It’s hard to imagine that this year is drawing to a close. As I’ve entered into a new era of my leadership skills, I feel the need to reflect on what I’ve accomplished and what is still for me to do is vital.

My favorite part of this year was definitely working with teachers, coaching and mentoring them. I love planning and delivering professional development that engages and enriches the practice of teachers. I appreciated their dedication to our students and to developing a strong curriculum in which students felt valued and challenged. I feel a heavy obligation to take good PD and make it great with rethinking how we can do PLCs and in what ways we can also allow for differentiated learning among our staff. This is definitely my summer homework as I think ahead for next year.

 

Next year I go back down to the Early Years as a teacher, which I look forward to since I get to play and teach units of inquiry that I am familiar with. I think finding a balance between supporting my students and supporting teachers has been one of the biggest challenges in my role as a curriculum coordinator.  Although my time table says 60% teacher and 40% coordinator, the truth is I have spent way more time in both of those roles. Being a Grade 4 teacher (and doing maternity leave for the EY class) has been a fun challenge–doing inquiry based learning at that level and cultivating students into agents of action has enhanced my practice greatly. But since I just don’t open a book and turn to page 43 to teach “today’s lesson”, coming up with creative and interesting ways to develop conceptual understandings and promote wise use of technology in our classroom wasn’t always easy.  I am grateful for the opportunity to gain this perspective and work with this level of students.  I know I can make better decisions and coach more effectively since I can now speak to both spectrums of our program, from the youngest learners to the oldest. As a result, I really understand the need for more differentiated staff meetings so that those groups of teachers can discuss and collaborate more deeply and effectively. Creating those kinds of opportunities are on my “to-do” list for next year.

What went well for you as a curriculum leader? What are your priorities for next year? I’d love to hear  others’s ideas! Please share!