Reading for Joy

Reading for Joy

 

Like most schools across our province, we are concerned about vulnerable readers and how to support them most effectively and efficiently.  We have tried many different methods of assessment and intervention, searching for those that will give us the biggest “bang for the buck.”  We know that there is no one perfect approach that will work for all children. What seems to be having the most impact upon learning in our school is the practice of the Case Study. 

As part of the Changing Results for Young Readers Project for the third year, our primary teachers have been focusing on one child for a Case Study, and with the permission of the parents, they thoughtfully examine that child’s learning strengths and needs in the area of reading.  Teachers meet once a month with the other participating schools and talk about their practice, sharing their inquiry questions, strategies and resources that have worked, and those that were not so successful.  We also weave social-emotional learning, self-regulation, and Aboriginal Ways of Knowing into our work with children.  As we have learned from our colleagues across the province, the case studies have resulted almost without fail, in students having increased self-confidence, a self-image as a reader, and most importantly, a growing love of reading.

Last year, this increased enjoyment of reading tweaked our curiosity.  We know that students need to spend big chunks of time with text, preferably text they have chosen themselves.  As Richard Allington states in his article “Every Child, Every Day” (Educational Leadership, vol. 69, Number 6, March, 2012), “The research base on student-selected reading is robust and conclusive: Students read more, understand more, and are more likely to continue reading when they have to opportunity to choose what they read.”  We asked ourselves, doesn’t it make sense that if students can choose what they read, and are taught to choose “just right” books, that they will enjoy it, read more and become more proficient readers?

Our staff decided to shift our school improvement inquiry from, “Will Tier 1 and 2 interventions help do decrease the number of grade 3 students who are at risk in reading?”  to “How can we foster a school -wide joy of reading? What could we do differently to ensure that students are reading more, expanding their literary horizons and having fun in the process?”  A report we found, written for the UK Department for Education: Research evidence on reading for pleasure (May 2012), was encouraging.  Key findings included the following:

·        Evidence suggests that there is a positive relationship between reading frequency reading enjoyment and attainment (Clark 2011; Clark and Douglas 2011).

·        Reading enjoyment has been reported as far more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status (OECD, 2002).

·        There is a positive link between positive attitudes towards reading and scoring well on reading assessment (Twist et al, 2007).

·        International evidence supports these findings; US research reports that independent reading is the best predictor of reading achievement (Anderson, Wilson and Fielding, 1988).

 

To support our inquiry, we wanted to gather school data from a number of sources and triangulate it to tell a story about our students and their attitudes toward reading.   We started with a student survey administered to grades 3 through 7.  When the results came in, we learned that 61% of the grade 3 girls and 53% of the grade 3 boys said that they read often or “all the time” for enjoyment.  In grade 5, 85% of the girls and 63% of the boys read often or “all the time” for enjoyment and 50% of the grade 7 girls and 35% of the boys.  They also gave us some ideas for how we can help students  love reading even more at home and at school, including buying more books, having comfy chairs or beanbags in the library, books clubs, more time with the teacher-librarian, more time to read during the school day, and field trips to the public library to name a few.  That data combined with other assessment results, began to inform our practice and lead to change.

Obviously, staffing, supporting and maintain the school library can be costly, but when children speak in favour of more librarian time and more books, it is hard to say no.  With the help of our PAC, our teacher-librarian was able to offer three Book-to-Movie clubs, including a dinner and encouraging parent participation.  We budgeted to open the library at 8:30 every morning so that students would have extra time for book exchange and reading.  We got bean bag chairs for the library and reconfigured the space to create quiet reading corners.  Most classes walked to the public library at least once during the school year and the Children’s Librarian came to us to promote the Reading Link Challenge.  We were very proud of our students who competed against other city schools and won.  This October, our PAC once again gave us the funds to purchase Red Cedar and Chocolate Lily books.  We pump up reading in our newsletters, in Morning Announcements, and with the tireless efforts of the teacher-librarian, who passionately promotes and supports students and teachers with all kinds of literacy.

