When I arrived in Santa Ana Unified in July 2015 to be the Executive Director of School Renewal, I quickly assumed the role as the innovation guy.  Admittedly, that was by design, and I deliberately took up some habits and practices that I hoped would invite principals and teachers to consider new programs and instructional approaches in their schools and classrooms.  I encouraged school leaders to go visit schools using new approaches, and offered workshops to introduce staff to principles of design thinking and project based learning.  I started blogging and sharing stories about teachers and administrators who are innovating in order to provide more personalized learning environments and experiences for students.  I even started riding my bike to work every day – a la silicon valley startup (in my defense, I really did walk to work nearly every day as a high school principal in San Francisco, and biking was already a weekend hobby).  In other words, I tried to encourage new ideas and new practices by trying things out and reinventing myself.    

But, truth be told, I’m a bit of an institutionalist and a skeptic.  I graduated from Berkeley for goodness sakes, where they teach us to believe nothing until you have the cold hard data.  Question everything.  When I interviewed for the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning position with the district executive cabinet, I tried to come clean.  When it comes to instructional practice, I’m more meat and potatoes than I sometimes let on.  I love a classroom where the teacher knows how to use her skill and authority with confidence and precision.  I like homework.  I like a teacher who pushes kids to work hard.  I like the word rigor.  I like a teacher who doesn’t put up with nonsense.  In other words, I love great teaching – and believe that it is skill, and not just enthusiasm, that gets kids to learn in powerful ways.  I’m a huge advocate for student ownership of learning, but not at the expense of adult mentoring.  In other words, I believe that great teaching is at the heart of powerful learning.  From project-based, competency-based and blended learning, to small group, workshop or direct-instruction, the conditions for learning are created by skilled and caring teachers who themselves model what it means to be a learner and deepen their skills and repertoire.

My time in Santa Ana has taught me how to bring these two parts of my professional identity into one place.  Yes, I’m a National Board Certified Teacher who can get a little snarky when the latest curriculum adoption or instructional craze gets presented as the cure-all for student learning.  But I also brought together an XQ super school team right here in Santa Ana with the rallying cry that we need to rethink the school experience for young people in our country.   We need both.  Tradition and innovation.  We leverage the tried and true instructional practices to push student learning, while simultaneously embracing the opportunity to learn, practice, and master new protocols and strategies that have the potential to engage students in even deeper and more authentic ways.

In my opinion, nothing blends this belief in both proven practices and innovative potential and possibility than our framework for teaching and learning.  I’ll be doing a few posts related to the framework, but simply note here the central role it will continue to play in my approach to the work.   The framework highlights four key areas of emphasis in our approach to instruction: 1) how are we valuing and building on students’ languages and experiences to promote deep understanding?, 2) how are we providing frequent opportunities to collaborate around complex tasks to promote deep thinking?, 3) how are we personalizing learning to meet the needs of diverse learners?, and 4) how are we sustaining academic rigor to prepare students for college and career?  These four areas – language and cultural context, collaboration, personalized learning, and academic rigor, are our collective aspiration.  Within SAUSD, we already possess a tremendous amount of knowledge and expertise around these four key areas, while simultaneously having much still to learn, and even more to share across classrooms and schools to ensure that every student receives an engaging, transformational education.

We don’t need a brand new vision for teaching and learning and Santa Ana.  Yes, we need to deepen and refine our instructional skills, including our ability to encourage rigorous academic discourse amongst our students and to provide personalized feedback on their progress.  Yes, we need to value and celebrate the diverse experiences, assets, languages, and gifts that our students and their families already bring to the table.  Above all, we need to strengthen and share our belief that the students of Santa Ana, every last one of them, has the potential to achieve great things – in college, in their careers, and in their lives.  We have to aspire for the students of Santa Ana, our kids,  the same things we desire and expect of our own children.

It is in that spirit of purpose and solidarity that we do this work together.