Can you say yes to these 5 signs of culturally responsive learning environments ?

We are only three weeks into the new school year and have already held a Family Learning Hui ( Maori for gathering ), a Board of Trustees meeting and a Pasifiki Fono (Polynesian for meeting). We have our Filipino Pagsasama (Tagalog for gathering) also booked in and have plans for our first Chinese meeting during the first six weeks of  term.

Inclusive educators are reflective and pro active and willing to adapt to the evolving needs of their community. Valuing and respecting the immense taonga (Maori for treasure ) of people resources that exist within our own family groups are vital. Utilising these powerful human resources  can create invaluable support networks for our vulnerable, priority learners who are struggling to adjust to unfamiliar languages, culture and environments.

This is an example of such a network in action already this year.

A new child was struggling to settle into school. The school pastoral liaison person visited the family. The class teacher and the principal made contact with the school Pasifika parent leader. The planned Pasifika fono was immediately moved forward. One of the leaders visited the new family and personally invited them to attend the fono. At the fono, the principal was able to openly ask for support for the new child and family. A discussion was held in Tongan and a number of parents and other children were willing to offer support. The outcome was that the whole group wanted to help the new child to settle in. A meeting was arranged for two of the leaders to meet with the new parent and the class teacher the following day at school. One of the senior school children offered to be available to help and support the new child. Within the first three weeks of the new school year, a safety net of care and love with direction and purpose was activated from the taonga of people resources already existing within the school community. 

Culturally responsive checklist for educators. Can you say a resounding  yes to these 5 indicators ?  

Do you...... 

1. Connect with learners and build sincere and authentic relationships with them and their families ( smile, greet them in their own language, learn to pronounce their name correctly, make home visits, attend school cultural meetings, community gatherings and events outside of your own classroom or workplace ) ?

2. Ensure that all the learning spaces have visual connectors ( artwork, pictures,signs, maps, symbols, photos ) that learners from other cultures ( representative of all cultures within your class or school ) can immediately connect with ?

3. Include stories, texts, inquiries and projects that are inclusive with themes that relate to other cultures in your teaching and learning ?

4. Walk in your learner's shoes and see learning through their eyes and adapt teaching and learning accordingly. How would you feel, what would you think, hear and see if you were suddenly expected to adapt and learn or work in an unfamiliar cultural environment ?

5. Have a growth mindset and an open heart and are willing to embrace new learning from other cultures that can genuinely nourish and broaden your own life skills and values ?

Can you add to the list ? Please share more ways to create culturally responsive environments in the comment box below.

Evolving ELS's for Powerful # Open Learning Experiences

We are only two weeks into our new school year and our vibrant "Engaging Learning Spaces" (ELS's) are already generating excitement, enthusiasm and engagement in learning for children, staff and families at St Joseph's.

After completing my sabbatical research in 2014, I challenged educators to actively engage learners in deep learning by creating dynamic, innovative learning environments in partnership with learners and families where passion, motivation and excitement for learning flourishes.

Link to sabbatical video

This year, we are putting into practice a concerted  school wide community approach to engaging all learners in deep learning for success. We have moved beyond the traditional "Open Door" approach to an "Open Learning in Education" philosophy.

"Open Learning in Education" is the theme of Chapter 8 in David Price's book "Open : How we'll work, live and learn in the future". I have reviewed Chapters 1 - 7 in previous blog posts. In Chapter 8, Price challenges us to reflect on "powerful and significant learning experiences in our lives." ( Page 157). For most of us, these experiences have taken place outside of school, like learning to ride a bike or learning to swim. They involved challenge, risk and learning from failure and forced us out of our comfort zones. Price points out that powerful learning experiences definitely don't come from completing worksheets. Powerful and significant learning experiences are taking place in informal social spaces outside of schools. The new concept of educational success has clearly moved away from " transmission of knowledge" to "nurturing of key skills and competencies". (Heng Swee Keat in Price,Page 166)

"Collaborative partnerships" are key to the success of this approach to learning. For several years at St Joseph's, we have focused on building quality relationships between teachers and learners.This has broadened to include families and between ourselves as educators. Every teacher is committed to working collaboratively with one or more teachers in "Learning Hubs" (shared spaces across 2-3 rooms) where there is an expectation that the progress and achievement of every learner is the responsibility of the teaching team rather than just one teacher. Last year we put a great deal of energy into supporting and involving our parents in learning and change. The extract below is taken from our school Newsblog after a recent Family Learning Hui and helps to explain how we develop "collaborative partnerships. "

Weekly Newsblog February 2015
Every student  Everyone engaged in deep learning for success
 Maybe we need to consider rewording our learning goal! We had a record turnout of families (about 100 participants) at our first learning Hui for 2015 and it wasn't only the students who were actively engaged in learning! We had parents, friends and staff all participating with the children in the learning activities. Everyone was learning together. We were participating in a social learning environment, supporting and challenging each other to open our hearts and our minds to new learning.

