Creativity as a Skill

We push for collaboration, critical-thinking, communication, and creativity in the classroom (the Four C's of 21st Century learning).  Unfortunately, there is a challenge to assess these skills through standards and testing.  Therefore, our responsibility as educators is to initiate opportunities for students to develop their creativity within our classrooms.

Creativity is providing students opportunities to generate and produce authentic work, allowing both the teacher and the student to take ownership.

14 Days of Instruction: My Three-Week Goal

"A coach's greatest asset is his sense of responsibility - the reliance put on him by his players." - Knute Rockne

The later-than-normal Thanksgiving created a calendar providing three-weeks of instruction sandwiched by our first semester "breaks".  These 15 days of instruction are crucial for our teachers to produce rigorous instruction, maintain high levels of student engagement, and continue to move our students along the hierarchy of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy.  We will only have seven "instructional" days upon returning in 2014 before the North Carolina Final Exams and End-of-Course Exams begin.  These 15 days are pivotal to our entire school academic community.

I like to set short-term goals to maintain my own focus and consider myself to have a goal-oriented leadership style.  Therefore, I set a personal goal over the next 14 days of instruction (I am excluding December 20th):

Six Walk-Through Check-Points

There are many data points to look for when completing Walk-Through's, and it is easy for administrators to be overwhelmed when trying to complete an effective five-minute Walk-Through.  I've put together six basic "Check-Points" to assist on assessing instruction during a Walk-Through.

"Six Walk-Through Check-Points"

Energy in the Room

I recently formally observed a Beginning Teacher in my school that demonstrated how important and beneficial it is for the teacher to be the energy in the classroom.

You can find hundreds of articles and resources discussing how important it is for the teacher to be the energy in the classroom.  Why is it so important?

Two primary effects:

1.  Instructional time is maximized.

2.  The students are engaged.

You ever notice how fast an observation goes when you're in an energetic classroom?  Forty-five minutes fees like 15.  The best compliment a student can give a teacher is, at the end of the class, you hear, "It's time to go already?!?".  This only occurs when the instructional time is maximized, keeping students engaged for the entire class period.

Last week, I retweeted a tweet by @Jaymelinton (who will be moderating Wednesday's #ncadmin chat, "New Teacher Support", at 8 pm [shameless plug]), which was originally posted by @coolcatteacher:

"Students will rarely exceed the energy you put into the equation."

The importance of energy and enthusiasm was best demonstrated near the end of Thursday's observation:

Since this occurred in a world language class, I'm not sure what exactly the teacher said (it was not a Spanish class-I can normally hold my own in a Spanish class).  All of the sudden, 24 high school students had their feet off of the ground and were sitting on top of their desks, working furiously on the activity and participating with the dialogue led by the teacher.  It was some sort of quick-paced, relatively silly, "the floor has turned into hot lava that is rising towards the desk" activity.  These students could not care less about "looking cool" in front of others.  Remember, these are high school students.

Every single student participated; Every single student was engaged; This was the result of the energy in the room.

Thanks for reading!

CS



The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith     and do not represent the school or district in which he works.

"Never Lose Your Enthusiasm"

During a student interview this past spring, I was asked, "What do you think is your strongest leadership trait?"; without hesitation, I responded, "Enthusiasm."

Student Engagement Eye-Opener

Imagine it's a mid-year school day.  School begins promptly at 8 am, but with a one-hour early release at 2 pm.  But, there is one major adjustment for the schedule of the day.  Each student will report to one class and remain in that class ALL DAY LONG.  In addition, students will report to a course in which they have failed previously.

What Makes A Successful Teacher?

“WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL TEACHER?”

by

James Robert White, Ed. D.

TREAT ALL STUDENTS FAIRLY!

ENTHUSIASM FOR YOUR WORK IS A MUST!

ALLOW STUDENTS TO BE CURIOUS!

COMMUNICATE REGULARLY WITH PARENTS!

HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF AND THE STUDENTS!

EMPHASIZE STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY!

RESPECT STUDENTS’ OPINIONS!

SUCCESS           SUCCESS           SUCCESS

[Copyright © January 25, 2005]

(Dr.) James Robert White, Ed.D.

Assistant Principal ▬ Catawba Heights Elementary School

101 Ivey Street

Belmont, North Carolina 28012

(704) 827-3221 Fax: (704) 827-2419

 

Thanks for reading and please follow me via Twitter @CSmithGoBlue

CS

The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith and do not represent the school or district in which he works.

My Vision of iPads in the Classroom

      Two of my teachers and I have recently applied for a an iPads in the Classroom Pilot, so I wanted to share some of my thoughts:

       My vision for the use of iPads in the classroom is with the primary objective to help facilitate instruction in the classroom and increase student achievement.  The use of iPads in a 1:1 format will allow teachers to use technology-based student work products as a part of their instructional design.  If given the opportunity to incorporate iPads in the classroom, a teacher would be able to engage students to address higher level thinking skills and truly parallel their instruction with the 21^st century standards. 

