We have completed our second season as a team, and my second as the head coach. I was able to better predict the schedule and I kept parents and administrators in the loop in my weekly emails. There was a much better showing at the end of the year’s NYS qualifier. In our first year, all but one of our athletes lost both of their matches and went home empty-handed. This year we had almost all of our athletes in the medal rounds, which was a remarkable improvement. Continue reading Continuing the Foundation Work
Category Archives: Professional Development
Allow for the Transformation
When I went into this self study, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do: I would carve out time for myself to write more during the year, attend to and nurture the writer in me that seemed on a distant but parallel path to my teacher-self. Running on what seemed like two parallel lines, these two selves rarely seemed to touch. In the end, while I didn’t actually end up writing, I discovered more points of convergence between teacher Jane and writer Jane than I had thought possible. Continue reading Allow for the Transformation
The Teacher As Learner
I started my self-study journey with the goal to engage in my own personal scientific inquiry. I wanted to give myself the same structure and timeframe that my 8th grade students had for working on their own scientific investigations so I could experience the process as they did. By putting myself into the position of the learner from day one, I was able to gain valuable insights into what the process was like for my students allowing me to better support them in their learning. Continue reading The Teacher As Learner
On the Value of “Theatre Visits”
I did well in following through with getting to the theatre and finding inspiration and a revived sense of my passion. I am still planning on attending more theatre as I believe it really has made a positive impact in my journey this year. Continue reading On the Value of “Theatre Visits”
Driving with Headlights
The writer E. L Doctorow famously said, “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” As a writer who studied under E.L Doctorow in graduate school, those word meant a lot to me. At their heart, they are about uncertainty, finding your way by seeing only part of the road ahead. They connect with my own writing process since I often uncover and unearth understandings of my characters and plot along the way. These words also promise an inviting possibility — that on my journey through the world, I can continuously discover my path. Continue reading Driving with Headlights
Exploring Our Guiding Principles with New Faculty & Staff
As we move towards the end of the year, I thought it might be useful to return to some of the work that our new faculty and staff engaged in at the start of the year during our orientation sessions. After brainstorming personal connections to our guiding principles, participants formed groups based on the guiding principles that most resonated for them. These groups then affinity maped the collection of responses that had been generated in the brainstorming exercise. Each group mapped these ideas into one of three overarching themes that they felt amplified the core guiding principles. New faculty and staff were then asked to think about how these themes might serve as a guidepost for their wayfinding and learning work throughout their first year at LREI.
With much work already behind us, perhaps useful for all of us at LREI to ask how these guiding principles and the related themes developed by our newest community members are guiding and supporting our work with learners and pushing each of us closer to our learning edge?
Continue reading Exploring Our Guiding Principles with New Faculty & Staff
Sparking Scientific Curiosity
FINDING MY FOCUS
What has been one of my peak experiences as a teacher? I am lucky that there are many instances in my career that make me feel engaged and motivated, that spark my desire to expand my knowledge base, but there is one that especially stands out in my mind. Continue reading Sparking Scientific Curiosity
What’s affecting how children learn?
Three years ago my first graders failed to make it through the entire sequence of first grade skills by June. At the time, I assumed that it was a one off–a particular group of children who needed more time than the school year offered us. The following year, I experienced the same thing and then again the year after that. With a trend of three years, it began to become clear that something else was going on. Continue reading What’s affecting how children learn?
My “Dramatic” LREI Journey to My Progressive Practice
MY “BACKSTORY”:
I began teaching at LREI in September 2007. In the second week, I launched straight into holding auditions for my first HS musical which was Little Shop of Horrors – the show opened in the first week of November and within a month I was putting on the MS play, Treasure Island with a cast size over 50! At the time I was asked to be in charge of all set and costumes; I had a parent who helped on lights and a science teacher to help me with set building. At the time, I wondered how I could sustain such a demanding position . . . Continue reading My “Dramatic” LREI Journey to My Progressive Practice
Librarian, Focus!: Organizing a Self Study
As I said in my previous post on this topic, school librarians often find themselves wearing the hats of “actor, caretaker, clerk, crafter, event planner, manners police officer, meeting goer, paper cutter, professional developer, sympathetic ear and window dresser.” Add to that list magpie, as we are always picking up and exclaiming over every shiny object we see, whether it be a new piece of hardware or a glossy coffee table art book. (Which is a myth, apparently.) We change direction constantly, depending on what the new trend, app, or gadget is.
Exploring Our Progressive Purpose
It’s been an exciting start of the year for students, faculty and families at LREI. I’m privileged in my new role as Director of Learning & Innovation to be able to discover each day more about the rich learning experiences that weave their way through and between our lower, middle and high school and afterschool programs. Continue reading Exploring Our Progressive Purpose
Journey to Cuba
This summer I travelled to Cuba with a group of educators and fellow leaders of school groups abroad. Eight of us were Spanish teachers and we had a great time immersing ourselves in the culture.
The Joy in Terror
Opening a Pandora’s Box of Possibilities
Dear Colleagues,
Consider this as an open letter from our newest colleagues to those of us returning for the beginning of a new season of learning at LREI. In a short ideation session, new faculty identified essential elements of our progressive purpose, stated goals for “being” at LREI and uncovered some questions for which they will look to you for support and guidance.
What can I do?
It’s November in NYC, I have been feeling disempowered, confused, and angry with so much about our country and it feels so large and overwhelming. So I brought it back to something tangible. It’s called WHAT CAN I DO? Continue reading What can I do?