June 13, 2014

Hard to believe we've been out of school for a week! It takes some time to adjust! I apologize in advance for all the text to follow. It just wasn't possible to get all the information out to you before school closed.
So, grab a cool beverage and a comfortable spot and read on...

Welcoming new staff!

Professional Learning Specialist (PLS)

Welcome Back Debbie Rabideau!

It is exciting to be returning to the Renaissance Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound School once again! I started teaching sixth grade at the school  when it was a collection of trailers at Meridan Park, then off to Parker to teach sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, and then to Castle Rock to teach sixth grade again. Now I find myself as the Professional Learning Specialist.

It has been an incredible journey as an educator and in addition to the rewards of classroom teaching, I have also experienced the joy of being a teacher leader. During my time away, I was able to develop my instructional coaching skills and I look forward to sharing my passion for teaching by working alongside the wonderful teachers at the school.

Some of my fondest memories while teaching at Renaissance include the voyages. Observing students take on leadership roles in the outdoors has always been a highlight. The adventure education program allows all to see the strengths of students beyond the walls of the classroom. It is here where many shine and I am so pleased that the commitment to these principles remain as strong as ever.

I was part of the initial team that incorporated drumming into our weekly rituals. Watching middle school students beat on a drum at first was a bit intimidating, but with practice, we worked in sync and created the sounds of a healthy community.  I have worked hard to continue the development of the program and I am ready to get my drum out once again.

I know of no other school that embodies the heart and soul of who I am as an educator; it is with huge smile that I say “hello” once again.

Fifth Grade Teacher

Welcome Suzi Moncy!

My name is Suzi Moncy and I will be the new fifth grade teacher at Renaissance.  A little bit about me, I graduated from Metropolitan State University in Denver with a degree in education.  In my spare time I enjoy reading and being outside.  Right now I am very interested in young adult novels that have a dystopian theme.  I just recently finished “Divergent”, by James Dashner and found it very interesting.  I am a very big Harry Potter fan.  I also enjoy being with my friends or family outside.  This can mean four-wheeling in the mountains, being at a Bronco game, or at an outdoor music event listening to some great music.  

Another passion of mine is spending time with my family. I have a sister who had a baby a little over a year ago and enjoy spending time with both of them. I am also very close with my parents and spend a lot of time with them when the opportunity arrises.  Last, but not least, I have a black and white cat named Gus and two tortoises named Fred and George.   

I very much enjoy teaching and I look forward to getting to know your fifth grader over the next year.  I am so excited to meet you in the fall.  Have a great summer.

Discovery Fifth Grade Teacher

Welcome Lonnie McKenzie!

I am thrilled to have the opportunity and privilege to teach your children this year. I have learned so much in the past four years being a part of the Renaissance community as a parent, classroom volunteer, substitute teacher, and Discovery Math teacher. As much as I love teaching math, I am really looking forward to teaching literacy, social studies, science, and adventure education this year as well.

I grew up in McHenry, Illinois, just outside the far northwest suburbs of Chicago. My sophomore year in high school I was invited to become part of the charter class at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, Illinois. IMSA was a life-changing experience for me in many ways. It was the first time I had ever had to work hard at learning, and also the first time I had ever been challenged to understand math at a deep, conceptual level. Since success in math class had always come so easily for me before that, I decided I hated math and gave my math teacher a very hard time. Despite that, she believed in me (even when I didn’t), was endlessly patient with me, and was committed to helping me experience success in math, and in life. She predicted that I would be a math teacher someday... I did not believe her at the time, but it was her touch on my life that continues to guide and inspire me today as I work with gifted students. While attending IMSA, I met Ron and we became sweethearts. We decided to get married several years after graduation, and Ron joined the Navy shortly after that. While he was on active duty, I fell in love with the ocean as we thoroughly enjoyed living near the beautiful white sand beaches in Pensacola, Florida, and my favorite place, a mere 200 yards from the pounding ocean surf on Schoodic Point, Acadia National Park, in Winter Harbor, Maine. We moved to Parker, Colorado in 2000 and I now love experiencing the beautiful Rocky Mountain wilderness that Colorado has to offer. I graduated from Colorado Christian University in 2003 with a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education. I student taught in both a 5th grade classroom and in the gifted & talented program in Littleton School District, teaching math and literacy to students with exceptional academic needs in grades 2-5. After that I taught middle school math and science (grades 6-8) at Trinity Lutheran School in Franktown. In addition to substitute teaching in Littleton and Douglas County, I have also worked as a teacher at Huntington Learning Center in Parker since 2009. I tutor students from grades K-12, but primarily work with high school students preparing for the ACT or SAT in reading, math, science reasoning, and English grammar/writing. Being a lifelong learner, I love being a student as much as I love teaching. I am currently finishing my Master’s Degree in Special Education with an endorsement as a Gifted & Talented specialist at the University of Northern Colorado. Understanding and nurturing the special social and emotional needs of gifted children is extremely important to me as both a parent and teacher of gifted students, so I became a certified SENG facilitator (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) a couple of years ago under the excellent instruction of Terry Bradley, the President-elect of the Colorado Association of Gifted and Talented (CAGT). When I am not teaching, grading, or doing my own homework, I enjoy visiting Denver’s museums and exploring Colorado’s outdoor playground with my family. We like to go hiking, canoeing, camping, white water rafting, and having recently started letterboxing. Ron and I have five children: a son, Tristan who is currently studying chemical engineering at the University of Wyoming; an amazingly creative daughter, Devon, who has recently finished high school and is deciding what her next steps in life are going to be; Savannah, who is looking forward to being in Ms. Michelle’s class, Alicia, who is excited to be starting middle school, and Destiny who can not wait to be a 5th grader at Renaissance this year. I also love to read, crochet, dance, play with my two dogs and two cats, and bake, especially bread, pastries and desserts.