Having a growth mindset was the theme of one of our learning Hui's last year. This video link helps you understand the learning power of a growth mindset. If we are open to learning then age is no barrier to learning and change. It is only a closed mindset that can be a barrier to achieving our hopes, goals, dreams and ambitions. Being open to thinking in ways that may be challenging for us but move us out of our comfort zones as adults will help us grow our own learning capability. This video helps us to see the possibilities when we reverse our thinking.

This video helps us to understand that we need to create learning environments that truly engage our learners. We can't relay on technology alone but it can be used as a tool to support deep learning. Caring teachers effectively use the technology of today to help place learning in the context of the children's world. We are creating environments that inspire, engage and drive our students to be self motivated learners. Ultimately, we want them to drive their own learning. Strong self - management skills help our children to be active and independent learners. These are the skills that will support them to learn, achieve and succeed at high school and beyond.

Family Learning Hui questions - We have timetabled two learning Hui's per term as well as two open morrnings and set the dates for the year so that you can ensure that you keep these free.

1. Can the Hui's be at a different time? We tried the later time of 7pm last year but attendance was low (only about 15 people compared with 50 -100 ) for the 6pm time. The 6pm time slot allows a chance for working parents to get home and join if possible. The 6pm time also means that younger children can come and it's not too late for them to go to bed afterwards. Unfortunately we cannot suit the needs of all families. We are exploring a video option and also a live streaming possibility.
2. Can we have them on a different day? We have liaised with our Sports Coordinator and arranged Wednesday Hui's for Terms 1 and 4 and Thursdays for Terms 2 and 3 to best fit with coaching and sporting activities. 
3. Do my children need to come? No. You may certainly choose to come on on your own.The opportunity to bring the children means that you are not restricted by having to find a babysitter. You might decide that one parent comes with one child. It is your choice and there is no expectation from us.
4. Why should we come? It is a chance for you to understand and be able to support your children's learning in ways that are more proactive and insightful than in the past. We do expect that you as parents and caregivers accept the significant role that you play in your children's education. All of our teachers are expected to attend and will be there to learn alongside you and your families. We believe that learning at St Joseph's is a priority.

Teaching and Learning Site
We had a chance to explore our new 'go to' site at the Family Learning Hui. This site was set up to bring together all of the information that we were previously sharing in a range of places. You can access it here on this link. I recommend that you save it as a favourite on your bookmark bar so that you have easy access to it at all times.

This is where you can now access our calendar of events, class blogs  and all of our curriculum information. Most importantly, you have an insight into the planning and preparation that our teachers do for your children. You now have access to weekly timetables, learning workshops, long term plans and inquiry units. 
Now you have a chance to have informed learning conversations, discussions and reflections with your children based on this valuable shared information.
What did you do at school today? You won't need to ask this question because you can actually read about what the children are doing on a specific day. Instead you can take the time to say, "Share with me some of the statistical learning or where are you at with your book review?" You have the valuable opportunity to proactively support your child in their learning.

Our ELS's are continually evolving and support an "Open Learning in Education" philosophy. They lend themselves to powerful and significant learning experiences. I will share some of these experiences from a learner's perspective in a future blog.

OPEN Ch 7 Pt 2 : 5 Commonalities of Innovative Workplaces

'The most innovative companies in the world regard work as learning'.

Learning environments that offer opportunities to explore, trial, play and collaborate allow innovation and creativity to flourish for all learners (staff and students). This was the focus of my post based on the first part of Chapter 7 in my chapter by chapter review of the book that Sir Ken Robinson describes as a 'revelation' - OPEN: How we'll work, live and learn in the future by David Price.

