Tackling the National Board E Submission

Don't get overwhelmed!

Here is the PDF for at a glance

Click for PDF

I made a poster because I'm just doing Entry 1 (from the PDF at a glance)....

I think I'll hang it in my room.... (so I can have nightmares, no just kidding... for the next two weeks till its submitted.

After National Board ... taking the coolest pedagogy class this summer.

So excited about this and the knowledge I will gain at Mills College (the best educational school in the bay).

Hip Hop Pedagogy:

http://animoto.com/play/9UtPYLvb1oi1vB2wIHHgMw

OK! National Board MAY DAY Time...Re-take Candidate is actually not that bad.

So here we I go... I missed by 18 points after submitting the entire Portfolio. So now I'm a Retake candidate, I decided to take 1 entry over and redo one of the assessments.

Retake candidate is actually way less intimidating than doing the whole thing in one year.

Even though I wish I would of have passed with flying colors. I'm truly glad that I had this "opportunity" to grow as an educator.  I chose literacy to retake and it has made a huge difference in my teaching to hyper focus on this entry.  On a political front, what you understand about students and literacy and how you choose to deliver that is the biggest contribution you can make to your country!

But all that stuff aside right now, back to the business!

The most important things I will take away from this whole process is the need to constantly revisit student's needs and taking that time to reflect with peers (teachers who are actually accomplished teachers) to really hear what they think of my practice as well.

I wish us all luck in MAY..... I wanted to post a couple other helpful things from Stanford.

Please search my blog for other links that I was able to get from Stanford but below are last minute things to remember when writing your entry whether your a retake, Take one, or the whole shubang (is that how you spell shubang????)

See these links:
Helpful Notes from Standford

Overall scoring

NATIONAL BOARD SCORING (according to a judge)

NATIONAL BOARD SCORING

SCORING:

60% ENTRY (1-3 MOST IMPORTANT)

40 % ENTRY (ASSESSMENT)

Panel of past judges:

The process IS fair.

Advice

Use the Rubric, Scoring Guides

There are no secrets its all on-line.

Must show standards in evidence and writing

Constant cross checking

Video is watched only once (does it match your portfolio writing)

NO need to quote famous educators

Technical difficulty is not an issue

Definate Dos and Don'ts

Assessment Center answer every question

ID the problem

Use all the space you have

Show all evidence

NOT ANSWERING THE QUESTION IS HUGE MISTAKE

National Board Notes from Stanford on The Architecture of Accomplished Teaching

The Architecture of Accomplished Teaching

1^st: Your students: Who are they? Where are they now? What do they need and in what order do they need it?  Where should I begin?

Standards:

Understanding Young Children: How to teach younger children, retention, example “squirmy boys”…., gap in ages

2^nd: Set high, worthwhile goals that are approp. for these students at this time and in this setting.

Standards:

Assessment, Knowledge of Integrated Curriculum, Approp. Goals around this entry (Equity, Fairness, and Diversity) How do you still keep it as a group? How do differientiate based on what they need?  Content goal is the same the mode in which you get there varies. Multiple Teaching Strat. For Meaningful Learning.

3^rd: Implement instruction that is designed to attain the goals set for these students.

Bringing family in, Parents at centers, Equity, Fairness, and diversity, Beyond Equity Sticks,

4^th Evaluate student learning in light of the goals and the instruction:

Reflective practice, Assessment, Working with Ms. Franklin (professional partnership), Not just formative assessment, scientists, child development

Equity, Fairness, Diversity,: how you modify the curriculum

5^th Reflect on student learning, the effectiveness of the instructional design, particular concerns, and issues. 

Standards: Understanding young children, assessment, multiple teaching strategies for meaningful learning

6^th: Set new high and worthwhile goals that are approp next steps for these students at this time. 

Standards: Follow the standards throughout each step of the architecture.

YouTube Puppet Show: "Vision Project"

Funny Video of my someday transformation into Principalship

Completely Satirical and more of a moment of energy release regarding the issues surrounding education.  Not meant to offend anyone or meant to offend everyone.

sd

Reflections of Union Teacher turn Administrator

Reflections of Union Teacher turn Administrator

Human Resources Management, Mills College Education Leadership Program

EDUC 407 Final Paper

Sunny Dawn

May 6, 2013

‘Are you on crack?’ I asked. Weingarten stormed out. ‘I’m done negotiating,’ I said…..’I think we can you give you both what you need, though,’ he said…It was brilliant. I could implement pay for performance, but because it wasn’t going to be defined specifically in the contract, the union was free to rebuke it, since it had not actually agreed to it. No one said a word, but we all knew it would work. –Excerpts from Michelle Rhee autobiography, Radical: Fighting to Put Students First,  2013.

