March 4, 2016

Curriculum Connections...

TGIF! I hope everyone had an awesome first week of March... yes, MARCH! I hope everyone has an awesome weekend that includes some fun, relaxation and maybe some TV binge watching (my newest hobby)! I am definitely looking forward to this weekend because the last few weeks have been a bit hectic. For those of you who haven't heard, my co-author (Joe) and I just wrote a new book that is slated to come out in April... 40,000 words... 100 pages in a Google Doc over the course of week; needless to say, it was intense! The book, entitled Hacking Leadership, is part of a series and is about trying to solve problems that plague/impact education and educational leadership by offering 10 "hacks" to address and reframe the issues. Basically, we try to present problems as opportunities to try innovative and different solutions. I am super proud and excited about this particular work because a lot of reflects my own personal experiences in education, which are totally rooted in my time here at Cantiague. Thank you all for being such a huge inspiration for me each day! 

Meanwhile, it was a really busy and hectic week with lots of meetings and great conversations. A special thank you to Michelle for facilitating an exploration of our mobile MakerSpace and all the goodies the kids can try out there during our FEO this week. Please feel free to check out some of the stuff and use it in your classroom. I know I mentioned this at the meeting but I want to reiterate that I highly recommend some "Table Toy" time (thanks kindergarten for inspiring me) where the kids get 15 or 20 minutes at their tables to explore the resources, have some fun and do some making. I know there is a lot of academic content to be covered but there is a whole other skill set that is developed through play... kids can collaborate, think critically, communicate and ultimately create and that is pretty awesome. 

I know I have said this before but I am so proud of where we are as a school - we are a true student centered learning space that does what is in the best interest of children, even when it is not easy. We believe in engaging children where they are and we are less consumed with the pressures of what curriculum needs to be covered. Although we still mat self-impose stress when it comes to "covering the curriculum," the reality is, we are taking our kids way beyond the curriculum when we engage them in activities/experiences such as Genius Hour, Try It Tuesday, MakerSpace, etc. because we are focusing on life long skills not just content. We are focusing on developing inquiry and critical thinking skills where children have to work through solving problems and not just necessarily learning information from us. I was definitely inspired by one of the blogs below written by Ross Cooper about this idea of inquiry skills being foundational to everything else we do in school - let me know what you think!


#EDUWINS for the week included...

• Enjoyed visiting the science lab with Laurie. She was working with fourth graders and they were reviewing electricity. During the period the children had a chance to experience static electricity in a hands-on way (they loved getting shocked) and then also had a chance to build a circuit using different materials. The end result was that the children were highly engaged, really excited and clearly learning a lot based on what they were sharing as a whole group. REALLY COOL!   

• Spending time in Jill's classroom during writing workshop and the children are just beginning to explore the notion of writing reviews and they were so engaged throughout the mini lesson and then during the independent writing. Jill introduced them to reviews such as the one found on the app store and then the children went back and wrote their own. One boy wrote about Minecraft and it was engaging, he used voice and ended up being a well written review. AWESOMENESS!

• While walking around the building on Friday, it was awesome to talk to the kids about their first official Try It Tuesday experiences. The kids shared stories of organizing their bookcase or taking an online course or cooking a meal or trying a new gymnastics move - just to name a few. In the end, it was clear that most of the children were super excited to share and were proud of what they tried and ultimately, that is our goal. Again, it comes back to the notion of self-directed inquiry and building that skill set from a young age. Thank you for helping this become a reality!  

Tech Tip of the Week...
Check out this great blog post describing the many templates we can use in Google Docs... New Templates In Google Docs! This is a great resource because you can do brochures, newsletters, etc. in Google Docs using templates! There are also a bunch of new templates for Google Slides!

Blogs Worth Reading...
Inquiry Is King. Here's Why... by Ross Cooper 

The Day I Stopped Saying "Hurry Up" by Rachel Stafford (thank you Wendy Briller for sharing this piece)

4 Tips to Transform Your Students' Writing by Sean Tupa

Staff Reflection/Blog...
Our latest post comes from Caitlin as the final part of our ENL series of blog posts (AWESOME way to end it)... 

Teaching With Mindfulness

In August, after talking to a friend about how stressed I had been feeling– moving back to New York after living in Israel for two years, job hunting, and other daily stressors – he asked me if I wanted to meditate with him. I said “really, right now?”  “why not?” he said. So I sat next to him on the floor with my legs crossed and closed my eyes. I was skeptical to say the least.  For the next 10 minutes, thoughts ran through my mind, mainly wondering if he was in fact staring at me and laughing while I was “meditating”.

Fast forward seven months to this past Monday. I have been fairly consistent with my mindfulness practice. On a good day I give myself 15-20 minutes. Some other days I take a few minutes for some deep breathing. However, I have realized  how hard it is to incorporate what I have been practicing while I am teaching. My mind is so focused on what I need to do and how to do it that I’m not paying attention to the present moment. I have so many expectations about how things should be and how the lesson should play out that I become attached to them, rather than noticing and accepting how things actually are.

Being present and in the moment is hard. Today I brought one of my 5th grade students into my class ready to start a new writing assignment when one of my fellow ENL teachers was in the room sitting in a circle with two of her students setting up Monopoly. Immediately, instead of going to the table where we usually sit, my student runs to the carpet and asks to play. My first reaction was to say "maybe after the scheduled lesson." But after taking a moment I remembered what my mindful friend once said, “why not?” After all, we already worked on reading and writing together earlier in the day. 

As we were setting up the game, the banker was handing out the money, the boys picking their game pieces, I found myself extremely anxious and uncomfortable wondering “was this a good choice?” This student can get extremely excited and overwhelmed quickly and I was nervous.  Once I was able to identify these feelings, I took a deep breath and looked around. There I saw three boys playing with each other, the interactions between them, the counting of the money, the bartering for cheaper real estate, and the laughter. I realized I felt happiness. This was learning that was happening naturally without planning, and it was all in English!

I often try to put myself into the shoes of my students. I imagine what it must feel like to move to a completely different country and attend a school where a different language is spoken. I remember how difficult it was for me to learn Hebrew in a classroom. It was when I gravitated to things I really enjoyed that I learned the most (buying fruit from local markets). By playing Monopoly, this student had gravitated toward something he enjoyed, and rather than discouraging him, it turned into a great learning experience for both of us. Of course, it is important to provide students with an organized foundation, but mindfulness has helped me attempt to make the best of each moment, and to create opportunity from potential chaos. It brings me a lot of joy and excitement to know that my students can teach me as much as I hope to teach them.  

SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, March 7
"B" Week
Happy Monday!

Tuesday, March 8 

FEO - All Staff - Library @ 3PM - Gr. 4 kids will teach us about Adobe Voice
PTA Meeting at 8:45am in the Library
Gr. 2 Literacy Check-In Meeting 

Wednesday, March 9

Gr. 5 Articulation Meetings with MS; Faculty Room closed for the day

Thursday, March 10

Ice Cream Sale
CST @ 1:20pm
Board Meeting - Budget Review @ 7:15pm

Friday, March 11

Happy TGIF!

Reminders... 

• Don't forget to implement lessons from our Digital Citizenship Curriculum... access it here!
• Our next whole staff FEO (after Tues. Mar. 8) will be Tues. April 19th - featuring time to plan for Innovation Day & other logistics! 
• Innovation Day is coming on May 19th! Click here to check out the plan from last year... feel free to use the same plan or change it up! 
• Although conferences are a few weeks away, if you want me to read any and all report card comments, please share them with me as soon as you are done; and if you want me to attend any specific conferences, please let me know so I can put them on my calendar.