S
Supporting Change
Change is certainly one of our challenges in public education. We're tasked to educate students from increasingly challenging backgrounds, to a higher level than ever before, and with fewer resources. In TCAPS, we have embarked on a major curriculum and assessment project, while implementing new ELA programs, installing new building and district level systems, and measuring progress of all of these initiatives through a new monthly performance management driver. It's a lot of change! While change is necessary, it can also be very stressful and we need to continuously evaluate how much is too much, how much is not enough, and continue to focus on taking care to build the necessary foundational structure to support healthy organizational improvement.
One of the building blocks of the MI-Excel Blueprint is a culture of collective responsibility that is collegial, collaborative, and professional. I witness these traits often as I attend meetings filled with well-educated, well-meaning people tasked with solving incredibly difficult challenges over high stakes issues. The foundation of the system we are building needs to be focused on harnessing the strengths of the members of the organization, encouraging healthy and respectful discourse, and in listening to those who are on the front lines, doing the work with our students. Without this foundation, it is relatively easy to predict that the organization will fail in its attempts to evolve in an effective manner over time.
We are facing some significant challenges as a school district. Those challenges involve changing the way we have done things in the past and modifying them. This process inevitably challenges us, our beliefs, our values, our perspectives, but doesn't have to divide us as a school district. In fact, I think that if we do it right, it might even bring us closer together. This will only happen if we, starting with myself, truly recognize and appreciate how challenging it can be to introduce new things and to intentionally listen to those who are both most impacted by the change and most capable of helping make it a reality.
There are many reasons each of us do this work. Though those reasons may differ, our overall unifying goal is that we are working together to improve the lives of kids. In order for this to happen, everyone needs to contribute to our shared goal in their own individual and unique way and there need to be structures in place to allow for this. We will not sacrifice the culture of the district, alienate teachers, and blindly proceed without taking into account the talents and skills that each of you bring to the table. Our process of installing new systems within the blueprint may be slower, but I'm convinced that if we do this right the strength and unity of our district, as well as the value of our people, will far out pace this over time.
Thanks for all you do!
DYK: Unlike other cats, tigers are good swimmers and often cool off in lakes and streams during the heat of the day.
Deep Thoughts:
"As a publisher I learned that we must learn to live with controversy as the lifeblood of democracy. Communities in which controversy does not thrive are dead on their feet. Many of us abuse the privilege of controversy with bad manners, so we sometimes think controversy and bad manners are the same. But they need not be. Communities that function best are those that have learned to argue the issues and leave personalities out of it. It's hard to do, but the effort usually pays off." -Kenneth C. Parker, "Be Independent! Publish Your Own Newspaper" (1999)
Articles of the Week:
Michigan Dems pushing bills to address 'literacy crisis'
Traverse City Students Learn Hands-On Problem-Solving With New Stem Kits
Thanks & Appreciation:
Announcements & Reminders:
Parker's Calendar
Change is certainly one of our challenges in public education. We're tasked to educate students from increasingly challenging backgrounds, to a higher level than ever before, and with fewer resources. In TCAPS, we have embarked on a major curriculum and assessment project, while implementing new ELA programs, installing new building and district level systems, and measuring progress of all of these initiatives through a new monthly performance management driver. It's a lot of change! While change is necessary, it can also be very stressful and we need to continuously evaluate how much is too much, how much is not enough, and continue to focus on taking care to build the necessary foundational structure to support healthy organizational improvement.
One of the building blocks of the MI-Excel Blueprint is a culture of collective responsibility that is collegial, collaborative, and professional. I witness these traits often as I attend meetings filled with well-educated, well-meaning people tasked with solving incredibly difficult challenges over high stakes issues. The foundation of the system we are building needs to be focused on harnessing the strengths of the members of the organization, encouraging healthy and respectful discourse, and in listening to those who are on the front lines, doing the work with our students. Without this foundation, it is relatively easy to predict that the organization will fail in its attempts to evolve in an effective manner over time.
