Lessons Learned

Although the true one year anniversary of my emigration to Alaska will not occur for another two months, the end of the school year signals an iconic milestone worthy of reflection. In no particular order or level of importance, lessons learned from a year at Highland Tech Charter School and a year (almost) in Anchorage, Alaska:

1. The personal mastery, standards based system demands the most dedicated, passionate teachers with the greatest work ethic.

— In traditional schools the majority of teachers give an assessment, grade it, and move on. Some offer make-ups, but even then they indefensibly “average” the scores rather than allowing a new, better score, which now demonstrates deeper mastery, to replace an old one. In our system, since students must demonstrate mastery, teachers are constantly assessing. It’s not a “one and done.” While I think I’ve waxed plenty philosophically about the mindset shift this causes for students, I haven’t spent nearly enough time on what it means for teachers. They never stop assessing. They’re covering current content, past content, way past content, and future content. It is not for the faint of heart.

2. Alaskan educators use the word “kiddo” way too much.

— I know I’ve written of this before, but it’s so prevalent I can’t ignore it.

3. Being the principal of a charter school is almost like being a mini-superintendent.

— I was told this very early on and although the scope of my duties is mostly similar to what it’s been in the past as a principal, managing a Board, analyzing physical space needs and options, and looking for new revenue sources is new. Good thing I’ve got that superintendent’s endorsement.

4. Winter is rough on cars here.

— They need to use gravel rather than salt on the roads in winter because of the constant snow and cold. Consequently, when spring rolls around it seems like one in three windshields is cracked. Must be why there’s a glass repair shop on every corner (right next to the Blockbuster Video store, and coffee shack…)

5. The time zone difference is unbeatable when it comes to watching hockey games.

— Triple overtime? No problem. The longest game I watched this spring (which I think was Hawks-Ducks, Game 2) ended at only 9:45 PM.

6. I cannot say enough about the professionalism, tenacity, and investment of my teaching staff.

— I have always believed in shared leadership. Whatever I accomplish as a leader has to outlive my tenure in a position and therefore must be owned by other stakeholders, particularly teachers. I have never worked with a staff that owns it as much as this one. They don’t just throw a problem on the table, stare at the administrative team and say, “What are you going to do about this?” They throw a problem on the table and almost immediately throw three or four solutions after it. This is shared leadership. This is investment. Above all, this is the kind of modeling for our students all educators should do.

7. Finally, I’m not sure about this, but I think I might like halibut even more than salmon. I’m still going to take a pass on the lampreys, though. Particularly the ones that are falling from the sky right now.