By Vicki Bechard
Secretary LFKS
Tis the Season for receiving holiday
cards and letters from our friends, recapping their year and wishing us Good
Tidings and Much Joy. As the semester
winds down, students and educators alike are anticipating the winter
break. All of this buzz and hype
increases both our energy and anxiety levels, and extends our To Do List to something that seems almost
unmanageable. Then in the moment when we finally catch our breath, we read the cards and letters that arrive in our mail box
(and inbox too) which makes us appreciate those who have taken the time to
remember us once again.
We at Learning Forward Kansas (LFKS) want to take this time to wish each of our members, partners, and supporters a restful and reflective holiday. We hope each of you will take the time to look back on all that you accomplished in 2015 and appreciate the journey: the joys celebrated, the lessons learned, and the knowledge, that to someone, you made a difference.
It has been an exciting, transformational year for LFKS in 2015. We began the year with the retirement celebration
for our inaugural and longtime Executive Director, Sandee Crowther, at the LFKS
Annual Conference in January. We
acknowledge and appreciate the role Sandee played in shining a light on
professional learning so that LFKS can further our work to support Kansas
Educators so that they might benefit from effective professional learning
practices.
The spring was busy with transitional activities as we
selected our new director, Dayna
Richardson. With that selection
came sharing of new ideas, planning, and a few adjustments in the structure of
the organization. In addition, we
piloted a study of Learning Forward’s
Executive Leadership Program so that we could offer it as a fully
implemented learning opportunity in the fall.
June saw us gather at the Henderson House in Stafford, KS
for our annual Advance. We accomplished
much at this planning event, revising and refocusing our vision and mission, restructuring the budget, updating the action
plan, and developing the KESA
Facilitation Guide as a FREE resource of protocols (strategies) for
Kansas educators. As a takeaway from the
Advance, LFKS Board members committed their support to achieve our new vision of “Excellent Teaching and Learning Every Day.”
Our biggest celebration occurred when we received word
that LFKS had been awarded the $10,000 Learning Forward Affiliate Grant. The purpose of this 3 year grant is to create
videos using Kansas Examples to support the planning and implementation of
Effective Professional Learning Designs throughout Kansas schools. Our To
Do List just got larger!
The summer was a busy time as we worked to re-launch our
LFKS website with a complete makeover (check it out here!) and begin to
shape the work that we would do for the next few years. Even the constitution was revised and updated
to reflect the policies and practices we would need to implement the new vision
and mission. In addition, we have worked to increase our
presence on social media and with regular communication to our members via
emails. We hope that you will connect with us on Facebook and
Twitter to see what's happening and gain new ideas.
The fall saw the launch of the A
Learning Community for School Leaders: Executive
Leadership Program. This 30 hour blended learning opportunity
will continue to be offered each semester as we look to support school leaders
with strategies and information to improve their ability to lead complex change. In addition, LFKS partnered with Southwest Plains Regional Service Center
to bring Bruce Wellman to Kansas for a 1 day conference on Feedback for
Growth Not Gotcha. To read more
about the reflections from participants for this event, click here.
As we head into the winter break we are finalizing plans
for the Learning
Forward Kansas Annual Conference.
This year’s theme is Excellent
Teaching and Learning Every Day: A Focus
on Professional Learning. Our
keynote speakers will address the growing issue of students in poverty and how
we can actively engage all students in learning. Please plan to attend this powerful learning
opportunity January 27 & 28th in Wichita.
Learning Forward Kansas has been
blessed by the committed individuals within our organization, our partners, the
Kansas State Department of Education, as well as the thousands of Kansas
Educators who work steadfastly to achieve Excellent
Teaching and Learning Every Day. We have learned a great deal already as we experience this transition process. The ideas continue to take shape and much work is yet to be done. It's a crazy and exciting time for us at LFKS! We continue to believe, however, that together we will achieve this goal through effective professional
learning because Kansans Can!
Have a wonderful holiday! We hope that you will rest, relax, and come back in 2016 with a renewed spirit and commitment to ensuring that in every Kansas school we have Excellent Teaching and Learning Every Day!
