Happy New Year!

As you honor your new year’s resolutions, it’s a great time to prioritize the work that you do to support your teachers’ growth and development. This might mean reminding yourself of the habits that support your staff – and engaging with the systems (like Folio) to reinforce these habits.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Get into classrooms more – make a schedule and block-off the time in your calendar
• Provide authentic feedback to teachers following each classroom visit
• Make meetings count – here is a short read with some great tips: Transform faculty meetings into community meetings.
• Focus on the positive. Look for what is good, and make sure to share it with others. Celebrate good work as often as possible.
• Encourage risk-taking and collaboration. Invite faculty (individually or as a group) to test new strategies and try new approaches. Give them a space without fear of failing.
• Inspire teachers to engage in professional development activities. Talk with them about their goals and how they can achieve them, and how they can deliberately incorporate any new ideas/content/pedagogy into their classrooms. Help them identify upcoming PD activities aligned with needs and interests and facilitate registration/participation