Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Thursday and Friday, May 23-24

I was out of district attending the annual NJASCD Executive Board retreat.

Wednesday, May 22

Intermediate School:
-Facilitated a Colonial Day planning meeting

Board Office:
-Conducted several interviews for the high school position
-Sent an email with registration information for Confratute
-Sent an email with information regarding AP US History summer institute registration
-Prepared the social studies weekly update

Tuesday, May 21

High School:
-Met with the union president and a teacher to discuss an email that was sent pressuring teachers not to participate in a summer professional development activity due to stalled contract negotiations

Board Office:
-Met with a parent to discuss her concerns with a high school teacher
-Interviewed several candidates for the high school position
-Reviewed lesson plans
-Sent invites to district leadership for Colonial Day

Monday, May 20

Board Office:
-Facilitated a world history work session to develop the final exam
-Worked on placement decisions for 5-8th grade REACH
-Finalized two observation reports
-Submitted my reimbursement paperwork for spring semester doctoral classes
-Submitted paperwork to attend ASCD L2L conference in July
-Submitted the high school social studies student award winners
-Prepared for this week's interviews
-Began working on some high school annual performance reviews
-Interviewed a candidate for the high school position

Monday, May 20, 2013

Friday, May 17

Board Office:
- Met with the assistant superintendent to discuss the teacher/union issue, another teacher's request to meet with her, and Confratute planning
- Interviewed a candidate for the HS opening

Elementary School:
- Observed a first grade class

Board Office:
- Responded to a parent's request for a meeting via email
- Sent reminders to world history teachers regarding Monday's work session
- Spoke with the union president regarding the teacher issue
- Distributed the social studies weekly update
- Sent a request out to meet with all AP US History teachers on Monday
- Invited the teacher-in-question to a meeting on Monday
- Interviewed a candidate for the HS opening

Thursday, May 16

High School:
- Met with a teacher for an annual performance review conference
- Met with a long-term sub to plan an observation

Board Office:
- Responded to an email about a grading scale for a World History Honors exam
- Began dealing with a potential union issue where a teacher sent an email to colleagues that caused them to feel pressured into not doing something asked of them by their supervisor. This led me back to the high school to meet with a union vice president. This will require follow-up next week.

Intermediate School:
- Facilitated the 5th grade curriculum integration meetings

Board Office:
- Sent emails to all job applicants who have not moved on to the in-person interview round
- Corresponded with the high school teacher who raised the union issue
- Worked on the high school schedule for next year
- Reviewed lesson plans
- Prepared for tomorrow's interview

Wednesday, May 15

Board Office:
- Submitted course counts for 2013-14 to the high school principal for review
- Attended a meeting with the core supervisors and the intermediate school principal to plan for next year's curriculum implementation meetings
- Worked with the special education supervisor on scheduling
- Forwarded a Colonial Day resource to the superintendent/intermediate school principal
- Worked with elementary REACH teachers to schedule release time for finalizing placement decisions
- Responded to a student's question about taking a course over the summer for honors credit
- Prepared for tomorrow's 5th grade curriculum implementation meeting
- Prepared for Friday's Colonial Day meeting
- Reviewed lesson plans

Middle School:
- Met with two teachers for post-observation conferences
- Observed a 7th grade class

Monday, May 13 and Tuesday, May 14

I took two vacation days and spent them in Atlantic City!

Friday, May 10

I was out of the district today attending the spring meeting of the New Jersey Social Studies Supervisors' Association where I was formally appointed president effective July 1. The meeting focused on the development of student growth objectives for the new teacher evaluation system, changes to AP US History, and materials provided by Brown University for the use of primary sources.

Thursday, May 9

Board Office:
- Attended the monthly supervisors' meeting/PLC
- Provided a resource to an elementary school principal about REACH for a parent meeting
- Submitted materials for curriculum writing posting
- Worked on the high school schedule
- Scheduled interviews with 16 finalists for the high school job
- Drafted the social studies weekly update

Wednesday, May 8

High School:
- Held annual performance review conferences with two non-tenured teachers
- Worked on next year's schedule
- Conducted final application review for the open position

Board Office:
- Responded to two parent questions about REACH placement
- Provided support to a teacher for responding to a REACH question
- Responded to an elementary school teacher's email about a teacher concern
- Finalized the 4th grade project announcements and distributed
- Finalized observation reports

Middle School:
- Hosted an NJASCD professional development event with approximately 50 educators from throughout the state

Tuesday, May 7

Board Office:
- Forwarded the department's student book award selection to the principal
- Worked on another possibility for a student Skype session as a reward for the 4th grade final project
- Responded to questions about summer common assessment development
- Reviewed lesson plans

Middle School:
- Observed two eighth grade classes

Board Office:
- Prepped for tomorrow's NJASCD event that we are hosting in district
- Put together some samples for a long-term substitute

Middle School:
- Met with a teacher to discuss questions/concerns she has

Board Office:
- Drafted an update to the REACH entrance criteria matrix based on the newest test data

Monday, May 6

High School:
- Followed up on the student-teacher issue from last week
- Met with the department liaison to discuss his interview and the plan for the department meeting
- Finalized the department meeting agenda
- Met with a teacher to review common assessment data
- Reviewed applicants' additional responses to finalize a group for interviews
- Led the department meeting
- Hosted the REACH Senior Internship dinner

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Friday, May 3

High School:
- Met with a vice principal, teacher, two parents, and student about a teacher-student issue. I think it was resolved amicably.

Board Office:
- Interviewed an internal candidate for the open social studies position
- Sent a request for input into Monday's high school department meeting agenda
- Distributed the social studies weekly update

High School:
- Met with a long-term substitute to provide support for next week

Thursday, May 2

High School:
- Met with the supervisors of literacy, math and science to plan our summer institute and common assessment development schedules

Board Office:
- Drafted postings for summer work
- Drafted letters and a sign-up form for 4th grade regions project volunteers
- Wrote annual performance reviews for the three non-tenured teachers I supervise
- Provided feedback to a 5th grade teacher on a common assessment
- Sent information about history jobs to a teacher who requested it
- Worked on REACH placement results for grades 5-8

Wednesday, May 1

High School:
- Investigated an issue with an independent study student
- Met for a post-observation conference
- Did research in preparation for a discussion related to a teacher issue

Elementary School:
- Conducted informal observations of two pilot teachers

Board Office:
- Interviewed an internal candidate for the open position at the high school
- Followed up on emails related to the 4th grade project
- Spoke with a student who called last week with a teacher issue

Tuesday, April 30

Board Office:
- Forwarded summer work to the district webmaster for posting
- Began working on analyzing the REACH screening results for grades 5-8
- Submitted my monthly report
- Finished screening applications for the social studies position
- Sent 4th grade regions project Phase II information to the committee for review

Monday, April 29

Board Office:
- Sent a high school teacher a sample observation report to help with growth
- Updated the summer work schedule

High School:
- Held a post-observation conference with a long-term substitute

Board Office:
- Returned a REACH parent phone call
- Screened applications for the open high school position
- Spoke with the Supervisor of Special Education about a teacher-student issue

High School:
- Met with the US History I Honors teachers about summer professional development
- Emailed approximately 55 candidates for the open position and invited them to the next round of screening
- Met with a special education teacher and his supervisor to discuss issues in the class
- Attended a PLC meeting