Screenshot taken from David's site: 'Engaged Learning'

So much change has happened in our workplace since I wrote that post a few months ago. When I made a commitment to share my chapter by chapter reflections about this powerful book ; I didn't foresee the immense and immediate impact that it would have on the way we work and learn in our own educational setting.

Although the book shares how we will work, live and learn in the future, the future has transformed into the 'now' for us. Our 'open' changes are clearly evident yet continually evolving. They are purposeful and dynamic yet fluid. Most importantly, everyone: students, parents and staff are key players and contributors in our redesigned playing and learning spaces. 

What have we done that is working for us ?

We have held on tightly to our why goal: To engage every student in deep learning for success. We have loosened the restrictions of agenda filled, frequent, business like staff ' professional development ' meetings and opened a window to let in fresh air, space and time to 'explore, trial, play and collaborate to allow innovation and creativity to flourish for all of us. This window of opportunity has now evolved into a large sliding door (metaphorically speaking only !).

Image from indYouth home decorating site

A sliding door in architecture and construction, is a large glass window opening in a structure that provide door access from a room to the outdoors, fresh air, and copious natural light (wikipedia)
  
What exactly does this mean for us as educators ? We have opened our minds and our hearts to the new learning and growth that comes when students, staff, families, parishes, networks of schools and global learning communities collaborate as one on an equal playing field.

In 2015 more than ever before, we are truly 'Open' in all that we do in our educational setting. Hubs of teachers are sharing planning, teaching and learning within collaborative learning spaces and online. Our Teaching and Learning Site is a public site that shares absolutely everything. There are no secrets. We use the SOFT (Sharing, Open, Free, Trust) values described in Chapter 3 to guide the way we work.

In Chapter 7 Part 2, Price shares examples of business workplaces that use the SOFT values as they move from closed to 'open' systems. 
Here are 5 commonalities of very successful business workplaces :

1.  All decisions are made in a work culture using a 'living - systems lens'. This way you get leaders who approach change as if they were growing something, rather than just 'changing' something. (Senge 1999 via Price 2013 p140-141). This video expands on this concept and links to Wheatley's description of 'self- organising living systems that have the capacity to respond continuously to change'.
2. Collaboration and team work are 'non negotiable'. Social media is encouraged and used in these workplaces. This 'is facilitating more face-to-face sharing than ever before.' (p143) 
3. Personal growth opportunities and time to play as well as a culture that allows for 'freedom to fail ' (p150) leads to new learning and innovation opportunities.
4. Trust provides the 'safety-net for innovation' and is the lead source of employee motivation (p151). 
5. Institutions that share and expose what they are doing with the public improve, grow and develop the fastest (p155)

'The most innovative companies in the world regard work as learning'.

Is work regarded as learning in your workplace? How?

What about "Open Learning in Education"? That's the theme for Chapter 8 and my next review of OPEN: How we'll work, live and learn in the future by David Price.

It started as a little Tweet: Staff Well Being Bags

Here in New Zealand, we have just come to the end of our six week holiday break. Our new school year begins on Monday and we are raring to go ! Our staff have worked overtime in their holidays creatively preparing modified learning spaces within our traditional school building. Several years spent focusing on quality teaching practices and engaging our students in deep learning for success have culminated in our new collaborative learning hubs. These hubs reflect the passion, creativity, imagination and agency of our students and staff and we can't wait to see them come alive on Monday !!!

As well as redesigning my workspace in the holidays, I spent nine days studying two master's papers in Wellington. One of the papers, 'Values and Leadership' was  taught by Professor @Cbransonwaikato and we learnt about Transrelational Leadership
"The transrelational leader is someone who encourages understanding and empathy amongst others. These leaders create opportunities for people to work together harmoniously and encourage and celebrate people's differences."  (From the University of Waikato website)

While I was studying I was drawn to a link to a Tweet (below) by @abbiemann1982 sharing staff well-being bags. They fitted in so well with the 'relational' theme that I was motivated to recreate these bags for our staff. I retweeted this link on Twitter and there was a flurry of Tweets from our Twitter community. Since then, Abigail Mann has shared an excellent blogpost about her bags on @pedagoo. I committed to making these bags online to our global Twitter community who all asked to see the finished product. Thus my determination to make the bags a reality and to share the experience.

