imagine, August’s story has stimulated multiple important conversations in our fifth grade about empathy, kindness and inclusion.

Andrew quickly made a text-to-world connection between children in less developed countries – born with cleft palate and unable to pay for surgery due to their impoverished background.  At that moment, he decided to put aside his upcoming Christmas money to donate to the Smile Train organization, an organization that sends trained doctors to different countries to perform this relatively simple surgery – for free.

That was not enough for Andrew, however.  He wanted to do more.  In Andrew’s words, “Sometimes, the little things we can do to show one another kindness and support are the most important. To help a young child, the same age as the kids right here in our Lower School, have a pretty smile instead of living a whole lifetime with a crooked, incomplete smile is a kindness I would like to share.”  With the support of his teachers, Mrs. Bates and Mrs. Williams, off he went to talk with his classmates to organize a two-day bake sale that was held over six lunch periods.  He divided and conquered – forming an advertising committee to make posters and announcements at our assemblies, a set-up and sales committee, a baking committee, and a committee to count the profits and announce the result - $873.25 for Smile Train. 

Andrew and the fifth grade know the true meaning of the holiday season – a time of togetherness, empathy, joy and service to others.  These are the values that we all, families and teachers in partnership, work to instill in our children.  We do this by providing students with opportunities to collaborate, problem-solve and serve the greater community – there is no greater gift than active, meaningful learning.

Sketching a Landscape for Education Change

In this excerpt from my first parent letter of the academic year I compared the start of my leadership journey at a new school to that of an artist. I saw myself as an artist observing my new school as a large landscape painting, standing back and contemplating how to best understand and contribute to this educational masterpiece.

"The wonderful thing about being new to a community is having the opportunity to stand back, reflect, and look at the School picture with fresh eyes and a unique perspective. Where are the colors the brightest, and the design the strongest, thus requiring no need for change or improvement? Where are the details lacking? Where do the highlights need to be added? Perhaps there are new elements, portraits and sketches to add to the vibrant educational landscape that encompasses the Lower School. As an educational leader, it is my responsibility to formulate and communicate to all of you the “big picture” of the educational experience that we offer to your family." 

It is clear to me, reflecting on this passage, that at that time I saw myself simply as an observer. Seven months later I actually see myself within that landscape, walking around, interacting, “noticing” what surrounds me.  Instead of “standing back,” I have now “stepped into” the landscape and have become attuned to my surroundings. What have I noticed? What have I stumbled into? What rocks have I turned-over or what pebbles have I scattered? Have I changed the scenery?

This landscape and its effect on me are very real – it is not just a metaphor for my leadership.  I work within an incredibly gorgeous landscape. The tranquility and beauty I encounter each and every morning ease my mind and prepare me for the day ahead. Viewing the sun rise and set, the masterful web of a spider, the changing leaves of the fall and frozen branches of the first frigid day –have pushed me to appreciate the little things, look for the wonder, and acknowledge that within a beautiful somewhat defined landscape, change is still constant. I embrace that change; it is a natural and necessary part of the landscape. As I “step into” the second half of the school year and I continue to interact within the landscape it will be important for me to actively point out those appreciated details, share with and encourage others to wonder, and together “sketch” the natural and necessary changes that will further enhance our educational landscape.   

I look forward to sharing these “sketches” with others. I welcome all, those within the community, and those who share in the artistry of leadership and education, to share their observations of the important educational landscape that surrounds us.

Here are some questions I may ponder:

How are other members viewing this landscape?
How are they helping to define and enhance it?
Are we each creating our own picture to add to the gallery of our experiences?
How are we blending, collaborating within and refining this masterpiece?