A collection of relevant education articles

Here's a collection of links on a range of topics I've sent to faculty for perusing over winter break.

Kindergarten friendships for boys:

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-30/parenting/30458390_1_friendships-kindergarten-quality

Kindergarten case for play in schools:

http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/kindergarten_report.pdf

K-2 using blocks to teach:

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/12/04/how-to-use-blocks-to-teach/

K-5 literacy and fitness combined:

http://whatworks.wholechildeducation.org/blog/using-fitness-literacy-lessons-focused-on-the-whole-child/

K-8 project-based learning:

http://calgaryscienceschool.blogspot.com/2011/11/introduction-to-inquiry-based-learning.html

K-8 parent/school communication:

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/12/07/fp_mixon.html?tkn=PYCCsaHFwXZvOymZzNP1zB3nNrNRK%2FEwwpk%2B&cmp=clp-sb-ascd

K-8 YouTube for schools:

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/12/youtube-for-schools/

2-8 SmartBoard tools for math:

http://www.theteachersguide.com/InteractiveSitesMathSmartBoard.htm

4-8 interdisciplinary student publishing contest:

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/student-contest-celebrate-2011-by-writing-raps-about-the-years-news/

4-8 chewing gum and test-taking:

http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=BEC0241E-24D6-11E1-A9BF000C296BA163&aka=0

6-8 project-based learning and citizenship:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/PBL-digital-citizens-andrew-marcinek

What are schools for anyway?

I really like this opinion piece by Gary Gutting, which points out that first and foremost, the point of college is "to nourish a world of intellectual culture."  The same is true of elementary and secondary schools; the development of skills and accumulation of knowledge are mechanisms that allow students to engage in that world of intellectual culture. They are means to an end, and not an end in-and-of themselves, though too often anxiety about progress trumps attention to development by parents and educators alike. This is especially true when thinking about the arms race that grips high school students attempting to navigate the unbelievably competitive college application process, and the trickle-down impact this has on middle school, elementary school, and even Kindergartens, many of which have become entirely too academic for their students' development.


I also appreciate Gary's perspective on the role of interest and motivation in the classroom:


"Teaching is not a matter of (as we too often say) “making a subject (poetry, physics, philosophy) interesting” to students but of students coming to see how such subjects are intrinsically interesting.  It is more a matter of students moving beyond their interests than of teachers fitting their subjects to interests that students already have.   Good teaching does not make a course’s subject more interesting; it gives the students more interests — and so makes them more interesting."

Curriculum planning is super fun!

In my role as Elementary Division Head, one of my absolute favorite responsibilities and activities is discussing curriculum with faculty. I miss that part of being a teacher - the excitement and thrill of thinking about what I want students to understand (not just "know" or "be able to do") - and being able to engage with teachers as they go through that process not only scratches that itch; it both helps me get a better sense of how they are intentionally designing curriculum, and gives me an opportunity to engage in some coaching with them around this essential teacher task.

Today I had the pleasure of having two such meetings, focusing around the ideas from Project Zero's Teaching for Understanding unit design framework. First, I met with Mike from the Cerrito Creek classroom. Our conversation began by looking at the TfU framework together, moved to reflecting on the recently-completed science unit he taught on oceans, focused on the development of understanding goals (the essential ideas about which we want students to develop understanding) as the key driver in curriculum development, and then looked forward at his upcoming plans to sharpen the connection between what is being taught, and the goals that underlie the curriculum. It was a powerful experience in which we were able to discuss subtle nuances of the TfU approach, and Mike's sense of his own curriculum planning approach.

The second meeting was with Amy and Danette from the Sweet Briar Creek classroom. I had passed the Teaching for Understanding framework on to Amy last week, and she and Danette had already begun brainstorming possible Understanding Goals for their upcoming Ancient Egypt unit. Through conversation, we revised and consolidated those goals into the following list: 1) how the citizens of the age met their fundamental needs (building on their recently completed study of the fundamental needs of humans, a classic Montessori lesson), 2) how different classes of people experienced life differently, and 3) the connection between water and early agrarian human civilizations. From there we discussed possible performances of understanding - what kids will do to develop and show their understanding - including the plans for a culminating Ancient Egypt Festival performance, complete with food, writing, dancing, drama, and other representations that will show kids' understanding of what life was like in that culture.

Similar meetings are scheduled for January with the rest of the elementary classrooms!

Last week's all-school assembly

Last week we held a great assembly. I began with a quick warm-up movement activity. Then Strawberry Creek made a presentation about their recent overnight trip to Fort Ross. The students were dressed in costume and organized in groups (hunters, militia, cooks, etc). This was followed by a performance of the song Valerie by the middle school band, featuring two singers in harmony and a three-piece horn section. The assembly concluded with two students from Laurel Creek explaining the penny drive that class is undertaking. For more pictures, please follow this link to Kathleen Schwallie's album.

Don't forget that this Wednesday is our Winter Holiday Concert, from 6-8 pm, at the Northbrae Community Church.

Mission moments Newsletter #2

Just for you, dear readers, a special treat - Mission Moments Newsletter #2.

Penny Drive in Laurel Creek

Passing on a letter from the Laurel Creek classroom:

Dear Friends,

When researching local organizations that help local families this holiday season, we came upon a news article from Oakley, Ca. An organization named Friends of Oakley have been collecting toys and food all year for their holiday donations. Their storage room, in a local school, was robbed and completely emptied of over 4,000 dollars worth of clothing, warm blankets, toys, and food. Click here to read the article. We read the news report to the children of Laurel Creek, who immediately and unanimously declared that they wanted to support the Friends of Oakley group.