            I share this very recent 2008 collective bargaining story from a newly released book to show the national issues surrounding human resources in education.  Throughout the semester of this class I have been reading many texts on human capital and how it plays out in the educational setting and the workplace of educational institutions.  In this paper I will address conflicting theories I have been engaging in around teaching and learning in school leadership.  I will also demonstrate my understanding of the course work in Human Resources Management with an emphasis on the polarity of Teacher Unions versus District Administration philosophies and how the two political agendas are impeding student success.

            I would like to emphasize the term ‘political agenda’ when looking at the philosophies of administration versus teacher organizations.  Although both groups would say they have teaching and learning at the center of their concerns I have found, (through the course work in this class my work experience as a union leader, as well a parent) that both parties have long and complicated political and cultural history.  I think it is important for me to share my insight as I have been heavily involved with my union in my urban district at the same time I have been enrolled in a year long program at Mills College to receive my Administrative Credential for a future principalship.  The two conflicting interests have shaped how I will deliver administrative decisions as well as how I will communicate with teachers at a site level.    I pose that districts and teacher unions are asking the same questions but no one is willing to really sit down together (beyond collective bargaining) and answer these questions around curriculum delivery and seek out positive strategies to implementation especially with the new common core standards. 
 

            Throughout this course when we were learning about AI and FRISK.  I was thinking three things;

1.     Too bad AI and FRISK is not listened to by unions and teachers as a serious threat (it can take up to 3 years and sometime longer to get a bad teacher out of a classroom).

2.     Where is FRISK for some of these ineffective Central Office Administrators or mediocre to “F” rated principals?

3.     Why do Unions take on teacher evaluation as its main battle? 

The only real answer I could come up with was “political or cultural agendas”.  When I first started teaching in the public school system I tried to shut my door, keep quiet with internal issues, and just do good teaching.  I didn’t care about political or cultural agendas, I wanted to just be a hard working educator.  As an educator with a child in the same school I quickly realized that was going to be impossible.  I’m glad I didn’t become that “type of teacher” who just tunnel visions on their class because now I am faced with what “type of principal” will I be as I move forward.  I wish I could say I’m just  going to shut my door, keep quiet with internal issues, and just do good administration but that is not the type of good leadership I have displayed in the past nor will it be the type I will display in the future. The beginning of my union leadership came when I saw the horrible teaching that my daughter received at my “low income school”.  I started working with my union and the principal to get this teacher support and then out of the educational system.

Everyone can skew the research to their point of view of why a person deserves to keep their job.  However I must admit that while I have a serious distaste for the way in which Michelle Rhee went about her time as Chancellor in DCPS, I must say her firing of over 400 total educators(including principals and Central office employees) in that failing system seems about right to me.

            I believe that with the wave of education reformers including Michelle Rhee and Arne Duncan, public education is under a mirocscope in a new and critical way.  Not just on the East Coast but all over the country even here in the Bay area.  Obama’s Post NCLB administration is openly putting money and support into charter schools and have created a public education which is now test obsessed pedagogically. And if public schools do not show they can teach to the test the entire school might be shut down. 

My principalship will keep these issues at the forefront: teachers will know that I am very aware of teacher unions philosophies and that I came to educational leadership through my union leadership.   However my teachers will also know that I became a principal because I felt colleagues of mine were failing their students and that I felt the best way to advocate for children beyond being a good teacher and great parent was to be an amazing administrator.

            As I stated before I believe the only common denominator that will glue unions and administration together is to focus on positive outcomes, so I use the words “amazing administrator” with complete consciousness.  What I have learned from this human resources management class from the panels, the required text, as well my own additional inquiry on professional capital (Fullan, 2012) is that at the heart of difficult situations or conversations are feelings.  You ever heard that joke, “So a teacher walks into a party….” No? Yeah, neither have I.  Joke, Party and Teacher are not words people put together too often because we all have deep feelings about teachers for a variety of reasons.  Why is that?  Teachers are supposed to be are “angels” on earth.  They are here for us right? They are in the job for the children, right?

