Martinsville staff recently had the opportunity to hear from Dr. Courtney Orzel. Dr. Orzel is the Associate Director for Professional Development for the Illinois Association of School Administrators. She joined IASA in 2020 after serving as a superintendent for 7 years and has held positions as a superintendent, adjunct professor, middle school principal, assistant principal, and teacher.
Dr. Orzel has been honored with national recognition as a finalist for the Women in Leadership Award and leads the IASA SuperWomen initiative in Illinois. She was named IASA’s South Cook Superintendent of Distinction in 2020 and currently leads hundreds of workshops, keynotes, and administrators' academies.
Dr. Courtney Orzel’s “Re-finding Your Why” professional development seminar was held on a recent SIP Day in Martinsville. Dr. Orzel coached participants to reconnect with their reasons for becoming and remaining educators, to learn to connect more deeply with and support their colleagues and team members, and ultimately to re-confirm their commitment to educating students and improving schools.
Participants examined their own motivations and current social emotional condition, learned those of their colleagues and, through sharing, discussion and role playing, acquired and practiced strategies to coach themselves and team members into healthier social-emotional states. Having “re-found and/or recommitted to their why,” participants are now able to better connect to their students’ learning and well-being, as well as to individual, team, school and district improvement.
This workshop has now reached thousands of educators and consistently receives exemplary evaluations from staff. Martinsville was privileged to hear from Dr. Orzel.