Continuous Improvement

Work life sure would be simple if we had no desire for continuous improvement. Imagine showing up for work and going through the motions just making sure everything ran smoothly.

Oh, how we could eliminate stress and all the extra hours spent planning, implementing, analyzing, and revising. Teachers wouldn't have to spend so much time in professional development, learning new programs, creating daily lesson plans, and attending to the needs of their classes as well as the individual students. As an administrator, maybe I could work an 8 hour day instead of 10-12 hours, take a normal lunch break, and not work on the weekends and holidays.

Since life isn't simple, since we live in an extremely competitive environment, and since good isn't good enough, continuous improvement is a necessity if we want to survive. We have to be at our best and offer our best if we hope to improve. We either improve or we die. The choice is ours.

My choice is for continuous improvement, 10-12 hour work days, working on the weekends, and having lunch with my students and teachers.

The latest project in continuous improvement is our new study skills class. We have a number of middle school students who we felt could benefit from having a study skills class. Since we didn't have a study skills class, we had to figure out how to create, design, and implement a study skills class at the almost halfway point of the school year. This has been a middle school team project. The team consists of Billy Gage, Stacey Griffith, Leslie Harden, Tina Ostrowski, and me.

By the way, this team meets everyday for about 15-minutes during lunch. When needed, we also meet after school in Mrs. Hardin's office. All the middle school teachers were either hired last year or this year. We want to make sure we are doing the best we can for our students, and we want St. Ann to have an outstanding middle school for our students.

We selected 13 middle school students to participate in this class and created a supervision schedule for the team members. The class is split between study skills lessons and study hall to allow the students more study and homework time.

We introduced the class by teaching organizational skills. The first step in organization was to clean out their lockers and organize their books and notebooks. We have also focused on character development and creating better study habits. We hope to have the students better prepared for the December exams.

Starting in January, we will be using The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey. I read this book several years ago after reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey Sean's father. I also participated in two 7 Habits week-long trainings when I was the president of Helias Catholic High School in Missouri. I am currently reading the updated version of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which we will use for the study skills class.

This is a new venture for us at St. Ann. If successful, our hope is that we can develop a study skills class for all our middle schoolers. Study skills is also about character development and learning to live a better life. Coupled with our religion classes, this should help in the development of the people we would want all of our children to become.

I look forward to seeing what the study skills class becomes for our students and the outcome created for each student.

As always, would love to receive feedback from my readers. And, don't forget to support St. Ann Catholic School. We do great work and our students and teachers are fantastic. Without the financial support of our alumni, families, and friends, we couldn't do what we do for our students. Thank you.

If you haven't read last week's blog, please CLICK HERE to do so.

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal
St. Ann Catholic School

What I Hope to be Thankful For!

Considering it is Thanksgiving Break, one would assume I would write a customary "What I'm Thankful For" blog. Since it isn't like me to do the expected or usual thing, I decided to make this a "What I Hope to be Thankful For" blog. My reasoning for this change is we work so hard today in order to obtain certain positive outcomes tomorrow. Today we sow; tomorrow we reap, especially for the sake of our children.

We envision a thriving school for all children that will provide a premier education in the Catholic tradition. As our vision statement looks to the future, I'm future-casting my thankfulness.

With that being said, I hope to be thankful for (in no particular order):

• our students to continue to grow and succeed in faith, service, and love.
• the continued improvement of the education we offer.
• student enrollment to continue to climb.
• being able to keep our incredible faculty and staff together.
• teachers who continue to look for opportunities for the students to learn, grow and experience the world outside of the classroom setting.
• teachers who continue to use innovative classroom lessons if they believe it will help students succeed.
• having the resources to provide our teachers with the training necessary to better serve students.
• the increase of alumni giving back to St. Ann in order to help current families with tuition assistance.
• our friends to continue to support through in-kind giving and helping to fulfill our wish list.
• the growth of our annual giving campaign to the point we can actually decrease tuition.
• St. Ann Church and School to be seen as one.
• the growth of St. Ann Church and School together.
• adding two sections of every grade.
• being 1-to-1 in technology in all grades.
• providing our students with more individualized learning opportunities.
• all students to participate in SPARKS.
• all students having more opportunities for project-based learning.
• having the resources to provide our teachers with the training necessary to better serve students with dyslexia.
• having the resources to provide our teachers with the training necessary to better serve students on the autism spectrum.
• an increase in Title I funding for professional development.
• having two plays each year that involve more students and are funded through sponsorships.
• all students participating in extra-curricular activities.
• an increase in tutoring opportunities for our students.
• the new HVAC system for the classrooms still on the boiler system.
• for continued parental involvement especially in being the students' first teacher.
• some of our families to be able to use Education Savings Accounts (ESA) to attend St. Ann.
• expanding service opportunities to include parents, alumni, and parishioners.
• expanding service opportunities with Ave Marie, Catholic Charities, and Room in the Inn.
• a week-long vacation to the Cayman Islands for the school principal.

Of course, there's a lot more I hope to be thankful for.

The faculty, staff, parents, volunteers, and supporters work hard every day to make St. Ann a great school for our children. We are life-long learners and want our children to be life-long learners. The work we put in now will have an impact on the future; their future. So, let's work hard together to make these and many more "hope to be thankful for" a reality.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School