SMAS Staff Meet in Retreat for Unity of Mission

On Monday, August 22nd, San Mateo Adult School did something new:

All the employees - ALL OF THEM - met together in a special retreat.

What is a retreat?  It is a special time to stop normal activities and think deeply about something.

Now is a time of big change for Adult Education.  To navigate these changes and provide our students with the best Adult Education possible is not always easy.  It is helpful if we know and understand each other.  It is helpful if we know and understand our students.  It is helpful if we know where we are going and why.  It is helpful if we work in a united way for the same goal

Discussing demographics

So on this day, everyone - EVERYONE - all the administrators, all the teachers, all the staff, all the aides, all the janitors - EVERYONE came together for a special day of thinking and discussion. 

Applauding SMAS

New ACCEL Executive Director Anne Adamson
and ESL Teacher Lisa

With all the new rules and requirements and opportunities for Adult Education, how can we give our students the best Adult Education possible?



Houry, Kelly, Guillermo, Lisa Dolehide

Lisa Sparks, Nita

We had activities to build connection and unity.  Some people were new to our school.  Some people had been at our school for many years.  Some people knew many people.  Some people knew only a few people  We introduced ourselves to each.



Laughing during a game

We played games to get to know each other better - to learn about our programs, what we do, who we are, as individuals and as a school.

Ellen knows the answer!

 

Former ESL Student & Advocate
and New English Learner Specialist
Marina Kravtsova

We broke into groups to think about what we are doing and where we are going.

We talked about our values. 

What are values?

Values are the things that are important to you.

When you are deciding where to go and how to get there, you must know your values.  You must know what you want, what is important to you.

We took a survey to discover the values most important to us.

The most important value to us was trustworthy.

What is trustworthy?  If someone is trustworthy, you can depend on them.  They are honest.  They are responsible.  They are helpful.  You can trust them.  They are worth your trust.

We divided into groups to discuss SMAS values.

Here are some posters the groups made to represent SMAS values:

What are your values as an Adult School student?

Where do you want to go?

Where do you want our school to go?

These are important questions.

Talk about them with your classmates and your teachers.

Together, we make the future.


To see all the photos from the retreat, click here.