Progress

Life is metaphorical in so many ways. Nothing could be more true here at Outlook. Things (and remember, this blog represents my own feelings and not everyone's) are different, especially in terms of instruction. I see staff more focused and making strong efforts to implement all they have to do, whether that's the Investigations curriculum or the use of Open Court Frameworks. I see our writing efforts beginning to show up in different disciplines (this month we've focused on clustering and organizing and webbing).

At the same time, for most of you who tune in to this blog, the cafeteria is being rebuilt, slowly, with planning, and teamwork. Friday as I walked in the cafeteria for the first time with ceiling lights (yes, ceiling lights) I was struck that the cafeteria is a metaphor for what we are doing here at Outlook in many ways.

When the cafeteria is rebuilt after the fire, when it's finished, it will be better than the one before it. In order for this to happen, careful planning, teamwork, and execution (the key here is execution) has to happen. This is also true in our work to bring our scores up. We must have focus (the planning and teamwork) and execution (making sure we execute on all the targeted areas), and when the year's ended, I believe it will be better than what is was before.