Learning a new skill, even if it is a hobby, can inform your thinking about the learning conditions adults need to be successful. Please view my video blog about learning a new skill and my reflections on learning conditions for teachers and school leaders. Leave a comment, if you would like to discuss the ideas I shared in my blog.
Ronetta Jenkins is a summer intern for West Wind Education Policy. She will be a Junior this fall at Iowa City High. This is part 2 of a 2-part blog. Continue reading “Civil Rights Movement Tour Part 2”
Ronetta Jenkins is a summer intern for West Wind Education Policy. She will be a Junior this fall at Iowa City High. This is part 1 of a 2 part blog.
Starting my journey off on June 8th to go back down south I thought to myself, why am I going again? I feel like I know it all already after going on this trip for the 4th time. I didn’t know enough. The day I left and I arrived at the first stop in Memphis, Tennessee I remember why I wanted to do this again. There’s no such thing as learning to much, but there’s a thing as not learning enough. This trip wasn’t just for experience; it was a chance to be put back in the past and relive the moments just by stepping in the places of these heroes who made change. Continue reading “Civil Rights Movement Tour”
Have you ever noticed that when you are deeply interested in something, you find ideas about that interest where you aren’t expecting to find them and when you aren’t intentionally seeking that information? If you are open to learning something new, then ideas come to you from sources and settings that may be surprising. I often find myself making connections among concepts from experiences and sources that have little to do with my work. My professional interests in exploring ways to help educators learn new knowledge and skills has launched an ongoing inquiry about collaborative processes for learning that yields discoveries outside the usual places I go to acquire information. Continue reading “BE BOLD”
After nearly two years, Friday June 28, 2013 was my last official day at West Wind Education Policy Inc. On July 1, I started my new position as Associate Principal at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Although I’m thrilled to start this new chapter of my life, it is bittersweet.
On Sunday afternoon, I spent time in my office for the last time. I packed my belongings, taking my graduation plaque down from the wall. I can honestly say that I’m not sure I would have graduated had I not found a home at West Wind. Continue reading “It’s Not Goodbye, It’s See You Later”
I had the opportunity to take part in a webinar last week with CCSSO and the New Hampshire State Consortium on Educator Effectiveness (SCEE) team. The NH team lead presented a problem of practice for consultation. In the process, she was asking great questions about the roles of principals in her state, especially in relationship to teacher leaders. Continue reading “Compensatory Leadership”
My son graduated from high school last Friday and I said I would write a blog post about it. As I started thinking about what to write I looked back at what I wrote when my colleagues and I posted back in the fall about our kids starting the school year. Here’s what I said:
My youngest started his Senior year and will graduate early, so in six short months our lives will change in ways I have long planned for but still can hardly imagine. Both of my boys will be up and out in the world and all of us will find new freedoms and challenges to chase. Braydon’s school life has not always been a positive experience. Seeing him here, having navigated this stretch, makes me proud, relieved, and excited about his future plans and the possibilities that lie ahead for him.
Continue reading “High School Graduation Means beginning of Endless Possibilities”
Collaborative learning teams are improving teacher practice and student learning results in the Dallas Center-Grimes Community School Districts near Des Moines, Iowa.
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The Dallas Center-Grimes Community school district in Iowa is making strides in reaching important district and building goals by having collaborative teams of teachers learn together about how to conduct formative assessments of student learning. The entire district leadership and teaching force is focused on this effort and four years into the commitment, this focus appears to be improving teacher practice, and in turn, improving learning outcomes for students.
Read about the process, challenges, and benefits of the district’s work in All Aboard! published in the April edition of Learning Forward’s Journal of Staff Development (JSD), Co-authored by Deb Hansen, senior policy analyst at West Wind.