 
We were elated to receive our BC MoE Satisfaction Survey results in the spring.  In 2010, 72% of grade 4 students answered “many times or all the time” to the question “Are you getting better at reading?”  In the spring of 2014, it was 93%.  The grade 7 results went from 77% in 2010, to 80% in 2014.  In the parent survey results, 100% of parents said that they were “satisfied with the development of their child’s reading skills,” as opposed to 57% in 2010. 
 
We have recently repeated the Reading Survey with a sample of students in grades 3 – 6.  In answer to the question, “How often do you read for enjoyment?” 78% replied “Often” or “All the Time.” When asked how often they visit the school library, 71% said that they go once a week or more. One hundred percent of the students surveyed feel that they are getting better at reading, and when asked how they know, many answered that they gauge their progress by the thickness of the book, but others said things like, “It’s getting easier,” “I’m reading faster and more often,” and “I am challenging myself.”

 In our most recent meeting of our District’s Changing Results for Young Readers team, all four of the schools reported that giving student choice in their reading material is becoming a key aspect of their literacy programs.  One colleague said, “I had to give up control over choosing the texts for them, and it worked!  They love what they are reading.”  We praised her courage, as that giving up of control can be scary. 

Sometimes it takes a shift in practice to shift our beliefs.  Teachers have always believed that reading should be an enjoyable thing. In the words of our teacher-librarian, it’s the often unspoken “nirvana” that we’re all trying to move the kids toward! What may be lacking is the purposeful teaching towards that end. In our Case Studies this year we will keep this notion foremost in our thoughts and in our actions: the necessity of joyful reading practice, to model a love of reading, and hopefully inspire our students to be readers for life. 

This Week in Pictures: November 24th - 28th

This week students created some lovely art!  Mrs. Lapointe's class celebrated all thing Australian, including Tiger Toast (Vegemite Grilled Cheese) and we ended the week with our awesome Annual Writing Day.

 

 

 

 

Cross Country Running 2014

Coaching cross country is my favourite thing!  I am so proud of these runners!  They braved rain and mud and finished with smiles on their faces.  Way to go, everyone!

The Cross Country Team!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Teenage Brain

I recently read Brainstorm: An inside guide to the emerging adolescent mind, ages 12 - 24, by Daniel J. Siegel, MD.  He is also the author of The Whole-Brain Child and Parenting from the Inside Out.

One of the first things the author does is dispel four myths about the adolescent brain.  The first is that raging hormones make teenagers "go crazy" and lose their minds.  It is actually brain development that affects behavior.  The second myth is that adolescence is a time of immaturity, and that we are waiting for them to grow up.  The third myth is that growing up during adolescence requires moving from dependence on adults to total independence from them.  In fact, the attachments teenagers have with adults are still important, even as they desire more independence and may seem to value their friends more than family.

Seigel goes on to talk about four features of the adolescent brain's growth. 

1. Novelty seeking emerges from an increased drive for rewards in circuits of the adolescent brain that creates the inner motivation to try something new and feel life more fully.
2. Social engagement enhances peer connectedness and creates new friendships.
3. Increased emotional intensity gives an enhanced vitality to life.
4. Creative exploration with an expanded sense of consciousness.

Each of these aspects has an upside and a downside.  For example, when seeking novelty, an adolescent may partake in dangerous behavior.  At the same time, novelty-seeking can lead to a sense of adventure and "fascination for life." 

In between the chapters, Seigel offers "mindsight tools" for adolescents themselves,  These mindfullness exercises aim to help adolescents be more aware of their thinking, balance their minds, breath awareness, and reflection practice (good for "grown-ups," too). 

This book is not a super-easy read, but the "real life" anecdotes help ground the theory.  It helped me understand that one needs to have an open mind set about teenagers and young adults.  If one looks at this time of life as an exciting phase for activating creativity, courage and empathy, not a time to just "survive."

It is available at the Squamish Public Library.

Eagles Among Us

Our students have been learning about eagles this month. Meg Toom from Eagle Watch came and presented to students in our library. The we went out to the Eagle Viewing are in Brackendale. Lots of learning took place both in and out of the classrooms.