We ask for your support to help a local organization in need of all the help they can get before their deadline on Dec 15th. Please bring in your extra pennies and deposit them in the jars that can be found in nearly every classroom or in the large water jugs in Kate Klaire's office. We are working out a plan with a local Bank of the West branch, who has agreed to help us convert the coins into a check to send to the Friends of Oakley group.

Thank you for your generous spirit as we support our students in their service learning this holiday season.

With appreciation,

Laurel Creek Students and Teachers

The Sub of Last Resort

I like to call myself The Sub of Last Resort because I'll likely wind up working in every elementary and middle school classroom over the course of the year when we're unable to get subs in time. Today, because of a last minute snafu that kept Rebecca at home, I was lucky enough to get to return to my roots and teach 7th and 8th grade Humanities. I had about 20 minutes to prepare a lesson, so I combined something familiar with something new: a close reading and conversation about The Unicorn in the Garden by James Thurber, with a character development activity.

After reading the story, I asked the group if they liked the Wife character. They answered with a resounding no, citing her cruel looks, language, and many actions towards her husband (such as her conniving attempt to have him committed to a mental institution), not to mention her disbelief in the existence of the mythical Unicorn. Then I asked if they liked the Husband character, which elicited a more complicated response: while they liked that he tried -- twice -- to share the Unicorn with his wife, he lied to police and ultimately chose to undermine her. This was followed by conversations about the evocative and powerful language in the story (the Unicorn browsing and cropping, the man's high heart on a shining morning, etc), and the ways in which the story mimics a fairy tale (once up on a time, happily ever after, sleeping woman, mythical creature, etc). And then I gave them a brief background on Thurber, and the unfortunate issue of misogyny in his writings.

This was followed by a character construction activity. First came basic facts: age, name, gender, location. Second came issues of the heart: desires, fears, and secrets. Third came important details about the character's life. After working as a whole class to generate a character, I asked students to create their own characters, using this template. 7th grade students were required to set their locations as Ancient Greece, since that's what they have been studying lately in Humanities class. And, as the 8th grade class was 70 minutes compared to the 50 minute lengths of the 7th grade, I actually began that class with a reading and discussion of another Thurber story -- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty -- that is slightly longer, and parallel to the other story in several ways, including the two main characters of a husband protagonist and a wife antagonist.

Rebecca will be out again tomorrow, so I've created a lesson for the students to write from, and in, the perspective of the characters they have created - performances of understanding that are grounded in critical thinking, creative thinking and discipline understanding. There are four options:

1. Write a very short story in which your character is the protagonist. By short, I mean no longer than one typed page in length. The story should somehow involve one of his/her DESIRES or FEARS.

2. Write a letter from your character to someone else – a friend, a relative, a teacher, a classmate, or even a famous person (fan letter) in which s/he discusses one of his/her DESIRES or FEARS. Pay special attention to the language that your character uses – try to make it realistic to who that person is.

3. Sometimes people make sense of their experiences through poetry. Write a poem about one of the DESIRES or FEARS from your character’s perspective. Again, pay special attention to the language that your character uses – try to make it realistic to who that person is.

4. Imagine that your character has been threatened with having his/her SECRET revealed to the world. In response, s/he has KIDNAPPED someone involved in this plot. Write the ransom note that your character uses to try to prevent the secret from being told.

Friday Reading

Here's a collection of articles and videos that I've thought note-worthy in the last few weeks. See if you can guess which ones made laugh, cry, or angry!

Parenting

California Watch: perceptions of kids and digital media

MindShift: can everyone be smart at everything?

Teacher pay

Yahoo! News: merit pay in New Jersey

Wisonson state journal: shifting teacher evaluations

Miami Herald: teacher evaluations are complex

Teaching practices

Southeast Missourian: No-zeros policy

Health and Wellness

WCTV: fighting obesity

On Wall Street: Duncan advocates for financial literacy

Educational policy

Columbus Dispatch: Grouping students

Sacramento Bee: California moves cut-off date for kindergarten

Huffington Post: West Virginia anti-bullying policy

New York Times: Assessing middle schools based on high school readiness

Sacramento Bee: Grim state budget forecast

Learning from Failure

Leadership

N2Grwoth: Leadership and curiosity

CBS News: 10 strategies that kill companies and careers

The Guardian: Balancing work and life

Smartblog: Listen more, talk less

Smartblog: Improve team communication

Gymnasium for Brain

I just came across Gymnasium for Brain, which seems like a good site for parents and kids alike. There are lots of interesting puzzles, logic games, and activities to try. It's always important to exercise the new neurons our brains are creating every day!

Moments from my day

I haven't posted on one of my learning walks in some time, so here's what I saw today (Tuesday).

Blackberry: During a math workshop, some students worked on the problem "I have two cows, two hens, and two ducks. I want to put boots on all of their feet. How many boots do I need?", which gets at counting by groups. Others used beads and pipe-cleaners to make 100s chains.

Laurel: As part of their ongoing Ant Study, students shared the multi-media images of ant farms they had created, and discussed what aspects of the pieces were realistic to actual ant farms.

Sweet Briar: 2nd grade students had a word study lesson drawn from Words Their Way, the developmentally-based approach we are using K-5. They began by reviewing various letter combinations that make long "a" sounds (_ai_, _a_e, and _ay), and then moved onto a word sort for either the long "o" sound (_o_e, _oa_, etc) or initial consonant sounds (_ell, _ill, _oll).

Temescal: During a writing workshop, students worked on drafting new pieces, editing and revising work previously begun, and adding illustrations to pieces at various stages of completion.

Strawberry: Half the students were working on their Fort Ross historical fiction assignments, while the other half was in music practicing for the winter holiday concert.

