This afternoon I hosted four one hour VC sessions with my schools to wrap up the year, reflect on how it went, and talk about next year. About 20 of my 70 buildings attended. I’ve never done any type of wrap-up before, but several of my new RUS Grant buildings wanted to hear from each other.
We used a very simple format: 20 minutes of sharing what went well; 20 minutes of sharing challenges; and 20 minutes of sharing ideas for next year. Here are some of my notes:
What Went Well
- Author interviews, ASK programs, Center for Puppetry Arts, Columbus Zoo, St. Louis Zoo, Read Around the Planet, MysteryQuest, etc.
Challenges
- Scheduling and logistics within the school
- Bandwidth and picture quality
- Getting teachers interested in VC
- Technical issues related to test calls, and what to do when problems happen
Ideas for Next Year
- More provider showcases via vc
- A workshop for teachers via vc on how to use the ISD website
- More classroom to classroom projects
- Mock job interviews for high school
- Pen pals
- News teams connecting to each other
- More free things!
- Directory of the other building coordinators in the county
- Middle and high school science – something on the environment
- Refresher sessions for staff meetings in the fall
We had a good conversation. They enjoyed hearing from each other and realizing that other districts have the same challenges as they do. They picked up new ideas from each other as well. And my todo list is growing with new ideas of ways to provide support, training, and programming.
Other VC coordinators (Roxanne, Paul, and Andrea) have blogged about their end of the year celebrations. You’ll find them inspiring and more exciting than mine. 🙂 So check them out too. What have YOU done to celebrate the successes of this year?
