May 2, 2014

 The first line in the description of the design principle of Service and Compassion says, "We are crew, not passengers."

It goes on to say, "Students and teachers are strengthened by acts of consequential service to others, and one of an Expeditionary Learning school's primary functions is to prepare students with the attitudes and skills to learn from and be of service."

When I talk with kids and ask them what 'We are Crew' means to them, some can speak to working in service of one another. Most tell me it means we are a team. Is that the same as service?  They view 'Crew' as something that lives within the walls of our school. Does 'Crew' have limits?

If we believe that one of our primary functions as a school, is to prepare students to be of service, do you think our actions, allocations of time, systems and priorities speak to that value?

In the whir of the end of year activity, I can't help but ponder where our next steps as a school should be. I always try to come back to our core values. I think we need to focus some time and energy and see if we can strengthen this design principle of Service.

 How are there opportunities within that focus of service to be creative, innovative, collaborative with students and serve? I wonder if each of us could be open to exploring how we can include service as a ritual we do on a regular basis and where the opportunities for natural integration of that service might be?  I wonder how students might share and speak to the power of service like they can about Adventure Education? I wonder if we expanded our thinking and released some constraints we've had about what service needs to look like, if that would allow us some fresh thinking. Maybe it doesn't have to be service 'learning'? Maybe it doesn't have to be a one time project but sprinkled throughout the year? Maybe  it is naturally integrated in other content learning? Maybe it's one way we teach 21st Century Skills? How can it be generated authentically?

 Dwell on service with me. Is it a value to you personally? Do you think it deserves our time and energy?  Dwell on how we can strengthen this core value as a school. Dwell on service in relationship to the influence you have.

I sincerely believe that when we dwell in possibility, we notice and run across people and ideas that can help influence, inspire and shape our thinking. Oh....the things we can do.

“I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” 
― Albert Schweitzer

Calendar

May 5 - May 9th:

Tuesday:

* RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:

Music Concert: 9:00 a.m.

Third Grade Portfolio Presentations 1:30 - 4:00

Music Concert - Evening PerformanceThird Grade Portfolio Presentations 1:30 - 4:00

Friday:

* Hearing and Vision re-screening 9:30 a.m.

Mother's Day Weekend (just in case you lose track of these things like I do!)

May 12 - 16th:

Tuesday:

* RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:

* All School Meeting

Source of Inspiration:

(Thanks Pam!)

My retired art teacher friend, Teresa Brooks, writes a blog about her creative process. She is a wonderful writer and potter. She often quotes writers and their writing that inspires her. On her most current post, A Daily Act of Improvisation, I found this. 

"I write to make peace with the things I cannot control...
I write to discover. I write to uncover...
I write to meet my ghosts.
I write to begin a dialogue...
I write to honor beauty.
I write to correspond with friends.
I write as a daily act of improvisation.
I write because it creates my composure...
I write myself out of my nightmares 
and into my dreams...
I write to the questions that shatter my sleep.
I write to the answers that keep me complacent.
I write to remember.
I write to forget...

I write because it is the way I take long walks."

From Lisa

What Students Really Need to Hear

http://affectiveliving.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/what-students-really-need-to-hear/

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

* Mother - what a great inspiration for a living example of service, compassion and generosity.

April 25, 2014

Thoughts about feedback

Constructing summative evaluations and having conferences to discuss them has got me thinking. I'm also thinking about preparing kids for the transition of ending the year and starting a new one. 

First I recognized that preparing summative evaluations is just like your work on end of the year student progress reports. I've given thought and time to hopefully writing a summative comment that will be specific to you and meaningful. They take time and I know you do the exact same thing on report cards. I also have learned that the comments are likely not nearly as meaningful to you as the conversations we have. I know that there is so much for you to do at this time of the year and that report cards are daunting. So, I'm wondering - could you take some blocks of time and sit and prepare them with kids?  Instead of writing the comments ahead of time (which is so time consuming) could you have the reports filled out and go over them with each student. Then, together write the comment for the parent? The student would get your feedback and would also help you construct the comments? You could even set it up by saying something to students like -"What's important for us to share with your parents about your progress and what we know about you as a learner?" 

