Thank you all for another fantastic school year. Please enjoy the holiday weekend and enjoy your first weekend free of lesson planning, grading papers and/or typing evaluations (oops that's just me and Karen).
On next Tuesday and Wednesday the building will be open from 7:00am- 6:00pm. Make sure you arrive no later than 8:30am on the workdays.
At the beginning of the year, I gave everyone the book, One Word by Jon Gordon. The premise of the book is to stop making resolutions at the start of a new year and focus on only one word that will carry you throughout the year. There should be a lot of thought dedicated to selecting your word and as you move throughout various daily tasks and experiences, continue to reflect on your "one word". As we near the end of the school year, I hope that you were able to select a word and think about it often throughout this year. My word was "thankful". I selected this word because no matter the situation, I always wanted to find the one positive aspect and concentrate on it as opposed to dwelling on the negative.
As I reflect on this school year, I can honestly say that it was pretty tough. From opening new classrooms well after the 10 day count, to the demands of starting the Governance Council to the numerous personnel changes throughout the year, I found it challenging to focus on my word. But through it all I was thankful for what I learned, the ways I grew professionally and how much stronger I became. Most importantly, I am thankful for the opportunity to serve as the principal of a school of this caliber. You are amazing and I am thankful for you.
Staff Spotlight
This week I would like to shine the spotlight on Carrie Miller and Brenda Usher. These two ladies served as supervising teachers this semester for student teachers. I can tell you that these ladies have a wealth of knowledge and experience and did a wonderful job of preparing the future teachers for their own classroom. One of the greatest ways we can give back is to mentor someone else. In fact, I am sure that many of us still remember our student teaching experience and the supervising teacher can either make or break that experience for someone. I appreciate Carrie and Brenda for taking on the additional responsibility and they are to be commended for their guidance and support. Thank you for the work you have done with not only your students, but those who will soon teach their own students.
Continuing to follow up the post 10 Signs of a 21st Century Classroom...Some of the most important skills to foster in students in the modern classroom are those things that computers cannot do well. Creativity is one of these areas. Often considered a “soft” skill, it can be lost in a student’s struggle to get the “right” answer (see note #2). Creativity education is in some ways more difficult than instructing students in the physical geography of Asia. However, it is worth cultivating. As one of our teachers put it “[Creativity is] when a student or a group considers something new, or in a new way, or approaches something in a way that is original to them.” Creativity makes possible art, music, invention, storytelling, and problem solving. Less Memorization
The internet, properly used, contains a vast wealth of factual information. Properly instructed students can look up the atomic mass of hydrogen or the author of “Leaves of Grass” much faster than memorizing the information (see note #3). Teachers may either ban this useful storehouse of knowledge from the classroom or use the extra time to have students envision the arrangement of a cloud of hydrogen molecules or to write an original poem using the style of Walt Whitman. Brainstorming
Contrary to some opinions, creativity is not something that is in your DNA. It can be taught. Giving students time and a structure for brainstorming is a good start. Brainstorming techniques have already been covered in detail by others, but a few of my favorites include think/pair/share, mind mapping, brain writing, and teleportation. Please feel free to share your preferred methods below. Encourage New Perspectives
Creativity is often restrained by life experiences. This is particularly true of students who may have never participated in the world outside of their own family and community. Providing students with the means to broaden their horizons has a large impact on their ability to think outside the box. Similar to the brainstorming method of teleportation, students may be asked how they would prevent World War II, solve the California drought, or treat HIV.
Our junior retreat has proven to be particularly useful in this goal. Students are taken 50 at a time for an overnight experience in downtown Austin. In collaboration with several outreach programs, they eat and talk with the homeless community. In contrast to many retreats, there is no direct service component involved; students just get to know people that they might otherwise never come into contact with. Upon returning to school, students report a much improved opinion of those live a different life. Student Choice
Physics students at our school were surprised last month to receive an option for their assessment at the end of a unit on sound. They could choose to either take a traditional exam with a number of word problems or post a video of themselves playing music on wine glasses along with a short explanation of the science behind resonance. While many chose the test to “get it over with”, a number of amusing musical performances also showed up.
Our Latin teacher is fond of using a variation of a differentiation method called “Think Tac Toe” to promote student creativity. For a recent project involving Roman Britain, students could produce a newscast, write a diary, develop a travel brochure, or create an advertising campaign. Alternatively, they could also choose a more traditional research poster. Creative Writing Club
This one might be obvious, since it has “creative” in its name. The student-led group meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays during lunch to share new story ideas and to spend time reflecting on thought prompts. Key to the participation in the club is the Nanowrimo event each November when members attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Enlightenment Salon
Our world history classes do something really cool when studying the Enlightenment. Students are given a figure from the 1700s to research and embody. At the end of the unit, a “salon” party is held where a student moderator initiates conversations between the various characters. Students who received musician characters are encouraged to bring their instruments and provide music for the setting. Costumes are also recommended. Room for Reflection
One key concept of creativity is coming up with an alternative way to do things. However, there is so much information to cover the course of a year, that it is tempting to move directly from one unit to another. Providing time for students to reflect over their knowledge and approach yields powerful benefits. There is a whole post on this topic pending. 5 Minutes
This is one that I do with my science classes. While I would love to totally embrace Genius Hour, I must admit that I’m not quite at the point where I can go full “20% time”. Instead, students are given a period of 5 minutes at the beginning of each class (a “Goertz nap” as some call it). They must remain quiet and encouraged to close their eyes to minimize distractions. However, they may spend this time thinking about whatever they wish. This is usually a prompt free time, although during National Poetry Month I have been opening and closing the time with a short poem. A summary of initial student thoughts can be found here.