Social Worker

Welcome Alllison Armour

I am originally from the east coast, but have lived in Colorado since 1999 and have always 

loved living here. I earned my bachelors degree in Communication Sciences/ Psychology in 

Rhode Island. I also have a minor in Visual Arts. I obtained my masters in Speech-Language 

Pathology in 1997 at a college relatively close to my parents in NC. My mother is also a Speech 

Therapist who served in the public schools for much of her career. 

I have worked in private practice, home health, clinic- based, and elementary schools and have 

found that serving at the elementary level is a personal favorite. I worked at 2 elementary 

schools in NC and have recently spent the last 2 years working in a K-6 elementary school in 

Highlands Ranch. I look forward to joining a crew of talented and dedicated educators at 

Renaissance ELOB School. I have 3 children of my own and share some of the school’s 

philosophies in their upbringing: Strong character, physical activity, exploring and learning 

through the great outdoors, living creatively, and the importance of collaboration, compassion, 

and community. 

Communication, whether it is written or spoken is a skill you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle 

or typing. If you’re willing to work at it you can improve the quality of every area of your life. 

My goal is to make speech therapy relevant, useful, and enjoyable for the students. Having 

played soccer much of my life, I learned to be a team player and apply the team philosophy to 

everyday life. I believe it is critical to link student’s speech goals to what they are doing in the 

classroom, literacy, other school environments, and to their lives. I am passionate about the 

fact that being a good listener is just as important as being a good broadcaster. As Stephen 

Covey expresses in one of his Seven Habits: “seek first to understand then to be understood.”

School Psychologist

Welcome Jessi Wheatley!

My name is Jessi Wheatley and I will be your new school psychologist. Although I have been a practicing school psychologist for the past 10 years, Douglas County and I have yet to work together. I have worked in both Colorado Springs and the Denver Metro area, as I am a Denver native it is hard for me to be far from family. I have two children of my own, a soon to be 2nd and soon to be 1st grader, and a newborn nephew. When I am not with my children or yours, I enjoy painting, walking (I will be participating in the Susan G Komen 3 day 60 mile walk in San Diego this November), and I just started my first fruit and vegetable garden this year. I am so excited and look forward to meeting and working with you all.

Speech Language Pathologist

Welcome Jill Vick!

I am originally from the east coast, but have lived in Colorado since 1999 and have always

loved living here. I earned my bachelors degree in Communication Sciences/ Psychology in

Rhode Island. I also have a minor in Visual Arts. I obtained my masters in Speech-Language

Pathology in 1997 at a college relatively close to my parents in NC. My mother is also a Speech

Therapist who served in the public schools for much of her career.

I have worked in private practice, home health, clinic- based, and elementary schools and have

found that serving at the elementary level is a personal favorite. I worked at 2 elementary

schools in NC and have recently spent the last 2 years working in a K-6 elementary school in

Highlands Ranch. I look forward to joining a crew of talented and dedicated educators at

Renaissance ELOB School. I have 3 children of my own and share some of the school’s

philosophies in their upbringing: Strong character, physical activity, exploring and learning

through the great outdoors, living creatively, and the importance of collaboration, compassion,

and community.

Communication, whether it is written or spoken is a skill you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle

or typing. If you’re willing to work at it you can improve the quality of every area of your life.

My goal is to make speech therapy relevant, useful, and enjoyable for the students. Having

played soccer much of my life, I learned to be a team player and apply the team philosophy to

everyday life. I believe it is critical to link student’s speech goals to what they are doing in the

classroom, literacy, other school environments, and to their lives. I am passionate about the

fact that being a good listener is just as important as being a good broadcaster. As Stephen

Covey expresses in one of his Seven Habits: “seek first to understand then to be understood.”

Music/Drama Teacher

Welcome Chelsea Johnson!

 It is so exciting to see Chelsea embrace the teaching role through the alternative teaching licensure program. Chelsea has a wealth of experience she will bring to this role and her experience having worked as and Educational Assistant in the building. Many of you have already had the chance to do some initial collaboration with Chelsea as she lays the foundation for her unique program. 

