April 28, 2017

Push on...

Woo hoo! We have met the deadlines of April! 

Thank you for your perseverance through the trials of this month!

It's been challenging to look at student progress this month knowing that test scores and standardized measures such as iReady, are just one measure - and a narrow measure - of what we know about our students. Step back for just a minute, turn your head away from the contrived measurement tools, and look at how far you've supported your students in growing. What celebrations there are all around you!

Katie is a student in our school, who over years of support and teacher expertise, has come so far. You are doing this every day in your classrooms.

 I'm excited to share what Katie has created as a writer this year. Take a look...

Katie's Writing Blog

Information Updates:

Staffing Progress:

We completed hiring for our teachers and classified positions this week. Whew! It was a long process and we were fortunate to have a tough time making decisions! We had some really qualified applicants! I will share their information with you in the next week or so as it comes to me. 

Stand Up Meeting After School: Tuesday, May 9th

You'll see in the calendar below that I am calling a stand-up meeting on Tuesday, May 9th. I'll share any updates to the staffing decisions with you then. The purpose of this stand-up meeting will be to quickly review the roles and responsibilities of panel members for the Showcase Celebrations. It's been a year so I thought we could use a quick 'refresh' to ensure we are unified as we step into this grand celebration!

We are still short panel members if you have any influence!

Calendar

May 1st - 5th:

Benefits Open

Student-Led Conference week (for some)

Tuesday:

* No MTSS

Wednesday:

* School Musical Performance for school

* PD: Student Led Conferences

Thursday:

* Deborah out of the building - Admin. Mtg.

* Beginning of Staff Appreciation Month!

* 6:00 Apple Award Ceremony

Friday:

* 7:00 Musical Performance

Saturday:

* 7:00 Musical Performance

May 8 - 12th:

Tuesday:

* MTSS 7:30 a.m.

* Stand up meeting after school 4:20 - quick meeting to prep for Panel responsibilities for Showcase Celebrations

Wednesday:

* Showcase Celebrations 3rd grade 1:15 - they begin at 1:30 so it will be a scramble to be ready.

Thursday:

* Staff Appreciation Day

* Deborah out of the building - admin. mtg.

Friday:

* Deborah out of the building supporting 2nd grade fieldwork

Stay Strong!

Deborah

Friday, April 14th

Living the Mission

Field Work

There are amazing things going on daily for our kids, and I was fortunate to be asked to 'shuttle' students to a real live recording studio and then to a destination for photography. Kim, Hanni, Tyler, Chelsea and Pam collaborated to design a powerful Learning Expedition and then collaborate on the summative performance assessment (a documentary) and it will be shown at our local high school. 
I just had to include one of the videos I took on Wednesday. My eyes were misty as I watched Chelsea do the 'real thing' and watched our students perform, over and over again, as the reality of what real life for recording music is really like. I watched them start out strong - jazzed about what they were doing. I watched the fatigue set in. I watched them draw on their resiliency and stamina to draw forth their best over and over. I chuckled to listen to the comments they had: "Urgh...we almost had it!" "Oh, I could hear it when we lost it." "What? Again?" 

I hope we will all get to see the documentary at The Beat!

This is just one example of things going on - but important to be reminded, collectively, that we really do make our mission come to life.

Growing and Learning

I have immensely enjoyed our summative conferences - and looking forward to those yet to come. Initially, I thought that shortening them seemed efficient. Wrong. These conferences are so meaningful to me. I am so inspired by each of you - your personal reflections and what has been on your minds and in your heart. I learn so much and get so excited about you as learners.  

Could I ask that you make a comment on this post - to share with one another some of the books, blogs, on-line opportunities, that have been especially powerful for you this year and in the near future? There's all kinds of potential for tapping into what others are doing - maybe even joining them? Rather than momentum slowing down, it is ramping up, and you are all sharing what learning you are looking forward to doing this summer!

Conferences abound this summer. Chelsea shared that EL will have a 'Slice of a Learning Expedition' here in Denver this summer! Since we are out of the network, we can't register now, but we can be ready to jump when it opens up to out of network attendees. Let me know if you are interested! (I haven't been able to find the dates on their website.)

Here's an opportunity in our school district June 6, 7, 8 & 9th: Ron Berger from EL is offering several keynotes, as is A.J. Juliani.

Summer PD opportunities
Need to register for the event in InspireEd and then when you are 'in' after registering, then you can register for individual courses. You are still PGI eligible during this time. PGI window goes through the end of June. Re-licensure credit included.

Bravo Martha!

With the exceptions of a few make ups - we are through the PARCC assessment! Martha did an amazing job of organizing, facilitating and attending to precision! We all know so well that the 'behind the scenes' is full of a million details. I know Martha got very little sleep as she rehearsed all the details, of each day, as she lay in bed at night. She carried a huge responsibility, with some heavy consequences for our school. Not a surprise at all that she was so incredible at this - especially for the first time! Thank you, Martha!

Calendar:

(Can you believe there are only two more weeks in April?!)