Carrots and Sticks

As you may have heard, our Sea to Sky Board of Education recently made the decision to move Squamish's Grade 7 students to Don Ross Secondary in September 2014. Our students are pretty excited about being able to join a Middle Years program and have access to hands on learning: wood work, metal work, sewing, cooking, computers, and so on, a year earlier than anticipated. We know that change is hard. We know there will be some growing pains among students, parents and teachers, too. There are still questions we do not have answers for, but hope that over the next six months, the district teams will create a solid plan for transition. One of the first questions I was asked after the decision was made was, "Will the Grade 6's get year end awards?" That got me thinking. In recent years, the teachers and I have been feeling uncomfortable about the Grade 7 awards. We wonder: What values do the awards (withing academia, citizenship, athletics and music) represent? What values are missing? What impact do awards have on the recipients? What impact do they have on the rest of the students? Leaving one school and moving on to another certainly requires some rite of passage. How can we create traditions that are genuine and inclusive? Here is a blog post by a principal in Alberta who spoke at a conference I attended last month. http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/1079 I especially liked his words about family. If we are trying to create a sense of family in our school, why would we praise and acknowledge only a few? I am a firm believer in the futility of using rewards and punishments to motivate people. Carrots and sticks, as we call them, might work for a very short time, but they do not bring about lasting change or growth. In fact, researchers tell us that rewards are actually demotivating over time. A basic need all children have is to be loved unconditionally. As Alfie Kohn says, "All children have a deep need for their parents' approval. That's why praise often "works" in the short term to get them to do what we want....Rather, the child comes to see her "whole self" as good only when she pleases the parent." (p. 40 Unconditional Parenting, 2005) As a staff, we have not made any decisions about year end awards, but we are beginning to think about it and would welcome input. More thoughts to come...

Adult Learning for Student Success

I'm spending this weekend at the Connecting Leaders Conference in Richmond.  I have enjoyed listening to several speakers so far, two of whom have focused on how to make human connections using technology.  What a concept.  Sometimes we think of technology as de-humanizing and isolating.  These speakers have told us countless stories about how Skype, blogging, tweeting, etc. can actually bring us closer, both with our neighbours and with the global community.

One story was about how an 80 year old grandmother, who immigrated from Greece decades ago but had never learned English, began to use email to write to her son, coached by her grandchild, practicing her English and learning to use an iPad all at the same time.

Another story was about a class of grade 5 students in Alberta, connecting via Skype with a class in New Jersey, just after Hurricane Sandy.  They were teaching each other about all kinds of things like extreme weather, emergency preparedness and response, even the difference between metric and Imperial measurement.

When I think back over the past five years at Squamish Elementary, I am struck by how we have evolved in our thinking about technology, including cel phones.  We used to see devices as a threat to teaching and learning.  We had students hide away their phones and feared the worst.  Now we are not so wary, more trusting. Sure, some misuse may still happen, but now we are trying to take advantage of these powerful devices: all of human knowledge in the palms of our hands.

Now we have the task of coaching children in digital citizenship, in critical thinking, so that they can navigate the internet with the ability to question and analyze what they read and see, and use technology with personal integrity.  School should be like a basecamp: the place where you prepare for great adventures, where you come back for coaching, where you are safe and nurtured, but also fully equipped with the tools for success.

Happy New Year!

Grade 1, 2, and 3 students at the building site, co-constructing!

Welcome back to school, everyone.  I hope you all had a wonderful summer.  I enjoyed my summer immensely.  I loved the sunshine.  I got out running in the trails almost every day, I read about thirty murder mysteries, I swam in the ocean and the lakes, I visited the Sunshine Coast, I hung out in Vancouver, I went to Bard on the Beach, and spent a lot of time with my son and daughter, my parents, and my new baby niece, Annabel Violet!  A highlight for me was running the Squamish 50 Miler in August:  15 hours and 41 minutes of pure running enjoyment!

But I missed your children!

