The powerful tool

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Amanda Ripley. Create your profile. The day after we worked on her vision, she shared it with her staff. She expected pushback, but because she was so passionate about her vision and so confident that it could happen, not a single teacher objected. Next, align all your actions to your vision. You know what outcome you want for all your students, so ask yourself, why aren't all your students already experiencing that outcome? Consider everything, from curriculum and instruction, to school climate, to students' home lives, to school policies.

Finally, ask yourself what your school will need to become if you are going to make your vision a reality for every student in your school.

Then get to work aligning everything you do to your vision, ruthlessly cutting any practice or policy that doesn't support it. Latasha's school team and staff, for instance, started working on the "every student" part of their vision. Each student was assigned an adult advocate, who made a point to connect with and understand every student on their roster; they committed to getting each student engaged in the work.

As the year progressed, they gained momentum. The adult advocates became more proactive, getting students support at the first sign of struggle instead of waiting for them to fail. And because they were intentional about regularly having nonacademic conversations with the students on their roster, they became attuned to students' social-emotional needs and could help students work through many of their personal challenges before those challenges derailed students' motivation and performance.

By the end of the first quarter marking period, the number of student failures dropped significantly. The staff was excited by the progress they were making. Latasha and her staff scrambled to make sure that students had the devices they needed to stay connected to the school and work out other logistics of remote learning.

Initially, they thought they would only have to teach remotely for two weeks; soon they were informed that the lockdown would last much longer.

The staff felt unmoored. There was so much uncertainty around what the district was expecting of schools. They worried about their students and struggled with their own fears about the virus. Latasha listened to their concerns—and then anchored herself in her vision. She asked her staff, "Has our vision changed in light of these new circumstances? And they did. Because they had started with the "all students" part of their vision, they already had strong relationships with students.

They reached out to students, making sure they had what they needed to be successful, and checked in with them regularly to ensure they were attending virtual classes, keeping up with assignments, and navigating their home lives.

As a result, the school regularly experienced 95 percent or higher attendance rates while other schools in the district were lucky to see 75 percent. They also began working on "proficient or above. So, they looked at their state standards, identified the ones they believed were most critical for students based on the released state exams, and—through teacher teams meeting online—focused on helping students meet or exceed those standards.

By the end of the year, every student showed impressive progress. And it all started with the right vision. So, take time right now to rethink your own vision statement for your school.

Is it something about which you are truly passionate? Test it to see if it is clear and measurable, albeit by nontraditional measures. Make sure that your vision includes percent of your students and align every practice and policy to your vision. If you do, you can stop settling for the school you have and start building the school you envision.

What are you personally committed to for your school that isn't explicitly in this statement? What actions might follow from this statement? Robyn Jackson is passionate about building better schools. Jackson combines her experience as an English teacher and middle school administrator and her work in thousands of schools and districts to help teachers and administrators develop rigorous instructional programs that provide students with the support and motivation they need to reach or exceed the standards and helps refocus vision, mission, and core values to build better schools.

She is the author of 10 books, host of the School Leadership Reimagined podcast, and an internationally recognized keynote speaker and consultant. Mindsteps Inc. Robyn R. Premium Resource. Professional Learning. The Tony Award nominee is making her […].

The statement by Messina read in part, "We need to get the games that were to be The latest preview of Saba's upcoming album Few Good Things. Liz English, principal of the K-8 school west of Kalispell, said a "solid rise in positive cases" among both staff and students prompted the decision to transition to a distance learning environment for the next two days. Kindergarten and first grade classes moved This leaves a four-way tie for first atop the conference standings — and a four-way tie at the bottom of them as well.

That four-way tie at the top will be down to no more than three by the end of Friday, though, as Goshen , NLC Mike Hoffman Montreal Canadiens with a Goal vs. South Korea will extend tougher social distancing rules for three more weeks amid concerns over a looming wave of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant especially ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, officials said on Friday.

Health officials have warned that without stricter distancing curbs Omicron would become dominant within two weeks, possibly sending daily tallies up to an unprecedented 20, in February and 30, in March. They are far from being perfect. Honestly, I cannot finish all of the tasks and do not follow the schedule strictly. However, these checklists are like bones of my life that keep me in a good structure. As a result, I can do much more than what I did previously. To finish a specific task such as publishing a paper, using a blank checklist to track progresses works great for me.

The following was a checklist I used to write, revise, and publish my first paper. I simply took notes of what I did and what I planned row by row. The checklist does not need to look great. The only purpose to use it is to help me get things done. Gladly, the paper was accepted last week. Why do checklists work for me? First, I think they let me focus on the foremost tasks when I am the most efficient.

Second, I find myself being easily distracted and checklists will pull me back to the main course. Third and most important, designing checklists allow me to think what task is important and how much time I will invest in it. Finally, I realize that I can only do a few things well because I at most have 55 hours to work every week.

Projects and life need management and to manage them well take practices. Amazingly, with the old-school checklists, I can finish works ahead of deadlines more frequently. If you may want to try the checklists, I am very happy to share them with you!