We are coming to the time of year, where we start to wind down on compiling our future ready submissions as we work towards silver certification for 11 of the schools in our district. It occurs to me that as we talk about collaboration, and sharing out of best practices that I could put together some information about our wonderful team of people working on the process and all of the supports we have place to make it happen.
Our Step by Step process:
After the kickoff meeting, which was attended by the Technology Integration Specialists in our district, and viewed asynchronously by administrations and the technology department, we got to work with our district level team.
Step 1: Representatives from each school came together to go through the overall process and review what was learned from the kickoff meeting. Representatives set up their tracking sheets and laid out a plan for moving forward at individual schools.
After the kickoff meeting, which was attended by the Technology Integration Specialists in our district, and viewed asynchronously by administrations and the technology department, we got to work with our district level team.
Step 1: Representatives from each school came together to go through the overall process and review what was learned from the kickoff meeting. Representatives set up their tracking sheets and laid out a plan for moving forward at individual schools.
Step 2: Individual schools had monthly day-long meetings with their individual teams which were made up of administrators, technology integration specialists, teachers, and librarians. They reviewed each of the indicators and started the process of collecting evidence, self-assessing, and creating a video. We provided substitutes for teaching staff so that the team could have large amounts of dedicated time to working together to find as much evidence as possible. Meanwhile technology and administrative teams started a plan for tackling district level indicators.
Step 3: Individual teams approached the faculty through informal interviews, stops into classrooms, Google surveys sent via email, and faculty meeting presentations. The whole time the team looked to increase awareness, collect evidence, and get the staff on board with the vision of the Future Ready Schools initiative. In my personal opinion, I like using a form because it makes it easy on those sharing best practices and ideas with the team, and it allows for the team to condense and filter, while maintaining control over the format.
One of our biggest takeaways for next year will be to start the process of asking staff for these items sooner. We discussed the idea of every month, sending out one or two indicators and asking staff to send ideas and brainstorm. That way the ideas are always in the heads of the staff. We want it to be more fluid, more an every day discussion, not one we just discuss when working on the indicators themselves.
One of our biggest takeaways for next year will be to start the process of asking staff for these items sooner. We discussed the idea of every month, sending out one or two indicators and asking staff to send ideas and brainstorm. That way the ideas are always in the heads of the staff. We want it to be more fluid, more an every day discussion, not one we just discuss when working on the indicators themselves.
Step 4: Cross team communication was kept in place by one of the district's Instructional Technology Specialists. She created newsletters to share with the team, communicated updates, and made sure that we were all understanding the steps and processes that were needed. She developed and shared checklists, and organized links to aid administrators with the submission process.
Step 5: Individual teams continued to meet, to rehash the indicators and to work on the video. We gathered ideas and visuals from the students, staff, administrators, counselors, and district administrators to make sure we could get all of the information we needed to show the true nature of our schools.
From there we were able to self-assess, finalize submissions, and double check our links and work.
From there we were able to self-assess, finalize submissions, and double check our links and work.
Step 6: This is yet to come. Once we receive word of how our submissions were received, the group will reconvene to discuss growth, to analyze our next steps, and see where we need to continue to work. As our schools worked on their submissions for this year, they kept track of areas that needed to be discussed and analyzed further. These lists will be shared and discussed as part of the reflection process.
If I could tell anyone our best asset to this process is so far is the resources that were allocated to this project. We were so fortunate to have so many people involved, and so much time set aside to allow teams to work on towards Silver certification. We had large, diverse teams of people who were able to set aside a full day monthly to tackle this project. That in turn with supports from around the district, and devoted group of people working hard to make this happen, are how we were able to complete all of the tasks that this process requires. We are learning and growing from our work.