Visitors from across the Country in 2009

Today I watched our Instructional Coach, Suzanne Shall, in the midst of 20 principals from Texas, explaining our work as she walked in and out of classrooms, stopping by bulletin boards to explain how each board was a glimpse into the classroom, explaining our Diagnostic work and safety nets and how they effect our progress - I watched with sheer admiration. Suzanne hosts visitors at least one day every week. They come from all over the country and from inside our own county. Why do they come? In any given year we host about 400 visitors who come because they have heard of our work. They take pictures. They go through the artifacts in the classroom. They ask questions. They ask for handouts of... everything! It's not like the county provides money so that Suzanne can offer this service to these other educators. It's not like she has any less on her plate because she spends 20% of her time hosting. But many years ago, when Chets Creek was first established, we decided that part of our mission would be to connect with a worldwide audience so that we could learn and be prepared for the expectations of living in a global society, but we also committed to give back all that we learned. Of course, at that time, I doubt that we could ever have imagined that we would have so many "opportunities" to share!

In the beginning, all of the hosting fell on the shoulders of our principal, but as the years have passed, most of it now falls on Suzanne's shoulders. Of course, she has a passion for sharing and this work will only be carried on if someone has passion for it and a commitment. It will die of apathy with a leader.  Suzanne fields the calls from across the country, makes the arrangements, works with teachers hosting visitors in their classroom, facilitates all of the debriefs and generally is our "good will ambassador". As a result she is in classrooms watching teachers as she prepares them for visitors and then sitting through lessons that she's often coached with the visitors. She can speak as easily about the predictive results of our internal Math Diagnostic as she can about the kindergarten DIBELS. She knows our program inside and out. She knows where the Writers' Notebooks are in each classroom, how each teacher's ritual and routines work, where the Diagnostic Notebooks are kept, the type of anecdotal notes each teacher keeps, where to find the portfolios and what is in them this time of year. I am continually amazed as she speaks so eloquently across the curriculum and across the grade levels - whether it's telling the Chets Creek story, talking about out history or explaining our focus on technology this year.

We are so fortunate to have a school principal that supports her work, even though it is out of the box - an administration that believes that as educators we have a moral responsibility, an ethical obligation to work together to make a difference. And.. that's just one of the reasons that I love working at Chets Creek!