We are facing some significant challenges as a school district. Those challenges involve changing the way we have done things in the past and modifying them. This process inevitably challenges us, our beliefs, our values, our perspectives, but doesn't have to divide us as a school district. In fact, I think that if we do it right, it might even bring us closer together. This will only happen if we, starting with myself, truly recognize and appreciate how challenging it can be to introduce new things and to intentionally listen to those who are both most impacted by the change and most capable of helping make it a reality.
There are many reasons each of us do this work. Though those reasons may differ, our overall unifying goal is that we are working together to improve the lives of kids. In order for this to happen, everyone needs to contribute to our shared goal in their own individual and unique way and there need to be structures in place to allow for this. We will not sacrifice the culture of the district, alienate teachers, and blindly proceed without taking into account the talents and skills that each of you bring to the table. Our process of installing new systems within the blueprint may be slower, but I'm convinced that if we do this right the strength and unity of our district, as well as the value of our people, will far out pace this over time.
Thanks for all you do!
#notatiger
#icanstillswim
DYK: Unlike other cats, tigers are good swimmers and often cool off in lakes and streams during the heat of the day.
Deep Thoughts:
"As a publisher I learned that we must learn to live with controversy as the lifeblood of democracy. Communities in which controversy does not thrive are dead on their feet. Many of us abuse the privilege of controversy with bad manners, so we sometimes think controversy and bad manners are the same. But they need not be. Communities that function best are those that have learned to argue the issues and leave personalities out of it. It's hard to do, but the effort usually pays off." -Kenneth C. Parker, "Be Independent! Publish Your Own Newspaper" (1999)
Articles of the Week:
Michigan Dems pushing bills to address 'literacy crisis'
Traverse City Students Learn Hands-On Problem-Solving With New Stem Kits
IT Staff Support is Critical for Success in 1-to-1 Classrooms
Thanks & Appreciation:- Thanks to Brandi Reynolds and the Technology Team!
- Thanks Mark Skodack for your West Side STEM leadership!
- Thanks Marie Willis for pursuing STEM kits at The Knoll!
- Thanks Larry Burden for your awesome video production skills! Check out the latest edition of #tcapsloop / Free Parking Video on Demand where I talk about High Quality Visions of Instruction.
Announcements & Reminders:
- Special thanks again to all who worked so hard to complete curriculum units and assessments over the summer and into the fall. Most of the units have been completed in both ELA and Math! Remaining units (those yet to be written) for 17-18 will be adapted from the MI-Excel curriculum consortium, with assistance from the MI-Excel curriculum coordinator and plans to finalize TCAPS' own units next summer. In addition to writing the new units, curriculum writers will also be working on revisions based on feedback received during this first school year. Thanks for all of your work and feedback as we launch these new units!
- The WSH and CHS VEX Robotics teams competed in their first tournament of the 2017-2018 robotics season at the North West Michigan GTACS VRC Qualifier in Traverse City last Saturday. WSH Titan Robotics had four teams participating and CHS had one. All five TCAPS teams advanced to the semi-final matches. WSH team 3767X were the tournament finalists and won the Excellence Award which earns them a spot at the West Michigan VCS Regional Qualifier in January 2018. Special thanks to both coaches from each team, Dave Winowiecki - WSH and Sean McDowell - CHS.
Parker's Calendar
This Week:
Monday
- Huddle
- Larry Burden/ Podcast
- Board Study Session
- ET Retreat - Data Center
- Huddle
- Soma/Parker Bi-Weekly
- Huddle
- Parker/Chandler
- HR Policy Committee Meeting
- ASCD Board Meeting (zoom)
Next Week:
Monday
- MDE Title II Workshop in Lansing
- ET
- MI-Excel / ELA meeting /Wacker
- Board Finance
- Huddle
- Tech Meeting
- STEM Meeting
- Curriculum/Technology /Reynolds
- DAN Meeting
- Illuminate Training
#dudeyouknockedthatconeover
#robotreferee
#indisputablevideoevidence
#stemchamps
#edtech
#excellence
