If I can say one thing about my visit to the RCA, it is that this entire school is based upon the creative vision of Ron Clark and Kim Bearden. Every classroom is themed; the SS classroom is a Delta airplane; the science classroom is a space shuttle….Get my drift? Moreso, the students feel an ownership of this school because it was created for them by people who want to make their dreams come true. In Chapter 3 of The Excellent 11, Ron writes, “One of the keys to having a successful classroom and a high-performing school is to create unity. When all the students feel ownership of their school and feel part of a place they are proud of, they are going to enjoy being there and become better students.” Well, this concept is the same for us as educators. We have to feel ownership of our workplace. We must take pride in the fact that our ideas are going to be heard and that we are free to “think outside the box” so that we can be creative in our instruction. I started laughing at the end of the chapter when Ron writes “as a parent or teacher it’s also important that we remember not to take ourselves too seriously at times.” For those of you who know me, this quote sums me up perfectly. I guess that is why I love working as an educator in a school setting - I am still a kid at heart! (Having a four year old will also do this to you, too!)
As a sidenote, we just returned from a wonderfully professional conference of school administrators at the beach. I had the special opportunity to present with Jennifer Ard (Kindergarten team leader) and Vickie Norton (Intervention Specialist) about our Kindergarten regrouping this year. Our flexible grouping worked for a group of 23 Kindergartners and we look forward to using this experience to springboard to other grade levels. This type of creativity and flexibility is exactly what Ron Clark alludes. I thank them for their leadership and assistance with sharing a success story from this school year! They did a super job presenting! I also had the opportunity to facilitate the presentation led by Camden High School’s leadership team - It was wonderful to support them and to hear about their staff’s professional development this year. Got lots of ideas….get ready! I am taking my grade level chairs on a leadership retreat this week. We will continue to discuss our Ron Clark reading as well as spend some time articulating about our plans to work on our math curriculum.
Keep reading…..on to Chapter 4…..
