A leader ensures that every student has access to quality teaching and optimum learning experiences.
Building Capacity of teachers to respond to the learning needs of all students
See pictures above which demonstrate our staff commitement to professional development. We have implemented professional development component to each of our staff meetings instead of them just being informational. We try as much as we can to have our committee leaders present professional development topics at the start of all of our meetings. We have had presentations on numeracy strands, math openers, number talks, student assessment practices, guided math, technology integration and fountas and pinnell bench marking strategies, just to name a few. As a staff, we are very interested in developing ourselves as teachers and leaders and it has been awesome to see all of our staff grow more comfortable teaching colleagues and helping them to grow!
Ensuring that student instruction addresses learning outcomes outlined in the program of study
As part of our Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation plans, we have been asking teachers to share their long term plans which indicate the outcomes they are teaching in their classrooms. When teachers are evaluated they also provide more detailed plans in advance of their lessons so that we can discuss and I can give feedback. Alli and I are also able to see evidence in classrooms of program of studies being followed by the presence of outcomes listed, our I Can Statements being used.
Facilitating mentorship and induction supports for teachers and principals, as required
This year, I have closely supervised all staff but 5 have been on contracts which require a formal evaluation. I have tried to spend as much time as possible mentoring and guiding these teachers. At the start of the year we dedicated 2 hours on our staff planning day to an "AB Daley Orientation" to assist new teachers in looking at our school handbook, discussing applicable admin procedures such as field trip and admin procedure 360 etc. I have also made a point to check in weekly with each teacher informally to see how they have been doing and answer any questions or provide support. We have also paired new teachers up with another person on staff to act as an unofficial mentor.
Ensuring that student assessment and evaluation practices are fair, appropriate and evidence-informed
Our school uses Fountas and Pinnell benchmarking for grades 1-6 and we have spent time going through the reading assessments as a school to ensure that we are marking the same, and looking for common things when we are asking different comprehension strategies. This has been great PD and has allowed us to use these assessments better to inform our teaching and reporting to parents about the type of reader their child is. Our staff is great about sharing assessment ideas and an area for us to grow in next year with the new curriculum will be to collaborate more on building grade level assessments. Some of our grade level teams are already building common assessments which has been great to see! We are looking forward to having Kathy Charchun in to assist in this area for numeracy.