As school leaders return to their buildings, much of their attention is focused on preparing everyone else for the year ahead like planning professional learning, identifying instructional priorities, reviewing goals, and thinking about the experiences they want to create for students. While you’re planning to support everyone around you, don’t forget to make space for your own growth. What do you want to learn this year? What challenge or opportunity would you like to approach differently?
One opportunity to consider is the Innovative Leaders Network (ILN) by MASSP.
Explore What School Could Become
The ILN is designed for secondary school leaders who are interested in innovation and ready to think differently about their schools. Instead of chasing the newest trend or adding another initiative, we create time and space to explore ideas, connect with forward-thinking leaders and consider how school could become more relevant, engaging and future-ready.
Year 1 (Explore & Discover) combines in-person and virtual experiences, including a collaborative book study, expert webinars and site visits that showcase innovation in action. The experience is personalized, and you don’t need to arrive with a project or know exactly what you want to change. You simply need curiosity, an openness to new ideas and a willingness to ask, “What if?”
One Example of ILN’s Impact
Brandywine Middle/High School Principal Evan Winkler joined ILN because he believed schools could be different and wanted to explore new approaches.
“I was just really excited to jump in and try to learn different ways that we could do school and find ways to get started,” Winkler said.
The experience helped Evan reconsider a team-based teaching model he was initially hesitant to pursue which puts around 50 students in a classroom with two teachers. Through the ILN book study, webinars and examples from other Michigan schools, he saw how the model could work in practice. Two teachers in his building are now preparing to try the approach with a combination of seventh and eighth graders in a single science class.
“Seventh and eighth graders are going to be paired together in one classroom. So it’ll be kind of fun where the eighth graders can be the leaders, and kind of have a little more responsibility and the seventh graders kind of learn from them.”
Read more about Evan’s ILN experience.
Built for Busy Administrators
We know school leaders’ schedules can change quickly. All dates are shared in advance, and participants are not expected to attend every experience. Registration is for an individual leader, but several sessions also allow participants to invite members of their school teams. You’ll also learn alongside a statewide cohort of like-minded educators who can share ideas, challenge your thinking and encourage you to keep exploring.
Start Your ILN Journey, Sept. 23
Year 1 begins with an in-person kickoff Sept. 23, at MASSP in Lansing. As you finalize your professional goals, make sure one of them is focused on you. If you’re ready to challenge your thinking and explore what might be possible for your school, we hope you’ll join us.
View the complete Year 1 schedule or register online.
Questions? Contact Ryan Cayce at ryan@massp.com.
Missed the ILN overview webinar? Watch the recording.