Back-to-school time reminds me why I love this profession of teaching and learning.  It is the children's curiosity, their enthusiasm, the energy they have, and their acceptance of each other, quirks and all, that feeds my passion.  Now that I think of it, the above sentence describes the adults in the building, too!

The "New Year" also inspires us to set goals for the next ten months.  I try to set SMART goals:  specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely.  And I encourage students to set SMART goals, too.  Not like, "I want to get straight A's," but more like, "I want to learn all of my timestables by Christmas," or "I want to manage my time on my projects and finish them by the due dates."  So my goals for this year include:

• to learn all new students' names by Christmas
• to get into all classrooms and teach, and release teachers to collaborate
• to talk to my staff every month about how to make learning as engaging for all students as possible

And I'd like to have fun, while doing that!  Learning should be fun, not all the time, but most of the time!  Just like running a marathon:  it can be painful at times, but well worth the outcome and sense of accomplishment.

Have a great 2013 - 2014!

Turning the Page: 2012 - 2013

Jumping for joy on Sports Day



Go Blue Team




Climbing Burgers and Fries




Our new Hexamid/Spider Web/Climbing Thing!




Be the Change!



Rainy Day Reading Buddies

These are some of my favourite images from this school year. 

Our school is now at capacity as we have, over the past two years, integrated the District French Immersion Program.  It has been a pleasure to welcome many new families to our school commuity.  Growth and change can be painful sometimes.  In the past five years since I have been here as principal, our school has doubled in size.  We've faced new challenges such as:  How do we get 400+ students into the building in an orderly fashion each morning?  How can we help the French Immersion and English students coexist and develop some mutual appreciation?  How will we share computer lab and gym in a fair and equitable way?  How will Ms. Sorban teach all of those intermediate students to play band instruments and not lose her mind?

Luckily, we are a team at SQES!  People with energy, enthusiasm and optimism can always find a way to overcome obstacles together.  That includes teachers, support staff, parents and students, as well.  Thank you everyone for making 2012 - 2013 a memorable year!  Here's looking forward to September with the same positive, purposeful perspective!

Opportunities to Shine

This week, our students had a couple of big events.  Mr. Parker and Mrs. Johnston's classes went camping to Evans Lake, the Grade 7 French Immersion students spent three days at Camp Summit, and about 50 students in grades 3 - 7 participated in the District Track and Field meet.

I was able to join the kids at Evans Lake for a morning and was so impressed with the setting, the counsellors, the activities, the parents who volunteered their time, and with the students themselves.  When I arrived, one group was practicing archery.  I remember hearing a story about the actress Geena Davis.  She was not very athletic growing up, but picked up a bow and arrow at the age of 41.  It turns out, she was so talented that she almost qualified for the Sidney Olympics. She placed 24th of 300 and did not qualify for the team, but participated as a wild-card entry in the Sydney International Golden Arrow competition.  What if one of our students had such a skill that might never be uncovered if they did not have opportunity!

Another group of students was rock climbing.  This is another sport with seemingly unlikely heroes.  It is not the fastest, the strongest or the most coordinated person who is often the best climber.  In fact, it's more likely to be the quiet, but most thoughtful and flexible one.  As I watched Mr. Parker, Mr. Hinchcliffe and Alison belay the kids, I wondered who might carry on with the sport in high school, where they have indoor climbing walls.  We live in such a climbing mecca:  it is so important that our students have the opportunity to try it out for themselves.

A third group of students were canoeing.  I was disappointed to have missed my chance to join them.  Not being a strong swimmer, I have not really enjoyed boating in the past.  But last summer I signed up for a four hour kayak lesson with my daughter, and I was so nervous! I could not sleep the night before.  I do not really know what I was afraid of, but with the excellent coaching of our instructor, I managed to get in the kayak, purposely tip out of it (!) and get back in.  Then we paddled around Deep Bay on Bowen Island and I so enjoyed it.  Being able to take a risk and face a fear can be a life-changing experience.  Every student needs a gentle encouraging coach beside him or her, to take those risks and live to tell the tale.

