Results Now

One of the challenges of any profession, especially in the knowledge and information age, is staying abreast of all the challenges and research that goes into public education. I have just finished the book, RESULTS NOW by Mike Schmoker. This was a very good read that any educator should take up and really analyze. The information Schmoker produces is excellent and very important to the work we do each and every day.

The State of Education by Terry Bergeson

One of Terry's best education addresses I've heard was just delivered on November 16. For anyone that is in education, I suggest you take a few minutes to watch this and to see the important vision set before us.

The link is provided here

De-privatizing Our Practices

This year, with such a focus on instruction, one of the things we're trying to do is "de-privatize" our practice within classrooms. I'm taking a leap into this by offering to teach different math lessons for each grade level. I have to tell you . . . talk about "de-privatizing" something . . . especially with the fact I'm going to record the lesson and then we'll go over it in our grade level meetings! HA! I'm more than likely going to fall on my face, especially at the primary grades, but I'll try to make the fall as graceful as possible.

The work around de-privatizing our practice comes from our group we are working with and their push on us as administrators to focus on ourselves, making things as transparent as possible, and at the same time, focus on instruction and the ability for colleagues to watch each other in a non-threatening way.

I'm excited about this and the conversations that are going to come from it.

-Mr. Bowman

PS: 1,044 MILES PEOPLE! WAY TO GO STUDENTS! A LITTLE MORE THAN 900 MORE MILES AND YOU'LL HAVE REACHED YOUR GOAL IN WALK-RUN!

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.