March 14, 2014

A Community of Learners

Wednesday afternoon was amazing! I left our time together energized, motivated, proud and with a strong sense of connectedness. It was a testimony to the incredible talent within our staff and a testimony to how sharing, as freely as we did, brings a group of learners closer together.

Here's some things that really stood out to me:

* Growth from the 4C's and 21st Century Skills being something we've been told to do, to something we use and plan for with authentic purpose and meaning
* Reflection on our own learning and processes
* Reflection on how we authentically provided feedback to students
* Focus on purposeful learning for kids
* Shifting an expertise from one area to a new area
* Forging a new path of instruction for mathematics 
* Collaboration both in teams and across levels
* Shift from content to Big Ideas and World Class Outcomes
* Grappling with creating backward plans - moving on in spite of not feeling finished and being okay with that
* Risk taking
* Sharing without competition or an agenda
* Critical thinkers
* Social construction of knowledge
* Taking notes and learning stuff from one another - picking out the things that are relevant to each of us
* Giving personalized and specific feedback to each other
* LOTS and LOTS of expertise!

Time was used well and wisely.  It was successful to spend a chunk of weeks differentiating the time so that it could meet the needs of each teacher or team. Coming back together to share our learning brought us together in a meaningful way and provided us with a strong sense of unity. 

Learning Expedition

Expert Speakers (Field Work)
in Second Grade

A letter to three fifth grade students from Governor Hickenlooper

(These three girls had sent a recommendation to the Governor

 after grappling with an issue during a Learning Expedition)

Kindies building incline planes and levers in their Expedition

First Grade Support Groups

Peek Into Classrooms

A student in Lauren's Crew shows me how the pocket protectors
allow him to change his writing that is displayed frequently.
What a great idea Lauren!

Celebration!
A student is removed from an IEP
(He wasn't very happy about it - he likes his time with Andrea!)

Financial literacy?
This in the 4/5 Discovery Crew -
I learned a lot just listening!

Appreciation Circle-
We love you Kristin!

Four passionate sixth graders scheduled an appointment with me. They had prepared a presentation on renewable energy and are striving to get a solar panel for our school.
This is not a class project - they are pursuing this on their own with their own time.

Kindie on the Cat Walk

Makes Me Smile

  Ms. Michelle~

I have done all of your assignments on Ten Marks, but I can't unlock a monster or a game! Could

you please assign two more assignments so I can unlock a game?

Thanks!

-
Aiden Ingenthron

Today we were learning about ratios and the example I was using was the ratio of girls to boys in our crew.  I described ratios as the relationship between two values. Reid raises his hand and says, "Are you saying that there is a 'relationship' between the girls and boys in our crew?" Everyone of course melted into preteen, awkward giggles ... 

Oh boy. It's definitely that time of year.

(Thanks Lisa!)

Calendar

March 17 - 21st:

Student Led Conferences

Tuesday: 

NO RTI meeting

Wednesday:

Imagination Makers Play 9 a.m.

No PD - time for conferences in pm

Friday:

We DO have students

Saturday:

LIFE IS ART

* With final summative evaluations due by May 1st (for classified folks), that means our conferences are booked during April. That also means that all evidence needs to be submitted by April. The sooner the better because I'll be spending a chunk of my Spring Break doing the summative evaluations to be prepared for our conferences. Hopefully, most of you are completely done with this. Others might have a little finishing up to do. Please remember that the same piece of evidence can work for multiple elements as well as more than one CITE Standard. 

I will take care of CITE Standard 5 Evidence.

Have a great weekend!

Deborah