Cerrito: A spirited discussion of the pros and cons of writing collaboratively, using clips from a recent episode of The Simpsons as a foil. As Mike wrote on the Cerrito Creek blog, "Today was also the first day I have ever shown an episode of The Simpsons in writers workshop, or any TV show for that matter, especially one aired on Fox. Fear not, it was tied intricately to our study of the writer's life, and how books get made. When I caught this episode over Thanksgiving, I couldn't help myself, I had to show it to the students to help them think critically about what they read. Check it out this evening and get a good, deep laugh. We all need it!"

That's autonomy, interdependence, critical thinking, creativity, communication, technological proficiency, and discipline understanding in visible action - seven of our nine learning outcomes.

What Makes a Great App? Redux

My mom, who is the school psychologist at a residential/day school for autistic children in Massachusetts, also has an iPad. She's looking at educational apps both for her school site, and also to engage with my nieces who live nearby, so we're constantly sharing apps. After reading my blog post from Sunday, she sent me to the Math: Evolve website, which I thought I'd share. From the short video on the site (posted below), it seems like a cross between Spore, Galaga, and a dynamically-responsive math app - not necessarily constructivist, but interesting.

What Makes a Great App?

I have an iPad, and I have learned to love it. When I first was given the iPad by TBS, I had many complaints - the digital keyboard chief among them - and I didn't see how it would be a useful or relevant tool in support of my work to improve student learning. It was more like a toy, with a few useful features to my work as an administrator, including the Camera app (which allows me to easily shoot video in class) and the Notepad app (which allow my notes to instantly become digital, instead of having to retype them later).

I still have many questions about the iPad's effectiveness as a teaching tool for students. There are several good apps that help develop early literacy skills for PreK-1st grade students, and there are several good apps that develop problem solving skills, such as TinkerBox (choice quote from this app's homepage: "TinkerBox is more than just educational!"). However, the majority of the "educational games" apps I have come across targeting 2nd-6th grade students seem more geared towards rote memorization; an example is Math Ninja, which is basically for practicing operations and math facts.

That's why I was extremely excited to stumble upon Toontastic this week. In this app, players build stories one scene at a time, following the classic pattern of Setup, Conflict, Challenge, Climax, and Resolution. They add in characters, settings and actions to create the narrative arc, record original narration and/or dialogue to move the story forward, and select from the type and intensity of background music to reinforce the emotional force of the plot. The program is pre-loaded with many character and background options (with more available for purchase), and a drawing program that allows students to create their own as well. It also comes with a Parent Guide, which is basically a teaching guide that includes questions to pose to children as they work on their stories.

I was intrigued enough by this app to go online and check out the website, which did not disappoint. There is a page on the site called "Learning Goals", which has perfect resonance to the idea of understanding goals in the Teaching for Understanding framework for unit creation we have learned about from Project Zero. What made me especially excited was the combination of ideas that the developers of this app are drawing upon; play, constructionism, social development, and story structure. I am excited to see developers looking for ways to leverage the iPad technology in service of learning, rather than simply trying to come up with more palatable ways for children to learn math facts than flash cards and pencil-and-paper repetition.

Do you/your child have a favorite educational app that fits our goal of providing a constructivist approach to teaching and learning? If so, please tell me about it in the comments field.

Promoting the Performing Arts

It is critically important to continue to look for new ways to promote the arts, and arts thinking, at TBS. We have a robust and powerful studio arts program, thanks to Julianne and Benicia, and in its second year of existence our elementary music program has begun to find solid footing through the dual paths of Eve's music class and the optional strings program run by Irene. But there are more opportunities for us to explore as we pursue the learning outcome of creativity with and for our students.

This morning I spoke on the phone with Avilee Goodwin. Avilee has been teaching dance in various public schools in the East Bay for 15 years and in private studios for almost 30 years, and possesses both an M.A. in Creative Arts (emphasis dance) from San Francisco State University, and a state teaching credential in P.E. with a dance concentration. Avilee's approach is to teach dance "from the inside out", using a discovery approach through exploration of the basic dance elements of Space, Time, and Energy. Rather than force students to simply learn steps or routines, Avilee teaches them deeper concepts such as line, shape, path, range, level, tempo, rhythm, and weight; just as strong number sense allows students to move from counting to addition to multiplication across the elementary grades, so does Avilee's teaching give students the underlying understandings necessary to develop their skills as dancers. Clearly this is not the indoor winter unit on square dancing we all experienced in our own elementary educations! This conversation made me excited to continue to look at the possibilities around adding dance to our elementary program.

This afternoon I spoke with internationally known composer and musician Paul Dresher. We first learned of Paul last spring, when our 2/3 classes went to see, hear, and experience a program he had created called the Shick Machine, and subsequently had some of his assistants visit our classrooms with their hand-built instruments. That experience led to a conversation about a sustained collaboration between Paul and our school, and we are excited to be welcoming Paul and his crew to TBS beginning in January for a six week program working on instrument building, and the concepts and physics of sound, with our 4th and 5th grade students. While figuring out how to jigger the schedule and spaces to meet the program's needs is a challenge, it is one we gladly take on in order to provide our students with this incredible, hands-on experience.

More links I've shared with faculty

Since a few people mentioned enjoying seeing the links I sent to faculty last week, here's a collection that I push out to people this week.

