The #DexterParkPride
Every Child. Every Day.
The Dexter Park Innovation School
Vision
At the Dexter Park Innovation School we celebrate each other’s differences and strive to meet the needs of all students through collaboration among staff, family, and community. By providing an inclusive, welcoming environment and sustainable instruction carried out with fidelity, we will nurture the whole child and meet individual needs. We believe all students can find success.
Mission Statement
The Dexter Park Innovation School will strive to provide an inclusive environment with instructional practices designed to meet individual needs. All students will be provided with differentiated educational opportunities to increase achievement. Our mission is for all students to gain skills, both academic and social, in order to be successful in the future.
Core Beliefs
We believe that all students who attend The Dexter Park Innovation School:
Can learn
Have a right to feel:
Safe
Welcome
Respected
Successful
Adult Community Guidelines
We will strive to recognize and respect the perspectives and ideas of all staff, while assuming we all have positive intent for our students.
We will work together to create an adult learning community in which all members feel valued and respected.
We will communicate our ideas, concerns, or needs for support openly, honestly, and respectfully.
We will help each other identify root causes of problems and consequences without judgement to problem solve as a team.
We will work together to create and protect time in our schedules to share, discuss, and collaborate with fellow educators.
My Latest Reflections
10 Creative Alternatives to Showing A Movie Next Week:
Celebrate the Season!
Shirt Campaigns to Support a Cause:
Choosing Kindness and Gratitude
Our North Star
Positive Behavior Support Update
Our Dexter Park Promises
Positive Phone Calls Home
Current phone call count= 21
We Want to Hear from You
Staff Book Study
Get Staff Updates to Your Phone!
Upcoming Events
December 18th: All School Assemblies (*Note the Date Change)
December 22nd: Early Release
December 25th-January 1st: Holiday Break
January 2nd: Welcome back!
Quotes to Ponder (I have the full article if you'd like it)
“Be cognizant that the only way in which one can close achievement gaps is for students who are behind to grow faster than students who are ahead. If all students continue to grow at equivalent rates in the future, achievement gaps will persist in perpetuity.” John Gatta
“How can a highly supervised child be transformed into an independent learner?”
Rebecca Mead in “Two Schools of Thought: Success Academy’s Quest to Combine
Rigid Discipline with a Progressive Curriculum” in The New Yorker, December 11, 2017, http://bit.ly/2iJMkg0
“Most of what we learn in life we learn from the company we keep. What is taught didactically is often forgotten.” Deborah Meier
“Implicit biases persist and are powerful determinants of behavior precisely because people lack personal awareness of them.” David Gooblar
“[S]chool leaders and other professional development facilitators must make clear to novice teachers that their competence is not being questioned when we ask them to engage in critical reflection.” Sherry Deckman in “Managing Race and Race-ing Management: Teachers’ Stories of Race and Classroom Conflict” in Teachers College Record, November 2017 (Vol.119, #11, p. 1-40), http://bit.ly/2kmoXWH; Deckman can be reached at sherry.deckman@lehman.cuny.edu.
Need Some Information?
About Us
Email: christopherdodge@orange-elem.org
Website: http://dexterparkprincipal.blogspot.com/
Location: 3 Dexter Street, Orange, MA, United States
Phone: 978-544-6080
Facebook: facebook.com/dexterparkinnovationschool
Twitter: @PrincipalDodge1