The Leveling Up Experience
Fannet Nater, Director of Admissions, Robert M. Beren Academy, Houston
How was the Leveling Up process helpful to you? How might you use it in your school?
As someone new to the education field, it was extremely eye opening to hear so many different perspectives from various types of faculty and administration from different types of schools. Participants as well as my coach brought up things I had not yet considered, ultimately helping me craft a more strategic plan for my project.
Describe your project. How did you come up with it?
Due to the pandemic, we struggled to find efficient and effective ways to preview the school. Our school medical committee recently approved the return of shadow days on campus, which will give both the school and prospective family a better understanding whether our school is the right fit for the student. Understanding that a shadow day exposes the school for its strengths and weaknesses, the need for trained student ambassadors to accompany students in school shadow days (and beyond) is imperative. We also understand that the student ambassador program needs to be mutually beneficial for the participating students. As a result, we want to incentivize ambassador applicants with leadership training that can help foster a stronger sense of pride in the school and instill a precious skill set in service / interpersonal communication that can be used in college applications and life.
What new realities are you designing for?
Having a trained set of student ambassadors will be helpful regardless of the state of school (in person or virtual). Currently, if the school were to rely on a student to represent the school in any way, we’d be taking a risk. Current students, regardless of how naturally polished they may be, do not have a true concept of how the school should be represented and what is appropriate versus inappropriate to communicate to prospects. As administrators, we also do not have a full grasp of how a student feels about the school. Having a set of trained students ready to represent our school is invaluable for shadow days, virtual meetings and beyond.
How will you know if it’s successful?
I plan on developing surveys for both ambassadors as well as parents whose child participated in shadow days.
Jill Cross, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and Daniel R. Weiss, Head of School, Bornblum Jewish Community School, Memphis
How was the Leveling Up process helpful to you? How might you use it in your school?
This year, we have pockets of innovation happening across our school. Many of these pockets are crystallizing now, because of Covid, but the impetus behind them was brewing even before Covid. Leveling Up helped us to map these pockets of innovation, look for the through lines, and develop a plan to capitalize on teacher innovation to meet the needs of our students and the expertise of our faculty. It has allowed us to think about how to better encourage and initiate grassroots change through teacher leadership. At the heart of this is harnessing teacher voices to propel real and innovative change that can last beyond this school year.
Describe your project. How did you come up with it?
Our project is called “Planting Seeds, Growing Leaders.” Using faculty collaboration meetings, grade level meetings and professional learning to discuss, create buzz and highlight effective instructional strategies already evident in classrooms, we will identify and create a community of teacher-leaders/learners who share expertise, enhance one another’s school experiences and strive for professional growth. We will place an emphasis on core needs that align to our strategic plan by teaching and assessing in multiple modalities and combining joy and rigor. Our project will allow for a support group of teacher leaders/learners in planning for communities of practice (facilitation, professional learning techniques, art of gathering). Our teacher leaders/learners will be provided additional professional learning in areas of expertise such as writer’s workshop, 3-act math and inquiry-based learning.
All faculty will self-select a group that aligns with the topic they personally want or need to explore, and together will create an educator learning calendar with at least one faculty meeting a month devoted to communities of practice.
What new realities are you designing for?
As much as this is about designing for the new realities of our students, it is even more about designing for the new realities of our teachers. Covid has opened new practices when it comes to professional learning and has given us the opportunity to reinvent how it looks in school settings. This project will allow us to enhance professional learning and expand professional growth for all educators at our school.
How will you know if it’s successful?
Our success lies in the follow outputs:
- Team members are examples of how to be collaborative and reflective.
- There will be an increase in research-based instructional practices across the school.
- We’ll see greater faculty engagement by allowing faculty to choose and implement strategies that match their teaching style, their classroom needs and the core needs of the school.
We are grateful to have been a part of the Leveling Up program, as it has allowed us to think strategically about leveraging the successes we have experienced this school year and will enable us to strengthen our school for years to come.
Fannet Nater, Director of Admissions, Robert M. Beren Academy, Houston
Jill Cross, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and Daniel R. Weiss, Head of School, Bornblum Jewish Community School, Memphis