Step Up For Students: Success Stories
Volume 4 Issue: 9                                                  May 2016
 
Up and Down the Mountain  

In one of the Office of Student Learning's Master Leadership Academy sessions, we participated in an activity called "Up and Down the Mountain."  The purpose of the activity was to get us to think about our perceptions and thoughts before we began our journey and then compare them to what we realized in the end. 
The "mountain" was representative of our experience in the Master Leadership Academy course, but could also have characterized our school year.  We had interesting conversations about how we perceived our jobs, our tasks, our prior knowledge, our personality, and our understanding of leading a school before participating in this study, and how we came to a new understanding of how things really are.
Almost everyone in my cohort had some sort of recognition of the fact that our perceptions before participating in a new endeavor don't always match up to what we learn about ourselves in the end.  I bet that if you were to stop and reflect for a few moments on what you were thinking at the beginning of this school year, you would have to agree that may have invested far too much energy or effort into faulty thinking.
For example, a teacher may be thinking that they can't work with a student based on information provided by a previous teacher or on observation, only to come to learn that they were one of their favorite students in their class.  An administrator may be worried about the possible performance of a scatter-brained teacher who doesn't seem to have it all together, only to realize that she has reached a small category of students that no one else has ever been able to reach.  A parent may have been worried about what he has heard about a particular teacher, only to find that his child now has a mentor.
So, give it a few moments of thought.  What are some of your misperceptions as you think about going up and down your mountai n?

Thanks, Scott Beck
Click here Preventing the Summer Slide

 
At    Gulfcoast Seventh-Day Adventist School,   Principal Angela Peoples found a very interesting technological approach to sharing her student stories. Using a cell phone template, each child is the focus of one phone, and have written special things for their parents and community members to read when visiting the school. 
At  Kindom Academy,  Academic Curriculum Coach Ms. Ulvila shared this picture from their Barnes and Nobel night, where 3rd-6th grade students participated in a Science and Engineering Fair. Parent volunteers came to judge the event. The students displayed their projects at the local Barnes and Nobel for family, friends, and the community. 
CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ACCESS THE NEWS VIDEO 
The Christian Academy for Reaching Excellence, known as CARE,  is changing education in Overtown.  Principal Christopher Simmonds, in their first year of Success Partners, uses the acronym CARE on their website and in marketing for the school. 

Jacqueline Senra, principal of Growing Treasures Private School in Hialeah put some Success Partners suggestions into action this school year.  They updated their front office to include a parent resource center, easily accessible documents such as the school calendar, a suggestion box, a school-wide pledge of honor and even a banner thanking parents for partnering with them.  They have received wonderful feedback from parents including a thank you for making them feel valued.
Our parents are the primary educators, we thank you for choosing Growing Treasures Private School to be your partner in education. 
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