EMPOWER TEACHERS & STUDENTS WIN! 

Monomoy Regional HS is a 620 student high school located in Harwich, MA on Cape Cod.  Our school district regionalized, bringing two rival schools together under 1 roof, a new building and a new principal in the fall of 2014.  We have spent the first two years working hard on establishing a strong, trusting climate and culture.  Our administrative team strongly believe that great schools are ones where teachers are leaders and provided opportunities to make change.  

Recently I participated in a #Rethinkhighschool chat on twitter (which I highly recommend you join).  Chat moderator Jeff Hiser @JeffhiserBL asked, “How do we bring school leaders together to transform classroom learning?” My response was “by providing leadership opportunities in your school - u don’t have to b an administrator to lead in great schools.”  I was pleasantly surprised when Education Innovation @educatinnovtion tweeted “can you please share some examples of leadership in school so we all can learn from them? Thanks :)”  

So, here is my humble attempt to list just a few ways our teachers have taken on leadership roles at MRHS in just over two years of existence.  We have found that when teachers have opportunities to lead, are empowered to make decisions that impact positive change, know their voices will be heard and their effort rewarded, great things happen!

Culture Committee:

The mission of the Culture Committee of the Monomoy Regional High School is to honor who we are and to create who we will be.  We will work with faculty, staff and student leaders to promote positive school culture, nurture positive traditions, and brainstorm ways to implement ideas to establish and maintain an inclusive and welcoming school.

This committee meets monthly and is chaired by teachers.  It is open enrollment, where teachers and admin can come and go as they wish.  This group has been highly successful in setting a positive tone for our school.  Our enrichment team is just one extremely positive byproduct of this committee.  

Enrichment Team:

A group of teacher leaders oversees our bi-weekly enrichment offerings.  Our students are provided opportunities every other week to attend club meetings, participate in small group presentations and all school assemblies.  This group of teacher leaders organizes these events and has conducted surveys to assess the success of our enrichment block and offered feedback to students and staff.  

Faculty Senate:

This group was formed to enrich our school’s culture through constant communication between teachers, staff, and administration.  Small concerns in a school become big concerns and even toxic if not addressed early and often.  The opposite is also true- trust is built when teachers feel empowered to share their concerns in a safe environment and see that those concerns are addressed.

This group is co-chaired by teacher leaders and open to ALL faculty and staff (no admin).  The group has an open agenda that allows any staff member may to contribute.  The senate chairs then meet with the principal and address all concerns and/or issues identified at the faculty senate meeting.  The faculty senate chairs then share the notes from the meeting, along with a list of actions taken to address concerns (this is where the rubber hits the road).  

Struggling Learners Committee:

Our collective school focus last year was to identify and support our struggling learners during the school day.  A group of teacher leaders and administrators joined together to collect and assess data that would allow us to focus on our most pressing needs to support our struggling students.  This group first attacked the 3rd rail of education- Homework.  In less than a year, this group implemented a new homework policy at our school that was embraced by staff and administration.  The new policy identifies the purpose for homework and promotes consistency between teachers and departments.  

Grading Committee:

When looking at our school data, the struggling learner's committee identified the need to focus on our collective grading practices, how they impact students, and how researched based best practices could be identified and implemented into our current grading system.  This committee was formed and consisted of another new set of teacher leaders.  We continue to see more and more new teachers step up in leadership roles in our school.  This committee has a draft proposal ready for staff to offer input, so the committee can make necessary edits and move towards a final draft and implementation.  

Jawsome Team:

This is a group of teachers that organized organically around the concept of “Power Hour.”  The goal was to find “Time” during the school day to support academic achievement as well as promote student engagement in enrichment activities.  This group spent over 1-year completing action research, involving the entire staff, administration and student body.  The concept is in its final stage of development with the hope of a starting a pilot program “Jawsome Hour” beginning in March.  94% of the staff supported the “Jawsome Hour” pilot in a staff survey.  

Global Studies Committee:

A teacher in our school had researched programs at other schools that challenge students while providing them an opportunity to follow a global pathway while in high school. A Global Studies Program is a way of offering students an opportunity to go beyond the standard high school curriculum to make connections to the larger world.  It is designed to challenge students to expand the scope of their high school education, and prepare them to be active citizens of the world. A volunteer committee was born and, through their tireless efforts, so was the beginning of new Global Studies pathway at MRHS to begin in the fall of 2017.

The culmination of the program will be the awarding of a Global Studies Diploma at graduation in addition to the standard MRHS diploma.  The Global Studies Diploma would be granted based on the successful completion of the program components.

Enthusiasm is free and it is contagious, but so is negativity.  At MRHS we make the conscious choice daily to choose the former.  This is simply a snapshot of the many ways our teachers lead at our school.  In a very short period of time we have overhauled our homework policy, have mechanisms that purposely address culture, climate and communication, a new grading policy draft, are ready to pilot a “Jawsome Power Hour” and start a high flying Global Studies Program in the fall.  These wonderful additions to our school align with our vision, goals and school improvement plan.  They also will succeed, because they are initiated and embraced by staff. Teachers will continue to lead at our school because they can!  Ultimately our students are the winners.