Another turning point

I just got home after spending three days in Palm Bay, Florida--a town just east and south of Orlando and on the west coast--working as part of an accreditation site-visit team. Some of you may be wondering whatintheheck that is, and I'll try to succinctly explain. Many Christian schools try to be accredited by some sort of accrediting agency. My school is accredited by Christian Schools of Florida, which is a relative of CSI, for those who know. CSF accredits and re-accredits schools every five years, and if you've been reading my posts, you'll remember that we just went through an accreditation visit about three weeks ago. A team came to our school and evaluated us based on a set of standards established by CSF--evaluating things like instruction materials, facilities, health and safety, advertising, structure and government, and each branch of the school. Well, this Christian school in Palm Bay, part of the CSF family, also went through accreditation this year, and I was able to be part of the team that visited and evaluated them.

As a first-year teacher, this is a rare and valuable opportunity. I'm still sifting through all the things I've learned, both from critically observing in classrooms to personal conversations with teachers to evaluation of how the school met standards that I had no personal experience with. I can say that my big-picture understanding of how schools work is greatly expanded. I've also gotten a taste of administration that has been very pleasant and encouraging. In other words, I'm leaning more towards focusing my future in that general direction. I've also been challenged to look with a new perspective at my own school, especially after seeing a new way of doing things at this other school. I came away very much valuing some elements of my school and eager to change others.

This was also a good opportunity to network with other teachers around the state. I met people from all over--from north of Tampa, from Ft. Lauderdale, from just across the river in Ft. Myers, and from places I'd never heard of, like Orangewood. I also got to know some of the teachers in Palm Bay, and hopefully I can continue developing these relationships over the next few years into valuable connections that can help me develop professionally.

In addition to all of that, I just had a plain ol' good time. The members of the team were so much fun and very encouraging to me. Initially, I was extremely intimidated to be working with these people as a peer in such an important arena as accreditation, but I got over that quickly. Several of the team members were from my own school, and we got to compare, contrast, and dream together about the future of our own program. It was a great bonding time. I encourage all teachers out there to take any opportunities you get to participate in something like this--it's an amazing learning experience.