STANDARD TWO - INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP
School executives will set high standards for the professional practice of 21st century instruction and assessment that result in a no-nonsense, accountable environment. The school executive must be knowledgeable of best instructional and school practices and must use this knowledge to cause the creation of collaborative structures within the school for the design of highly engaging schoolwork for students, the ongoing peer review of this work and the sharing of this work throughout the professional community.
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Weekly admin will visit classrooms and reflect on the opportunity to engage in instructional leadership by observing classrooms both in person and virtually. Admin has a separate spreadsheet where they record which classrooms they have visited to ensure all classrooms have the chance to be observed even our VA classes. I kept another log to reflect on the engagement, instructional practices, scaffolding, use of questioning and online learning tools, how staff were supporting students, and classroom environment and culture. This was even more important in observing our VA classes and online electives to ensure they were highly effective.
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During the beginning of my internship at Washington GT Magnet Elementary, I worked with Washington's admin team and Leadership team to create a new instructional schedule that met the district requirements for instructional time and elective time during virtual and in person learning. Also, we focused on proving scheduled structures that would help teachers effectively teach virtual classes while providing times for teachers the opportunity to collaborate and provide support groups for students. As a part of the magnet theme we wanted to ensure students were receiving their electives as well. Therefore, we decided to provide K with a special and 1 elective to each grade level (1-5). The team worked hard to ensure all students had the option of choosing an elective like in the years past. From the beginning, scheduling was focused on what would best make sense to support students/families but also make sure students were receiving highly effective instruction. When students returned to the building the schedule shifted to include more electives the schedule was shifted to ensure students in grades 3-5 were receiving 2 elective choices while still providing intervention and enrichment times for teachers to provide supports to students who need them. The schedule ensures all core subjects, electives, and intervention times are incorporated throughout the day. However, we did not forget about our teachers and ensured staff were able to have the common planning they were looking for. For in person learning this schedule shifted within the classrooms to provide the best use of their time with students who were in the building. Electives are online which allows staff to provide electives with fidelity compared to those in Virtual Academy. Also PLT meetings were held each Tuesday morning, which allowed teachers to have a common planning time with their team to provide further planning and supports for students based on data discussions.
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