I wish I could have attended the Track and Field Meet, but Mrs. Yates' class and I had our last visit with Baby Jacob, our Roots of Empathy Baby that afternoon.  However, when Mrs. Fanzega and the students came back, they showed me their ribbons and shared their experiences.  Two stories from the day gave me goosebumps.  The first was about Luke, who, during the 800 m race, saw that his friend Ryan was really struggling.  Rather than leave him to finish alone, Luke slowed down and encourages Ryan all the way through the finish line.  It gives me goosebumps again just typing this.

Another anecdote was from Mickey, who was in the lead in the grade 6 boys 100 meter race.  Unfortunately, the grass was slippery and he fell.  The boy who won the race (from another school) gave Mickey his First Place ribbon.  Can you believe it?

It is an awful lot of work organizing for a track meet and getting ready for a multi-day camping trip.  Sometimes we wonder it is all worth it, but I know it is.  Who knows what small experience might change the life of a child, give them the courage and the confidence to take on even larger challenges?  Thank you to the teachers, the parents, and the students themselves for creating these opportunities to shine.

Keeping Kids Safe in Cyberspace

Last week we had a guest speaker come to talk to our students about social media and internet safety.  Jesse Miller (mediatedreality.com) spoke to the grade 4/5's and then the 6/7's, each for an hour.  In the evening, he spoke to about 60 parents.  His main message was that we can use social media to make the world a better place, but often is it just a distraction and a waste of time, not to mention potentially  dangerous.  When Mr. Miller arrived at our school he took a photo of his shoe to get our longitude and latitude.  From there, he was able to cross-reference several apps on his phone and "found" 10 of our students' profiles, some very open, some with very disturbing text and images.  He could tell where some of them lived, and even found pictures taken at our school, in our classrooms, posted and with students tagged. 

Here are some other things we learned:

• Thirteen is the age a person is supposed to be to join Facebook.
• There are 90,000,000 children under the age of 13 who have a Facebook account.
• Most of our intermediate students said they have a Facebook account and their "fake" ages ranged widely.
• Privacy settings don't really work as words and pictures can be passed around like the game of "Telephone."  Don't put anything online that you would not want your mother or your boss to see.
• Four young girls in Ontario were recently fooled into meeting a middle-aged man, who online, was claiming to be Justin Beiber.  He sexually assaulted them.
• How do you value friendships?  Write down the names of your friends on a piece of paper.  Only those people should be your friends on Facebook.  Get rid of the rest.  Do you really want friends who only remember your birthday because Facebook reminded them?
• You are the most important thing in the world to your parents - Share your passwords and accounts with them.
• Would you spend a dollar a day to use Twitter, Facebook or Instagram?
• Photos on Snapchat DO NOT disappear forever.
• Followers:  Would you think it would be creepy for a 40 year old man to be following an 11 year old girl on the street?  Why is it not creepy on Instagram or Twitter?  Get rid of followers you don't know.  They can find out your name, where you go to school, where you live, etc.
• Be a friend to your friends in real life.
• Do you sleep with your phone?  Might it be interfering with your sleep?  Get an alarm clock!
• Think of your favourite sport, and playing hard when it really matters.  Would you do that with a phone in your hand?  Pay attention to what really matters.
• A student in the US lost an opportunity to have a $75,000 scholarship because he tweeted racist remarks. Others have lost their lives and bankrupted their families, texting while driving.  Again - pay attention to what matters.

We thank the District Parent Advisory Committee for funding Jesse Miller's parent presentation.

January 2013 - Focus on Reading

Did you know that BC students out-perform most students in the world in reading? According to the recent PIRLS study of grade 4's, students in BC have better comprehension tahn their peers in many other English and non-English speaking countries.  See for yourself at

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/assessment/pirls_2011_bc_sum.pdf

This month at Ecole Squamish, we are spending a lot of time thinking about the art and science of teaching reading.  Our school goal is in reading and the SPC is presenting to the Trustees and District Education Staff this week as part of the yearly review of our Learning Plan.