K/1 learning habits

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-school-reform-targets-early-lessons/2011/11/04/gIQAGZ2VCN_story.html

K-2 math

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/15/pbs-kids-launches-augmented-reality-game-for-ios-says-all-the-c/

K-5 Soc/Emo

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-emotional-learning-building-skills-maurice-elias

K-5 spelling

http://www.dailypress.com/news/education/dp-nws-spelling-tests-banned-20111114,0,4523242,full.story

K-8 arts

http://www.edutopia.org/blogs/connecting-stem-arts-jim-brazell

2/3 literature

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20111115-NEWS-111150374

4-8 Science

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8886307/Super-slippery-material-could-mean-end-to-having-to-wait-for-ketchup.html

6-8 math and science

http://whatworks.wholechildeducation.org/blog/sixth-grader-builds-iphone-apps-and-sparks-learning-in-school/

Step-Up Tour and differentiation

Today we had 40-50 parents of currently enrolled students go on a "Step-up Tour" at TBS, in which they were given opportunities to observe in the classrooms at the next grade level. I was charged with leading the ECC parents, beginning with 30 minutes in the K/1 classrooms, and then moving into the 2/3, 4/5, and middle school classrooms.

One of the questions I was asked during the tour stuck out: given our mixed grade classrooms in the elementary division, how do we ensure that children in the upper grade of each classroom are getting the challenge that they need, besides time as mentors and coaches for the younger students? This question resonated with my understanding of a historical narrative that parents of students in the youngest of a three-grade Montessori group tend to be very satisfied, b/c they can quite literally see the challenge available in the classroom; parents of students in the middle of a three-grade Montessori group tend to be somewhat satisfied, b/c they can still see the challenge available in the classroom; and parents of students in the oldest year of a three-grade Montessori group are sometimes dissatisfied with what they perceive as a lack of challenge.

My response to the question in the moment was that there are times when the ideas and work that are being presented are pitched to the more competent students, and that rather than assuming that the work is all directed at the "middle of the pack," or youngest, or least competent students, there will be times when some students are watching and seeing work that is within the zone of proximal development for the older or more capable students, and that a different version of that work is what is appropriately suited for them - and, that seeing another child take on work beyond what one can do is a strong motivator for learning the necessary knowledge and skills (though of course we have to be careful that kids don't "shut down" when they try something beyond their abilities). This answer was nicely complimented by one that Kyla O'Neill, K/1 teacher in Blackberry Creek, gave during the teacher panel at the end of the tour that it is the work of the teacher to carefully consider the development of each child and design experiences that are engaging for all students.

What I wish I had added then, and have been thinking about since, is that much of the time, the instruction and activities are designed to allow for inherent differentiation according to the understanding of the children. For example, the process of writing number sentences to document a student's thinking about a particular problem ("if each person has two arms and two legs, how many limbs does this group of 11 students have in total?" is one I witnessed in a K/1 class last week) can contain single digit addends representing each item to be counted (1+1+1+1...), single addends that represent groups of counted items (2 legs per person, and 2 arms per person, so 2+2+2+2... or, 4 limbs per person, so 4+4+4...), or many other various regroupings that "stack" ideas of addition (5 boys have 4 limbs each (4+4+4+4+4=20), and 6 girls have four limbs each (24), so 20+24=44). What you won't see is a teacher telling children "Here's the RIGHT way to solve the problem", because there is no one right way; having a developmental approach means taking the time to have each child express his/her understanding, and give them opportunities to see how other children express their understanding, and encourage them to experiment with those more complex strategies.

This is different from the use of structured differentiation in our classrooms - when teachers ask a child to approach a certain piece of work, perhaps in a certain way. Using the example above, a teacher might ask a specific child or children to use groupings to write a number sentence using only double-digit addends (such as 20+24), or not using the same addend twice (4+8+12+20), or even using multiplication (4 x 11), based on the teacher's assessment of the child's understanding of number sense and operations. In both cases, the child is being appropriately challenged at the developmental level, rather than by standardized markers of "product".

CAIS/WASC accreditation training

I spent much of today in a training session for the joint CAIS/WASC self-study that we will be undertaking next year, held at The Trinity School in Menlo Park. Along with around 30 participants from a variety of schools in the Bay Area, I had the opportunity to listen to and learn from Jim McManus, Teal Gallagher, and a variety of other members of the California Association of Independent Schools go over various parts of the process, and give insight and tips they have gathered over the years.

The conversation began with a brief overview of the history of accreditation. I had not known that up until the 1960s, universities and colleges directly accredited independent schools, and that it was during the '60s that resources were pooled to form six regional accrediting bodies across the country. This was followed by a review of the values assumed in accreditation (self-reflection, observations and judgments of professional peers, and an ethic of continuing improvement), the tensions accreditation brings to a school (a feeling of invasion compared to a growth opportunity; balancing the unique mission of a school with the adherence to general professional standards; spending minimal time necessary to complete the task with cultivating depth of thought), and the many benefits accreditation brings to a school, including the generation and analysis of information and moments of truth, professional feedback, the presence of a catalyst for improvement, and the marketing dimensions.

The training continued with a review of the timeline of accreditation tasks; the structures of committees; the structure of the self-study; and the on-site visit by the Visiting Committee. It was interesting to hear the challenges that were named in this section, including a) an under- or over-involved Head (since the Head should not be the Self-Study Coordinator), b) the presence of a rogue community member who is looking for a Supreme Court to reverse a particular decision with which s/he is unhappy, c) team and time management, since the three-day visit goes at breakneck speed (which I can attest to, in my lived experience on a WASC committee last spring), and d) the need to manage a desire to hear what length of term the visiting committee will recommend, on the part of the school.

The training concluded with a reasonable suggestion for a process by which the entire self-study can be generated using only Google Docs, and thereby reducing clerical time and paper consumption; information about the product that the Visiting Committee produces, including a 10-12 page "Documentation and Justification Statement" that defends the committee's recommendation of an accreditation term length to the CAIS Board of Directors; and a Q&A. Advice included how to meld the self-study with strategic planning; providing time for faculty to work on this instead of other things; having the Self-Study Coordinator remain positive and upbeat throughout the process; and best practices for structuring committee chairs.

