August 27, 2017
Every year the summer seems to rush by and I find myself thinking "how did it get to be the end of August?" I am guessing you are thinking the same thing tonight as you get ready to head back to AHS tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see you all! I am excited for the new start with so much to look forward to. The 2017-2018 school year is off and running. I am going to start sending my memos to you in this format so you can always go back to one place to search for information.
Besides lots of beach time with my family this summer I had the privilege of attending both the National and Massachusetts conferences for secondary administrators. At the NASSP conference I sat on the floor (every space in the room was filled!) in order to hear school leaders Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf, authors of Lead Like a Pirate, share their phenomenal message of inspiration and creating a school where the "students and staff are running to get in rather than out...". Recently, they issued a challenge to make five commitments to actions I will take this year to support the AHS vision for the kind of school I wish to create. I know that so many of you share that vision so I wanted to share my commitments with you and ask that as you get ready to start the school year you also reflect on 5 commitments you can make to the students of AHS you will impact this year.
1. My first commitment is to focus on passion and to encourage all of you to do the same. I really spent some time this summer focusing on what I am passionate about, especially as a part of the AHS community. My passion is being connected to a community and doing what I can to support all of those that are a part of it, whether it is my family, my neighborhood, or my school. I watched all of you really grow as a caring community last year and I hope this year, with some ideas to be shared soon, we will continue to focus on that growth and how it can positively impact all students.
2. Over the past three years I have thought often about the issues of equity that face the AHS community. Knowing that there are students who don't feel welcome or safe at school bothers me, and I know it bothers you as well. We have started some good work but it needs to continue until all of our students can say they feel safe and supported, at least for the hours they are in school. We have some amazing speakers and programs lined up to help us focus on this need but I want this focus to be on all of our minds daily, in the classroom, hallways, cafeteria, etc.
3. Part of building community and focusing on equity is to reframe our actions and questions. I commit to spending time this year looking at our values, our practices, our courses, and more and thinking about how they might change and grow. (We will need to do this for NEASC as well!) I just finished reading Fully Alive by Tim Shriver, currently the CEO of the Special Olympics. He was the keynote speaker at the state conference and his message of really looking at what our students are teaching us, while we are teaching them, really hit home. How are we thinking about all of our learners, what they are teaching us, and how we can help them reach their potential?
4. We have a great story and I'd like to see it shared more. I commit to making sure I share something great about what's happening at AHS every day this year. As part of that sharing I will make sure to "notice the impact" each and every one of you makes by pointing out the positive impact teachers have on students and vice versa! Imagine the impact if lots of students and staff joined me? The students shared so much with us last week at the leadership trainings. I was mostly very touched and in some cases a little bit saddened to hear the impact we all have on the students we talked to.
5. Finally, I commit to making our meetings times professional development and opportunities to learn from each other. Speed dating? Genius hours? What else can we do as a faculty? There is so much that is new about this year from new start times to learning about the new NEASC process. I look forward to finding new and better ways to accomplish our goals in order to support each and every student at AHS.
The next two days are going to be focused on building relationships. I hope you all join me in spending the time getting to know students your students this week and on Convocation Day. Building relationships and setting positive expectations now will make the teaching and learning that much easier for the rest of the year.
Every year the summer seems to rush by and I find myself thinking "how did it get to be the end of August?" I am guessing you are thinking the same thing tonight as you get ready to head back to AHS tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see you all! I am excited for the new start with so much to look forward to. The 2017-2018 school year is off and running. I am going to start sending my memos to you in this format so you can always go back to one place to search for information.
Besides lots of beach time with my family this summer I had the privilege of attending both the National and Massachusetts conferences for secondary administrators. At the NASSP conference I sat on the floor (every space in the room was filled!) in order to hear school leaders Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf, authors of Lead Like a Pirate, share their phenomenal message of inspiration and creating a school where the "students and staff are running to get in rather than out...". Recently, they issued a challenge to make five commitments to actions I will take this year to support the AHS vision for the kind of school I wish to create. I know that so many of you share that vision so I wanted to share my commitments with you and ask that as you get ready to start the school year you also reflect on 5 commitments you can make to the students of AHS you will impact this year.
1. My first commitment is to focus on passion and to encourage all of you to do the same. I really spent some time this summer focusing on what I am passionate about, especially as a part of the AHS community. My passion is being connected to a community and doing what I can to support all of those that are a part of it, whether it is my family, my neighborhood, or my school. I watched all of you really grow as a caring community last year and I hope this year, with some ideas to be shared soon, we will continue to focus on that growth and how it can positively impact all students.
2. Over the past three years I have thought often about the issues of equity that face the AHS community. Knowing that there are students who don't feel welcome or safe at school bothers me, and I know it bothers you as well. We have started some good work but it needs to continue until all of our students can say they feel safe and supported, at least for the hours they are in school. We have some amazing speakers and programs lined up to help us focus on this need but I want this focus to be on all of our minds daily, in the classroom, hallways, cafeteria, etc.
3. Part of building community and focusing on equity is to reframe our actions and questions. I commit to spending time this year looking at our values, our practices, our courses, and more and thinking about how they might change and grow. (We will need to do this for NEASC as well!) I just finished reading Fully Alive by Tim Shriver, currently the CEO of the Special Olympics. He was the keynote speaker at the state conference and his message of really looking at what our students are teaching us, while we are teaching them, really hit home. How are we thinking about all of our learners, what they are teaching us, and how we can help them reach their potential?
4. We have a great story and I'd like to see it shared more. I commit to making sure I share something great about what's happening at AHS every day this year. As part of that sharing I will make sure to "notice the impact" each and every one of you makes by pointing out the positive impact teachers have on students and vice versa! Imagine the impact if lots of students and staff joined me? The students shared so much with us last week at the leadership trainings. I was mostly very touched and in some cases a little bit saddened to hear the impact we all have on the students we talked to.
The next two days are going to be focused on building relationships. I hope you all join me in spending the time getting to know students your students this week and on Convocation Day. Building relationships and setting positive expectations now will make the teaching and learning that much easier for the rest of the year.
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