One of the strategies we use at our school is screening and assessing primary students' readiness and reading skills with a tool called the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills.  Despite it's long name (we call it DIBELS for short)  it involves a short session with a child, having them identify letters and sounds, combinations of letters and nonsense words.  This helps us figure out what skills they are missing and what to teach and help them practice.

Alivia (grade3) reads the morning messages.

Teachers use a variety of approaches to further support and encourage reading in the classroom.  A number of our teachers are implementing an approach called The Daily Five, which promotes independence, self-regulation, improved stamina for reading and writing, and positive peer interaction.  The teacher is able to conference with individuals and small groups while students read to themselves, read to a classmate, listen to reading, write about something that matters to them, and work on words.  These are teachers of primary and intermediate students - it is not just for beginning readers.

In intermediate classrooms, teachers tend to focus on the skills that we know good readers have:  the ability to make mental images and connections when we read, to use a variety of strategies to figure out new words, to draw inferences and determine the main idea of a piece of wrting, to reflect upon and respond to what we have read.  Some teachers follow the approaches laid out in Reading 44, Reading Power,  or other frameworks.  But they all know that six things are true about reading:  students need to, on a daily basis, read something he/she has chosen, that it at the "just right" level so they can read with accuracy, write something personally meaningful, talk with their peers about reading and writing with their peers, and listen to a fluent adult read aloud (Allington & Gabriel, 2012).

Here are some photos of "reading in action" at our school.



Ms. Gibson working with one of her grade 1's



Writing about reading in grade 6/7



Silent Reading Time in Ms. Miller & Ms. Robichaud's class.



Thomas and Rafi enjoying their reading.

Mark's reading a mountain bike magazine.



Hannah practices yoga while she's reading.

As it is National Family Literacy Week, we want to let you know how proud we are of all of our students, and thankful for the support they get at home.

If you have questions about your child's reading progress, please contact your child's teacher, myself of Mrs. Reed.

First Term Reflections

Our first term of the 2012 - 2013 is drawing to a close.  Report cards have been issued, parent-teacher interviews are being held this week, and we are all reflecting on how the first three months of school have gone.  I am pleased to say that despite all of the new things we have experienced this year (100 new students, 10 new teachers, for example), the tone in the school and on the playground is very positive.  I am seeing students engaged, teachers excited about projects and technology and collaborating with one another.  I am also seeing many acts of kindness and generosity, such as students and teachers sharing supplies and knowledge with one another, parents donating their time to our school to fundraise, serve lunches and run clubs, bus drivers encouraging and supporting children, custodians caring about our school environment, and our educational assistants taking the time to build relationships with students and teachers.  We have a good place to learn and to be.

In other learning news, last weekend, most of our French Immersion students took part in the Squamish Culture and Heritage Festival at Quest University.  We were able to preview the projects that the students prepared on Wednesday afternoon.  Very impressive!

Felicitations to all!

Last week I attended a workshop in West Vancouver on The Daily 5 approach to teaching reading and writing.  This approach, created my two American teachers,  is truly a juggernaut, rolling through North American schools, embraced by teachers who want a more effective, efficient, engaging way to teach students to read and write, self-regulate and own their own learning.  I am very impressed with the work that is being done in not only West Vancouver classrooms, but in our own Sea to Sky District.  Many teachers are really ready to practice in a way that appeals to the 21st century child.

We now look forward to all that December brings: our annual Writing Day, the Band and Primary Christmas Concerts,  classroom celebrations and gingerbread-house building madness!  We hope you will be able to attend one or more of these celebrations.



Last Year's Christmas Band Concert



Happy New Year!



Terry Fox Warm Up

 September always seems more like New Year's to me than January 1st.  I guess it is partly because I've spent the last 43 years living according to an academic calendar.  Our school year started off with a lot of change.  We have over 100 new students and 10 new teachers.  We have one new Vice-Principal, Sue Reed, and one new Educational Assistant, Barb Clarke.  That is a lot of newness!  But in the midst of all that newness there are "anchors" that keep us grounded, so to speak.  Some of these anchors are the traditions, the rituals and celebrations that happen every September. 

