We’re a middle and high school wrapped up into one with over 2,000 kids. In our brief history, our DLEs were organized by two high school teachers (English and Math) and 2 middle school teachers (Social Studies and Math). All of us taught different grade levels: 6th, 8th, 9th, 11th, and 12th; thus, we had a wide range of ages participating at our DLEs. And with 100 – 200 students engaging in this work, it looked like our whole school bought into DLEs, but that just wasn’t the case.
We presented to the Instructional Leadership Team (ILT), explaining our plan, securing buy-in from the top down. Our principal rallied behind our vision. Assistant Principals and ILT were expected to build in time during Academy, Team, and Department meetings. We presented to the whole faculty, and asked them the question:
We presented to the Instructional Leadership Team (ILT), explaining our plan, securing buy-in from the top down. Our principal rallied behind our vision. Assistant Principals and ILT were expected to build in time during Academy, Team, and Department meetings. We presented to the whole faculty, and asked them the question:
How can Academies and Grade School Teams take more ownership of DL Exhibitions to promote more student equity, voice, and engagement?"
We discussed what we learned from the previous exhibitions:
- This work matters to kids who take part in it.
- The teachers who engage in this work are the ones who provide access to their students. More teachers involved = more students involved. .
[Pictured to the right: 2019 Spring Layout for Booths] Main Stage Remained in the Theater, and classrooms in the library were still used for presentations designed for a smaller audience. |
"We need more space!"We also learned we need more SPACE- and can utilize all of the upstairs hallways for booths. We can give every Academy their own Hallway: Community, STEM, Health Sciences, and Global
My three co-founders and I spearheaded a Global Academy, which became the place for student proposals that didn’t fit into our established Academies. And rather than utilizing only the theater, library, and surrounding hallways and classrooms- we opened up the whole 2nd floor to give each Academy their own Hallway. [Pictured to the left: Fall 2018 Layout] |
We recruited DL-leads on the middle and high school side. We gave a blanket invitation during our presentation to the whole staff and each of us individually approached educators we thought would excel at this work. We found DL-leads for every grade level 6th-9th and for our three major Academies. Their responsibilities included:
Academies: (Build your team of teachers and students and delegate)
- Responsible for marketing exhibition and recruiting students for their Hallway, Ted-Talks/Documentaries, and 1 Main Stage Performance/Presentation that represents the Academy.
- Evaluating submissions, providing concise feedback, and planning for layout of hallway.
- (At Academy Meetings)- Sharing quality submissions and discussing submissions that need revision. Review # of submissions submitted and where they are coming from.
- Responsible for the Academy’s students who are signed up for the exhibition night.
- Hallway (coaching of students, set-up, beautification, breakdown).
- Responsible for capturing footage (photography and film) of students’ DL Exhibition for the BACKPACK, and following through in getting the photo/recording to the student.
6th - 9th: (Build your team of teachers and students and delegate)
- Responsible for marketing exhibition and empowering students to create Booths, Ted-Talks, Documentaries, and other performances/presentations.
- (At Team Meetings)- Sharing quality submissions and discussing them. Review # of submissions submitted and where they are coming from.
- Sending quality submissions to Academies. (There is a vetting process! A revision process. Make sure you are sending quality, exhibition worthy work to the Academies).
- Hallway (coaching of students, set-up, beautification, breakdown). A team needs to be in the Academies your students are.
- Responsible for capturing footage (photography and film) of students’ DL Exhibition for the BACKPACK, and following through in getting the photo/recording to the student.
Our new DL leads needed support. We established a kind of hierarchy for our distributive leadership model. The new DL leads and I met in the library every Wednesday for two and a half months as we strategized on growing our DLEs from the Academies out.
The top row of this “pyramid” is our Principal and the four teachers who’ve been doing the heavy lifting on DLEs; he championed our cause on social media and vocalized support to the staff. The 2nd row are the Assistant Principals responsible for each academy or grade level. The next is the actual DL lead associated with that Academy or Middle School Team, and below that is the teacher team the new DL lead established. Now, we had more position oriented leadership rather than just four teachers stepping up and doing the work. We had a model where if I and my team left the building, the work could continue. This kind of model brought the hope of sustainability. Moreover, it created a position (multiple DLE leads) that we could ask new hires in interviews if they’d be willing to fulfill the demand of that role.
The top row of this “pyramid” is our Principal and the four teachers who’ve been doing the heavy lifting on DLEs; he championed our cause on social media and vocalized support to the staff. The 2nd row are the Assistant Principals responsible for each academy or grade level. The next is the actual DL lead associated with that Academy or Middle School Team, and below that is the teacher team the new DL lead established. Now, we had more position oriented leadership rather than just four teachers stepping up and doing the work. We had a model where if I and my team left the building, the work could continue. This kind of model brought the hope of sustainability. Moreover, it created a position (multiple DLE leads) that we could ask new hires in interviews if they’d be willing to fulfill the demand of that role.
We brainstormed how to market what each Academy’s specific students were doing. We gave examples like this one advertising for a Fundraiser two teachers (Culinary and FFA) decided to collaborate on:
We provided templates for each Academy to brainstorm on together before, during, and after meetings: