At CISB we are two schools housed in one building yet as leaders and as a staff we know very little about what happens on “the other side.” We have often made assumptions about the teaching and learning that happens without any background knowledge or experience. We pass each other in the hallways and on the yard and exchange pleasantries but we do not have a great deal of time to interact or spend time talking with other colleagues from the other school.

As an administration team we meet weekly. We have a chance to talk about big picture decisions and policies that we would like to change or revise. We get to share things that are happening and hear a bit about the teaching and learning in each others schools. We make some joint decisions and have more opportunity to work together. We know of the staff from the other side but we do not really know them.

As an Admin team we decided that one of our goals this year would be to work more collaboratively. We wanted or staffs to come together and get to know one another, share best practices and work to create continuity and consistency from Nursery- Grade 12 in the IB program. We decided to host joint staff meetings followed by a social time once every 2 months.

Friday was our first joint staff meeting.

Between the 2 schools we have a staff of about 120 teachers! That does not include the 70 Teaching assistants and support staff. We wanted to create a fun and engaging meeting for our staff but with 120 people we know that might be difficult. In our planning together we decided that we would create an Amazing Race themed activity.

Christine and Matt the Middle/High Admin team created the introduction and the consolidation and Jenny and I took care of the Amazing Race activities.

We began by having all staff meet in the cafeteria with the Amazing Race music playing. Teachers engaged in a “Speed Meeting” in which they were asked to mix and mingle and to find a person from the opposite side to dialogue about a few topics:

Do you get to do something at work every day that you love? If so, what is it? If not, what can you do about that?

What five characteristics must your work environment or culture have to make you feel engaged, alive, excited, and contributing as an employee?

What would you most like to be remembered for when you are reminiscing about your life in your old age?

After teachers had an opportunity to mix and mingle and get to know one another it was time for the race.

I took a risk and decided to create a Flip Grid to create 10 tasks that teams needed to complete for the “race.” I had never used Flip Grid but wanted to try a new tool that teachers could use in their classrooms. I think it is important that we model risk taking with our staff. Teams were asked to upload to Flip Grid their short videos with evidence that they had completed the task.

We divided the teams with staff from both M/H and Elementary and set them off throughout the school to complete the tasks.

Teams were asked to capture evidence of:

1.Student work from a Mandarin classroom in Elementary and M/H.
2. Classroom inquiry wall/table/provocations in aPreK, Elementary and M/H school classroom.
3. Evidence of the Learner Profile in a M/H classroom.
4.An example of flexible seating and break out spaces in a Elementary and Middle/High classroom.
5. An example of design-thinking in M/H.
6. Evidence of assessment in a Elementary and M/H classroom.
7. Evidence of support for student social and emotional needs.
8. Evidence of student inquiry in a M/H classroom.
9. EAL and Language Acquisition classroom Anchor Charts.
10. Evidence of POI and collaboration in the PYP, MYP

When teams returned to the cafeteria they were to view videos from their assigned tasks and to vote on the ones that they thought were the best.

At the completion of the race we had snacks and social time for staff.

Our goals were simple for this meeting:

Provide an opportunity for staff to get to know one another.
Introduce a new technology tool that could be used in the classroom.
See what best practices are happening in both schools.
And HAVE FUN!

There were hiccups……

The technology did not work as well as we had liked because our wifi was poor in the cafeteria and we had to improvise.

We had to adjust some components to stay within the time limits.

Not everyone saw the value in the task or enjoyed it.

What it did do was:

Helped staff to see that as administrators we are committed to working collaboratively.
Allowed us to model some effective instructional strategies.
Allowed teachers to see what was happening in other classrooms outside of their side of the school.
Developed new connections and relationships.
Learn and have fun together.

All in all we were very pleased with our first attempt and really feel like it is all beginning to come together!

On Monday at our Preschool/Elementary staff meeting we are going to have a short reflection. I will present my reflection and we will have staff present us with their thoughts and insights. It is our hope to use their reflections and ideas to help plan our next meeting for December.

We are excited about coming together to create a greater sense of community within our staff. There is so much we can learn from one another!