Prior to the beginning of the school year, I publicly reflected on my past four years as a district administrator.  In addition, I established several goals for the 2014-15 academic year.  In no particular order, they were...

  • Continue attending the quarterly area curriculum director meetings (Develop existing relationships and strengthen new ones)
  • Seek out a leadership role in the area special education director meetings (Deeper learning in this area.  Consider finding an informal mentor)
  • Spend several hours observing and reflecting with district administrators in a similar role around Iowa.  (Establish a more formal learning community, face-to-face or virtual)
  • Pursue central office academic literature describing validated practices of central office administrators.
We're now exactly halfway through the school year, so I thought it might be a good idea to provide an update on each of these goal areas. 

Continue attending the quarterly area curriculum director meetings
Looking back:  
Within my area of the state, we've had several curriculum director meetings.  I was able to attend both of them and met several directors new to the area or to their positions.  I invited one director who works within thirty miles of me to spend a morning together for the purpose of sharing ideas.  Although this director is shared between two districts, I felt our contexts were close enough that we established a lasting professional connection for years to come. 

Looking ahead:
I plan to attend the remaining curriculum director meetings as well as several other meetings that may be geared towards central office administrators.  Our district was awarded nearly $400,000 grant for next school year to implement a teacher leadership system (more about this in a future post), so I anticipate reaching out to several area curriculum directors who have previously established similar teacher leadership systems to learn the ins and outs of a new area of education for me.

Seek out a leadership role in the area special education director meetings
Looking back:
I've emailed and talked on the phone with a person who is well respected and well-versed in special education.  I had hoped to have at least one special education director meeting under my belt by now.

Looking ahead:
We're co-planning the first special education director meeting, however it will likely not take place until February.  The realist in me believes two quality meetings will be a success for this school year and hopefully enough momentum to build on for future years.

Spend several hours observing and reflecting with district administrators in a similar role around Iowa.
See comments above describing the curriculum director meetings, morning planning and anticipated time that will be spent discussing the teacher leadership system.  I have also made informal contacts with several district administrators from other areas of Iowa to throw out the idea of a virtual meeting every month or two to bridge our physical distance travel constraints.

Pursue central office academic literature describing validated practices of central office administrators. 
Looking back:
This is a goal area I have not much progress, if any at all, since the summer months. 

Looking ahead:
Beginning in a little over one week, I will begin a graduate course entitled "Instructional Leadership that Facilitates School Improvement."  I am hopeful the readings and discussion will director or indirectly point me in the right direction.  The first snow day we have this year, I plan to do some serious EBSCOhost and ProQuest searching!

I welcome your accountability and look forward to posting another update around Spring Break as well as another at the end of the school year.