Wrong!  We can not say all teachers are in it for the children.  Maybe they all tried to start out for that but anyone who has tried to teach in a classroom for longer than a year will tell you it so much more than a job that is just about playing with children.  But the Elaine K. McEwan Text: How to Deal With Teachers Who Are Angry, Troubled, Exhausted, or Just Plain Confused has helped me understand challenging teachers and focus on myself as a “character builder”.  Or as she states, “You don’t have to figure out what’s wrong with your troubled teachers. Your only job is to confront their inappropriate behavior when you become aware of it, present options and opportunities for moving forward positively, support them in their efforts to change if they are willing and able, and take steps to protect the students in their classrooms if they can’t.” (p.74)

            If I become an administrator I will also take a keen awareness that not all administrators are “in it for the children” either.  Many administrators were burnt out teachers who knew the system well enough to float easily into an administrative roll.  I will remember that Central Office is actually a very small world and politics are very transparent and no matter who interacts with me they too will know that I was a parent first, teacher second, administrator by default to a calling of conscious leadership.

            I will bring to this “political table” a deep commitment to teaching and learning and open discussions about how true teacher evaluations should be learning conversations.  I do not agree we can fire our way out of the achievement gap as Rhee did in D.C. or as top down administration would have you believe.  However I do believe administrators need to be to become more competent on evaluation practices.  My administration inquiry will be focused on the topics found in the Daresh text: Leading and Supervising Instruction, for the next year before I start to apply to schools as Principal. Specifically issues on a local, state and national  level discussed in Chapter 7: Exploring the How and Why of Teacher Evaluations.
 

            Lastly I want to thank you, Ms. Forrester, for this highly engaging class.  The role plays of difficult conversations were very hands on and reminded me of how easy it is to play or be the angry teacher. However to be on the other end or a diplomatic leader takes a different kind of commitment to goals of communication and problem solving.  I am proud to have taken this class from Mills College and learned these skills from a social justice centered university, thank you for reading and your time. 

Michelle Rhee Points to consider (part 1)

Michelle Rhee:

Youtube

Points to consider....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsiLLNzi-cM

Here is the flipside documentry on frontline as well as up to date radio news on results of tough love politics....

Frontline video
http://video.pbs.org/video/2323979463/

Radio News April 2013

http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/school-privatization-fraud-michelle-rhee-may-yet-join-beverly-hall-dock


I'm currently reading her book: Radical review to come... in next blog.

Platform Statement for A Teacher Leader in 2013 By Sunny Dawn March 3, 2013

Platform Statement for A Teacher Leader in 2013

By Sunny Dawn

March 3, 2013

            “Are you worried about being a principal with all these laws around Special Education? ” a colleague, who is a Resources Specialist, asked me yesterday.  We had volunteered our Saturday go to our union’s conference that focused on Special Education and when she asked me I honestly told her, “I believe that my intuition and value system has guided me thus far and I know I will make decisions based on students needs, just like I’ve done as a teacher.”  She and I had dedicated this day to understanding rights around Special Education.  I share this story to highlight this intuition and value system that I reference has been developed intensely in the past 2 years of educational leadership.  In this paper I will not only use my own personal examples of endeavors and triumphs to illustrate my belief about power and authority but will also draw on various research that I resonate with regarding the purpose of supervision and human resource management in education.

            In the past 2 years I have taken on an eclectic range of leadership in education; Union Activist/Teacher leader for many national and state wide union projects and campaigns, National Board Candidacy for General Education in Early Childhood, Temporary Special Education teacher, Masters in Educational Leadership. In the last 5 years I’ve been a school site teacher leader and lastly but most importantly and outspoken parent activist in the same district I am employed in.  The point is I’m involved.  However what is more important, is why or how do I stay motivated?  Well if you prescribe to the theory that teachers perform in stages of their life (Glickman, 1985; Roberts, 2013) then one answer is I am in the phase of my 9 year career where I perform with efficacy but am entering the phase of managing changes and growing tensions (Fullan, 2012).  However if you were to look at my career through the eyes of a timeless bird you could easily see I have had my dark moments in this field where I have almost thrown in the towel.  Yet I believe it is my leadership that has been fostered more than my pedagogy and in that one conscious decision my success has been ten fold and the “best practice and next practice” (Fullan, 2012) has been a constant source of energy for me.  This energy comes from the core belief that I think learning is what a democratic society is based on.  In the name of democracy I seek to foster in students and teachers a love of learning and knowledge that education is a right not a race.  In order to ensure this right I believe some critical responsibilities for effective school supervision is your tone around communication.  As a principal I see myself as someone who will try to get input from all stakeholders involved in the decisions made at my site.