Notes:
Of course art, music, and theatre classes are powerful and important means in their own right for building student creativity and expression. This post deals primarily with traditional core subject classrooms.
One of the fastest ways to crush creative expression is to tell a student that they are wrong. This is unavoidable in cases of objective truth (2+2 does not equal 5). However, in cases such as determining author’s intent, translating a verse, or discussing the causes of the Civil War, there may be several possibilities.
To be clear, I am not saying that memorization is not an important skill. Without recalled knowledge, students would have no basis on which to build new understanding. However, trivial knowledge is less crucial now than it was in the past.
These are some ideas that we have at my school for achieving our 21st Century goals. Some are actively implemented by a significant number of our faculty, while others are still just an idea being trialed by one or two teachers. I am by no means saying that these are the best or only ideas out there.
By now you know that Dr. Muri was named superintendent in Spring Branch District in Texas on Tuesday. Dr. Rob Anderson (my boss) will be interim Deputy Superintendent for Fulton. The district is moving forward with the work that has been started and a direction change is not anticipated at this time. Full speed ahead with Personalized Learning!
We are well into the hiring season and I can honestly say that you have set a very high bar for potential teaching candidates. Of course we are looking to bring on smart, highly qualified teachers who love children; however it is so very important to find teachers who are ready to be a part of "the team". What do I mean by "the team"? I am so glad you asked! At Medlock, we share ideas and resources with each other without regard of who gets the credit. We celebrate our accomplishments and work hard to strengthen our weaknesses. We all play a part in each child's success. And finally, we all share the same vision, which is to educate and inspire all students to be lifelong learners. Thank you for who you are and what you do everyday. I look forward to to the great things in store for our students and I am committed to finding teachers who will be a great fit for our team.
Staff Spotlight
This week I would like to shine the spotlight on the Pre K Team of Kristen Bowyer, Devon Ferry and Shirook Jibreen. All year, these ladies have worked with our Pre K general education and special education students to prepare them for Kindergarten. It is amazing to see the transformation in these little ones from August to May. I can see a difference in the students' independence, confidence and overall academic and behavioral abilities. It is not as easy as you may think to have multiple adults teaching simultaneously in one classroom. In fact, it takes alot of patience and collaboration to make it work. I am thankful for the level of care that they have taken with the students and they way in which they communicate with parents and each other. Ladies, thank you for all that you have done this year to ensure that our little ones are ready for the next level. We appreciate you!
At the end of the school year, I always try to take inventory of what my students remember. A wonderful colleague of mine once shared the notion with me that learning should be more of a memory than a task. I took that to heart and started to ponder the question, “What memories did my students make this year?” To answer this question, I put my students to the challenge.
Start With a Brainstorm
We use a brainstorming activity called the "ABC Brainstorm." This is where a topic is given and students write everything they know about the topic using the letters of the alphabet. For example, if the topic was oceans, students would create an ABC list of what they know about the ocean: anemone, barnacle, coral, dolphin, eel, etc.
I use the same brainstorm strategy with the topic, “What memories do you have of this year?” I give students an ABC brainstorming sheet and then put them into collaborative groups to begin their brainstorming. After this session, I partner students up from different groups so that they can go over their findings and possibly spark a memory they might’ve missed. By the end of this brainstorming session, students should have the majority of the letters filled in. We gather back as a whole class and fill in a class list of ABC memories as well (for those who just could not remember anything about the year).
Gather and Share
The next step is to take our brainstorms and turn them into something we can share. I’ve done this in a variety of ways. I will pinpoint them one at a time below:
Personal Book for Each Student
I have students take their brainstorms and look for letters that they could not complete with a memory. They can then seek out classmates or use our class list to fill in the missing letters. From there, students are asked to come up with a visual for every letter. They can draw these on the brainstorm page as a rough draft. Students are given a final draft packet, which has a title page and one letter on each half of this template. I change the template out after I print each letter of the alphabet on it.
Once students have completed each letter along with their image, I cut the pages and put it together as an end-of-year book for each student to have.
Shared Book for the Class
Another way to make this a shared project is to assign a letter or letters to groups. Each group is responsible for representing their letter of our ABC Memory book with at least one (you will likely get many responses per letter) memory and a visual representation to accompany their page.
Digital Copies
When I’ve done this digitally, I still provide students with the brainstorm page and then I ask them to create a presentation using the tool of their choice (PowerPoint, Google Slides, iMovie, Prezi, etc.). This option works great with both personal creations and having students work together to capture the memories for the year.
The final products are beautiful. Seeing the school year from the perspective of your students allows you as the teacher to see what was valued and what was remembered. My final use of the memory books is as an opportunity to gauge areas of learning that I need to improve in my teaching and facilitating. I look for topics that were covered, but were not mentioned. I write down these topics in a notes section. This is my reminder to approach this topic a little differently in the coming year.
What do you do to capture memories from the school year? I'd love to hear your ideas!
Thank you for reading.
Smiles,
Kriscia Technology Tidbits
