For about a month, I have been meeting weekly with my school's vision team ---a group of teachers who are working with me on strategic planning for our school. We have only had a few meetings, but already the passion and ideas shared have energized me in a time of year that is typically draining. The first thing we chose to do as a team was to identify our core values, those principles that would govern any decision or plan we make.
At the foundation is our school's mission --- "To demonstrate the love of Christ". After that, we identified four key questions we would continually ask ourselves:
- Is this in the best interest of my students?
- Does this make us distinctive?
- Is this progressive, current, and relevant?
- Is this sustainable?
Establishing these core values is such a vital step in implementing change. They provide clarity, unity, direction and establish culture. Each classroom in our school may look different, but all will embody these themes.