Happy New Year!

 

I hope all of you had some time to relax and recharge for the upcoming year. As we embark on this new semester with a WASC revisit around the corner (Tuesday, April 16, 2013), I want to encourage all of you to remain committed to doing your best - to fulfilling your academic responsibilities as students, to providing support as parents and providing a high quality education as staff to ensure high achievement by all students.

 

Your dedication and efforts to provide the best for our Romans are not going unnoticed – we will continue our instructional practice and focus to engage students in purposeful, cooperative groupings for active student participation and discourse in the classroom. We will continue to provide students with ample opportunities for higher-order, critical thinking activities, and to always challenge them to reach their potential. And finally, we will continue to motivate, inspire and reach our L.A. Romans – one never knows how far our influence will extend.

 

As noted in The Skillful Teacher – Building Your Teaching Skills: Skillful teachers are clear about what is to be learned, clear about what achievement means, and clear about what they are going to do to help students attain it. And if one thing doesn’t work, they make another plan that is also technically clear and well thought out… (p.2)

 

…Skillful teachers constantly reach out to colleagues with an assertive curiosity that says: “I don’t know it all. No one does or ever will, but I am always growing, adding to my knowledge and skills and effectiveness.” To skillful teachers, that openness and reaching out is an important element of professionalism (p. 2).

 

Those of us outside the classroom are here to support our stakeholders and our students’ learning. We are a community of learners and practitioners who share in our common endeavor to provide a world-class education for all students!