Karen+Szymusiak+-+Glacier+Ridge+Elementary

Principal Glacier Ridge Elementary School Dublin City Schools Dublin, Ohio email: ksdublinoh@aol.com or szymusiak_karen@dublinschools.net twitter: [] blog: [|www.talkworthy.blogspot.com]

Hello to everyone! I am Karen Szymusiak and I am the principal of Glacier Ridge Elementary. We are so fortunate to host the PLP Dublin/Dallas Cohort at our school. I am anxious to meet everyone and start learning together.

I have been in education for over 30 years. I taught in the elementary grades for 20 years, and I loved being in the classroom every day. Curriculum work always fascinated me because of the generative and collaborative process of creating. So I left the classroom to serve as the Coordinator of Curriculum and Staff Development in the Dublin Schools. I enjoyed working with teachers from throughout the district to generate curriculum guides and gather instructional resources. I also organized the professional development offered by the district. It was an exciting time in education because, without standards and accountability, curriculum work was a process of collective inquiry and thoughtful creation. The work was wonderful but I missed the day to day interactions with teachers and children.

I was fortunate to be named the principal of a small elementary school, and I loved my job. It was exciting to live and work alongside children and teachers again. I discovered a lot about learning and leading those first few years as a principal. What I believe is that relationships are central to everything we do. I value the relationships I had with the children, parents and staff of our school.

Six years later our school district was building a new school. It had been a lifetime dream of mine to open a new school. So I put my name out there and was fortunate to be selected for the position. Glacier Ridge Elementary is celebrating its fifth year. I still love what I do and enjoy working alongside the staff and students of our wonderful school. We make our decisions based on what is best for children. We value diversity, promote leadership and believe in the unlimited potential of the whole child.

My favorite area of study has always been literacy. I have co-authored several books on the teaching of reading (//Beyond Leveled Books// (Stenhouse)//, Still Learning to Read// (Stenhouse) and //Day to Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop// (Scholastic)//.// For some time I worked as a consultant and spoke at conferences about the teaching of reading. But once our new school opened I knew I needed to dedicate my energy into creating a learning community. After our first year, we worked with Choice Literacy to produce a video titled, //The Literacy Principal in Action.// We filmed all of it at our school and it showcases the great literacy experiences that occur at our school. It was a collaborative effort with our wonderful staff at Glacier Ridge Elementary.

I am ready to begin consulting again and have a book idea floating around in my head. I am ready to share some thoughts about leadership and 21st Century learning, teaching and leading. The book idea is far from reality. I struggle with finding time to write. So I am doing a lot of thinking and drafting in my head.

My husband, Dave, and I live in a small rural community beyond the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. We have two adult children, Zac and Amanda. I am most proud of being a grandma. I have a two-year-old grandson, Zeke and a one-month-old grand daughter, Lucy. They remind me to slow down and enjoy the moments we have together.

I am very excited about being a part of the Dublin-Dallas PLP. I know I will learn in many ways and look forward to learning from so many great participants. So together we start another learning journey together. Let's have fun!