August 31 - September 4, 2015

WEST DELAWARE HAWKS

Relationships, Challenging Academics, 21st Century Skills

Random Thoughts....Leadership 3.0

I had the good fortune to attend Eric Sheninger's keynote address at the June 2013 Technology Integration Conference (TIC) hosted by Keystone AEA.  Eric is an award-winning principal, best-selling author, and international keynote speaker.  As I considered Eric's message, he focused on a concept entitled "Leadership 3.0"

A section of my notes:

Definition of Leadership 3.0
● dynamic combination of mindset, behaviors, and skills that are employed to change and/or enhances school culture through the assistance of technology

● establishing direction, influencing other, and initiating sustainable change through the access to information to establish relationships in order to anticipate changes pivotal to schools success in the future

Pillars of Leadership 3.0
● communication
● public relations
● branding
● professional growth - organizational and individual
● opportunity
● engagement
● learning spaces and environments
● collaborate and share

As I reflected then and think back upon now, I focus on the Pillars of Leadership 3.0. We are all responsible for the 8 pillars listed whether it be the leadership teachers and associates provide in the classroom to students or instructional coaches provide to teachers through the TLC program.  YOU ARE LEADERS OF YOUR CLASSROOM, ACTIVITY, AND SPORT.

Questions to reflect upon this week:

- How are you providing communication to others outside of the classroom? To parents? To our community?

- How are you engaging students in higher level, real world problems?

- How are you collaborating and sharing your talents with your peers?

- How are you leveraging learning spaces and environments to develop 21st Century learners?  (collaboration, connections, critical thinking, and communication)

https://vimeo.com/105648641

Small Celebrations

Upcoming work to help us celebrate our successes and appreciate our staff culture at West Delaware High School:

- Group outings: Investigate a staff outing to a Waterloo Blackhawks game or the Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque in November.

- Traveling Trophy: Anonymous nomination to celebrate a personal achievement or special moment in a staff member's life.

- Refreshments/Merriment:  Food and fun before Professional Development and at Staff Meetings.

HS Typology Activity Summary

Thank you to High School teachers for completing the Typology Activity during our Back-To-School meeting.  There were many positive and interesting results from the survey.  Some highlights: (you may need to zoom in to read all text)

The BLT will now analyze this data and select themes to focus on as we work towards meeting our District's Vision and Mission Statement.

 
Attendance Phone Calls

Beginning October 6th, all school buildings will be using the automated calling system to notify parents that their child is absent from school. Currently, a secretary calls each family individually for each student that is absent from school without parent notification. This can take a significant amount of time.

We would like to be more timely and efficient with our notification. In order to do this we will be using our automated message system. If a student’s teacher has marked a student absent and we have not received parent notification, we will send an automated message by phone, email, and text to the parent(s). These messages can be sent in minutes and will ensure that parents are notified of their child’s absence earlier in the morning.

If a parent receives one of these messages, they can contact the attendance office in the child’s school to let them know why the child is absent that day. To avoid these messages, parents can contact the child’s school before 8:15 am to let them know that the child will be absent. 

Technology Tip of the Week
When You Need to Send or Receive Sensitive Information over the Internet with Your Browser, Be Sure the Connection Is Protected by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Encryption.

Look for HTTPS:// before the address of the website and a padlock icon in the web address bar. If the connection only shows HTTP:// (without the S), then the connection cannot be trusted and the data will be sent unencrypted, exposing it to potential attackers.

Tweet of the Week