Would this be a natural link to student-led conferences? Could this eliminate the great deal of time on your evenings and weekends writing comments?

Also wondering - while you are having 5-10 minute conferences with kids (maybe set a timer?) might kids be working independently on writing to the next grade level teaching team? Maybe after they meet with you their thinking would be activated to write the teaching team about the progress they can identify that they've made and what they want to continue to work on?  They could share a bit about themselves (interests, passions, expertise) and what they have discovered about themselves as learners? They could even let the next teaching team know the kind of things they are wondering about. It might even make it easier for the teacher (once Crews are assigned) to write a welcome letter after having some input from incoming students?  (Hey! This could be an authentic writing sample for the next grade level team!) Just as it is for us, this is a good time of year for students to be reflective. Perhaps their letters might also inform our decisions about student placement for next year?

 I'm not sure if 5-10 minutes is a realistic chunk of time and I know that it would mean some creative thinking about what you would have to not do in order to create this time. Could this be an opportunity though to let kids do some things we generally don't have the time to explore? Things like building with blocks, or art, or problem solving, or painting,  or other exploratory options? All great stuff for our kids and things we yearn to do? Maybe we could ask them for their ideas?!

Kids have been engaged in so much testing - don't you think they wonder how they are doing? I know we don't have the testing results to share, but we can share what we know about their progress and achievement. Some of you met with kids at the beginning of the year and talked with them about their TCap results. Maybe a good time to revisit and give them some feedback on their progress? I know you don't have those results, but you likely know.

Maybe this is a terrible idea...just something I've been wondering about in relationship to the work I've been doing with all of you. What ideas do you have for managing the end of the year reports with authentic feedback to kids? What role could kids take on?

If we try something new, it might not work at all. But hey, we decided we are good with that!

Makes Me Smile...

(From Jody)
The other day Dax asked me why we say duck when we want people to duck their heads.  I didn't know so I thought that I would ask the kids what they thought.  Attached are the answers they gave us.


Will P. – if you say ‘duck’ and your by a pond they might say I should go get that
duck then if you say duck down they will put their head down


Dax- I think duck is duck down because whoever made it up thought it sounded like
duck down and they thought hey maybe I just made that up


Madison- maybe because when you say duck down it means down and if we say
duck they might think one is in the ocean or something


Andra – I think it is a different kind of duck because if you say duck down they will
do it and if there is a pond and you say duck they will just go get it

Brianna – I think its just spelled a different way


Michelle – If you have a pet duck and your playing dodge ball at your house outside
when they say duck they might think you are going to get the duck

Mitchell – because other animals jump and ducks don’t

Calendar

April 28 - May 2nd:

Tuesday:

* RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:

* Fourth grade leaves for Sand Dunes (return Friday)

(Julie, Kristin & Deborah out on this field work)

* All School Meeting

* PD - planning

May 5 - May 9th:

Tuesday:

* RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:

Third Grade Portfolio Presentations 1:30 - 4:00

Friday:

* Hearing and Vision re-screening 9:30 a.m.

Mother's Day Weekend (just in case you lose track of these things like I do!)

Important Reminder:

Once again, we have some amazing volunteers working very hard behind the scenes to acknowledge our wonderful staff every Tuesday in May. Rather than just one day, they want you to feel the love all month!

 They've been working months to plan. You received an email with a link - they need your input. 

Please be sure to do this by Friday.

Thanks!