Week of April 17th- 21st:
CMAS testing

Tuesday:
* No MTSS meeting
* REA and SAC meeting 4:30


Wednesday:
* Site visit from Erica Mason (assessment office)
* PD: Writing ALP's - current and newly identified

Friday:
No School


Week of April 24th - 28th:
School-wide Writing Assessment must be administered if you haven't already - and scored by Wednesday.
Absolute last few days to complete your CITE 6 data entry and submit.

Monday:
* 6th grade fieldwork

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

Wednesday:
*T he Beat
* PD: Dialogue around Writing Assessment results

Thursday:
Absolute last day to finalize your CITE 6 data and email me that you are finished. I must be done myself by midnight.
* Deborah out of the building to admin meeting
* Kathy's Crew out on field work

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah

March 31, 2017

•  

Definition of break

:  to interrupt one's activity or occupation for a brief period 

Hope the break was just what you needed!

Monday, April 3rd:

All staff meet in the library at 8:30. Announcements shared about where we landed with folks going to Renaissance Secondary and plans for next year. In addition, I'd like to do a brief budget overview.

We will also take the time to complete your End of the Year Self-Evaluation in InspireEd. If you don't want to do this on Monday, you can complete this now, beforehand.

Just a heads up for you about my schedule in the coming weeks. All end of the year summative evaluations have to be completed by April 30th and submitted. So, that means that a very large chunk of my time will be devoted to meeting with each of you. In addition, I'll be squeezing in interviews, as we have quite a few positions to hire. My hope is to hire the Instructional Assistants so that they can 'come on board' in the month of May in order to learn the ropes so that the learning curve won't be so steep in August AND that our current assistants can mentor our new hires. 
This will also likely mean that I will be unable to meet with you for our usual team meetings.

In the past, the state assessments were completed when we left for Spring Break, but this year, we have those to do when we return.

 April will be busy!

Here's the calendar for the next two weeks. Please know I may have missed some things! Been out of the loop...

We hit the ground running...

April 3 - 7th:
Monday - staff returns, no students
All staff meet in library at 8:30 a.m.
Leadership Team Meeting 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday:
No MTSS meeting
3:15 ALL school assembly - our Archery Team is being recognized by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (20 -30 minutes)

Wednesday:
Fourth Grade fieldwork
Sixth Grade pictures 9:00 a.m. gym
School Director visit at 11:00 a.m.
PD:
1:30: Training to proctor state assessments
2:30 - Bus license renewal
2:30 - Work in library or on your own to begin to upload CITE 6 information. (For those doing the bus license renewal, you can join afterwards.)


April 10th - 14th:
State Testing Week begins

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

Wednesday:
* The Beat 9:00 a.m.
* PD - to be decided

Thursday:
*Deborah out for admin. meeting

See you so very soon!

Deborah

February 24, 2017

Writing Conversations

An excerpt from a piece of student writing:

Homestead Act

In may 1862 the Homestead Act opened up settlement into  the western territories. It let every free person ask to get a claim for 160 acres of free land. They could get a trial on the land, but they had to meet these requirements. 1) They cannot have fought against the government. 2) They had to be 21 or older. 3) They had to live on the land and improve it within 6 months. 4) They had to have a home with crops. 5)They also had to show that they lived on the land. By the end of the civil war, 15,000 claims had been established. The Homestead Act encouraged people in the overpopulated areas to move West. It also gave a chance for freed slaves to get a home and have a new life in the West. If anyone of the people trying to get land was a freed slave then the land would be free, but farmers had to pay a small price for land. We pushed all of the Natives out of the west land. The new land they had was hard to grow stuff on unless they were around the Rocky Mountains. It was hard to live in the plains because there were very few trees and water was scarce. There was almost no natural vegetation which made it hard to grow crops and raise cattle. There was a lot of wind and many plagues. Then there were blizzards, so the Western land was pretty much unlivable -- until Thomas Troy invented the Troy-bilt snowblower. (written by a student in fifth grade)

Did you have a chuckle there at the end? We sure did during our sharing and learning in our intermediate writing conversation. It felt so good to be reminded there at the end, that we teach children.

Our writing conversations have been accomplishing exactly what we set out to do...and even a bit more.
Our goal professionally:

"The grand purpose for meeting to analyze writing/learn teaching strategies is for you and your colleagues to talk and think about student work and about your shared expectations for that work, doing this in ways that bring you together into a community of common practice."

 I know we have each taken away different 'nuggets' from these conversations and our work together is raising our shared understandings and thus, our practice as writing teachers. 

I had an 'aha' moment during conversations at the intermediate level. Students at the intermediate level have been doing some historical research and writing about what they are discovering about history. It struck me that as an Expeditionary Learning school our Case Studies are often centered around current events with a bit of history sprinkled in to support background knowledge.

It's important for our students to have exposure and some base level knowledge about the world. It also struck me how 'naturally integrative' learning about history (and science) can happen in the realm of our Reading and Writing Workshops. This is one way we can achieve that exposure for our students. I always find myself having a little chuckle at their interpretation of historical events, what information they find interesting and important, and how they synthesize that information. I love how reading their writing is a window into how they think, and what they think about. When you read a piece of student writing, do you step back and consider that before diving into the coaching of the writer?

