Reflecting on the 2010/11 School Year

I’ve been mulling this post over in my head pretty much since the school year ended so here goes…

Change

Time for Change by David Reece licensed CC-BY-SA 2.0

This year was a year of challenges,stress,and change–or at least the prospect of change.  At the beginning of this year our district started discussing amalgamating a number of programs,including the program I’m part of (distributed learning),under one umbrella.  The proposed amalgamation would allow us to pool our resources (physical and human) and so be able to provide better services for our students.  (I wrote here about using a wiki to help pool ideas about this transition.)  It is a big shift though and there was definitely push back from some affected staff.  Ok,in some cases,a lot of push back.  Aside from the push back the process of discussing and planning for the transition itself was frustrating at times.  The amount of stress felt by the staff in my program was huge–no more so than on my principal who will be heading up the new entity.  The process has also resulted in the lay off of our secretary:an incredible person and resource.

Looking Ahead

Despite the stress of the past school year,I am really excited about the new changes.  The amalgamation means that instead of me being responsible for:
Science 8,Science 9,Science 10,Math 8,Math 9,A&W Math 10,FMP Math 10,AMath 11,EMath 11,PMath 11,Earth Science 11,Biology 11 and Biology 12

I’ll only be responsible for:
Science 8,Science 9,Science 10,Math 8,Math 9,A&W Math 10,and FMP Math 10

I should end up having a similar number of students as last year though.  My grade 8 –10 humanities colleague will also see a similar reduction in the number of courses for which she is responsible.  This will help us to focus on providing better resources and support for our students which is wonderful.  As things were we were spread too thin and spending too much time on non-teaching tasks (putting students into courses,ordering materials,etc ) and not enough on supporting students.

I’m also looking forward to working with the Alternate Program teacher and his students.  In September the other grade 8 –10 DL teacher and I will be working out of new digs which we will be sharing with the Alternate Program.  It will allow for collaboration with the Alternate Program teacher and all three of us are excited about that.

Having a new location and configuring our program differently also allows us to take a renewed look at what our goals are and what we want our program to be.  The possibilities are exciting,if a little overwhelming!

The Wrap Up

So,it was a tough year at times.  I felt that I needed to write about that,but not to dwell upon it.  The prospects for the future are exciting though and that is what I’m focussing on now.  I’m going to get to work with talented people and we’re going to be able to provide even better support for our students.  What’s not to like about that!