Since joining the All-In Program before the 2017-18 school year, I’ve continually been impressed by the talent and commitment of our Seneca staff as they work to promote positive change in school communities and equity of opportunity for students. Through providing individualized support to students, skillful engagement with families, collaboration and professional development for teachers, and thought-partnership with school leaders, our staff are positively impacting school communities at many levels.
In our mission to be change agents in schools, we always hold the lens of sustainability. We want to help schools implement structures and systems they can maintain beyond the scope and duration of the Seneca partnership. We want to promote mindsets among school teams that lead to ongoing staff reflection, development, and innovation in best serving their students and families.
In our mission to be change agents in schools, we always hold the lens of sustainability. We want to help schools implement structures and systems they can maintain beyond the scope and duration of the Seneca partnership. We want to promote mindsets among school teams that lead to ongoing staff reflection, development, and innovation in best serving their students and families.
One school partnership I want to highlight for their work on sustainability is Washington Elementary in San Jose where Unconditional Education Coach Puja Satwani is in her second year. For our UE Coaches, the second year of partnership is about deepening alignment and building sustainability, and Puja and her school leadership team have taken some impressive steps in that direction.
Last year we created a Culture and Climate Committee (also known as C3 Team) at Washington that met monthly and included representatives from school admin, staff, and parents. The C3 Team’s work was organized around goals the school had identified from multiple data sources. Puja organized those goals into an Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) to help the school take effective action on the priority areas they named.
This year there was an exciting shift that increased the level of integration and potential sustainability of our work at Washington. In collaboration with Puja, the school leaders decided to merge the C3 team with their Instructional Leadership Team (ILT). Now the integrated Leadership/C3 team meets twice a month to drive progress on school priorities. It is made up of school leaders and one teacher representative from every grade level, which allows the work of the Leadership/C3 Team to extend into Grade Level Collaboration time. Puja and the school admin spent a lot of time creating SMART goals for this year’s AIP priorities and then posted those up in the meeting room, so they are alive and present in every meeting and central to each discussion. Action items are listed and tracked, and team members share accountability for leading their grade level teams in advancing the priorities.
Last year we created a Culture and Climate Committee (also known as C3 Team) at Washington that met monthly and included representatives from school admin, staff, and parents. The C3 Team’s work was organized around goals the school had identified from multiple data sources. Puja organized those goals into an Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) to help the school take effective action on the priority areas they named.
This year there was an exciting shift that increased the level of integration and potential sustainability of our work at Washington. In collaboration with Puja, the school leaders decided to merge the C3 team with their Instructional Leadership Team (ILT). Now the integrated Leadership/C3 team meets twice a month to drive progress on school priorities. It is made up of school leaders and one teacher representative from every grade level, which allows the work of the Leadership/C3 Team to extend into Grade Level Collaboration time. Puja and the school admin spent a lot of time creating SMART goals for this year’s AIP priorities and then posted those up in the meeting room, so they are alive and present in every meeting and central to each discussion. Action items are listed and tracked, and team members share accountability for leading their grade level teams in advancing the priorities.
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The Leadership/C3 team is reading A Mindset for Learning by Kristine Mraz and Christene Hertz as their book club book, which focuses on developing five habits in students, by integrating those habits and modelling them as educators:
In promoting joy and appreciation as a school team and in building staff resilience during a time of year when burn-out can occur, the Washington named their first Dragon Hero Teacher award just before the Thanksgiving holiday break. The school leaders chose the first recipient of this monthly award, but moving forward each winner gets to choose the winner for the following month, thereby increasing staff voice, leadership, and mutual appreciation. This idea was inspired by the Culture and Climate Toolkit developed last year by Dr. Tamarah Tilos and Sara Moses.
- optimism—putting aside fear and resistance to learn something new
- persistence—keeping at it, even when a task is hard
- flexibility—trying different ways to find a solution
- resilience—bouncing back from setbacks and learning from failure
- empathy—learning by putting oneself in another person’s shoes.
In promoting joy and appreciation as a school team and in building staff resilience during a time of year when burn-out can occur, the Washington named their first Dragon Hero Teacher award just before the Thanksgiving holiday break. The school leaders chose the first recipient of this monthly award, but moving forward each winner gets to choose the winner for the following month, thereby increasing staff voice, leadership, and mutual appreciation. This idea was inspired by the Culture and Climate Toolkit developed last year by Dr. Tamarah Tilos and Sara Moses.
Continuing to build staff resilience and to re-inspire school staff after the holiday break is crucial, so the day before students return in January 2019, Puja will be leading a Professional Development based on the “Telling Empowering Narratives” chapter of Onward by Elena Aguilar.
It is inspiring to be a part of teams engaging in this challenging and important work. Wishing everyone happy holidays and restorative winter breaks!
It is inspiring to be a part of teams engaging in this challenging and important work. Wishing everyone happy holidays and restorative winter breaks!
Blog Post Written by: Jason Keppe, Director of School Partnerships and Training Director
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