Special Education Teacher

Welcome Elisha Giger in a new role!

Elisha has accepted my request to shift her role and embrace the responsibilities of the Learning Specialist. That leaves a hole for the role she had. Collaboration between Elisha, Josie and MaryBeth will meet the needs of those first graders needing Reading Recovery. In addition, Billie Locke will be shifting to a more permanent support and learning role in the field of Special Education working under Elisha and Josie to deepen her understandings and expertise with struggling students. One day soon, we might see Billie in the teaching role and Elisha may or may not return to Reading Recovery. It's all an ongoing process of discovery and growing our own people.

I"m still in the process of hiring two Educational Assistants. One to work with Jody in kindergarten and one to assume Billie's role.

Important to know or do....

Help me!

Photos for our school video...

Mike Harrity was the gentleman on the last day of school who was shooting some film to create a video  giving a 'flavor' of our school for the district website. Please help by sending Mike a few photos that you have that help show the flavor of our school. While the Adventure Education shots are always amazing (and do send those!), please send photos of what goes on inside your classroom. Field work is great too. We don't want to create a perception that we are always away from the school so we need to send a variety of photos that speak to all we do. Please also include a caption or explanation so that Mike knows what he is looking at.

Please email those photos directly to Mike. mikeharrity@relylocal.com

Please also email me just to let me know that you have sent photos so that I can be sure that we have completed this and can check it off the 'to do' list.

THANKS in advance for helping with the PR for our school. We will also have this video on our school website.
Note: Make sure not to use photos of students without media permission.

Foreign Language to be Piloted Program at Renaissance

Not sure that everyone heard (was it a crazy end of the year or what?!) about how we are going to pilot an online foreign Language program, Rosetta Stone, for 2nd through 5th grades and Discovery students. Rosetta Stone provides an online program that enables students to learn foreign language anywhere they have Internet connectivity and a computer or mobile device (i.e. school, home, library, Starbucks…) The program uses a self-paced immersion methodology which promotes learning the language in phrases and complete sentences.

Students will have 25 languages available to them

Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English (American and British) Filipino, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, HIndi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish (Latin American and Spain), Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Rosetta Stone is a subscription based program. Students and families will be asked to commit to their choice of a language for one school year. If our pilot is successful and we continue with Rosetta Stone, students may want to continue with the same language or choose another for the next year.

I"m pretty sure Noreene got around to check if you wanted a subscription for yourself. If she missed you, let me know. Parents and other siblings will also have the opportunity to sign up for a subscription at a reduced rate. We will be sending information out about family opportunities in the fall. 

It's exciting that this allows for customized, self-paced learning. The program should be used as part of your language arts block (readers’ and writers’ workshops).  Take some time for those of you piloting it, to think about how you will create systems within your workshop to manage this.

We are taking it slowly by using a pilot model because we want to see how the program works and where the program might work the best. We will be looking for feedback from students, families and you to make decisions the following year.

Rethinking....

Service

This is a blog post I wrote a month or so ago - though I know it was a busy time...

It's worth a read, or reread and to ponder. Please note the challenge I've included for over the summer. (It can be done from a lawn chair.)

 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 tried to schedule time with teams before the closure of school, but I wasn't able to visit with everyone. I wanted to 'prime the pump' so that over the summer you could be thinking about those acts of service that are meaningful to you and that you have a passion for. Perhaps increasing what we do in acts of service begins with us, at a personal level?  Perhaps there can be a way we can create community within our Crews to kick the year off through the lens of service? Perhaps this is a way you can share part of who you are with your Crew and then grow it together? 

Over the summer...

Please release yourself from the boundaries of thinking of service as needing to be framed by 'service learning'. I think these constraints have been just that. Be creative - be innovative- embrace failing as you are learning what it might mean to work in the service of others as a Crew throughout the year. Be wide open about what service might be. There is all kinds of potential for collaborating with students on this! 

Also, perhaps it doesn't work to try to do this as a grade level. It just a sheer student number challenge. Consider personalizing this for you and your Crew.

As you explore this in your thoughts, your openness will surprise you at what you might run across this summer. If you stumble upon some good stuff that could be a resource for others - be sure to share with us all! I've shared some resources I love, such as Soul Pancake to try to inspire and to think about service in new ways. Happy hunting!

Have a spectacular summer!
Send me pictures!
I'll miss you,
Deborah

P.S. Always a standing invitation to:
 stop in,
 spend the night,
 borrow a kayak, 
guided fly fishing, 
lay in the hammock,
bunkhouse to yourself or company in the house,
no notice necessary,
puppy wrestling.
I'll leave the light on.

Deborah

I do get text messages from home but use the land line of you are calling - 719-748-1019
Address: 1366 Vagabond Creek Drive, Lake George, Colorado