Principal Tricia Menzhuber at St. John Paul II Academy in northeast Minneapolis is passionate about learning—and not just for students.
“Tricia is always pushing herself and her staff to keep learning,” says Lindsey Hoy, Tricia’s ANet coach. “She positions herself as a learner alongside her teachers.” To foster a culture of learning, Tricia and Lindsey provide time and space for teachers to collaborate and hone their practice away from the pressure of evaluation.
They started by co-facilitating professional development focused on the instructional priorities they’d set together: text complexity and text-dependent questions. “It’s not just about transferring knowledge,” Lindsey explains. “Teachers and leaders deepen their understanding of these strategies every time they engage with them, and leaders like Tricia keep the conversation open and focused on strengthening instruction.”
To ensure that their work leads to real change in the classroom, Tricia observes instruction and gives her teachers feedback grounded in the priorities. “Throughout it all, Tricia keeps the focus on learning—for everyone,” says Lindsey. “Her drive to keep learning and growing inspires her teachers to grow, too.”
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