Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse. - Henry Van Dyke
No matter the language, thank you is a beautiful word. Whenever the chaos of life threatens to "steal my joy," I stop to appreciate what I have and where I am in the current season of my life. When I remember to be thankful for what is going well, it immediately improves my attitude and aligns my perspective on even the most challenging of situations. While I know we should do this all of the time, I love the season of thanksgiving because it provides me with a specific opportunity to reflect, show appreciation and return the many acts of kindness I have received. Among my many gifts, I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the messy, exciting, emotional, complex, fast-paced, never dull, chaos of school, and to partner with an amazing staff and families in clearing paths toward bright futures without limits for our amazing students. As a life long learner, I am constantly looking for ways to grow and improve for the benefit of my staff and students. A little over a year ago, I joined Twitter and my world expanded in ways I could not have imagined. I didn't even know what a PLN was before@pcmteacher told me about it (Here is a great article by Tom Whittlbyexplaining it if you are still wondering). But here I am, one year later, forever changed by a network of educators I connect with on twitter (shout out to #ptchat,#satchat, and#ptcamp) and now Voxer, where I regularly connect with my fellow#ptcamp and Leading in the Middle friends and colleagues. As a result of my PLN's transparency, sharing, and support, my perspective has widened, my knowledge has deepened, and I have reached new levels of understanding about myself as a person, learner, teacher, and leader. So on this last day of November but not the last day of giving thanks, I want to say thank you for helping me be a better me.
As far back as I can remember, I've wanted to champion the cause of children. Initially I thought it would be as a lawyer defending the rights of children who had been neglected, abandoned or abused, but when I realized that being a prosecutor might put a strain on my moral compass, I decided on being a social worker. Somewhere during my high school years, I vacillated between teaching and social work. I even stated in my yearbook that I would be the 1st person to reach millionaire status on a teaching salary--ah the ignorance of youth. However, I remember really being bit by the teaching bug in my junior year of college. I thought about being a professor because I had the benefit of amazing professors at Trinity College, and they challenged me in ways I didn't think possible. But I kept remembering those teachers who were my champions in middle and high school --the ones who helped me be the best that I could be to get into Trinity--and I knew that I had to do the same for other teenagers.
Recognizing my calling was a result of thinking about my own champions. How could I do for some other teen what they had done for me? I realize today that I am on this educational journey championing the 920+ students in my school and the hundreds before them because of those who championed me. So I have to do what my fellow #ptcamp friend Jay Posick did in his recent blog post and take thee time to thank those educators who started me on my most amazing educational journey.
The first teacher to impact my life as a learner was Mrs. Pamela Barker-Jones. She was the first teacher who made me believe that I could learn and possibly excel in math. This did not come easily. I recall her championing my efforts countless days after school with patience and celebrating each small gain. She refused to let me believe that I was incapable of doing well in math, and I learned the impact of an adult's commitment to her student's success and the power of encouraging a growth mindset.
In high school I had wonderful teachers. Yet everyone of my English high school teachers --Mrs. Judith Lyons, Mr. Robert Pisarski, Mrs. Lynda Glover and Mrs. Maria Mascaro --nurtured my love of literature and helped me flourish as thinker, reader and writer. I wanted to teach English because of their high standards and the passion they brought to the classroom every day.
As educators we know that teachers are not only found in the classroom. Jonah Cohen, Mr. Dennis Mink and Mr. Harry Pacheco were the directors of the Trinity College ConnCapp/Upward Bound program. I spent three summers on the campus of what would become my college (that's another post) living in a dorm, taking classes in preparation for the next year, receiving mentoring from area high school teachers and current college students, and participating in experiences that were foreign to me as a sheltered urban kid. During the school year, they ran homework clubs, served as our advocates in our schools, took us on college visits, and helped us complete the college application process. I'm not sure if my dream of college would have been realized if it had
not been for the leadership, mentorship and support of these three
men as they ran this program. I learned the power of serving teens outside of the classroom to deepen the impact of their learning and success.
Stepping on the campus of Trinity College meant having excellent professors and while all of them made an impact on my scholarship, there were three who were models for how I wanted to teach and mentor. Dr. Gail Woldu, my freshman college seminar adviser and professor, was a woman of the highest expectations-a Grey's Anatomy Miranda Bailey of sorts -who required me to use my voice even when I wasn't sure I had much to say among the elite students at Trinity. She reminded me of the power and need of all of our voices to the conversation in and out of the classroom, and I haven't been afraid to use it since. I traveled abroad because she insisted that I experience life outside of my neighborhood, and it changed me for the better.
I majored in American Studies and loved the the melding of literature and history. I learned the power of mentorship as I fell in love with Toni Morrison, discovered the power of an author's voice, and the value of text-based discussion and written reflection in Dr. Farah's Griffin's classes. While Dr. Cheryl Greenberg's passion for African American history and Civil Rights encouraged a love of research and debate that reminds me of a how teacher can transform a student's thinking.
These champions of my youth followed their calling and set me on an educational journey that makes me responsible for doing the same for the adolescents I encounter every day. I am grateful to walk in a calling to bring passion, commitment, high expectations, guidance, and strength based thinking every day to champion the "somebody's child" the way my teachers championed me.
