This past weekend I was challenged by Eric Ewald to blog my 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
If you know me, I am not one to turn down many challenges...I am pretty competitive.
-Jeremy
If you know me, I am not one to turn down many challenges...I am pretty competitive.
- What has been your ONE biggest struggle during this school year?
- Being consistent with the amount of information I push out to my teammates. Sometimes, I forget how much teachers need/want to hear information. There are times I push too much information out and others I restrict too little information. My colleague, Jay Pritchard, reminded me that information is knowledge and knowledge is power and the teachers want that power. Thanks, Jay, for keeping that bit of knowledge on the forefront of my mind.
- Share TWO accomplishments that you are proud of this school year.
- Launching #CSISDchat this past fall with my good friend and colleague, Aaron Hogan, would be one of my largest professional accomplishments. We were hanging out one day this past summer talking about a Twitter chat that we both frequent, LeadUpChat, and said we could do that, but on a smaller scale. We asked ourselves..."What if we did this? What would come of it? Can you imagine the growth that could happen? What kind of impact will this have on our students?" We alternate moderating our Tuesday night chat at 8:00PM CST. All are welcome. We spend time discussing Choice, Customization, and Creativity as well as Relationships, Relevancy, and Rigor in schools.
- Revamping our students' advisory time, REAL Talk. On Thursdays, I invite members of the community to come in and share their profession and the education required to gain that employment. We have brought in various career fields depending on whatever the students are interested in. We have a local tattoo artist coming soon, and honestly, I am really excited to have him come and share his journey from an art major at Sam Houston State University to now being on the local arts council as well as being a leading tattoo artist in our local community.
- What are THREE things you wish to accomplish before the end of the school year?
- I desire to find a way to increase our parent involvement in our school. I have been thinking of how I would steal Jeff Mann's idea of streaming live different events via YouTube and archiving those for our families to see.
- This week I am headed to the middle schools in our district, CSMS and AMCMS, to recruit students for College View High School, the newest high school in College Station ISD. My hope is to recruit up to 50-60 students. CVHS is a school of choice that will hold up to 200 students when all four grades (9-12) are full. We will be providing a blended instructional model and the most dual credit opportunities in the district. We want to provide students in our district a different choice than what our comprehensive high schools are currently offering. Words cannot express how excited I am to see our school open up and support students' needs. Our first cohort of students will start next fall.
- Look at the data we have with our disciplinary alternative education program in our district and design an action plan to create better transition plans for our students when they return to their home campuses. I vision a stronger transition plan that sets students up for success. We have made great strides to lower our discretionary placements in our district, but we can improve even more with a more successful transition plan. Furthermore, one of my teammates, Josh Bowling, will hold parenting classes and social skills training for students outside of the school day which is going to be a risk, but a calculated risk and I am eager to help him launch this opportunity for our students. I am hopeful with the addition of Josh's risk taking opportunity and a stronger transition plan, our students will be more successful at their schools. We know our kids deserve it so why not swing for the fence. On my campus we currently have a small choice high school, (Timber Academy High School) and the district's DAEP. The two schools on our campus are completely different. Students apply to attend TAHS and students earn going to DAEP per consequences. This summer Timber Academy will be bull dozed and College View High School will open up.
- Give FOUR reasons you remain in education in today's rough culture?
- Each weekday morning, I jog to the gym at 5:00 AM and get home around 6:00 AM and while getting ready for work, preparing breakfast, I think about the multiple opportunities I get to create for my students. It is one of the most significant motivators I experience daily.
- There were educators throughout my childhood, adolescents, and college years who made a life-long impact in and I owe it to them to give back by paying it forward to my students.
- I aspire to leave one of the largest educational footprints the world has ever seen. I believe this generation of educational leaders has one of the best chances to create a noteworthy change in how learning happens in public school.
- Being an educator comes with some perks. One of the best perks is the the learning community and the on-going learning that happens within that community. My Professional Learning Network has sharpened my skills in a way that conferences, post-secondary learning, and PD could not. Educators yearn to learn and I am love being in a professional where learning is a priority.
- Which FIVE people do you hope will take the challenge of answering these questions?
- Lauren Guest - One of the best 4th grade teachers I have worked with. She does remarkable work teaching students to write like writers and allowing students to work in the zone of proximal development. She is a model teacher when it comes to the Goldilocks principle. Not to hard, not to difficult, just the right amount of cognitive stretch.
- Chad Lehrmann - Astounding teacher who has modeled risk-taking and student choice. Chad regularly has his students own their learning. Uber creative and soon to be school administrator.
- Amanda Mann - Science teacher extraordinaire. When it comes to a teacher who focuses on allowing students to take ownership in their learning, there is few better. She keeps impressing me with her creative instructional teaching practice.
- Jeff Mann - Middle school lead learning whose office is only a block away from me, and makes decisions that push the status quo. Jeff is the kind of guy who dreams and chases those dreams. He is a "why not" guy vs a "why" guy.
- Aaron Hogan - High school assistant principal who specializes in social-emotional learning, reading, writing, and all things creative. Aaron is a leader of many when it comes to asking... "What if we....?"
-Jeremy