Happy Summer!! A common question that is often asked is, “What is your favorite season?”. To be honest, I don’t really have a favorite season; I have different reasons for enjoying all 4 but, to me, summer feels like a gift of time and possibilities.
As a teacher summer was “my time”. My time to relax, go to the pool, hang with friends and family, catch up on reading, and of course, my time to start preparing for another exciting year of teaching!
When I changed roles and became a principal, my summers changed a bit. I had a little less “my time” but still found opportunities to relax while I prepared my staffing roster, schedules, building and class lists for the fresh start of a new school year ahead.
Fast forward a few years to the present day. As a Director I have even less “my time” during the summer as I am a 12 month employee; yet the longer hours of sunlight still provide time to hang with my family and get outdoors to enjoy the vitamin D. However, summer is my busiest season at the ROE. July 1 kicks off a new fiscal year; so I spend much of June wrapping up and closing out the fiscal year while preparing, sending out contracts, and scheduling my events for the upcoming school year, oh and not to mention things really kick into gear with scheduling, registration opening, and presenter notifications for the Raising Student Achievement Conference of which I am the Chair of. Yep, Summer is busy at the ROE but it is also super exciting!
The 2022-2023 school year will bring some exciting new opportunities for professional learning through the Kane ROE as well as some returning fan favorite PL that were hits from previous years. Here is a sneak peek into a few of the many new and exciting offerings for the 2022-2023 school year through Kane ROE’s professional learning department:
- In addition to the 4 online, asynchronous Administrator Academies we already offer we will be adding at least 3 more to our offerings! The 3 additions focus on Crucial Conversations, Leading a Positive School Culture, and School Leadership with a focus on Generation Z.
- Have you checked out INSPIRE, our professional learning subscription box yet? Over the past two years we have received such amazing feedback on our instructional strategies, resources, and fun surprises inside each box that we have have created a subscription (in addition to our monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semiannual, and 1 month only options) specifically designed for early career educators. This subscription will be at a discounted rate and will be designed to assist our new(er) teachers develop their craft, become leaders in education, and help with the daily trials and tribulations of teaching.
- Since 2016; Kane ROE has offered over 5 different online book studies. These have had amazing feedback and we have had great engagement with them, so we thought we would make participating in a Kane ROE book study even easier! For the 2022-2023 school year you can expect to see our past book studies being offered at any time throughout the year, no more having to complete specific readings week by week, just register and complete the book and activities within 60 days! Don’t worry, for those of you that like a more guided and structured experience, we will still offer a new book study this year following the same structure as we have in the past!
Have no fear, we aren’t throwing the baby out with the bath water! We are still keeping our tried and true services including over 300 online, asynchronous PD courses for graduate credit or PD hours through Illinois Online Academy, monthly administrator academies, various in-person PD opportunities including Adaptive Schools Training and Youth Mental Health First Aid Training (to name a new), principal mentoring, networking opportunities, Branching Out Series, Progress Report Blog, etc. you get the idea! Kane ROE is your one-stop shop for PL, regardless of your role in education, and we just continue to add more ways to better meet your needs! But don’t worry, you don’t need to wait until the 2022-2023 school year starts to start growing your knowledge…
I’ve created a fun little summer challenge for you, below you will find a game of tic-tac-toe – PD Style! Here is your task – complete at least 3 of the activities so that you make a continuous line of three cells vertically, horizontally, or diagonally AND email me, Katie Algrim, at kalgrim@kaneroe.org evidence of your 3 activities to be entered into a drawing to win a special beginning of the year gift from the ROE! You have from June 21, 2022 through July 31, 2022 at midnight to email me your 3 forms of evidence to be entered into the raffle for a special beginning of the year gift for you! Good luck and happy learning! I can’t wait to see what this school year brings us!
Katie Algrim
Director of Innovative Professional Learning
(t):630-444-3044
(c):630-675-4447
(e):kalgrim@kaneroe.org