            When I look at myself as a human resource I know that any coaching or empowerment that had students at the center a type of human relations and culture has been formed in the professional learning communities I have been in and out of.   Deep down it has been easy for me to keep students at the center because I am a mom first.  When I am at a school teaching I ask myself would this be good enough for my daughter and if the answer is no then I know we have some work to do.

After reading about the various strategies, approaches, and theories to leadership a few standout for me.  I’m in the current position of believing that Traitist and Situational theories have come into play for me as a Teacher Leader.  However as I move forward looking at a Principalship in the future I believe that trust is essential or as Bennis and Nanus (1985) state, “Leaders who are trusted make themselves known and make their positions clear.”  The nature of leadership is one in which trust is never given easily but how you care, tend, and honor that trust from all stakeholders becomes how much you are respected as a leader in your school community.  When thinking about all these dynamics a visual framework came to mind for me when trying to keep students at the center yet surf all the dynamics of leadership and various stakeholders.  

Needs of students is at the center always.

            In my own exeperiences I have found the three stakeholders; community, district, and school are not exactly different entities many times.  For example, what hat I wear seems to be at the center of so many thoughts before I speak.  Am I the teacher in the General Ed. Teacher in the room, the Special Education teacher, the Union Rep., the “young” teacher on an Adminstrative track, or the parent who has transferred her daughter 3 times because of bad teaching.  If I am the teacher then what pedagogy/identity am I; good or bad teacher, political or apathetic, outstanding or needing improvement, temporary or tenure, angry or inspired I argue I was probably all of them however what no one can ever question over the years is my commitment to children and acting in what is the best interest of my own child and the children of my lifetime. As I move forward in leadership I feel Chris Day’s stance on commitment will play a part in how I view my responsibilities for effective administration. “For commitment to flourish and for teachers to be resilient and effective, they need a strong and enduring sense of efficacy….They need to work in schools which leadership is supportive, clear, strong and passionately committed to maintaining the quality of their commitment” (2010).

            Therefore I believe a good school has multiple avenues for a variety of stakeholders to contribute and feel/see the positive affect they are having on learning or teaching.  A believe that the authority granted to an educational leader is to know how to create those avenues and bridges, model learning as a leader by slowing down to listen and engage as well as empower all stakeholders.  For example, when I was reaching out to thousands of teachers on for the Campaign of 2012 I found ways to show that the union was there union, the state budget is their budget, but the only way I could lead them toward a common choice was by hearing where “they” were at and what they cared about. “They” being the school principal, paras, parents, teachers, teacher aids, secretaries, janitors, crossing guard, and most of all the students who need stable policies that benefit them not rob them.

            I share this success story of union involvement because I want to also share what I have learned about conflict resolution due to my union involvement.  I had no idea what a grievance was until last year when I was filing one.  I had no idea what restorative practice is supposed to look like until this year.  I mention these two items because I believe they are on two different ends of the spectrum however they seem to be the words that come out of my mouth a lot these days and sometimes simultaneously when dealing with a challenging administrator and the conflict he produces.  I am fully aware when staff feel intense about charged subjects and I believe in airing discomfort, looking through or using verbal process at future solutions can aid in reducing stress or high affective filters – through this type of  dialogue people’s leadership can be channeled.

            I think conflict is healthy.  I believe when facilitated in an appropriate manner it can actually lead to many success stories.  Yet in the same breath I have seen when conflict is handled inappropriately it can make a qualified educator leave the profession quickly.  Conflict resolution and the ongoing dialogue around it needs to continue to be a part of my practice as I move forward.  I believe in critique of systems, especially one as bureaucratic as public education, in which by its nature alone will always have conflict.  Yet how we as a professional learning community facilitate that internal and external criticism will define the type of educators we are because I believe this is how we teach ourselves.

