Reflection
My goals have always been to improve my students’ learning experience by improving my instructional practice and collaborating with teachers from other departments. At the start of this program I anticipated that I would primarily be focusing on improving my own instruction through creative use of technology. I had visions of my class becoming a stereotypical “21st Century” classroom with lots of flashy software and sharing tech going on. Instead what has happened is more collaboration with colleagues and this is what I want to build on moving forward.
I anticipate great changes in the next five years as the International Baccalaureate program takes deeper roots at my school. IB has already been a serious change agent at Kennedy over the past three years. The program has grown from 60 freshmen and the handful of teachers who took the training and taught the classes into over 400 students in all four grades with dozens of teachers being trained each year. It has transformed the image of Kennedy in the community and is leading us to overhaul every aspect of our curriculum and school culture. I have embraced the IB philosophy from the start and see what’s happening at Kennedy as a once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of transforming a typical neighborhood school into a place that inspires the community and brings out the best in its diverse population.
In the fall there will be 9 or 10 IB biology courses spread over grades 9, 11 and 12. I will be teaching 6 of them, stretching myself close to the breaking point. The other classes will be taught by a different teacher, so for the first time here at Kennedy I will have a partner. Whoever this partner may be, I will need to earn their trust so that we will, as Roselinde Torres said, “cooperate towards a shared goal.” This is my challenge of leadership moving forward and there is a lot riding on my success.
I anticipate great changes in the next five years as the International Baccalaureate program takes deeper roots at my school. IB has already been a serious change agent at Kennedy over the past three years. The program has grown from 60 freshmen and the handful of teachers who took the training and taught the classes into over 400 students in all four grades with dozens of teachers being trained each year. It has transformed the image of Kennedy in the community and is leading us to overhaul every aspect of our curriculum and school culture. I have embraced the IB philosophy from the start and see what’s happening at Kennedy as a once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of transforming a typical neighborhood school into a place that inspires the community and brings out the best in its diverse population.
In the fall there will be 9 or 10 IB biology courses spread over grades 9, 11 and 12. I will be teaching 6 of them, stretching myself close to the breaking point. The other classes will be taught by a different teacher, so for the first time here at Kennedy I will have a partner. Whoever this partner may be, I will need to earn their trust so that we will, as Roselinde Torres said, “cooperate towards a shared goal.” This is my challenge of leadership moving forward and there is a lot riding on my success.