Nice Guys Finish Last

I shared this article from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern about leadership with Mark and Judy of Triangle Associates, the co-facilitators of the NAIS Fellowship for Aspiring Heads week in Atlanta that was so inspiring and transformative for me this summer. It has an interesting take on the idea of personal dominance and projection that is incorporated into the SymLOG tool, which I wrote about last month. This idea came up for me again this week when I was writing a column for next week's NewsNotes, and I was told to "toot my own horn" more in terms of my work with faculty and my role in the school. I am simultaneously very reluctant to do so - a reluctance heightened by my awareness that I can sound arrogant and condescending - with an understanding that there are times when I need to assert my vision and understanding of a situation within my role as a school leader. It's a workout for me to be able to be assertive without being aggressive, and to be directive when I prefer to be democratic!

Links I've shared with faculty recently

I'm often passing articles and websites on to faculty. Sometimes it's in direct response to a request from a faculty member for help in researching a topic or finding resources; other times it's related to a piece of work I've observed in the classroom; and occasionally it's simply something I think they will find interesting, for an assortment of reasons. Here's a collection of six sites I've sent around in the last week that cohere around the latter category.

K-5 service learning:

http://www.freethechildren.org

K-8 literacy:

Just got this link to the first chapter of a new book about how reading instruction pitched towards standardized tests is destroying students' actual love of reading, and thought I'd share it.

http://www.stenhouse.com/emags/0780-1/pageflip.html

I was especially interested in the idea of separated, simulated, and integrated curriculum discussed in the final pages of the chapter - an interesting lens through which to look at our practices of instruction.

4-6 math:

http://games.cs.washington.edu/refraction/

4-8 math:

http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/11/some-help-with-solving-the-rubix-cube/

6-8 science:

http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/11/what-do-wii-remotes-have-to-do-with-science-ask-sixth-graders

6-8 advisory:

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/8615373-418/aurora-teens-learn-social-media-can-backfire.html

One day, three great meetings

Who loves meetings? I did today.

In the first meeting, Diane (Dir. of Advancement), Paula (Dir. of Admissions) and I planned a Mid-year New Parent Orientation event we're holding on Monday for the several families that have started at TBS since the school year began. Besides coming up with what we think is a very interesting and creative way to cover the information with families without talking at them (and one that I think we can use in future years), we simply had great synergy in sharing ideas, building off each other's ideas, and volunteering to take on roles and responsibilities.

In the second meeting, Kate Klaire (recess/social facilitation and EGG director), Danette Swan (2/3 teacher in Sweet Briar Creek) and I met to discuss the results of a Faculty Culture Profile survey that I had K-5 teachers complete during our division meeting two weeks ago. Using the tabulated data as a launching point, we were able to share our thoughts and wonders about the issues challenging our division, from the level of trust faculty hold in each other, to the nature of their casual conversations, to ways to make the division's meetings more worthwhile, to the consequences of the overload we all experience. While there was no single action item to result from this meeting, the opportunity to involve faculty (an open invitation was issued to all division faculty to attend this meeting) in helping me think through the next steps of conversations and activities for the faculty to do together was invaluable.

In the final meeting of the day, the entire faculty gathered after school to continue the curriculum review process that is the major all-faculty initiative of the year, building on our work last year of establishing school-wide learning outcomes. After a brief whole-group review of where we are in the process that we've designed for the year, we split into four small groups to share our observations about the "forward maps" that all faculty have created to guide their curriculum this year. In the small group in which I participated - with Danette, Missy (ECC), Kyla (K/1), Stephen (4/5), Marcella (6th), and Benicia (6-8) - we struggled at first to create a process to follow, but once we decided not to try to order our thoughts, and to just let them out as we felt moved to do so (compared to other groups, which decided to move methodically by either discipline strand, or grade level), our conversation picked up steam. Although the structure of the meeting was set up to follow the See Think Wonder thinking routine across this and the next meeting (since the amount of data on the maps is overwhelming to process), my group couldn't contain itself to sharing just observations of similarities and overlap, and spilled over into various questions such as, if we can all agree on the general topic or idea to plug into each box in the map at a given grade level, can we then give teachers autonomy around the implementation within the context of our shared pedagogic practices? And, are there disciplines in which we might want to be more regimented than that, and lay out all content by grade and sequence more tightly (examples of math, and ECC through 2nd grade reading were given as possibilities)? And, similar to the earlier meetings, what made this experience so great was the active role each and every participant took in contributing to our collective understanding and perception.

I don't know how many times in my life I'll say that I had three great meetings in one day!

School Assembly #2

Today we hosted our second all-school assembly of the year. Because it was cold at 9:00 - and, there were backhoes digging up Addison St right behind the school - we held this assembly in the newly remodeled Depot. While it was a tight squeeze to get all the students in a position where they could see the front of the room, I think we actually fit in better than we had in the past, given the open layout of the North Gallery, and the aesthetics of the space felt really wonderful.

Since Mitch was off campus, I opened the assembly with a welcome and a clapping activity: clap once it you went trick or treating on Halloween, twice if you went to a party, three times if you wore a different costume in the evening than you wore in the parade during the day, four times if you watched a scary movie, five times if you know your costume for next year (at which most K-3s clapped, but very few 4th-8th graders clapped!), six times if Halloween is your favorite holiday, and seven times if you have a different favorite holiday (the majority clapped here). I then quickly discussed how I had met with teachers to redesign assemblies, and our thinking that this would be a great time to learn about each other, and what other students in the school are learning, and turned it over to Kate Klaire and the Student council. The kids did a wonderful job explaining their work - everyone spoke on the mic, from the youngest 1st grader to the oldest 5th grader - and then they put on some short skits to demonstrate the ideas they were discussing. And at the end, as a reminder to keep recess fun, they threw confetti onto the crowd!

