Hundreds of UCPS school leaders explore ways to turn their learners into leaders
More than 250 Union County Public Schools ( UCPS ) administrators and school leaders attended the school district ’ s annual Summer Leadership Institute .
For several days , they attended panel discussions and workshops where they discussed EmpowerED , the districtwide culture shift in teaching and learning that aims to transform learners into leaders . The attendees also learned about ways to transform learning and classroom culture , how to integrate social media to enhance instruction , ways to bring “ literacy to life ” and more .
Now , the principals , assistant principals and school leaders are ready to take what they ’ ve learned and integrate it into instructional practices and classrooms .
“ For us , EmpowerED digs into what is the difference between active engagement and truly empowering students ,” said East Elementary Principal Camilla Brothers . “ Now , we ’ re looking forward to making those definitions real so it ’ s evident when you look at our classroom instruction .”
Walking down the hallway of Cuthbertson Middle in between sessions , Parkwood Middle Principal Dr . Jeff Kraftson said he is extremely proud of the progress his staff has already made with integrating the EmpowerED framework into classrooms .
During the past year , the middle school has offered opportunities for students to make meaningful connections through a variety of academic options and clubs , collaborate with others both in and out of their classrooms , and become leaders of their own education through new tools such as the MAD-Learn mobile app program .
Even so , Dr . Kraftson added , the workshops at the Summer Leadership Institute has helped him and his team identify even more ways to take their school to the next level .
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Providing more support and opportunities for teachers to grow their skills and “ step out of the box ,” share examples of their successes during staff meetings and give honest feedback are just some of the initiatives he hopes to implement during the next school year as they are critical components to creating a culture of continuous dialogue and growth .
“ For us to look at how we can improve , we first have to identify our areas of improvement . In the future , I want to see our students truly taking ownership in the classrooms by leading discussions and being engaged – and not just some of the students , I ’ m talking about all of our students ,” he said . “ Connections , collaboration and creativity play an important role in that . We are already going in the right direction , and I want to continue to build on our successes in the future .”
By the end of the last day , the principals , assistant principals and school leaders had an opportunity to reflect on what they ’ ve learned and discuss their vision as a cluster . Each school walked away from the conference with customized school-wide action plans for the next year that would help them move closer to their goal of creating an EmpowerED classroom .
“ For us , we ’ ve realized that we need to move from being consumers to creators . For our action plan , we ’ re looking at having professional development so our teachers will continue to use more authentic learning opportunities ,” said Cuthbertson High Principal Jeffery Stout . “ In the future , I would like our students to look back on their time in our classrooms and say they collaborated with their peers and created a product that they can present because that ’ s what they ’ re going to be doing when they leave our school . At the end of the day , we all are looking at how we can best prepare our students for their internships , college and job sites .”