Rainbow over Cole Park

     Though I am quite fond of the days we spent at Cole Park Plaza (the school's original "campus"), I try to be careful not to over-glorify the strip mall days.  That was hard to do on this double rainbow afternoon, when Cole Park did appear to be the gold at the end of the rainbow!
     The chief lesson, for me, of our ten years of strip mall existence is that a great building does not a great school make . . . it's the people--and what they're committed to--that make the school.

Grand Rounds at Woods

If I say the phrase, "Grand Rounds" to you, I wonder what image comes to mind?  No doubt, some of you might conjure a tasty thought of this . . .

Indeed, I have family members who refer to those Pillsbury biscuits as Grand Rounds.

More sophisticated readers (perhaps?) might have in their mind the famous medical school tradition whereby doctors circulate together in groups to interview and discuss patients as part of the doctors' training and education, on the lines of this . .  . 

This year at Woods, when we say, "Grand Rounds," we mean something more like this . . .

Returning from Grand Rounds debrief.

One of our new initiatives for this year (which we're calling Grand Rounds, taking a cue from the med school tradition) involves teachers from each of the divisions spending their day rotating as a group to other classrooms around school to observe other colleagues and students in action.

Our purposes: 

1) to learn from each other’s practices,

2) to connect with teachers from other divisions,

3) to increase awareness of what other colleagues are doing in their day-to-day instruction, and

4) to gain perspective on student experience across division.

M.W. Helping Us Honor M.L.K.

     I'm grateful for our ongoing partnership with the bright creative lights of Mr. Mike Wiley!  He's an incredibly talented playwright and actor, and if you haven't encountered him, it's worth your while to visit his website to see the work he's up to.  For the past several years, he has come to Woods to be part of our observance of the life and work of Dr. King.  This year he performed his play One Noble Journey, which brings to life the story of Henry "Box" Brown, an African American born into slavery in Virginia in 1816 who later mailed himself to family--and freedom--in Philadelphia.

Alums in the House!

     Here's a tradition that goes back to Cole Park days.  We pick a day in early January, a day when we at Woods have returned to classes but our alums in college have not.  We bring in some simple food.  Then, we let the alums answer questions from the seniors about how to survive and thrive in college.  Today, we heard some sound hygienic advice: "bring proper rain gear," "don't neglect your sleep," "avoid eating only stupid carbs and salt your first year."  We also heard about how to make the most of learning in college: "get over your shyness and get yourself to office hours," "definitely consider a living learning community," and "when in doubt, talk to your professors."

After the seniors had their turn, we invited the juniors in for their own time with the alums.  The main prompt (to which the alums responded) was, "When I was a junior in high school, I wish someone had told me . . . "

Colloquium for Teachers of Writing

     We regularly send our Woods teachers to workshops and conferences around the state and around the country, reflecting our belief that Woods must be a place where learning is alive for both children and adults. Rarely, however, have we hosted professional development workshops at Woods for outsiders.  That changes this Saturday when we host teachers from around the Triangle for a colloquium for teachers of writing.  (I've copied our poster below, so please take a look -- and share with friends if you think they might be interested.)  It's a small step, but it's in the direction that I hope Woods will continue to march -- in the direction of sharing what we know with others and inviting other teachers to Woods to help us expand the art of teaching here at Woods and beyond!

Druckerman's Cures for Hyper-Parenting

I loved Pamela Druckerman's book Bringing up Bébé even though I came to it after my own kids were no longer bébés.  Her recent article in the New York Times contains echoes from the book and was also enjoyable.
I suspect she's right (unfortunately) when she humorously warns,

Don't bother obsessing about what you think you're doing wrong.  You won't screw up your kids in the ways you expect; you'll do it in ways you hadn't even considered.

You can find her October 12th article here.

Principal's Goals 2014-15

Approved at last month's Board meeting . . . 

Woods Charter School

2014-2015 Goals for the Principal

1.  Support, retain, and develop our faculty.

·         Provide regular and varied forms of constructive feedback for all faculty.

o   Visit all classrooms at least twice by end of September.

o   Conduct full observation of all faculty members by March 15^th.

·         Implement Beginning Teacher Support Plan.

·         Steward processes for reflective practice for all faculty.

(e.g., peer-to-peer observations, school visits, teacher book groups, Grand Rounds, CONNECT  board, etc.)

2.  Build community . . .

            among faculty.

            among students.

            among the whole school, One Woods.

3.  Practice Leadership-by-Walking-Around

·         Be present in classrooms, hallways, and at extracurricular/athletic events.

4.  Communicate regularly with parents using multiple forms and forums.

·         Leverage traditional and digital media for articulating and reiterating our philosophy, mission, and values.

o   Compose monthly blog posts to whole Woods community.

5.  Build a stronger, more cohesive admin/leadership team.

·         Engage outside coach/consultant to help challenge and develop the team.

·         Create and implement a new model for how we conduct meetings.

·         Conduct comprehensive review process for admin team.

6.  Continue to focus, energize, and expand our fundraising capacity.

·         Raise $200,000 through the annual fund and auction.  Increase participation by Woods families beyond 85%.

·         Secure 2-3 significant corporate donations/sponsorships.

7.  Improve the precision of our financial modeling and forecasting to maximize money going to faculty salaries.

·         Complete a facilities maintenance plan by April 2015.

           

8.  Create outdoor spaces on our campus that are friendly and inspiring to teachers, students, and learning.  Add beauty and vibrancy to the front of the school.

·         Build two outdoor classrooms (council houses) this school year.

·         Complete design for huge pollinator garden in front of the school and install phase #1 by Dec. 1^st.