Here is the email you recieved:

Hello Renaissance Teachers and Staff,

Kristen DeBeer and I, along with a group of parent volunteers (including your awesome Crew Parents), are eagerly preparing for Teacher Appreciation Tuesdays in the month of May. Our theme this year is “Reaching New Heights”. Please help us create a new Teacher Appreciation Display by clicking on the following link and answering 4 quick, personal questions that will help our REMS community get to know you better. It would be really helpful if you could answer the questions by April 25.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Jd02TfYQWe9gpFIWlb1R1jbjNgzPTl8RyDHxkfBc5-0/viewform

Poetry is a source of inspiration:

(Thanks for sharing Jill!)

Famous

By Naomi Shihab Nye

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,   

which knew it would inherit the earth   

before anybody said so.   

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds   

watching him from the birdhouse.   

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.   

The idea you carry close to your bosom   

is famous to your bosom.   

The boot is famous to the earth,   

more famous than the dress shoe,   

which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it   

and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.   

I want to be famous to shuffling men   

who smile while crossing streets,   

sticky children in grocery lines,   

famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,   

or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,   

but because it never forgot what it could do.   

Have a great three day weekend!!!

Deborah

April 18, 2014

What Inspires You?

* Kindergarten students singing and dancing...

* Teachers and student playing guitars & drum while students sing...

* Teachers running with students...

* Exchanging smiles with colleagues at the adorable things kids do...

* 4th grade boy singing a solo

* 4th grade girl singing a solo

 I looked back over my blog posts for the last couple of years and noticed a trend. It's about this time of year that stress goes way up and lists of 'to do's' grow long. I have had posts about managing busy times every year at this time. Hmmm.

I also noticed that the posts at the end of May are full of celebrations and joy. I'm going to stay focused on that. 

My new mantra..."Here comes the joy!"

Where do you go when you seek inspiration?

What is it you desire most? (Thai commercial)

If you haven't checked out Soul Pancake,

it's where I go sometimes when I need to hit the 'reset' button...

Check out a few below

Take a Seat Make a Friend

(I want to do this one as a service project! I want to build a ball pit in the lobby...)

What holiday is the world missing?

(What would kids say?)

Street Compliments

Say Something Nice

(Could we have this outside?)

What is your biggest mistake?

(How would you answer this?)

The Science of Happiness: A Gratitude Experiment

Calendar

April 21- 25th:

Tuesday:

* RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:

* PD - planning

Friday:

No school - teacher comp day

April 28 - May 2nd:

Tuesday:

* RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:

* Fourth grade leaves for Sand Dunes

* All School Meeting

* PD - planning

Additions to our staff in the coming year!

It is a pleasure to announce that we have hired Debbie Rabideau as our Professional Learning Specialist! It will be so wonderful to have Debbie back at Renaissance! Noreene will be supporting Debbie transitioning into this role.

It is also a pleasure to announce that we have hired Lonnie McKenzie for the 5th grade Discovery teacher next year! 

While most of you probably don't know her, Allison Armour, will be our social worker next year. Allison comes to us from Fox Creek Elementary. Prior to being assigned to Renaissance, Allison had open enrolled her daughter to kindergarten and been accepted in the lottery drawing. Allison will be a wonderful fit for our community. 

I'll keep you posted as positions are filled.

Makes Me Smile...

While we were working on creating fractions on our geoboards, I happen to overhear two boys talking. One boy said, "You really have to tell the teacher. It is the right thing to do." The other boy said, "I don't want to. She won't like it." The first boy said, "No, you really have to. It is the right thing to do." I started to ease my way towards them for several reasons: 1) Curiosity, 2) Worry about what might be going on, and 3) Making myself available so that they could "do the right thing".

In a few minutes one of the boys came up to me and said, "Ms. Jill, while I was building a shape on the geoboard, this rubber band broke."

Suppressing, a smile and a huge sigh of relief, I said, "Oh, that happens sometimes. Thanks for letting me know. We can just throw it away."

The boy walked back to his desk and said to his friend, "Phew, that went way better than I expected."

This time I could not suppress my smile and a giggle so I had to turn my back and walk away.

