All in a Day's Work

Pic of me speaking to staff at a Google Apps workshop. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Rochelle.

This past week we welcomed back students and staff from their well deserved summer break. The organized chaos that comes along with starting a new school year is unexplainable. All in all the first two days of the 2014-2015 school year were a huge success. Here are some things that I was apart of to help ensure a tremendous opening......

• Leveraged the power of social media to tell our school's story via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.
• Set up a Remind account to push out information to school stakeholders.
• Communicated with a university professor from the Netherlands in preparation for an October visit by a group of 15 educators.
• Prepared a Google Doc that will serve as a monthly report highlighting school happenings. This year staff members will crowd source the document.
• Made a Week in Review Animoto Video and played it through ChromeCast on our SmartTV in the hallway.
• Assisted several parents with signing up for our student information system called PowerSchool.
• Visited many classrooms and sent encouraging emails thanking staff for all that they do.
• Reconnected with many students as they strive to do great things this school year.
• Spoke to each class about the importance of respect and how bullying will not be tolerated.
• Trouble shooted several technical issues for students and staff.
• Continued preparing for our Chromebook roll out later this month.
• Spoke to John Fritzky via Voxer about helping his former student transition to our school
• Met with our new tech coaches to ensure a great start to the school year
• Spoke to our awesome art teacher as she begins integrating a class set of iPads into the curriculum.
• Checked our awesome Band Lab website as students continue to explore the endless possibilities when technology meets music.
• Welcomed back the 7th graders by visiting each of their homerooms and sharing one simple message: "Dare to succeed!"
• Participated in our Advisory Program meeting. Looking to bring in a speaker who has climbed Mt. Everest. Will go well with our school wide summer book read Peak.
• Prepared a Google Doc that will archive our Daily Announcements for all to see.
• Worked on our Google Calendar for the Fall Athletic Season.
• Got to take in the amazing condition of our middle school building made possible by the hard work of our custodial staff.
• Registered staff for workshops linked to STEM, Technology, and Best Practices.

I am sure that there are few things I am leaving out. All in all though it was an outstanding start to the school year. As our principal Bob Mullen always: "We are looking for kids to have a great day, every day. Another one of his quotes that rings true "Status quo is never an option, we can always can do better." There are just so many opportunities that lie ahead and I look forward to being apart of each and every one of them. 

Brad Currie is the author of All Hands on Deck: Tools for Connecting Educators, Parents, and Communities. He is one of the founding partners of Evolving Educators LLC. Brad is a 2014 ASCD Emerging Leader and Bammy Award Finalist. He currently serves as a K-8 Supervisor of Instruction and Middle School Vice Principal for the Chester School District in Chester, NJ. Learn more about Brad by following him on Twitter @bradmcurrie or visiting his website at www.bradcurrie.net.