Academics

Pushing (and Pulling) students to academic success and coaching teachers and young administrators to become effective at their roles has been my daily work for over three decades. A great deal has changed since my first day of student teaching, but the end game for working with students has--and always will--remain the same: students who are motivated, display a strong drive to persevere, understand the power of teamwork, and become successful, life-long learners. The first two decades of the twenty-first century have brought about a technological revolution in education for which most educators were not prepared. That yearly battle with how to best utilize technology in the classroom was forcibly accelerated by the Covid lockdown of 2020. In a matter of days, classroom teachers transitioned to online lessons, Zoom and Google Meet classrooms became the  norm, with little to no knowledge of how to carry either out, but as lifelong learners themselves, teachers learned how to reach their students and administrators learned that pivoting on a dime and adjusting to the conditions/demands was a must. One-to-one technology seemed to happen overnight, as emergency funding became available to provide the hardware needed to students who lacked it, and Hot Spots were constructed at school sites so access could be available 24/7 in the parking lots. 

Continuous improvement in the delivery of instruction, tools utilized to deliver the instruction, and the manner in which we assess learning is my focus. In the age of personalized learning, I am constantly on the lookout for better ways to offer differentiated instruction to students, as well as the necessary professional development that teachers and administrators need to support this goal. Schools and districts can no longer rely solely on the "tried and true" methods of the twentieth century, nor can they simply discard them for the latest shiny new teaching method that comes down the pike. We must work more diligently to understand how to use and combine time-tested teaching methods with those of today and of tomorrow. One-to-one Smart technology does not replace the teacher; it is a powerful means of complementing the effective teacher.

Core Academic Beliefs

• Weekly data-driven PLCs facilitated by strong content coaches

• High standards with Rigor

• Student accountability

• Personalized Learning (Differentiation)

• The Three Core Questions for students (in any subject area):

  • • WHAT does it say?

    • HOW does it say it?

    • What is MY REACTION to it?

• Mastery Learning (clear learning targets/objectives, mastery thresholds, process for demonstrating mastery, process for teachers to assess  mastery, system to organize/display data)

• Discard no teaching method/ Add to what we already have

• Continuous Improvement process

  • • What is the target?

    • What will the teacher do to move students towards the target?

    • What will students do to reach the target?

    • How will the teacher assess/measure attainment of the target?

    • What will the teacher do for students who reach the target?

    • What will the teacher do for students who fall short of the target?

• Increase number of students enrolled in AP courses through an AP Academy (minimum of five AP courses during the four high school years)

• Addition and maintenance of "Safety Nets" (means of catching students up with peers/grade level)

  • • Success 101 classes offered in fall and spring semesters utilizing Apex Online NCDPI courses

    • Winter School (90 minutes after school utilizing Apex Online NCDPI courses for the first two-three weeks of the spring semester mainly targeting seniors and getting juniors back on cohort level)

    • Summer School (half days beginning the Monday after graduation and continuing through the end of June--longer if funding is available)

    • Making sure school counselors are closely monitory their "alphabet" for academic performance and graduation credit numbers

• Technology is used for a purpose (to reach the target)