Admin Corner: April Insights from the Office
Photo from Hamilton School District.
Kennedy Ellis
For this month's article for Admin Corner, we spoke with Mr. Doyle, Associate Principal at Hamilton High School. This is Doyle's first year at Hamilton, but he has had numerous years of teaching experience. Before Hamilton, Doyle taught in Rockford, Illinois for three years in elementary education. After meeting his wife they decided to move up to Wisocnsin where he worked as a middle school math teacher at Wisconsin Hills in Brookfield. Looking for something new, he decided Hamilton's position as an associate principal would be best for him, stating that he is “very excited to be a part of the Hamilton community.”
When taking a closer look at the roles of the associate principals, it is clear they each take on certain projects and make sure they are the best they can be. Last month’s Admin Corner featured Ms. Goike’s work, and for Doyle, his big focus is AVID. Mr. Doyle gave a short description on what AVID is explaining, “AVID gives the opportunity to give kids an outlet to work on soft skills such as organization and giving them the foundation into whatever career path they follow.” Throughout the school, AVID concepts are regularly practiced and taught to the Hamilton faculty.
This year, Hamilton piloted an elective AVID class for freshmen to provide greater academic support and next year, this program will be expanded to be in grades 9-12. AVID is a scheduled class period guided by a teacher who works on organizational strategies and other good study strategies. Within this class, they collaborate in peer groups to help them with struggling areas. While it helps students academically, it also helps them become active members in their community and to think creatively. This year, the AVID group members helped create the idea for career day.
On top of this, Doyle works with Flex to help students be able to work together with their core teachers during advisement time. Within this new advisement program, he has taken a large role in classes and schedules. He is working alongside teachers to be able to create new classes in the Flex system as well as manage days like Career Day and other special advisements. Doyle continues to work with teachers not only to create new classes to better students' education, but also adding different expectations so that there is clear communication and accountability on admin’s end. During all of this, Doyle continues to work with the tech team and listen to students’ feedback in order to help further the progress of Flex. Doyle sees a clear difference in first semester versus second semester, stating, “A lot of students and staff want to be able to collaborate and it brings them closer to this opportunity.”
Another special Flex project Doyle recently put together was teacher interest day during advisement as a way for students to be able to connect to their teachers on a deeper level than just academics. This special advisement took place on March 28, the last day of school before spring break as a way to kick off break. On this day, staff had the opportunity to be able to share a hobby or interest they have and students could sign up for any teacher. Options ranged from March Madness brackets to television trivia to a variety of games and crafts. Doyle believes that implementing different things like this are very important, stating, “With high school, it is harder to implement something school wide that is fun due to the fact that it is harder for students to be able to connect due to the rigorous activity.”
Overall, Doyle is continuing to bring a fun and positive impact into Hamilton where so many aspects are education based. Being able to have a fun side to school will continue to make it more enjoyable and welcoming, inevitably making Hamilton become a stronger community. The work Doyle has done and continues to do will leave a lasting impact on Hamilton.