There is the Terry Fox Run, before which teachers spend a great deal of time reminding students who Terry is, what he did, and why we should keep his dream and his memory alive.



Cross Country Running team at BES





Our Roots of Empathy Baby, Lucas, is bigger than Baby Apple.

 Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope certainly inspires our Cross Country Team, another autumn tradition.  It was wonderful for Mrs. Heilig and me to see so many (60+) students come out to practices and to the three meets.  We think the students learned more than just how to strategically run the trails.  We think they learned about courage, sportsmanship, determination, and empathy.

Speaking of empathy, our little Roots of Empathy baby, Lucas, came to meet his Wondergarten Class (Mrs. Yates).  He is going to teach the students about how we care for the most vulnerable, and how we are all vulnerable and must look after each other.  Have you read Mary Gordon's book, Roots of Empathy?  You really should.

This week we are looking forward to another tradition, the Hallowe'en Carnival.  This annual event, run by parents and volunteers, raises a lot of money for our school.  This year, we hope to put some money towards the installation of a new playground for our students, and for the community.

Spooky, I know!

Finally, we are looking forward to the beginning of a new tradition:  WE Day.  Twenty-two of our grade 7's, all of whom applied last June, will be attending WE Day at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, with 20,000 other youth and their supervisors.  WE Day is an initiative of Free the Children, an international organization with Canadian roots.  Our students will hopefully feel empowered and inspired to actions that make the world a better place.  Thanks to Mrs. Verbeek for organizing.

The fall is a season of change and new beginnings, just as much as spring is.  I'm looking forward to the year ahead and all that we can learn in 2012 - 2013.



Configurations for Learning

A Beautiful Multiage Class:  Can you tell the 2's from the 3's?

As always in June, I begin to wonder what challenges and opportunities the next school year will bring.  As I plan for staffing, ordering planners, replenishing art and gym equipment, I am thinking ahead to that first week of September, when we configure classes and try to make the best placement decisions possible for each individual student. 

When we sit down to create classes, we try to balance multiple factors, regardless of the grade levels.  Teachers are teaching children, not grades, and as such, we look most carefully at the social, emotional, and academic profiles of the students.  Combined classes are a reality.  Research (eg. Veenman (1995); Mason and Burns (1996) has not found multiage classrooms to have detrimental effect on student achievement.  In fact, it is argued that students will achieve more if teachers are able to capitalize on the multi-age arrangement. 

We know, through such meta-analyses of educational research as John Hattie’s Visible Learning, that what does have a huge impact on student learning are strategies such as students self-reporting their on their own performance, small group learning, teachers providing feedback and coaching rather than “marking,” and reciprocal teaching (when students teach each other).  Also, incredibly important, obviously, is the teacher-student relationship.  I do not remember whether I was in a combined class in Grade 7, but I sure remember Mr. Nelmes, who, in sharing his passion for reading and writing and history, and with his wonderful kindness and compassion, inspired me to become a teacher.

As I’ve mentioned before, curriculum in BC is changing, becoming more about big ideas, deeper learning, focusing on critical thinking, creativity, communication, personal and social responsibility.  In the future, we will focus less on what grade a student is in, and more on these competencies and learning standards; less on whole-class instruction of the same thing and more on personalized learning; less on tests and percentages and more on authentic assessment; more choice, more opportunities for each learner to show what they know in an innovative way.

Change is not easy.  People resist it.  But it is necessary if public education is going to succeed.  One of my reflective teachers recently said, “I want to work next year with you as a team to help build community in the class.  I can’t rely on the students to comply simply because I am the adult in the room.  Kids are different now.”  I agreed.  Students are powerful, independent, sometimes have a sense of entitlement, and are very savvy.  They will teach us about technology as we go. We can model ethical and safe use of technology.  If we can let go a little of the need to control students, and coach them as all people want to be coached, with kindness, encouragement and helpful feedback, we will deserve their respect and appreciation.

To return to class configuration, for any parents reading this, we base our student-placement decisions as much as we can on exactly what I think you’d want us to:  each child’s social, emotional and academic needs.  We thank you for your trust.

