December 13, 2013

How do our schedules allow us the best opportunity to teach World Class Outcomes?

This week I was suppose to bring photos of classroom schedules to our admin. meeting. As it turned out, we never got to discuss them nor share them. I suspected I knew what we were going to discuss using these classroom schedules. The photos below come from other schools - not ours. And yet, you'll see lots of similarities to schedules within our school. What is the role of a classroom schedule? I know that we have to schedule our time so that we can collectively, at a school wide level, coordinate all the things that go on and how we can use common spaces, supervision, Integrated Arts and breaks.

As we move to thinking about integrating our outcomes and the ways that students work and learn, does our schedule keep us stuck teaching in a less integrated way? I know that every one of you is probably leaning forward right now saying, 'But I don't stick to my schedule all the time - it's just a guide...' and I know that. I am also NOT saying to yank it down or stop having a schedule. I am just wondering...in a small, yet a significant way, do our daily schedules create barriers for us in thinking about teaching and learning in a modern '21st Century way? If the things we have displayed in our classroom (schedules being one of them) paint a picture of how we do things at Renaissance, do they help those who visit our classrooms understand how we are teaching and learning? Do our schedules matter? If so, how?
Just wondering...

Leadership Team

The Leadership Team met this week and we discussed two things. We talked about the responses you all shared with members of the team about the potential possibility of looking at restructuring the way we use our early release time. The largest percent of you felt that shifting from Wednesday afternoons to every other Monday might create more momentum for deep planning. No decisions have been made as barriers have been identified and more discussion will have to transpire before making a decision. We will also need to survey our community, seek input and support from our SAC and talk with district leadership. There will be no changes this year as we are just exploring the idea at this time. If we were to make changes, they would be for next year.

We also discussed the need for teachers to identify quality evidence of what makes a teacher effective on each of the standards and elements within CITE. We made some decisions about our Wednesday professional development sessions in January. We will be devoting time on the first three Wednesday's of January to work collectively to identify what evidence might be, whether it is quality evidence and share our thinking. Collectively we will make decisions about what effective is at Renaissance. 

Our first session will be on Wednesday, January 8th and we will begin our work around CITE Standard 4 - Culture. I'll brief you more about this on Monday, January 6th when we come back together after the holiday.

'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

Are you smiling or grimacing at that title? It is a wonderful time of the year and it is also a time when the excitement makes everything topsy turvy. Families are stressed under the time constraints to pull things together to create magic for their kids and express their love for one another. We are pushing hard to complete deadlines of progress reports as we complete the first half of the school year and we are also seeking to create magic for our families! 

Does this translate to kids - you bet it does. So on top of everything else we are also faced with having to support kids and 'poor choices' are escalating. How to deal with it all! I can't give you much help on the home front, but I do know that this time of year can sometimes mean shifting back to the tighter structures you started the year off with. Eliminating potential problems by limiting the opportunity for them to happen. For some kids, that means really limiting their boundaries.

What does that look like? Maybe it looks like having kids play within a closer proximity to teachers on the playground. Maybe it looks like having kids do more learning seated at their desk and not having as much choice (for a short while) about where and how they do their work. Maybe it looks like less group work and more individual work time. Maybe it looks like having a large stack of your favorite picture books on a shelf near a very comfortable teacher chair where you call the group to gather when it just isn't working and call it quits on what you are doing and nestle down to share a great read and all take a break! 

Give yourself permission to ease up on the learning this coming week knowing that kids are really distracted and you are really limited in what you will accomplish. On the other hand (!) having some really meaty learning might be just the cure for all the distractions. You'll know - just go into the next week embracing the chaos and you will be a happier!

Calendar

Week of December 16th - 20th:

Sixth grade to Keystone Monday - Wednesday

Tuesday:
* RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
* 8:30 Parent Orientation
* All School Meeting
* Professional Development: Reflection on progress (personal assessment)

Thursday:

Wear your ugly (or beautiful!) Christmas attire

Friday:
First grade fieldwork to Asian Market and King's Land restaurant for Dim Sum
(Should we prepare for a snow storm? You know what happens when first grade schedules field work...)

Holiday Staff Get-Together at my place directly after school
You are not to bring anything - my gift to you.
I live less than 2 minutes away from school so it is on the way home for everyone.
I hope you will come for 5 minutes or 5 hours.
I hope you will stop by as you journey home
or go home and then come.
You can come alone.
You can bring your spouse or significant other.
I am modeling by example: I will not clean, I will keep it simple
It will be fun :)

Kenny sent this along to me - 
just had to share!
The comic is from his father-in-law :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah