Collaboration and Communication

The elementary staff have been having some rich conversations during our Thursday morning collaboration time and the Professional Development day on October 21. Grade level teams have been working on curriculum units with the intent of making them more integral, making the learning more meaningful, creating real life connections, thus improving opportunities for students to "explore, experience and evaluate all of life under God" (ACS Mission Statement). There is a great deal of excitement around the discussions and developments that are taking place. Some of our discussions have involved mixing up the grade level teachers as well, so teachers from grades Kindergarten to grade five talk about their practices and, specifically, about Professional Learning Communities. Our Special Education department and our Learning Assistant department also have regular discussions about the best ways to support the learning of the students they work with. Collaboration and communication focussed on student learning is a major factor in improving student learning.
Stating that and believing it is one thing. Realizing it is another. I do hear many positive comments about the learning that is taking place in our school. These comments, along with a very positive response from our recent government evaluation (see last month's posting) affirms for me that we are a leader in providing quality Christian education. I think more people need to know that so that the blessings we have received can be a blessing to even more families. I also recognize that we need to be continually improving and we value parental input as we do that. Put simply, if parents in our school think we are doing things well, I hope they are telling others. If they think we should be doing things better, I hope they are telling us. Again it all comes down to communication.
If you would like to know more about how collaboration is improving student learning at ACES, I would love to chat with you or even show you around so you can see it for yourself.