Friday Focus - No Mediocrity

This is another cross-post from my staff memo blog to share this week's Friday Focus with you...
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This week one of the blog posts in my google reader was on mediocrity in teaching (you can read it here). When I read this I thought of how this may be the case in some schools, but certainly not in our elementary school. Everyday I see the great things that our teachers are doing to continue their own professional learning to improve instruction and student learning:

• teachers having reflective conversations with myself or their colleagues
• teachers observing other classrooms to gain new ideas
• teachers getting feedback from others that have been in their classrooms
• teachers reflecting on their practice by watching themselves on video
• teachers seeking out new strategies to try when they see their students are not getting or having behavior issues
• teachers sharing ideas with each other in grade level/PLC meetings
• teachers seeking/sharing ideas with teachers in their professional learning network outside of our school (via DART connections and Twitter)
• teachers asking colleauges how students from their WIN group are progressing in the classroom
• teachers trying new strategies they just read about or saw in a YouTube video clip (like this one here... when I found this clip this week I knew immediately that a few of our teachers had seen this, because I saw several of these strategies in their classrooms--which happen to be very effective!)

We do not have teachers teaching the same way they've always taught. We do not have teachers blaming the kids or the parents for not getting it. We have teachers that are constantly learning and sharing their passion for learning to inspire their students. We have excellent teachers that are constantly observing their students, reflecting and trying new things to meet their kids where they are. Our students and community are so fortunate to have such excellent teachers!

Image from I Feel Okay