After this, I tweeted from Wellington to one of our wonderful Assistant Principals @sburke7 who had created something similar a few years ago for our teachers. We agreed that it would be an ideal start of the year koha (Maori for gift from the heart ) for our valued team of hardworking staff. We created a google doc and collaboratively shared ideas for the contents of our bags based on @abbiemann1982  and others (@sburke7 has a whole pinterest board devoted to well being bags !). 

Some of the ideas on our google doc

Then we arranged to meet to go shopping for the goodies and returned laden with our wares.

We spent several hours putting the bags together. We recognise that the time we spend focusing on building and maintaining quality relationships can have no limit. We wanted to include reference to our school and staff values as well as our Catholic special character and at the same time include other treasures for the staff.

It's interesting to see how every school reflects their identity in the presentation and make up of their well being bags. I love the NZ flavour (Peanut slabs and mallow puffs) of the Family Me-We bags from @THE0BALD Holy Family School, Wellington. Well done Chris. Very impressive.

We  enjoyed creating our St Joseph's well being bags. 

@sburke7 and @jennyljackson at work putting the bags together.

 @LorraineFRees joined our production line and helped to fill the bags as well. 

Finally they were ready.

Here is the list that explains the contents of our bags:

Thanks to our vibrant, enthusiastic, creative and energetic staff who have worked hard to rearrange learning and working spaces for the new school year. 

• Staff Values - to remember that we are supportive colleagues who value each other and the unique gifts and talents we bring to our school whanau 
• Sticky notes- to record those brilliant ideas that sometimes come in the middle of the night. 
• Crayon- to brighten your day and make a mark on our world.
• Glue stick- to remind you to stick to your guns 
• Permanent Marker - to remind you that the smallest things you do can have a lifelong impact on our children Highlighter - to highlight your gifts and talents 
• Paper clip - to help hold it all together 
• Rubber band - to remind you how flexible you are 
• Blue Tack - to remind you to stick at it, even when it seems impossible 
• Eraser - to remind you that it’s okay to make mistakes. That’s how we learn.
•  ANZAC Oaty Slice - to munch on and remember our NZ/Aussie comrades who stood up for what was right during our 100 year celebrations. 
• Chocolate Button Smarties - to remind you how smart you are and how much you have to contribute Milky Way chocolate bar - to remind you to Reach for the Stars in all that you do 
• Tissue - to wipe away the sweat and for wiping tears of joy when that child amazes you and themselves with their ideas and success
•  Water - to sip and remind you to always look at life through a half full bottle (of water !) 
• Candle - to remind you that you are a shining light in our children’s lives
• Match - to light your fire when feeling burnt out 
• $5 Bean cafe voucher - to use when you need a caffeine fix 
• Prayer- for reflective times and to celebrate our Dominican Charism and share the reason we are here with the children.
•  Enjoy 2015 and know that we are all here for each other.

It was well worth the love and time that went into our well being bags when we felt and shared the laughter, joy and thanksgiving that they brought to our sensational staff.
Have you tried these in your workplace?

A little Tweet goes a long way.
..

Are you ready for the new school year ? 5 key reminders

In 2014, we began to share our learning, news and events digitally.  Our blogs became a feature for learners, families and interested visitors from all over the world.

Miss Tangney and her class received over 15,000 views alone.

 We became engaged, motivated writers when we understood that there was an authentic audience interested in our news and views. This was one of the many ways that we began to bring alive our school wide goal ' To engage every student in deep learning for success'.

This year my traditional welcome letter has been flipped into a blog. Why? Since returning from my sabbatical at the end of Term 1 last year, blogging has become a reflective pastime for me. I have been able to share our school wide learning and change as well as my own leadership developments and practices. I have been motivated and inspired by comments and feedback and plan to continue to reflect and share further learning and growth in 2015.

Here are 5 key reminders for the new school year:

1. School starts back on Monday 2nd February. The uniform shop will be open on Friday 30th January from 11:30-2:00 pm and Monday 2nd February from 8:30-9:30.

2. Our hardworking staff have been very busy preparing the new learning hubs. Here is a sneak preview of some of the spaces around the school including our new community meeting space. It's still work in progress but we will be ready to go on Monday. Here is a reminder about the learning changes and developments for parents.

3. The dedicated 2015 'Teaching and Learning Site' will go live this coming weekend. This is where everyone will be able to access all learning information including important links. Special thanks to Mrs Frances-Rees for developing this site for us. All of us are now using it on a daily basis to make our teaching and learning transparent.

