The Power of K Kindergarten Teacher Leaders

By Eva C. Phillips

Ready Schools Coordinator

The WS/FCS Power of K Kindergarten Teacher Leaders held our fourth and final full-day Seasonal Professional Development Meeting of this school year on Thursday, April 14 at Center Grove Baptist Church in Clemmons.  The meeting space, snacks, lunch and gift cards were all generously donated by the church. 

After a morning spent with Dr. Sharon Ritchie, Director of FirstSchool from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at UNC-CH exploring, discussing, reflecting and planning based on the teachers' data from the EduSnap Observation Tool, the main event during this meeting was the afternoon the teachers spent together with all their principals. To share about and articulate their learning and changes made as a result over the last year.   The principals were invited to join us first for lunch and then the agenda was as follows: 

• Eva provided an update related to the work over the past year
• Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Administration, Steve Oates shared thoughts about the importance of this work, his support of this initiative and the pride he feels about the changes he is seeing in these kindergarten classrooms. 
• a Gallery Walk of Teachers' Self-Reflection, Documentation and Articulation of their own professional growth and learning as well as the impact on children's growth, development and learning as a result of this initiative 
• Eva provided further updates related to:
• Year 2 (and beyond) of the Power of K
• the district's plan for Kindergarten 
• an opportunity for questions and answers
• an opportunity for  self-reflection and evaluation of the initiative

A bit more detail about the Gallery Walk...each teacher created a display (including slide shows, videos, tri-fold display boards, posters, and an interactive presentation) to document the professional growth they have experienced this year as a part of this initiative AND to document the impact this experience has had on their students experiences in their classrooms.  The photos show just some of the teachers, principals and projects that were on display during the Gallery Walk.  These displays will be shared in a variety of venues throughout the district and potentially at the NC Association for the Education of Young Children's Annual Conference in Raleigh in September. 

As the leader of this initiative, I am so proud of the hard work these teachers have been doing as a part of this initiative and I was thrilled that all of our POK Principals were able  to devote a few hours of their time to learning about what's happening in these teachers' classrooms and celebrating this important first year of work together with their amazing teacher leaders.

What is the Kindergarten Teacher Leader Initiative?

It is a philosophy/framework for working with kindergarten age children...it is not a specific program that someone does with fidelity.

It is about balancing what we know about how young children grow, develop and learn (the how) with standards and other expectations of teachers and children (the what). There is not one POK way...it is individual...it is based not only on children's needs and interests, but also reflects each teacher's unique style...it is about implementing the ideals behind developmentally appropriate practices...it is about keeping children at the forefront of your teaching and making sure that each and every child's needs are met in the most effective and appropriate way.

It is utilizing a variety of effective instructional tools and contexts, including but not limited to play-based experiences and learning centers, to scaffold and support children's learning and development. It is about taking children from where they are to where they can go...all the while knowing the learning standards and other curricular goals and embedding them into meaningful experiences in engaging ways for the particular children in your classroom.

Elevator Speech:  I’m participating in a long-term, comprehensive professional development initiative that is being funded through a grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust to develop a network of kindergarten teacher leaders for the district.

As a result of this work, I will receive professional development related to effectively balancing what is known about how kindergarten children develop and learn best with state and local learning standards, curricula, and assessment expectations.