- Continuous Improvement: Getting Started with Mission Statements
- Falcon Welcome: Celebrating Our New Campus
Falcon Focus: Getting Started with Mission Statements
As our classes get underway, several teachers have asked for assistance with Mission Statements. Mission Statements are critical to effective continuous improvement, so you definitely want to consider this in your first few weeks of instruction.
Here's your Mission Statement refresher, in three easy steps.
Step 1: Why write a mission statement? As a group, we must know and understand our purpose. Only with clear goals in mind can we align our attitudes and actions to achieve group success. Putting our mission into words helps us and our students stay focused on the reason for being in our classes - to learn, of course! Everything in your class should ALWAYS come back to your mission, and involving the students in that process helps them take ownership in their own learning.
Not to mention it is a district and school expectation, so there's that, too.
Step 2: How do I write a mission statement? There are three key questions that your students and you need to consider and discuss: 1) Why are we here? 2) What do we have to do well together? and 3) How will we make it happen? These questions help students narrow, refine, and articulate their thinking on why we are at school in the first place, and how we can achieve the goals we set forth.
Need more guidance? Check out this Google Slides presentation; it will walk you through the Mission Statement writing process. Feel free to make a copy and edit as you see fit.
Example Mission Statements
Step 3: Now that we've written our mission statement, what do we do? A mission statement should be a cornerstone of your classroom culture, a mantra. Revisit it often. Students (and teachers) should use it to help guide their actions rather than hinder their learning and classroom environment. If students know it well enough, they will even use it to keep each other in check.
Click on the links below to view two examples from last year of students interacting with their mission statements.
Mrs. Grosenbach’s ELAR Recites Mission Statement
Falcon Focus: Celebrating Our New Campus
It has been an amazing start to the year! Students are learning their way around the building, and our new space is a new beginning for everyone. Please enjoy a few pics from the first few days, and if you have something to celebrate, share it on Twitter using #NRMSProud. (Just be sure to check the photo permission list before posting students' pictures.) Let's share our story with the community, and let them see the great things happening at our school. |
| PD Shenanigans |
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| NRMS Ribbon Cutting |
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| 1st Day Excitement |
If have any questions or would like some help implementing these or other strategies, please let me know. And remember...
It's a great day to be a Falcon!
