Alison Gopnik to speak at TBS

Math club

From Sima Misra, about today's math club:

We welcomed two third graders to math club today, Hannah and Talia, who tried out the Wheel Shop problem, stretching their algebraic thinking and number fluency, and played Oddball, another version of Poison/Nim.  Many of the 4th and 5th grade students enjoyed working on the different Sudoku puzzles, and I shared a strategy of keeping track of which numbers are possible in any given square using dots.  Finally, we all puzzled over one of the several "Liars & Truth Tellers" problems. This is a great one to talk about at the dinner table:  

There is an island in the middle of the ocean where there are two kinds of people: the liars and the truth-tellers.  The liars always lie. The truth-tellers always answer the truth.  You come to a fork in the road and need to know which way to turn to the village. Someone is at the intersection and can answer one yes or no question. You do not know if she is a truth teller or a liar. What should you ask her to learn which way to go?

Moments from the day

In Temescal Creek (2/3), students learned about the development of prokaryotes, and then created images showing their understanding of the organisms and their environment. 

In Laurel Creek (K/1), students used the Lost Tooth Chart for creating addition equations.

In Strawberry Creek (4/5), students used a scaffold to develop their comprehension and critical reading skills.

In Cerrito Creek (4/5), a lesson on the human respiratory system engaged students in a variety of learning activities.

In Blackberry Creek (K/1), students practiced making predictions during an interactive read-aloud.

The pictures on Blackberry Creek's blog from their field trip to the Shorebird Nature Center at the Berkeley Marina last week only tell part of the story - be sure to click on the link and read the text from the teachers. In the words of multiple parents and teachers, "Best. Field trip. Ever."

Hiring season has begun

Although hiring new faculty is an immersive and time-consuming process, I love the opportunity to meet and talk with candidates, and always feel renewed about the opportunities for continued improvement that come with new hires. It's the silver lining to the metaphorical cloud of a current  faculty member's departure!

Our process is now in full swing to find next year's co-lead teacher at the 1/2 grade level to replace Mike Raven, who let us know he's ready to step back from full-time teaching after 17 years in the classroom. Last week I met with Nancy, Claire, Cate (the three identified members of next year's 1/2 team) to review the hiring process flow and timeline, and generate our vision of what kind of candidates we'll be looking for.

This week we posted listings for the position at a variety of online outlets, targeting teachers with independent school experience (NAIS, CAIS), a broad range of diversity (The Urban League, POCIS), and Montessori training (Montessorijobs.com), as well as recent graduates from the best progressive schools of education (such as Teacher's College at Columbia, and Elliot Pearson at Tufts).

While the resumes begin to pour in, we've also begun thinking about how we want to revise our interview protocol. One important direction for us is to improve the quality of questions we ask to surface the emotional quotient of the candidates; you can see a list of possible EQ questions we're considering, drawn from The EQ Interview, a pragmatic book recommended to me by parent Lauren Webster.

If you have a qualified individual to recommend, please be sure to have him/her send a resume and cover letter my way!

CAIS Regional Meeting at Head Royce

The California Association of Independent Schools held the Northern Regional Meeting at Head-Royce School yesterday. Attending from TBS were Sima Misra, Mike Sinclaire, Kim Headlee, Kate Klaire, Mitch Bostian and myself, along with around 2000 other teachers and administrators from independent schools throughout northern California. This year we linked attending the event to submitting a proposal to present, and all four of the faculty presented the following workshops at the conference:

Using Visual Patterns and Thinking Routines to Deepen Mathematical Understanding (Mike and Sima) : Math has been described as the science of pattern-finding and relationships. Visual pattern finding and manipulatives allow students entry points into deep thinking and mathematical conversation. We will describe patterns with the language of mathematics (equations, order of operations, variables), and connect to upper elementary concepts like factors, multiples, and growth patterns. We will offer thinking routines the presenters learned from Harvard Project Zero that provide a framework for developing student understanding. 

Affinity Group: Student Council (Kate): Student councils are a wonderful opportunity for your school to develop service learning, community building, and establishing a voice for all students. This affinity group meeting is intended for those currently facilitating a student council and/or for those interest in how to get started. This will be a generative workshop focusing on a range of ideas and possibilities for overseeing student councils, including common constraints, and how to problem solve. Please come share your wisdom and curiosities.

Affinity Group: Performing Arts in Elementary School (Kim): Attention K-6 music, dance, theater teachers! Are you in need of new ideas to implement in your program? Do you have successful activities you love in your own classroom and would like to share? Come join us to share, learn and get inspired from fellow teachers. Bring at least three activities to share: movement, games, songs, etc., and be prepared to describe or lead each one. Fel free to bring handouts or activity instruction copies to distribute.

A sample of the workshops the six of us attended includes, by title:

Books, Rehearsal, Action!: Tools for Disrupting Gender Role Stereotyping in Elementary School

Building a Positive School Culture

Head's Session with CAIS Executive Director Jim McManus

Never Enough Time! Creating a Comprehensive, Effective, and Engaging Math Program

Ukelele - Strum and Sing

What are Little Boys Made of?

Heart to Heart & Hand to Hand: Singing and Movement Games from Many Cultures

As the Administration representative on the committee that helped plan the event, I spent the morning at the presenter check-in table, helping people get their name tags, figure out where  they would be presenting, and problem-solving the various issues that arise in any convention (signage, room changes and cancellations, etc). I greatly enjoyed doing this, to the point that I took an extra long shift at the table! I was also responsible for cultivating the selection of workshops specifically for administrators from among the submitted proposals, which was very enjoyable and also informational -- especially because I have begun to submit proposals to present at various conferences lately.

Stay tuned for a write up and newsletter with pieces and perspectives from each of the TBS attendees  coming out soon!

Math Club!

From Sima Misra, about today's math club:

We celebrated "Pi Day" in Math Club today with circle problems and ollalieberry pie, even though Pi Day is actually on Thursday, March 14 (3.14).  Students measured the diameter and circumference of many round objects, looking for patterns, and found that the circumference was a little more than 3 times the diameter--a key to why the mysterious number Pi is so important.  Other students pulled apart a pizza problem, figuring out how much to charge for differently sized pizzas and slices given the cost of a small pizza and its area in square inches.  Next math club on March 26.