UPS and Downs

"Every town
 Has it's ups and downs
 Sometimes the ups
 Outnumber the downs..."
This comes from the song "Not in Nottingham" by Roger Miller. It's sung by the poor residents of Nottingham after the sheriff imprisons most of the town for not paying taxes. It popped into my head this morning as I was thinking about this first half of the year as an Instructional Coach.

There have been some ups and downs. But unlike Nottingham the ups have outnumbered the downs.
We have been blessed with a staff that is willing to work through some things and continue to try to improve classroom instruction. As I think back to the beginning of the year I can honestly say we didn't get as much accomplished as I thought we would. But there has been changes. The principals have done over 100 walk through visits since Mid-October. Our teachers are getting better at being able to clearly state their purpose for every lesson they teach. We have been able to collaborate over data and model effective teaching practices. We have even been fortunate enough to also collaborate with other coaches from other schools and get input from our AEA coach.

So it's time for Christmas break to renew and refresh. Then we will come back and start the climb back up the hill with new learning about learning and some clear success criteria. I continue to enjoy this new work I'm doing and will continue to dig in and help teachers Bring It for the remainder of the year. This is our time. Our time to learn, grow, and change the way we do things at ESC.