To close the assembly, Eve Decker, our K-6 music and 6-8 drama teacher, then led the school through "The Witches" by Bonnie Lockhart, a song that the K-6 students had all learned in the last month of classes. Hearing the kids roar the song was great, and another example of how our increased intentionality around all aspects of the assemblies, from activities to song choice, has had instant payoff.

Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain

I just finished reading this incredible book, which thoroughly lays out the research into neuroscience presented at the 2004 Mind and Life Institute hosted by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

This research has lead to the discovery of neuroplasticity - the ability of the brain to generate new cells throughout a person's life, as well as the ability to heal and renew itself after trauma, and compensate for disability. For example, areas of the brain responsible for processing visual input can get repurposed for processing auditory input in people who have gone blind, and stroke victims can learn to walk and talk again even if the areas of the brain initially responsible for those activities are damaged.

The book also investigates the relationship between mental activity and brain function. Every thought that occurs in the mind has a corresponding physiological event (synapsis firing) in the brain; as I understand it, while the scientific community once approached this as a one-way street, focusing only on brain function, the research now shows that thinking can influence brain activity. The implications for this in the realm of mental and emotional health are staggering; if we can train our minds to think in certain ways, it will strengthen the neural networks that support those emotions, and weaken the ones that support the emotions we don't wish to experience. Research has already been done showing the ability of the mind to break cycles of depression and OCD behavior; the Buddhist traditions of mindfulness and meditation point towards the power of mental training to give individuals the tools and ability to cultivate their minds as they wish them to be, for healthier and happier lives.

As an individual, I'm firmly convinced in the promise of these ideas, and have begun working on developing my own practice of mindfulness. One of my first steps is reading Fully Present, which looks at the science and art of mindfulness, and also provides pragmatic guidance and activities to develop my practice of mindfulness. As an educator, I'm trying to understand the significance of this research for school-age students, and wondering what it would look like to integrate this into the TBS program.

We laugh because we see the kernels of truth beneath the humor

Many thanks to The New Yorker magazine for this hilarious column.

The pursuit of knowing myself

I found this post on the Harvard Business Review to be helpful in a very pragmatic sense, as well as confirming the importance for me of intentionally working to improve my EQ, and the role this plays in leadership. The idea of "knowing your triggers" is one that I have been working on this fall, as part of my attempt to drive up my EQ - it's another way of saying "recognize your patterns", one of the two dimensions that is important within the pursuit of knowing yourself.

Why is it that certain people seem to simply "push our buttons"? I don't know, but I do now know that I can rewire that button, and even disconnect it. By keeping a reflection journal this fall, I've been able to identify various individuals within the school to whom I have strong emotional reactions that sabotage my ability to work with those people. For example, I have worked hard this fall to respond to a faculty member with patience and trust, instead of annoyance and contempt. I was never proud of having those feelings toward this person -- well, in point of fact I also didn't really understand I was having them until I developed my emotional literacy (another critical aspect of the pursuit of knowing yourself), but I knew that our interactions always left me feeling tense and exhausted. By increasing my ability to name the emotions I was experiencing, and then tracking them closely throughout my day, I came to understand that I was constantly responding to this person with these emotions. And, since that was not how I wanted to respond, I began being aware of whenever I was beginning to have those feelings during conversations. When this occurred, I asked myself why or what about the conversation was leading to those, and then addressed that issue -- which may have been an assumption I had, or perceived the other person to have, or something else -- either out loud, with that person, or in silently in my own head. By going to the source of those proto-emotions, I was able to catch them before they undermined me.

I'm definitely at various stages of this work in regards to different people. Just this week I was able to identify that I am responding to, and approaching, one member of the faculty from a position of fear. While I have had plenty of successful and positive interactions with this person, I am now ready to begin work on noticing and putting aside my fear during our interactions, rather than allowing it to drive my words and actions - especially since, when it does, I don't perform well!

Monday reading

A longer collection than usual, since I haven't posted an article list in a while...

I'm a little disappointed in this article from Boston.com; I know the long hours for low pay that teachers work, but of all the professions, they are the ones I would least expect to try to co-opt a protest of one topic in order to raise awareness of another.

This Washington Post article has a great take on Michelle Rhee's legacy, proving it's not so easy to simply love her or hate her.

As a school, we talk about preserving and developing the motivation of students. As a leader, I think about how to do that with faculty. While they are all important, item #4 on this Harvard Business Review blog article caught my attention, since it fits right into the professional development work I am doing this year (see last week's post for more on that).

Health Day points out that "Overall, young children learn best from and require interaction with people, not TV shows or videos". But we kinda knew that already, right?

Teacher assessment is a hot topic. How can the process be improved, and yet not so open-ended that administrators act arbitrarily? Some places are considering improved test scores; others are considering the degree of parent interaction. The Wall St Journal takes a look.

Interested in how Finland structures their educational system? You should be, especially when someone like Tony Wagner (author of The Global Achievement Gap) is writing about it.

Still on the topic of international education, here's a teaser from the Hechinger Report on how the U.S. compares to other countries. I don't know about you, but I shudder when I read that "With the world getting more hyper-connected all the time, maintaining the American dream will require learning, working, producing, relearning, and innovating twice as hard, twice as fast, twice as often, and twice as much.” (Emphasis in the original.)", and not because I think we can't do that - it's because there are people who think that is "the answer" to "restoring" the dominance of the American educational system.