I thought you might enjoy this from our math class: (from Brittany)

My kids are working with analyzing data that has some initials related to it, and they're labeling points on coordinate graphs. I was asking some of the kids about their graphs and the relationships between the 2 sets of data. One of the points has the initials "DB."

One of my students pointed to that point, labeled "DB" (an outlier) and said, "This one's an outlier. David Bowie's an outlier."

I definitely laughed.

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

April 11, 2014

Philosophy for a happy life...

Sam Berns

Makes Me Smile

Amanda received this is an email from her student:

Hi Ms. Amanda,

what do you type again to get on todays meet.

Here's the article Pam got in the local paper for the Art Show she has once again coordinated for our district.

http://castlerocknewspress.net/stories/Outlets-host-huge-student-art-show,150870

The link below will take you to the Town of Castle Rock News and Announcements page, in which Ms. Michelle's Crew's Little Free Library is highlighted.

Michelle and Diana collaborated together to design this service project.

Take a walk across from our school and check out the Free Little Library!

http://www.crgov.com/CivicAlerts/#751_SingleEntryView

Calendar

April 14 - 18th:

Testing for CMAS this week - 

Tuesday : 

RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:

All School Meeting

Colorado History Musical 9:30 a.m.

Professional Development:

Planning

Bus license renewal 3:00 p.m.

April 21- 25th:

Tuesday:

RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Friday:

NO Students - Professional Development Day

Professional Development Calendar

We have 8 weeks of school left. Whoa, it feels scary to say that! Between now and May you have three afternoons (except 4th grade) to use for end of the year critical planning. 

Think about mapping out those tasks you need a chunk of time to complete such as scoring the District Assessment, end of the year progress reports (yes, you could do those now), and all the essential planning for instruction. Because once we hit May, you will only have the afternoon of May 28th for a chunk of time (except 6th grade). 

It is an expectation that all staff participate on the Portfolio Panels. We need your leadership and expertise on the panels to support novice participants. While these are a tremendous effort all the way around, they are so important.

April:

Wednesday, April 16: Planning

(Bus license renewal 3:00)

Wednesday, April 23: Planning

Friday, April 25:

 School Wide Strategic Planning as a staff for next year.

(The agenda for this day is still being constructed. Likely, the afternoon will be spent putting some bones to the idea of creating a Slice of a Learning Expedition for staff.)

* More information to come and some folks may or may not be involved in all parts.

Wednesday, April 30th: Planning

 (4th grade to Sand Dunes (field work)

May:

Wednesday, May 7th: Third Grade Portfolios

Wednesday, May 14th: Sixth Grade Portfolio Review

Wednesday, May 21st: Sixth Grade Portfolios 

(Kindie Voyage)

Wednesday, May 28th: Planning

 (Sixth Grade 14teener)

June:

Tuesday, June 3rd: Sixth Grade Closing Ceremony 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, June 4th: Last Day of School - All School Drum Circle

Where in the world did Deborah go?

I just want to make you aware that I will be relaxing and languishing in my office and taking mini-road trips between now and the end of the year.

Fortunately, I'll be able to relax in the company of staff with end of the year summative evaluations.

Because nothing is more relaxing then driving a bus of jubilant children, I'm also cued up to drive a bus load of kids on field work to the Sand Dunes and then to the base of a 14teener. And what luck, both of these trips include a luxurious evening spent sleeping on the ground. Because I just didn't feel right about only allowing myself to this treat, I gave out two free tickets to Julie  and Kristen to do the same! 

Just wanted you to know so you don't become frustrated when you can't access me or wonder if Julie really did get lost. Fortunately, Lori will step into Julie's role and Bill will be available to handle any crisis (hope they are mini) while I'm away.

It's important for you to know this so you can plan accordingly. The end of the year is always hectic, but advanced planning sure does help!

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

Who doesn't love Dan Fogelberg ?