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n no way, do I want to add to the burden of the already-filled-to-the-brim, new teacher stress bucket. I do however, want to share just 20 tidbits which I hope will help ease new teachers into a fun, successful school year

I drew a triangle with "student" at two corners and "teacher" at the other. I wanted to see a community of learners where "student was teaching student", "teacher was teaching student" and "student was teaching teacher".

One of my core beliefs about school these days is that we need to get teachers off of the hamster wheel of the current school-day model. Teachers need time to collaborate, to plan, to innovate. And schools need to find ways to build frequent - I believe weekly - time for everyone to sit in a room and work together to make schools better.

Four years ago, we began looking at a PLC model. The ideas of creating time within the timetable for teachers to work interdependently to develop common emphasized curricula and assessments, to utilize the resultant data to modify instructional practice, and to create an intervention system that ensured the success of each student were very topical for our school.

Having experienced what it means to learn in a community of learners, teachers are inclined to count such learning as more authoritative and authentic than any other and to think of such learning as the proper aim of instruction

The behaviours individually are not rocket science - they can be found in good classrooms everywhere - but it is the combination of all of them together which produces the chemistry to transform good to excellent practise and therefore children's academic and social/behavioural outcome

I think we've all got to stop cranking out blog posts and Tweets that tout new tools and the "10 Best Ways…" and instead begin to make the case in our blogs and in person that technology or not, this is about what is best for our kids. That in this moment, 20th Century rules will not work for 21st Century schools.

As a Principal, one of my most important responsibilities is the evaluation of instruction... The trick is being able to effectively identify those areas and engage the teacher in a constructive dialogue that results in improved practice. Here is what I look for:

"It was hard! As a teacher, I think sometimes we say that technology is going to make teaching easier. It's not. It's going to make it different."

Despite the non-stop action, the most exciting part of this first semester in a new school has been how much we have been able to accomplish in such a short time. Not just on the individual teacher level, either, much of the work I have been focusing on has an impact on the whole school.

Observing a Classroom? Watch the Students, Not the Teacher

I want, more than anything else, to leave a legacy in education. I want what I spend my time doing to add value to the profession and to support teachers in helping their students self actualize. I also want to be part of lighting a fire that results in a learning revolution.

A year ago, I wasn't on Twitter. Now my PLN is invaluable. If every other form of PD was taken away from me, I would continue to grow and learn because of the people and resources at my finger tips on Twitter. A year ago, I didn't really blog. Now it's part of who I am. It's how I actively try to make sense of the world. And it has connected me to people who challenge my thinking and help me to be a better teacher.

The conventional wisdom in education is that any school reform--be it curriculum, instruction, assessment, or teacher professionalism--is most likely to take hold in schools that have strong leadership. The same holds true for technology.

I agree with Dave's observation. We have four elementary buildings in our district, each with a different principal and each with a distinctive leadership strength. It's just like when I was teaching, I tended to teach to my strengths and had to remind myself to be well-rounded, but my classrooms definitely had a technology slant to them. Now as a building principal, my staff professional development is also slanted to the technology side. That part comes easier to me. I just have to work harder at curriculum and instruction pieces when I "marry" them all together.

# I will provide you with an extra prep per week ("A Fed Ex Prep") for 6 straight weeks. This would be prep-free for you as I would prep whichever subject the you would like. The time is also negotiable (ie. if you would rather have 2 periods a week for 3 weeks). # This time will be self-directed to ANYTHING you want with the only goal that you must DELIVER your ideas.

Do you ever want to say to folks who scream they don't want their private lives online: "Maybe you should just try to be a better person." ?

Although Ashley loved basketball, this was his first year playing on an organized team (grade 11). It was not that Ashley did not have a desire to play earlier, but because of his low grades and poor attendance, school rules prohibited him from doing so.

...one phrase I saw in those documents some 20 years ago stuck with me. Reflective Practitioner. I sort of understood the concept but other than simply thinking about what you did in the classroom, I wasn't at all sure what to do with this term. PS. The only people allowed to criticize or challenge this idea are people who have blogged for at least one year and written at least 50 posts. The rest of you can ask questions but you can't dismiss it.