Thursday, December 13, 2007

Agenda for PPSEL Board 12.17.07

Note meeting is Cafe Silos, not Peterson Barn

6:30-8:00 PM
Cafe Silos on Styner
1. Welcome and updates
2. Approval of Minutes from Nov 25 and Dec 3
3. Approval of Revised Board Job Descriptions – Janet
4. Dates for meeting Jan-May.
5. Advisory Board – general concept orientation
6. Vision Grant. FYI, solicit feedback by email; discuss budget ideas (approve budget and submit Grant at January meeting)
7. Budget for PPSEL year 2009-2012 FYI. (approve budget and submit Charter at January meeting)
8. Mission statement revisions – develop plan to complete this work
9. Wrap-up/ review

Ashley will be sending various documents for review

Monday, December 3, 2007

Vision is an image of the future

As part of the process of educating the new Palouse Prairie Board, we have been working on key documents and organizational structures. One of the pieces we found was missing was a Vision Statement. Our November 26 meeting was devoted to talking about our vision for the school and finding words to describe it (appended below). Between then and tonight we drafted various ideas, and Ashley found the following guiding ideas.

Vision Statement
(adopted Dec 3, 2007)

Palouse Prairie School of Expeditionary Learning offers an inclusive, respectful and supportive learning environment that nurtures the individual as a thoughtful participant in our local and global community.

The essential role of vision
Vision is an image of the future.

Having a vision for education is central to school leadership, because vision is a source of motivation and energy. It powerfully shapes practice within a school community. Thus vision needs to be understood, articulated and owned by the whole school community. It provides both a source of inspiration and a frame of reference for developing professional values.

http://www.becal.org.uk/lc/vision/vision.html Becal I think refers to “British Education Council on Assessment and Learning”

"Vision Statements exist to help to achieve clarification and ownership of the school's overall purpose".

Key Ideas
A vision statement is usually the first part of a three-part statement of purpose. The next part is the mission, which is a concrete and localized statement of intent, and the third part is the values that are implicit in the vision and the mission of the school.

Vision: the ideal destination. It is where the school wants to be. It should be challenging, innovative and forward-looking.

Mission: the route to the destination. A particular expression of the vision that is specific to *this* school given its history, context and circumstances. It is a more practical focus on what the school does and will do than the vision statement.

Values: underpin the vision and the mission. No school is value free and it is important to be explicit about those values that are essential to the school achieving its vision. If values are not made explicit, then the values of the most dominant individuals are likely to be those which actually operate in practice.

Total Quality Toolkit by J. Marsh taken from the BeCal website above.

Words we chose to describe our ideas about PPSEL
(Vision meeting Nov 26, 207)

  • Active and reflective learning
  • Community (for everyone)
  • High yet achievable goals, challenging, rigorous, successful
  • constructive assessment
  • Collaborative, collaboration, interactive way
  • Supportive
  • explorative learning, curious, active participant,
  • safe (physical, cognitive, psychological) learning environment, respectful, respectful participant in our local and global communities
  • responsible, personal responsibility
  • Inclusive
  • ownership
  • supported in their efforts to learn
  • Innovative
  • lifelong learner, passion for learning, self-sustaining adult, life skills
  • Excited, joyful
  • Environmental, relationship with the environment (outdoor), environmental responsibility
  • fun, friendly, warm
  • efficient, ordered, professional
  • nurturing
  • civic engagement