I have very good ideas—I could just follow through on them more often.

I am reasonably proficient and am occasionally lead in the use of particular technologies (forums, student designed websites, podcasts, vodcasts (my own and those of my students).  Of course, with technology there is always more to learn.

It is a little hard to be at everything when you are married to the principal.  At the same time, you are occasionally an accidental presence.  I enjoy community events and try to be involved (swimming, aquathon, concerts, plays…)

Policy is a nice safety rail.  I know policy very well, understand the philosophy behind it, and always try to follow it.  I can’t think of a time when I would have gone against IB or ASB policy in either letter or spirit.

I will say exceeds here for fun—I want to be a model for following IB policy.

This is what I do.  It is the reason I went for the PhD, the reason I continued to publish articles, the reason I work for IB and decided to work on a textbook, write a training course for teachers, and will continue to work on articles and books next year.  I want to learn and lead in my field.

I get along with my colleagues and I actually take pride in the fact that I can be a middle man in the department.  I take my role as an English leader seriously, meaning that I have some experiences that can be valuable and I think I need to share them while valuing the views of others at the same time.

Though this is hard to demonstrate, I think the students see this in me.  I try to act the way I would expect an “A” student scoring highly on the ATL’s would act.

Though students sometimes remark that I am uncaring, and though this probably means I should do some work here, I try to let my open honesty serve as a form of sensitivity.  I am careful with grades and comments, careful when running a class discussion.  My sarcasm and humor/teasing is probably inappropriate at times but I hope it is usually taken for what it is.

In relation to the teasing above, the environment could be a bit safer but I am sure that my classroom is a place where students can take intellectual risks.  We read risky books, think risky things about literature, and we understand that the classroom is the place to experiment.

Though this may sound contradictory, I try to personalize learning in a general way.  What I mean is that I am constantly looking for ways to give the students an “in” to the books we are reading or to more difficult conceptual issues.  I think my understanding of the field helps here as does an ability to tell stories.  I think I also have some useful conversations with students outside of class time.  At the same time, though I have a variety of assessments, there are certain times where lessons and assessments can certainly seem anything but personalized.