            Finally I want to express that I have become an educator for the love of my country and because of a deep belief that service to ones country is one of the most important thing a free citizen can do.  However I know I can not lead some democratic crusade on my own, how democratic would that be?  My values only go as far as the country I live in and how the public or community share those values.  I believe my local community, although flawed in many ways, is a very progressive community in which over 70% of voters in San Francisco and Alameda County approved a “tax the rich” proposition just 4 months ago in the name of education.  Yet as we look into the future and extend our hopes I have to say I believe the fate of education lies in what society is willing to do to make it the most important thing we have.

            So I conclude with points to ponder in the future of education.  Will principals and educators and schools feel they are valued and cherished?  Will districts see support from government that values education more than war?  Will children’s natural love of learning go beyond 10 years old?  Will teachers be supervised and guided versus penalized or paid based on test scores and snapshot evaluations?  I don’t have the answers. I can only say that depending how far I last in this field as an educator or leader I will continue to model my belief system and know that I trust myself to have our students at the center.

References:

Supervision of Instruction by Carl D. Glickman (1985, Book, Illustrated) : Carl D. Glickman (Book, 1985).

Professional Capital Transforming Teaching in Every School Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan, March 2012

Leading and Supervising Instruction, Libro di Daresh John C., Corwin Press, 2006

Teachers Matter : Connecting Work, Lives and Effectiveness by Alison Kington, Gordon Stobart, Pam Sammons, Christopher Day and Qing Gu, 2007

Zachary Roberts Mills College Class Presentation, 2013

Bennis, W. & Nanus, B. (1985) Leaders: The Strategies for taking charge.

           

           

            

KNOW WHEN TO CELEBRATE IN EDUCATION!!! Post Campaign Yes on 30 Promise and NO on 32 Reflection, Thank you speech

Speech to Field Observation Class For
Educational Leadership MA program
Mills College, Oakland, CA.

2/19/13

This is a Thank you speech.

So many times we have heard numerous speeches about education in which by the end of it, we are left feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, or the opposite inspired or called to action.

Depending on who is talking to you this path is either spiraling downward out of control or upward and onward in the name of democracy.  And since we are on this path together, this terrain we are calling Education Leadership, I want to point out the importance of knowing when it is time to celebrate.

So what am I thanking you for?  Its quite simple, I am literally taking this moment to thank some of you individually and collectively for your support around last semester's Campaign.

First thank you for the time you gave me when I was able to talk to you individually and our classroom on Proposition 30.

This past election was one of the most important elections in California history and education.

WE PASSED THE MOST PROGRESSIVE TAX MEASURE THE NATION HAS EVER SEEN!
AS I SPEAK, IN THIS TAX SEASON, WE ARE TAXING THE RICH!

How many times in your lifetime have heard the cliche tax the rich or tax rich, stop the cuts?  How many of you have walked the picket line, gone to rallies, or worried about your own job because of the cuts to education.  I believe as a collective we were completely and totally sick of it and so we did it.

I want thank those of you in this room who, maybe took a little bit more time than usual to participate in the political process: drive to where your voting booth is in a different county, hang a poster, have a conversation, call a family member.... participate in your democracy.

Because of educators like you in the Bay Area we passed this thing.  I specifically say Bay Area because on the night of the election when I went to bed and most of the Northern California count was in and Prop. 30 was losing.  So I decided to go to bed that night.  When I woke myself up at 5 a.m. the next morning I realized we barely won by appox. 700,000 votes and 2 of 3 counties had over 70% of the population saying yes, tax the rich were San Francisco, and Alameda which had approximately 600,000 of those votes!  Lastly I want to thank all of you in the room who pay Union dues whether you want to or not because without those dues I would not be giving this little thank you speech.

Which brings me to another follow up item and note for celebration.  We defeated Prop. 32.  If 32  would have passed we could easily see our labor  fate in states such as Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas or even Michigan which became the 24th "right to work" state on Dec. 11th.  In the campaign and now I want to emphasize we wouldn't even have had Prop. 30 on the ballot had it not been for CFT lobbying Governor Brown to compromise his original middle class tax initiative. If Prop. 32 went into effect deals or moments like that would be made illegal.

So in conclusion I want to say we need to know when to celebrate in education.  This path can be filled with such moments of overwhelming darkness and at times no sign of hope for this living breathing bureaucratic institution known as education and how do we know when we have made strides. Well we are living and breathing too... So let's take some deep breathes of relief  as I say thank you, congratulations, and power to the people!