Game Plan SY 2016–2017

I used to write a lot about what I did in my classroom. Now, at the beginning of another school year, I would like to establish a game plan to maximize my efficiency in this new role. Yes, I have been here since November, but this is the first time the training wheels come off and I have a cluster of my very own. I am determined to do my part in carrying out the vision of my phenomenal team. My hope is to be able to help people in my district, as much as people in my team helped me when I was in the classroom.

Note: I rarely promote my blog posts, but please excuse me if I do promote the hell out of this one. The goal is not to get clicks, but I would like help in refining these ideas to make them as airtight as possible before implementation.

I was speaking with a couple of coworkers a few days ago, with the conversation centering around workshops we plan to offer throughout the year. They shared some great information with me, regarding topics that tend to work best at given times during the year. Later that day, I met with a principal, who had an idea of some topics such as technology integration, parent communication, and others. She suggested that I chat with the school’s Technology Liaison to create a plan of action, after surveying the staff.

Over the past months, I had filled in for coworkers on leave, after coming into the position mid-year. My teammates have been so welcoming and so supportive, that now I am armed with an arsenal of tools to help meet the needs of schools/teachers/students in our district.

I also posed the question on how to best approach the school year to my PLN in a couple of Voxer groups this morning. By the time I was done speaking with coworkers and virtual friends, I had a few takeaways. I cannot take credit for these ideas…they have all been begged, borrowed, and/or stolen…but these are the best of the best:

1. Create office hours one day a week, using Google Calendar appointment slots. Anyone from the district can sign up for tech help with anything. Appointments can be online or offline.
2. Beta test (one school each) a few things that I’m curious about, such as:
3. Increase teacher-leadership capacity by partnering with TLs and letting them take lead on workshops at their school level, encouraging them to connect within and outside of the district, as well as present at local/national/international conferences (if interested).
4. Block off Fridays for Sarah 20% time/Moonshot Day (whenever possible).
5. Use the power of extensions such as Training for Google Apps to maximize time and productivity.
6. Continue pushing out content and opportunities via social media to interested parties in my district.
7. Utilize Articulate (NOT FREE FYI) to create workshop materials which can be accessed asynchronously.

I am still working out the details, but these are some initial ideas. I have my first appointment for office hours on August 29, and am enjoying planning the year and helping schools get set up.

I’m hitting publish now, even though this draft is extremely rough. To any new readers, I try to polish my work before putting it out there to the world, but time is of the essence. Please keep in mind, I will probably revise this multiple times before it is in its final form. The purpose is to keep these ideas fresh in my mind, while simultaneously getting as much perspective as I possibly can before taking action. Please leave a comment, Vox me, or Tweet me (@sarahdateechur). Thank you for reading!

Originally published at sarahdateechur.wordpress.com on August 11, 2016.