Showing posts with label lead learner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lead learner. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Wishing Wild Success to Superintendent Hart!

Congratulations to Dr. William Hart - the new Superintendent of Schools in Ipswich, MA!  


Dr. Hart on his last day at Pentucket.
(As usual, he blended into the crowd 
and cheered on others).
The Pentucket Community was fortunate to have Dr. Hart as an Assistant Superintendent; the district grew tremendously during his tenure.  Under his guidance, teachers received support and training to fully embrace 21st Century Skills (preparing students to meet the needs of today's world).  Dr. Hart helped institute systematic changes enabling teachers to work more collaboratively.  As a result, all PRSD educators participate in 'Professional Learning Communities', with identified 'SMART Goals' to enhance instructional skills and create 'Powerful Learning' experiences for students.  Most notably, has been the work he accomplished moving instructional practices to incorporate the five 'Habits of Learning': Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, Independence, and Creative Exploration.  The progress made in these areas has been so impressive that state officials and  neighboring districts have sent teams to Pentucket for site visits.  

I had the pleasure of working closely with Dr. Hart for four years.  He was a great mentor, who facilitated many administrative meetings focused on leadership and team building.  Those who know Dr. Hart, recognize his expertise in the area of thinking and questioning.   Whenever, we approached a new task he was famous for asking the question, "If ---- was to be wildly successful, what would it look like?"  

Reflecting on my four years with Dr. Hart, and the wonderful strides the district has made, I can confidently say he was wildly successful!  

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Blogging Challenge

I always love a challenge, especially if it gives me an excuse to avoid housework, LOL.  I met Larry Fliegelman when he worked as a principal in nearby Boxford.  He has since moved to Vermont, but keeps in touch with many colleagues through twitter.  He has posted a challenge to blog 14 times in the month of February (#14inFeb). http://t.co/J4XpUyQL  Larry, you're on!

I started blogging after attending the Massachusetts Elementary School Principals Association conference last May.  I was inspired by meeting other administrators who were enthusiastic about using twitter to develop a PLN (Professional Learning Network).  I jumped on board and began reading tweets from educators across the globe.  Since tweets are limited to 140 characters, I love being able to read many snippets in a short time.  I find it helps me stay abreast of things happening in the education field.  I often stumble upon links to interesting blogs, podcasts and videos.  The past nine months have been not only enlightening, but also very validating.  I've read so many postings about the need for educators to focus on creativity, communication and collaboration, it made me realize how cutting edge we are as a school district with our multi-year focus on embedding 'Habits of Learning' in all k-12 classrooms.

Modern technology has helped educators across the globe connect in ways never before possible. Below is a chart from the traffic page of this blog.  Would you believe it been viewed by people from as far away as Latvia and Malaysia?  How exciting to think that teachers in other countries might borrow our idea to dress up as fact triangles and rack up 'Math Fact Power Hours!'


Pageviews by Countries
United States
4,579
Russia
77
Germany
69
Canada
36
France
30
Australia
29
United Kingdom
28
Latvia
27
Ukraine
21
Malaysia
10