Greetings
GreenMount Community,
As we approach the halfway point in the school year
(January 25), it is time to revisit our goals for the year and evaluate our
performance thus far. It’s time for a state-of-the-school
appraisal.
The timing is good for this as this benchmark occurs on
the last day of parent conferences.
These conferences are especially important because we must look at the
progress of each child and make plans for successful learning as we go forward
into the second half. Teachers know that
these conferences are important, which is why we are willing to relinquish
class time on these days to make sure that we have time for good conversations
and planning with parents. In order to
make these conferences effective and
efficient, I recommend that you come prepared with specific questions and that
you e-mail those questions to the teachers ahead of time so that they can be
prepared to answer them. For ideas about
how the conference should proceed, check the National PTA web site at http://www.pta.org/2532.htm.
The
sign-up sheets for conferences will be posted next week and you are encouraged
to try to schedule conferences so that you can discuss your child’s progress
with several of his/her teachers at once.
Even with 15 hours of conference time allotted over three days, you or
the teachers may find that you need additional time to complete your
discussions. This is why your planning
for the conference is so important. If
you have an agenda of what you would like to learn, it will be fairly easy for
you and the teacher to prioritize the topics and decide what can be discussed
in a subsequent conference.
Another important benchmark around our halfway point is
the All Family Meeting on January 25 at 6:30 p.m. At this meeting, you will learn the board’s
decision about tuition for 2012-2013 and you will receive contracts for the
coming year. Similarly, teachers will be
holding their mid-year goals conferences. At these conferences, teachers
revisit their three goals for the year and evaluate their progress in reaching
them. Goals for teachers are
professional goals - ones which are designed to enhance their craft and build
on their knowledge of best practices.
The goals are inextricably connected to your children’s success, which
is the result rather than the goal
itself. In other words, what does a
teacher need to learn to make his/her students more successful?
This is also the time of the year when the administration
evaluates its leadership effectiveness and the goals we have set for the
year. Also, the board evaluates my
performance based on my self-reflection and the input of board members.
So, you see, this is a time of reflection - a time when
we look back…and forward. What have we
done well? What have we learned? How can
we improve? Where do we go from here?
I
hope you reviewed the vision statement that came home last week. It is the vision of what we hope to become
that establishes our goals and the strategies to reach them. Look at the vision and think about its
components. Is this still the vision we
have for our school? Have we reached a
point where we envision loftier things for GreenMount? If you have suggestions concerning the vision,
please contact me so that we may begin a discussion.
"If you do not know where you are going, every road
will get you nowhere." - Henry Kissinger
Cheers,
Steve