Minority teachers are critical to a culturally competent and responsive school. So why is it so hard to find them? Edweek.org has this summary of the issues.

The LA Times is running an interesting series of articles on companion robots. Here's one on a robot developed for autistic children. I sent it to my mother, who works at a school for autistic children outside of Boston, and she responded that they used the robot in this article as part of a study, comparing how kids responded to it and to real dogs.

10/26 Elementary Division Meeting

We began yesterday's Elementary Division meeting by reviewing our ground rules, and then had a brief check-in. The check-in took the form of an "emotional thermometer"; each person wrote his/her name on a popsicle stick, and then put it in a cup bearing a number from 1-10, where #1 represented feeling very low and sad, and #10 represented feeling joyous and excited. This thermometer made our emotional states visibile to each other and ourselves, and allowed each person the opportunity to have his/her emotional needs acknowledged by the group. We then discussed how a tool like this could be used in the classroom by students, including when and why a student might want or need to switch his/her emotional status, and the benefits (and need) to have emotions be recognized, and their impact on our actions understood, by students. BTW, this was one of the little tips I picked up while at the EQ conference a few weeks ago.

Teachers then completed the Faculty Culture Profile that is part of the Meaningful Faculty Evaluation tool developed by ISM. We did this because I am continuing to think about the question "what does it mean to be a division?", and the need for us to have a shared basis of data (not just narrative perspectives) from which to make decisions about what topics to discuss. My hope and intention is that a small group of faculty will work with me to analyze the results and decide on areas of focus for future division-wide culture work.

The next phase of the meeting centered on the creation of professional development goals for the year. I began by relating the incredible experience that I had this summer at the NAIS Fellowship for Aspiring Heads in Atlanta, and the nature of the feedback that I received. I then moved on to sharing the four goals that I had come up with based on that data (two of which I've already blogged about on this site), as well as the action steps and criteria for success that I had identified. While 3/4 of my goals are centered on personal growth, rather than professional practice, I acknowledged that faculty can decide if they want to include any personal growth goals within their professional goals,and that it is totally appropriate and acceptable if they choose to keep them all closely related to activities in the classroom. However, no matter the goal, it is important that faculty differentiate between means and ends, and that they determine how they'll know they are moving towards their goals before they begin their action plan, which is the same approach that is involved in determining criteria of growth for assessment before planning instructional activities with students.

The fourth section of the meeting was a conversation led by Kate Klaire on the ongoing work of the student council, and the social facilitation work that she is doing across the school. Topics for future iterations of the council are beginning to emerge, so the planning for those councils is beginning, and the social facilitation work is in full swing, but needing feedback from faculty on the frequency and the degree to which is can/should be based on pre-planned ideas compared to emergent needs in each class.

The meeting then moved into 15 minutes of preparation for the Parent/Teacher conferences that occur next week. To capitalize on the decades of teaching experience around the table, I asked the faculty to share tricks, tips, and approaches that they have found help lead to successful conferences. Not surprisingly, every single teacher had something worthwhile to share with the group, and afterwards people felt more secure about the intention with which they will approach planning for conferences. If you're looking for a great book to check out about conferences, please read The Essential Conversation by Sara Lawrence-Lighfoot.

The meeting concluded with short conversations about the SST process, the redesigned approach to assemblies that I blogged about last week (sign-ups to present a 5-minute "showcase of learning" at each assembly went out digitally after the meeting), and planning for on-going child visits over the next two weeks.

Recognizing what's going right

Three weeks ago I blogged about one of my professional development goals for the year - developing my EQ. I received a very moving and thoughtful email from a parent in response to that post, from which I want to share the following paragraph:

"i was really impressed with a recent post in which you talked about your own professional development goals, some of your own challenges, and how you are creating a plan to work on those. i have worked with and observed manyleaders in organizations and it is a rarity to see a leader be so transparent about the parts of themselves they are working to develop in the personal/professional arena. when a leader does this it has a very positive influence on the culture in that it helps model and encourage the behavior for others. and it helps people hold each other accountable in more supportive ways. fabulous."

As you can imagine, this email made me feel great, and it also resonated for me in another way. One of the pieces of feedback I received this summer during the week I spent in Atlanta at the NAIS Fellowship for Aspiring Heads is that I am perceived as too focused on tasks instead of people. This was literally made visible to me through the SymLOG assessment:

The Y-axis represents orientation towards task orientation of established authority, while the X-axis represents values on friendly behavior. The third dimension of this assessment is the size of the diameter of the circle, indicating orientation towards personal dominance and projection. The black circle labeled "YOU" indicates my perception of myself, while the red circle labeled "EFF" indicates my perception of how I could be more effective as a leader. The black circle labeled "ACT" shows the composite perception of the nine people who rated me on this tool, and the red circle labeled "IDL" shows their perception of how an ideal leader would be assessed. And finally, the filled-in red circle labeled "MEP" shows the most effective profile for a leader, as developed from analysis of over 40,000 surveys.

My interpretation of this data (for which I also have the underlying numerical information) (along with that from the three other assessment tools that were part of the experience) was that at this time, in this place, I need to engage in more "friendly behaviors" with the faculty. While there's a social line between faculty and administration, and for good reason, it is less divisive here at TBS than it may be at other schools or institutions. But my reading of this data is slightly more complex than just getting beers with teachers after work (though that is important to do to); the goal that I formulated for myself is to recognize what's going right within the classrooms on a regular basis.