Tablets would provide opportunities for students to demonstrate responsibility through technology.  Technology empowers students to explore and create (Gliksman, 2012).  Most importantly, iPads encourages independent, creative, and innovative use of technology.  The new Information and Technology Essential Standards require teachers to use technology as a tool and are expected to “use appropriate technology tools and other resources to access information” and “use appropriate technology tools and other resources to design products to share information with others”.  The implementation of iPads will directly coincide with these expectations and requirements for our teachers.

Finally, I was recently recognized by RobertJackson, the 2010-2011 Wachovia Principal of the Year, during the Regional Principals Conferences throughout the state of North Carolina in regards to my ongoing NC Principal ePLC (CSmithGoBlue/ncadmin).  The purpose of this ePLC is for North Carolina school leaders to collaborate and work as a Professional Learning Community with a centralized focus of the instructional issues for schools in North Carolina through Twitter and Tweetdeck.  Needless to say, if given the opportunity to take part in the iPads in the Classroom Pilot, my strong involvement in Twitter as an instructional leader will provide unlimited professional development and collaboration.

Thanks for reading and follow me via Twitter @CSmithGoBlue

CS

The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith and do not represent the school or district in which he works.

Enthusiasm & Encouragement: Every Day

We start the second semester tomorrow, so I took advantage to meet my teachers this morning, due to the Teacher Workday.  I did not want this meeting to be simply a distribution of information, but rather an opportunity for me to gather the team together and focus on the start of the semester (which, due to the 4 x 4 Block schedule, is really like the first day of school all over again).

I began by placing the teachers in random small-groups and asking them to do the following:

Discuss "what" as a school, can improve for this semester.  But, for everything you list, you must also provide "how" we can improve in this area.

This led to some very good discussion, as the whole group was able to speak freely with their colleagues.  I served more as a moderator to maintain the focus, initially by asking for "instructional issues" first.  The best aspect was not only allowing teachers to voice "what" needs to be done and "how" we need to accomplish it, but by speaking in front of the group, we can now keep each other accountable for the areas discussed.  I frequently told the group, "If it's a few weeks from now and we haven't done it, tell me.  Keep me accountable."  Crucial convesations!!

After sharing some pertinent information, I transitioned to a key component of the meeting:  Encouragement.  I showed the following two clips, asking the group to notice the drastically different environments, but consistent actions of both motivators, courtesy of http://www.wingclips.com/ :

"Run Through Me" 

"Dare to Climb"

The consistent factor is constant encouragement, regardless of how many failures or how many attempts occur. 

I quickly transitioned my meeting by sharing one of my all-time favorite quotes, by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."  This quote has become a mentality that I find crucial to my role as a leader.  It also was the "team quote" of my 2010 team, which won the conference title, maintaining an almost contagious amount of enthusiasm every day, especially during matches.  Other coaches actually complained that my players were "too spirited" and there was "No place for all those 'Let's go's' and 'Come on!'s' that you would frequently hear at our matches.  This only reassured how powerful enthusiasm can be for those who have created a culture of enthusiasm.

I finished by asking my teachers to bring a high-level of enthusiasm and encouragement every day this semester.  I asked my teachers if they possess a genuine enthusiasm and consistently encourage their students, this semester will be a success.  Every day.

Thanks for reading and please follow me via Twitter @CSmithGoBlue

CS

The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith and do not represent the school or district in which he works.

Who Are Your "Go To" Teachers?

Take a second and imagine this situation:

You have an unexpected visitor at your school: someone from the community, a local elected official, maybe even the Assistant Superintendent.  They would like to visit a couple classrooms.  Quickly decide without hesitation--where are you going to go?

The teachers which entered your mind are who I like to consider your "Go to" teachers.  These are the teachers that seem to always be on their game when you perform your routine Walk-Through's.  These are the teachers where the student engagement level is always very high and the classroom environment is consistently conducive to maximize instructional time.

These are the teachers that possess an enthusiastic personality and excitement about the content and day-to-day instruction that occurs in their classroom.  You are confident bringing anyone into these classrooms any day of the week, and more importantly, these teachers would welcome any visitor.  I remember a veteran Social Studies teacher once told me, "You know, I don't care if the Governor comes in to observe me.  They just better be ready to participate!"

The best part about this is that I haven't even discussed which students you would bring the visitor to observe.  What does this indicate?  Any student can thrive with a "Go to" teacher, regardless of grade-level, economic status, etc.  And every student deserves a "Go to" teacher.

It's our job as educational leaders to provide a school full of "Go to" teachers.  Therefore, when the visitor arrives and wishes to visit some classrooms, your quick response can be, "anywhere."

Thanks for reading and please follow me via Twitter @CSmithGoBlue

CS

The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith and do not represent the school or district in which he works.