STANDARD TWO: Instructional Leadership
Standard two investigates the principal's ability to be lead learner in an accountable environment.
Standard 2A: Focus on learning, teaching, curriculum, instruction and assessment.
Evaluation Process:
The artifacts under this sub-standard are a display of the observation and feedback process that I have engaged in with a specific teacher. The observation process involves much more than simply going in during formal evaluations, but rather becoming familiar with the teaching and instruction that is happening inside of the classrooms, as well as how the team and teacher are interacting during professional learning teams to create high-level instruction and assessment for their students. For this process, I first left “glow” notes for the teacher during walkthroughs during the first month of school. I was becoming familiar with the staff and instructional expectations. I later provided a copy of the form that I used during a walkthrough for the class. The notes in the walkthrough are relevant to prior discussions had with the teacher. The teacher I've chosen to highlight in this artifact is constantly reflecting and asking for feedback on her practice. During her transition from a 5th grade to a Kindergarten teacher, she had many questions relevant to age-appropriate behavior correction and modeling. The formal evaluation takes into account the many visits to the classroom that I have had over the course of the year as well as the lesson being observed. There is also a pre-conference and post-conference document that outlines our discussion. Teaching, learning and curriculum is not based on a singular viewpoint in one lesson for a teacher but getting to know the teacher’s practice and reflecting together on their instructional methods.
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Pre-Assessment PLT:
During the year, I led a PLT to guide teachers through the process of disaggregating pre-assessment data. Teachers administered a common assessment for an upcoming unit and entered the data into a spreadsheet where we could look at the students from the grade-level as whole. We spent this particular PLT focusing on three groups of students, those that needed enrichment, those that needed some enrichment and those that will need mainly core instruction until mastery has been demonstrated. The teachers were developing their mindset around how to plan instruction specifically for the current needs seen in their classroom. |
Equity Professional Development:
This document to the right outlines a timeline for a series of professional developments. I helped co-create this series alongside a group of equity-minded educators in the Wake County Public School system. This professional development series is built around the WCPSS vision for equitable practices. The professional development series walks participants through the process of seeing, understanding and finally interrupting inequities that we see within the educational setting and our buildings. It is important to note that, in my opinion, to be a true instructional leader in the building, you must also ensure that the instruction is equitable and able to be accessed by all individuals within the building. This professional development series meets teachers where they are and helped to guide them further along their identity journey and recognize what role race plays in the classroom. |
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2B: Focus on Instructional Time
School Schedule:
At the start of the year, our leadership team used data collected during the previous school year to help influence our master schedule for the 2019-2020 school year. There was notable concern around the transition in and out of the building from the modular unit. In order to create a schedule that minimized transition times for our modular units, we re-worked the schedule to ensure transitions for these groups of students was minimized. Our leadership team utilized feedback from grade-levels on preferences for blocks of core instructional time, lunches, recess and specials rotations. We utilized preferences from specialists to creatively transform the rotation for classes to attend specials. As a magnet school, we felt it was important for our older students to be able to dig deeper into some of the units our specialists offer, therefore, we created a separate specials schedules for 4th and 5th grade, allowing them to attend their daily special for a three week block of time before they moved on. While we created a schedule that would maximize instructional times for students, we also wanted to be cognizant of what would be more beneficial for each group of kids and adults. |
Team Time:
The e-mail here highlights the start of a conversation with teachers regarding the use of time in classrooms. At a PLT meeting, the grade-level being addressed here decided on specific ways to utilize a block of time during the day to ensure individual needs were being met. The team specifically decided upon a strict structure and schedule to ensure the MTSS tier II and III intervention students were being served with fidelity. With visits to this grade-level during this time of day, it was noticed that the plan was not being enacted three days in a row. This e-mail, sent from me, addressing the concerns started an in-person group discussion on if the plan created was feasible and best for learners. After the group discussion, a new plan was created that teachers felt more confident would fit their schedule and allow them to more aptly maximize instructional time for specific individuals. |