4. On Thursday 5th February there will be a welcome back liturgy followed by the presentation of badges to our Year 8 leaders at 2:15pm in St Patrick's Basilica. All parents and friends are welcome to join us.

5. Please contact us if you have any questions, worries or concerns by emailing office@stjoseph.school.nz or jjackson @stjoseph.school.nz or by ringing 03 4348856
Please like us on our school Facebook page St Joseph's Oamaru, Twitter @stjoesoamaru and Instagram #Stjoesoamaru You can also check up on any information on our newsblog or school website

We look forward to welcoming you all back to St Joseph's for the 2015 school year as we continue to Reach for the Stars as Lifelong Learners in the Catholic Faith.

Out with the desk: changing the principal's office into a collaborative meeting hub

This was the introduction to a recent post about supporting parents through school wide learning and change: In 2015 every teacher at St Joseph's will teach in partnership with one or more teachers in collaborative learning hubs. Teaching and learning across the school from Year One to Year Eight will go live and be fully accessible to everyone inside and outside the school via a dedicated teaching and learning site.

What does this mean for me as a leader? 
While the staff are frantically rearranging and redesigning learning spaces preparing for the new school year, I have been proactively revamping my traditional principal's office.

First action - OUT WITH DESK !!

.
I have never felt comfortable talking to anyone including students from behind a desk. I have always made a point of coming forward and standing beside or sitting with a visitor at a meeting table. While I was teaching at the De Blijberg Jenaplan School in Rotterdam in the 90's, I learnt to sit alongside learners. We would create a morning sharing circle 'cring' with our chairs rather than the archetypal junior classroom practice of the teacher on a chair talking to the students on the floor.
The Jenaplan schools operate according to 20 basic principles with the first being that each human being is unique. Therefore, each child and each adult has an irreplaceable value and a special dignity .

I also recall several years ago as a first time principal, my eagerness to visit and learn from an experienced principal. Unfortunately my enthusiasm was dampened before we even met. First of all, I was asked to wait for quite some time in the visitor's part of the office. This is understandable in the life of a 'busy' principal. Then I was invited into the principal's office to sit on a very small chair some distance from the principal who proceeded to speak to me from behind a very large desk. I felt disconnected and disesteemed. Needless to say, I went away feeling disillusioned yet determined to ensure I didn't duplicate that experience for any of my future visitors. 

Fast forward to 2014 when I arranged to visit @MarkMoorhouseMM principal of @MatthewMossHigh Rochdale, United Kingdom. Mark took time out of his busy day to sit alongside me and share some of the inspirational practices happening at Matthew Moss High School. It was a sheer pleasure to travel to the other side of the world and be treated like royalty. I am still sharing my learning from this visit.

What has all of this got to do with removing my office desk? As a leader, I need to be a role model for my team. Part of our school wide change for 2015 means that we are moving away from single cell teaching spaces to team teaching learning hubs. Inspired by @DavidPriceOBE author of the powerful book  OPEN: How we'll work, live and learn in the future, we will become a much more open and collaborative school this year. In order to make this happen, we agreed to leave behind symbols of traditional classroom settings in our quest to develop agentic learning spaces. Along with other environmental changes, teacher's desks will be removed from learning spaces in order to create equally shared spaces - no individual student's desks, therefore no teacher's desk!

I have now decluttered and depersonalized my conventional principal's office and aim for it to be a creative, collaborative meeting hub for all learners: staff, parents and students. This means that I aim to spend more of my time in other learning hubs around the school.

BEFORE: 'Principal's office'  - with desk removed

AFTER: Redesignated 'Collaborative Meeting Hub'

We are about to revisit our job descriptions to reflect our team teaching roles in the new learning hubs. This is also a chance to revisit our role as senior leaders as we redefine our place as educators and leaders in a school culture focused on engagement in deep learning and success in this digital age. As leaders, we also need to ensure that these environments are equally as engaging and empowering for our adult learners too.

Next on the to do list: order a new sign to replace the existing 'principal' sign on the office door.

Have you redefined your office space and your job description? I am interested in learning more from you. Please share your experiences.

Principal as learner on an energising rollercoaster ride: why 2014 has surpassed any other

I have been inspired to record my reflections after reading this blog post by Eric @E_Sheninger entitled A Principal's reflections: 2014 was one wild ride.

