This is a glance at a typical day for a district administrator during the summer. As you will see, “summer” has a very different definition for those of us who work at the district office! I’m waiting to see one of these written by my friend and colleague Barb! 

7:30 AM – Arrive to work. I go straight to the district conference rooms, where we hold our Professional Learning workshops. All three of my team Coordinators are already in various rooms, setting up for today’s workshops- on the new California ELA/ ELD Framework and on 6th grade Mathematics.

8:00 – 8:30 – I pop over to my actual office to greet my office staff. They know we are all in professional learning all day (as they have helped set up and prepared along with the rest of the team!). From there, I walk in between our conference rooms and our Auditorium to support the coordinators as they get ready to start the workshops. I greet the 65+ teachers who have taken time out of their summer to attend one of these workshops.

8:30-9:00 – Our workshops begin. I start in the ELA/ ELD room, supporting some technology needs that pop up. Our workshop materials are all available online so we help teachers access our materials through websites, Edmodo, and Google Drive.

9:00-9:30 – I move over to the Math workshop. I am pleased to see three of our principals in this workshop, supporting their teams.

9:30-11:30- I go back and forth (across a parking lot) to continue to visit both workshops, supporting wherever I can, observing and listening to the rich discussions of teachers learning lots of new things! I also check and respond to emails as needed during this time.

11:30-12:30 – During the lunch break, as the teachers go off to enjoy a relaxing lunch with their friends and colleagues, my three Coordinators and I eat our lunches in the conference room. We debrief how the morning went and make adjustments to the afternoon based on teacher feedback and our expected outcomes.

12:30-3:00 – Throughout the afternoon I continue to work my way back and forth between our two workshops (getting lots of steps tracked on my Fitbit for the day!).

3:00-3:30 – As teachers complete their end-of-day reflection, I read their thoughts and talk to many as they leave for the day. People are very positive about all of their learning and grateful for the support from each of our Coordinators.

3:30-4:45- The Coordinators and I meet to debrief the day and review the feedback from the workshops. Overall, we received lots of positive comments and some great questions for future workshops and next steps. Our team has hit our stride- we are a great group who work so well together, collaborating on so many aspects of our work. We could literally sit and chat about the work for HOURS, but it’s been a long day. We wrap up our conversation and I shoo them out the door to get home for some family and relaxation time!

As I make my commute home, I reflect on the power and the joy of working with an amazing team. The team I am privileged to surround myself with each day at work makes the days go by faster, and keeps the work engaging and exciting. It is so wonderful to know that we can have engaging, intellectual, difficult, and fun conversations about just about anything! We laugh together, we stress out together, we enjoy too many cupcakes together, we read professional books and articles and blogs together, we recommend pleasure books to each other, and we live and breathe the importance of our work together. I am so grateful to have an amazing team of diverse leaders who are all committed to the success of ALL students and teachers. They are each phenomenal facilitators of professional learning and are true models of lifelong learning.

We even have tea together!

Thank you to my amazing team!

What does a “summer” work day look like for you?