Curriculum Changes

As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course…

Wikipedia

My Oxford English Dictionary defines curriculum as “the subjects that are studied or prescribed for study in a school.”  But somehow the race course seems like a more appropriate description.  Our current BC Curricula are so jam-packed with prescribed learning outcomes, that it requires a Herculean effort to teach to them all in one school year.  Many teachers fear that if they do not cover the length and breadth of the curriculum that they will be both letting down the students and next year’s teacher.  This statement is often overheard: “I do not have time for _________ as I have too much curriculum to cover.”

Sadly, what students remember most about school are not such curricular minutia as “explain the properties of 0 and 1 for multiplication, and the property of 1 for division” or “describe key characteristics of the justice system in Canada.”  They remember experiences, relationships and the opportunities they had to solve problems, be critical thinkers, be creative and playful and active.

            Last week, some colleagues and I attended an afternoon session with some folks from the Ministry of Education, to hear about some changes that are in the works!  We know that deep learning requires more time and “space” than rote memorization and regurgitation of facts.  The changes to the curriculum are going to include reducing the size, creating space to allow creative uses, focusing on competencies, concepts, and big ideas and organizing the learning around standards, which are key skills.  Each curriculum will weave these five competencies throughout:  Communication, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking and Innovation, Personal Responsibility and Social Responsibility.

            So what will that look like in plain English?  We were shown a sample of a grade seven science curriculum.  It fit on one page.  There were four big ideas about Scientific Inquiry, Life Science, Physical Science and Earth Science.  Below each big idea statement were three learning standards, such as a student being able to collect evidence, design and carry out experiments, and make some evidence-based conclusions.  Of course, the web-based curriculum will have links to resources, ideas for cross-curricular integration, and so on, but the One Page Overview was clean, concise, and very teacher-student-parent friendly.

            I am confident that this brave, new approach will bring our teaching and learning into the 21^st century and will prepare our children well for the future.  Hopefully, our children will be the innovators who use their thinking skills to reverse global warming, solve the pine beetle problem, put an end to poverty and homelessness, and celebrate world peace!

Learning to Read

One of the best things about being a principal is regularly having proud primary students come to my office to read to me.  I witness joy on their faces when they connect letters to sounds and to words and words into sentences that go with the pictures on the page.  For some children it happens sooner than for others.  And that is okay.  Too often we fret when a student is not "at benchmark" at a certain time in the school year, but why is learning to read any different than any other skill?  It takes time and practice.

Any you have to want to do it! Nothing could be worse than being made to practice something that doesn't feel good over and over, all day long!  For me, it would be like someone was forcing me to play video games all day:  I don't care about them, they do not interest me, I find them boring and pointless.  Flip that around and imagine the child who is addicted to video games, and does not want to read.  Yet we know that reading is an important life skill that improves one's chances of success in other areas of the curriculum and in later in employment opportunities. (Video games - not so much, in my opinion)

One of my earliest memories is being three or four years old.  My mum and little brother and I had been to the public library and come home with a stack of picture books. Harry the Dirty Dog, Curious George, Millions of Cats and The Funny Thing were some of our favourites.  The sun shone in on our backs as we sat on either side of my mum while she read book after book.  There was and atmosphere of love, peace, and curiosity as each story unfolded, some familiar, some new. We loved listening to her read, and did not even realize that we were learning to read, too.

At school, there are many times that we can create similar warm and caring reading experiences with students.  We can help them make predictions, ask questions about what they have read, make connections with characters, and finish a book wanting more.  If this can happen at home, too, it is a recipe for success.  We want children to learn to read, then read to learn, and read for pleaseure, too.  If we model this for them in our own daily habits, we will create a community of readers.

By the way, many of our parents are reading the same novels as our students, finding them just as enjoyable and addictive as any adult literature.  If you love reading and want to join our lunchtime book club, please know that parents are most welcome.  We started off with The Hunger Games series, but are now discussing all kinds of novels, and are ready to choose a new book to all read together.  The Book Club meets Wednesdays at 12:15 in Room 149.