When teaching our youngest students the acquisition of literacy, listening to them read and problem solve is one way into observing how they think and process. That process goes 'underground' as they get older and we lose that 'window'. Writing is that window at all grade levels.

 I also noticed how vocabulary development is naturally integrated this way. We see them apply the domain specific vocabulary they are studying and we see them snatch a few vocabulary words right from the research. One could say they are plagerizing - but are they? Maybe they don't yet have a voice of their own with which to talk about this new learning?  Maybe they need to borrow that vocabulary to adopt the voice of a historian or scientist? Sometimes, might they have to 'steal the words of others' until they use it enough to make it their own? And we've also discovered that this is one way of guiding researchers to know that they still don't know enough about something to write about it yet.

What a celebration to have a goal of lifting our writer's and also discovering that we have lifted their learning is some unexpected ways!

Over and over these past weeks I keep coming back to one important thing. Blooms levels for learning. If we don't see direct transfer - the application from a mini-lesson - perhaps that student is still at the level of knowing and understanding? Or maybe at the level of identifying this new learning? After those two levels comes application...and only then, are they able to analyze and evaluate.

Be kind to yourself. Know that your mini-lessons matter - and that you have kids in a variety of places on that learning continuum. I wonder how you could intentionally figure out which kids you might expect to apply these lessons, and which are still learning to know and understand these new pieces of learning?  Embrace and celebrate approximations - those are big!   Have fun with this! I know we are passionate and dedicated to raising our writers...and writing might potentially be the funniest thing to teach! Embrace those tender moments you interact with writers.

With this knowledge, we see yet another reason why we need to keep our mini-lessons within that precious 10 minutes, so the bulk of our reading and writing time is devoted to doing just that. As any workshop, the learning is in the work of doing. Students must have blocks of sustained time to read and write.

Calendar:

February 27 - March 3rd:

Tuesday:
* MTSS 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
*PD 1:30 p.m. Functions of Behavior Part II
* Artist's Edition of Life Is Art 4:00 p.m.

Thursday:
* Deborah out - admin. mtg (Our Performing Arts featured at Admin. Mtg!)

Saturday:
* Life Is Art 6:00 p.m.


March 6 - 10th:

Tuesday:
* MTSS 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
* PD: Personal Plan Time

Thursday:
* Teresa's Crew field work

Saturday:
* Musical Theater Work Day


Because time spent writing is so critical, and the quantity of writing is so important, nothing is worse than a kid who can't get started. Sometimes, that's because they are struggling to get an idea. Writing prompts can help. Sometimes, just putting some up on the board, or a list of ideas in a folder, can be a place for a kid to find that jump start.  
Remember, we all have days where you just can't get started, and having an intriguing prompt gets you past the writer's block!

 Persuasive writing prompts.

Star Wars writing prompts (some for all genres).

Fantasy writing prompts.

Historical fiction photo writing prompts.



There's a ton out there! Let me know if I can help you find some good ones if you are in need.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah

The Mission of Renaissance Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound School is:
To empower everyone to explore, discover and understand the world around them and the passions within them.
To be...
* creative, reflective, fulfilled individuals
* active, compassionate citizens
* courageous builders of a harmonious and sustainable world.

Which we condensed to use with kids:

* Learn with passion

*Act with courage

* Change the world

            

In Jenny's room (and I've seen these in many classrooms) students are actively making sense out of our mission statement in preparation to do some reflecting on their experiences this year.

Just a reminder of the framework we've created to support the work of Showcase Celebrations:

Framework:

Using the Mission Statement

            * Learn with passion

            * Act with courage

            * Change the world

Students will reflect and express/share:

1.     Who am I?

2.     How do I know?

3.     Why does it matter?

Sharing just a few photos I captured while in classrooms this week. 

* I wanted to include a video from Lisa's Instagram of her 6th graders visiting Ms. Jill's Crew. The 1st graders were teaching the 6th graders! 
Lisa's Instagram account also had a wonderful video of a vocabulary challenge. I just can't figure out how to steal these things off her Instagram and import them into this blog! 
Be sure to ask Lisa how she is using Instagram as a way to share the learning that is happening in her classroom AND allowing her to be a reflective teacher.

Calendar

February 13 -17:

Tuesday:

* MTSS 7:30 a.m.

* Fourth grade field work

* Valentines Day

* Debbie out

Wednesday:

* Second Grade leaves on Winter Voyage

* PD: Writing Conversations continued level teams

Friday:

* Professional Development/No Students

February 20 -24:

Monday:  District Holiday

Tuesday:

* MTSS 7:30 a.m.

* REA meeting 2:00 p.m.

Wednesday:

* PD: Differentiation

Thursday:

* First Grade Winter Voyage

There exists within everyone a grand passion, an outlandish thirst for adventure, a desire to live boldly and vividly through the journey of life.

Kurt Hahn

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah