I strongly believe one of my responsibilities as Principal is to find different ways to make life less hectic and less stressful for my teachers. I try to do
this in a few ways:
- Eliminate
distractions
- Provide
support and resources
- Respect
your time
- Provide meaningful professional development
- Provide
Clear, Constant, Communication
This
coming school year I have a proposal for all of you that will give you more
time as teachers to grow and improve as educators. A few years ago I heard about the Google work
model of 80/20. Employees at Google are
allowed to spend 20% of their work time on “Passion Projects" which are not necessarily
connected to their current job assignment/responsibilities. The
idea behind their 80/20 model is to keep employees thinking, creating and possibly developing
something new that in the end could benefit Google. New Milford High School implemented an 80/20 model two years ago with great success. The concept is now finding its way into more and more schools around the world.
I
would like to create an 80/20 model here at WHS called “PGT” Personal Growth
Time. I want to give you the freedom to
explore, learn and create as long as the time spent is used to improve student
learning and achievement here at Waldwick High School. This model is optional and there is no expectation from me that everyone will want to take advantage of it.
How are
we going to this? ……. I know that is what you are all thinking.
Here’s
my plan. For those staff members that
are interested in being part of the WHS “PGT” Model, I will reduce your non-instructional duty
assignment to only three or four days a week.
That means if you have cafeteria duty you would only be there for three
days a week. The same idea would apply to
study halls, media center and hall duties.
During your Personal Growth Time you will be expected to be working towards your “Learning Goal” and building your “Learning Portfolio”.
Examples of possible
Learning Goals determined by YOU:
- Become a connected
educator by developing and engaging in a Personal Learning Network (PLN)
- Researching best
practice
- Developing innovative
learning activity
- Creating
interdisciplinary lessons
- Engaging in face-to-face
professional development
- Learning to use new technologies
- Collaborating on
projects with colleagues
- Create legacy
projects
- Enhance curriculum
- Find/Research Common
Core Resources
If you choose to take
advantage of the PGT Model, then you will be asked to create a Learning Portfolio. The idea of the portfolio is to create a bank
of information for you to refer back to or share with others. You
will document your progress throughout the year towards your Learning Goal. How you create the portfolio is totally up to
you.
What your Learning Portfolio could look like:
It could be a log,
website, Edmodo, blog, wiki, binder, etc.
I will meet with each
teacher twice during the year to hear about the progress (Mid-Year and End of
Year Evaluation meeting)
What the time is not
for:
Doing graduate school
work
Grading papers
Having a second lunch
Calling parents for
class related issues
Leaving the
building
If your interested, please fill out the Google
Form below and create your learning goal. If you would like to talk more about this, have questions, ideas please email me or give me a call. I would love to hear your feedback.
I do need to know if your interested by August 9 so I can finalize duty assignments.
