Monday, October 1, 2007

Curricula Related Activities (Sept 24-30)

The following activities were related to curriculum development efforts in the district this past week.

Meetings
• QSAC Meeting on Monday Sept 24 to review strategy of obtaining information
• IB meeting with Beth Brock (Head of Research) and Jessica Arnold (Project Manager) along with Kate Dominique, and Superintendent (Tuesday Sept 25)-candid and productive meeting with the national IB staff from NYC.
• Meeting with Jennifer Lopez (Thursday) about NCLB- good meeting which rekindled the need to have a better understanding of what data is due and when in the district.


School Visits
• Visited Demarest High School- (Monday AM, Thursday evening and Friday afternoon)
3 trips to Demarest this week. On Thursday night I was there to attend the opening of the Industrial Arts classroom and on Friday I was in there to represent the Superintendent at the picnic. Both events were successful at providing “community building” activities at the school. The administration at Demarest seems very committed to doing whatever is necessary to build a strong community at the school.

• Visited Wallace School (at dismissal on Thursday)
Informal visit with Principal Tortorella outside school during dismissal. Things seem to be running smoothly and spoke of a more formal visit in the next week.

• Visited Conner’s School- (Friday AM)
Met with administration and a number of teachers including Cathy (IT teacher), J. DiGennaro, Reading First teachers, librarian and Kate Dominque. Meeting with Kate centered on curriculum issues and was productive. Conner’s continues to be an enjoyable visit and there seems to be very good things going on there. My next visit will include more classroom observations.

Other Visits
• Stopped by HHS to visit with Principal

Activities
• QSAC organization and preparation
• Issues of curriculum alignment and organization