This is a topic that is out in the zeitgeist; for example, a recent blog post on Edutopia hit on it. And because getting positive feedback and appreciation is unfortunately all too rare for most of us, I'm trying to do a few concrete things towards being a better cheerleader. One of them is offering at least one genuine and authentic appreciation to someone on the faculty each day (which I'm tracking on a simple form, noting to whom and for what I give the appreciation). Another is to use "A+B/Q messages" in my feedback to faculty after brief observations; the "A" is a positive compliment about something that I see in the classroom, and the "B/Q" is either an idea of how to grow/expand/improve on that concept, or to ask a question about the activity/concept that will help push forward the teacher's thinking. And a third is publishing an internal division-wide newsletter called Mission Moments, which I share here just for you, loyal blog readers!

By the way, there's an interesting neurological reason that we see and hold negative experiences more than positive ones, related to the evolutionary history of our species and the need for our ancestors to avoid repeating potentially deadly actions. For more on that, check out Brain Rules by John Medina.

Site day a smashing success!

I am so thankful and appreciative to the incredible crew of parents (and kids!) who showed up to help out on Saturday. The K/1 playscape and the MS deck now look amazing!! We're ready to build a good-lookin' fence at the north end of the playscape, to plant a rain garden in the planter between the art room and Cerrito Creek, and to introduce "lincoln logs" to our recess offerings. If you see Adam Beyda, Blue Camacho, Helen Hallberg, Signy Judd, Kate Klaire, Erin Lewis, Jean Marstens, Willie Pettus, Neal Rubin, Eitan Spanier, Megan Vieira, Jon Witort, or Dave and Will Yetter, please give them a hi-five and a thank you too!

Rethinking assemblies

Yesterday after school I met with Chris P., Mike S., Julianne, and Kate to discuss our K-8 assemblies. We began to hold regular assemblies last year, but the purpose seemed not to go beyond learning a few songs to sing together. So, I asked the teachers who played instruments and lead the singing at the assemblies to meet to consider how we could make the assemblies more intentional and meaningful. While I knew I could come up with something reasonable on my own, it's more fun and interesting to work with my colleagues, and I believe this is a shift that will benefit from being consensus-driven rather than imposed from above.

Our discussion began by considering the question, what is the goal of having assemblies? We decided upon four worthy goals; to build community, to strengthen school culture, to inform each other about what's happening in the different classrooms, and to celebrate successes and give appreciations. From there, we discussed what structure should assemblies have to achieve these goals? After some disagreement, and the recognition that we needed to have something that would engage 190+ students, was low-impact on faculty, was authentic and not contrived, and would only last 15-20 minutes, we came upon a template that can be replicated at each assembly; an introduction and framing from Mitch, a brief "showcase of learning" of recent work by one of the classrooms, and then a song. If no class has signed up for a particular assembly's showcase, we can draw from a list of other elements we generated, including skits to illustrate that month's Social Rules for Kids, or having a student council select a few children to read their writing as a school-wide publishing party.

We then determined how often do we need to have assemblies to achieve these goals - once a month. After looking through the calendar and scheduling dates for assemblies for the remainder of the year, we considered what songs should we introduce to the school that support these goals? We decided to give each remaining month a theme (November = gratitude, February = social justice, April = environmentalism, etc), and to ask Eve Decker, our K-6 music and 6-8 drama teacher (who very much wanted to be involved in this process, but was unable to attend the meeting), to develop a list of songs that we will teach in both the music class and the regular classrooms. The meeting ended with a discussion about what action steps to take to meet these goals - presentations to faculty at next week's division meetings, creating a brief form to help teachers brainstorm how they want to structure a "showcase of learning", and creating a songbook for the entire year.

Site/garden work party coming up this Saturday!

This Saturday from 9-3, we'll be holding a site/garden work party at the University Campus. For those of you interested in knowing what we'll be doing, here's a draft "punch list" of tasks that I've assembled. Please keep in mind that this list can (and likely will) change as we get closer to the actual day. I hope you can join us, as we have a long list of tasks, and hope to make a huge difference in the feel and functionality of the site.

K/1 playscape

Demo

-Remove boat

-Remove hay bales

-Cut back any plant that is extending into the walking space defined for children

-Prune grape vines, native plants bushes, lemon tree, apple tree, all other plants

-Remove and compost any rotting apples/ lemons

-Remove plywood scraps at the south end

-Remove all debris at the north end by the metal shed

Build

-Repair/oil vises for woodworking station

-Build a fence where the hay bales and wine barrels currently are

-Put a small table (or other item) off the back of the berm to break up the path

-Design a “create with nature zone” at the south end

-Install shade cover over outdoor classroom arbor, similar to the one above the Laurel Creek back door (corrugated plastic cover)

-Plant butterfly attracting flowers along the west fence

-Organize the trash, compost, and recycling.

-Create a more definite boundary b/n woodchips and sand

Middle School Deck

-Store all aquarium components in the shed (tools/filter from the very edge of bed closest to the stairs; tank; lights and hanger; nitrogen canister)

-Compost all dead plant next to disposal bins

-Remove the standing rectangular bed (formerly a water garden)

-Repurpose the barrels that have nothing growing in them

-Move the blue rain barrels to the storage area north of the K/1 playscape

-Remove the plastic pots that are sitting on the table near the shed

-Plant in the planters

-Remove rusty chairs

-Straighten out/arrange picnic tables for visual aesthetic

Other spaces

-Lincoln logs: create a station to cut these (Kate has template), and a storage unit outside the West wall of the art room

-Path between art room and cerrito - make it a rain garden: loosen the compacted earth and amend the soil (don’t damage the irrigation system!)

-fence off the area under the south stairs behind/around the playhouse

-Create improved privacy/barrier on fence behind building 1 using bamboo sheeting.