CUEL’s Networked Learning Community for Chicago Principals and Assistant Principals
CUEL’s inaugural NIC for School Leaders met four times during the 2020-2021 school year. Here are the resources that were shared during these meetings. Stay tuned for information regarding CUEL’s 2021-2022 NIC for School Leaders.
1) Resources on Equity-oriented, Student-centered Teaching During Remote Learning
2) Resources on Grading During Remote Learning
In the context of a global health and economic crisis and growing attention to and concerns with systemic issues of racism, schools in Chicago remotely returned to school today. Although it is a day of great anticipation and excitement for all of us in education here in the city of Chicago, we also know that this school year will be a particularly challenging one. We know that there will be many unique challenges that leaders and their schools will have to surface, navigate, and overcome if schools are to effectively support students and disrupt any equity‐oriented challenges that might emerge. We believe this will necessitate more rapid forms of individual and organizational learning so that schools are able to “innovate” their way through this school year. Such learning and innovation is supported through a networked learning approach that brings together principals and assistant principals and other educational experts. With this in mind and here in Chicago, UIC’s Center for Urban Education Leadership is hosting a remote networking learning community for interested Chicago principals and assistant principals during the 2020‐2021 school year. If you are interested, please RSVP to Martha Hebert at mhebert@uic.edu
Meetings: Our networked learning community will meet each month for roughly 90 minutes to 2 hours throughout the 2020‐2021 school year. We will announce this meeting schedule within the next two weeks. Co‐Facilitators: Shelby Cosner, Director of UIC Center for Urban Education Leadership and UIC Professor Paul Riskus, Principal of Walt Disney Magnet School Patricia (Patti) Brekke, Principal of Back of the Yards College Prep High School Allison Tingwall, Principal of Curie High School Laquita Louie, Principal of Curtis School of Excellence Additional co‐facilitators may be added. Various members of UICs program faculty and leadership coaches are likely to participate in this network based on areas that emerge for network attention. Meeting Focus: In the weeks prior to our remote meetings we will solicit feedback from individual members regarding topics for focal attention and we will communicate these focal areas prior to each session. We anticipate a wide assortment of topics such as school communication throughout remote learning, engaging parents as learning resources, analyzing neighborhoods for remote learning resources, enhancing remote learning contexts and experiences, leading through times of trauma, anti‐racist teaching and leading, supporting remote learning for mobile students, strengthening teacher leadership, engaging school leadership teams for remote leadership, engaging teacher leaders for remote leadership, engaging teacher teams as spaces for teacher learning and innovation. General Format: We envision each session beginning with a topic that will be explored by the full group. After this larger group exploration/discussion, we envision a number of small group breakouts for considering a set of predetermined challenge areas. The purpose of small groups will be to unearth a particular challenge area and to consider approaches that might be used to address this challenge area.