Letter from Mike Sloop, Forsyth County

Mr. Schlechty –

I have been meaning to email you for a few weeks, but time has gotten away from me more quickly than I anticipated.  I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know how much I enjoyed the conference in Scottsdale and how much I appreciated being included in it. I learned a great deal from Creating Great Schools and from the sessions at the conference.  One of the main “take-aways” from the conference for me was the reiteration of my core business…to create and develop work that engages and challenges my students. I get caught up in being a “performer” in my class, so your comments on page 84 really hit home and challenged me in a positive way. It really made me evaluate some of the things I do in my class and how I can be a better teacher and improve the education I provide my students. Thanks for helping me to refocus on what is vitally important.

I also enjoyed the opportunities you gave us to really work together as a district and critically think about where we were in the whole process of becoming a true learning organization. What a great opportunity for our group to think about how decisions are made and where we need to concentrate our efforts to move away from a bureaucracy and towards a learning organization. The conference created a great deal of synergy within our team that we have brought back to Forsyth County. Our next goal is to bring more people on board as part of the District Design Team and really do the work that is so needed…think critically about where we are and where we need to be.

Thanks again for your work to improve our schools through consistent implementation of the right vision…doing things that engage our students in worthwhile activities and meaningful learning experiences. I definitely benefited from the time spent in Scottsdale and look forward to continuing to grow as an educator.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and working with your colleagues.

Sincerely,

Mike Sloop