My personal goal as a principal of  six years in 2013, was to achieve a 4-5 year Education review (ERO) and be recognized as a high performing school. After finishing last year on a high with the teaching and learning of our passionate and hardworking team of staff being acknowledged by an outstanding ERO report , I didn't think that anything in my career could match this. Well, I was wrong. 2013 pales into insignificance against the prolific personal and school wide learning that took place in 2014.

Image credit:http://megapapers.com/news/roller-coaster-reaching-new-heights/

Hold on tight and share the roller coaster ride - the new learning highs and the reflective lows that provided a chance to take a breath before the next invigorating high.
Here are some personal, professional reflections from 2014:

• Taking a 10 week principal sabbatical in Term 1 (Feb-April). This gave me the chance to travel and be inspired by enthusiastic colleagues around the world. Special thanks to @MarkMoorhouseMM principal @MatthewMossHigh in the UK who introduced me to Carol Dweck's growth mindset work, project based learning and transactional analysis. My sabbatical experience led to further studies and I am now studying a Masters of Educational Leadership part time.
• Having time away from school during my sabbatical gave me a chance to explore and embrace social media and digital learning. I joined Twitter and sent my first tweet in April. I have since shared blogposts ( I began my Principal's blog in April too) about the benefits of Twitter for educators
   
• Connecting through Twitter with dynamic UK author @DavidPriceOBE and reading his book entitled Open: How we'll work, live and learn in the future. I challenged myself to write a blogpost about each chapter of the book. Applying my learning from this transformational resource into our workplace has contributed to our school becoming a much more open and transparent place for all learners and their families. Exciting and engaging learning developments during the months that followed my return to school (including a proliferation of class and student blogs), meant that I have only reviewed seven out of the nine chapters of Open. I will be completing my reviews early in 2015.

• Teaching myself to create a 4 minute video encapsulating the messages from my sabbatical report. I had never made a video before, but followed the lead of a colleague @THE0BALD who had used @VideoScribeApp to create a video. I have since made several videos focused on deep engagement in learning.

  

  Screenshot from my sabbatical video

• Leading a cluster of schools as part of a Learning and Change network (LCN) with @janine simpson26 and Rob Mill. This has provided further exposure to innovative teaching and learning research and practice as well as inspired us to challenge the ways we engage with our learners and families.  Parent meetings evolved into our signature Family Learning Huis (Maori name for gathering) that have supported our transition to Collaborative Team Teaching Learning Hubs for 2015 further inspired by a visit to Tim Lovelock @timl27 and the team at Myross Bush School.
• Presentations to share my learning to the Otago and Southland Catholic Principal gathering in Invercargill, Future Focused Learning Workshop in Dunedin ( with @brian_annan,@NickyRyan11 @MSBeenz, @annekenn & @janinejnz ) North Otago Probus in Oamaru, Whitestone Women's Dinner Club, Catholic Principal's Convention in Wellington and the LCN Southern Regional meeting in Christchurch.
• An invitation to represent the North Otago Pasifika Cluster and give a presentation with our board chairperson to guests attending the University of Canterbury Pasifika Talanoa Success Fono (Pasifika name for gathering) in Christchurch
• An invitation to publish an article in the Aoraki Catholic Journal
• An invitation to be part of an LCN reference group at the University of Auckland with the vibrant @brian_annan , @mareswootts, @kellylayton99, @hkkh18, @michaeljfletch, @JeanAnnAnnan & more and be nominated to contribute to the working party planning a National LCN Conference for 2015
• Working with student Learning Leaders to remain firmly focused on our school wide goal To engage every student in deep learning for success @StJoesOamru
  
• Nurturing staff and student leadership across the school. Both of our Deputy Principals (@siobhanp2 and @LorraineFRees) being appointed to Principal roles, promotion within our talented teaching team (@sburke7 & Paul Cartlidge) and the heart-warming graduation of our talented Year 8 students (every one of them is interviewed and appointed to a leadership role ). 

 Opening up to the engaging world beyond the school walls has reignited my passion and love for learning. Through embracing social media and digital technology, I feel confident to take our school further forward in 2015 with the support of our capable staff. If we wish to fully prepare our learners to succeed at high school and beyond, then as leaders we must be willing to be passionate activators of deliberate learning and change. A HUGE thank you to everyone who has contributed to my exciting roller-coaster ride of learning and change this year.