“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”― Maya Angelou
As we end week 3 of #ptcamp and our Beyond the Bake Sale study of Linking to Learning (Chapter 3) and Addressing Differences (Chapter 4), I’ve been astounded by the high level of collaboration, brainstorming and deep reflection among the campers as we continue to focus on authentic family engagement beliefs and practices. As we consider how we approach issues of race, class and and culture, I must say that I'm proud to work and live in a diverse community.
There are more than 70 languages represented in our schools.
Approximately 20% of our students live in homes where English is not the home language.
Almost 18% of residents were born in another country.
The ethnic diversity in our town is about 38% (American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, and two or more races).
10% of our students receive special education services
Approximately 19% of students are eligible for free/reduced-price meals.
Needless to say, we are a multitude of threads creating a rich tapestry. However, what most excites/warms/fulfills me is the fact that our community values the rich diversity in our community and attempts to operate on the belief that "diversity is our strength."
Over years, there have been a number of efforts to have courageous conversations about race and diversity at the town and school level. Our district is committed to closing the achievement gap. Our Board of Education and our District have identified diversifying our staff "to more closely match the diversity of our student population" as a strategic initiative knowing that in doing so "we will deepen our understanding, capacity, and effectiveness in helping all students realize their full potential." Within our schools, we have worked to look at our curriculum to make sure the experiences and activities make students aware of different cultures and diverse individual experiences. In addition, there are several programs and opportunities for students and families to celebrate, appreciate, and support the various types of diversity represented in our community. Yet with all of the great things happening, we know that there is more we can and should be doing to demonstrate that "all families, no matter what their income, race, education, language, or culture, want their children to do well in school--and can make an important contribution to their children's learning."
Educating students to become global citizens means equipping them with the tools to respectfully interact with people who look, sound, think, behave, and believe differently than they do. We continue to need professional development to reexamine our assumptions and practices, to make sure that we are teaching and responding in culturally responsive ways to our students and families. Our challenge is creating the professional learning experience that goes beyond a visiting speaker or one day workshop, because that doesn't promote the level of reflection and conversation necessary to go the distance. In order to continually keep our cultural lens (think beyond the traditional definitions) fixed and clear, we need to consider how we invite parents/guardians and students into the conversation about respecting differences and bridging the divides. Working together (school staff, teachers, students and families) we can and will operationalize the strength of our diversity in ways that not only make all members of our community feel welcomed, accepted, and appreciated, but also actively engaged in our school and greater community.
"I want all parents to be real partners in education with their children’s teachers, from cradle to career. In this partnership, students and parents should feel connected—and teachers should feel supported."—ARNE DUNCAN, U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION, MAY 3, 2010
Core Belief 1:
All families have dreams for their children and want the best for them.
Core Belief 2:
All parents have the capacity to support their children’s learning.
Core Belief 3:
Parents and school staff should be equal partners.
Core Belief 4:
The responsibility for building partnerships between school and home
rests primarily with school staff, especially school leaders.
As I consider my daily work as a leader to ensure the social/emotional and academic success of our students, the four core beliefs identified in Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family -School Partnerships is a wonderful lens through which we can view and evaluate our work as a school community to actively engage families. All successful relationships require a strong foundation. As a staff, we work together to build strong relationships with one another and our students and value the support of our families. We have the privilege of teaching amazing students who carry their parents'/guardians' hopes and dream. We have a responsibility to cultivate strong and healthy partnerships with families to support these dreams by providing opportunities for parents/guardians to share these dreams and identify how we will equip students with the tools to achieve them along with ways that families can support students at home. In order for this to happen, we have to believe that "all parents have the capacity to support their children’s learning." If we believe that each adult in a student's life has "funds of knowledge" about their children and their community, then it is our responsibility to respect this knowledge and value their input by partnering with families to equally support our students. We have to actively seek to build these partnerships as a school community. We are ready for this opportunity to embed these core beliefs into our learning community's strong foundation of support. Our first step will be to evaluate our current practices and create an action plan to better connect parents/guardians to our community "through a focus on the children and their learning." As I consider our next steps, I'm excited about this journey, and I know that we will continue to enrich the lives of our students by building strong active relationships with our families. I look forward to sharing our progress with my fellow #ptcamp'ers and learning your journey toward strong family partnerships.
“…partnerships among schools, families and community groups are not a luxury – they are a necessity.” (Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, and Davies 1)
In every middle school I've worked in we've struggled with how to
effectively engage parents at the secondary level. Some parents were so
involved in their
elementary school that they want a break when their child enters 6th
grade and end up taking a middle school hiatus. Yet others feel like
(in the words of a parent) "their right arm
has been lopped off" because there aren't opportunities for them to
spend time in the school during the day supporting staff and students
like they did when their children were in elementary school. While developmentally
students' needs change and the role of the family member in the school
should be different, I do not believe the parent/guardian's impact on
the student's learning is any less important. They continue to be the
expert on their child, and we need parents/guardians to share their
knowledge as we endeavor to provide a successful learning experience in
the
classroom. If we need parents/guardians to support student learning
effectively they should be in our building witnessing the teaching and
learning. Finally, if we see ourselves as a learning organization, we
have to create opportunities to learn with and from one another.
In order to make this happen, we have to move from not only understanding the importance of partnerships with families, but also to making it a part of our school's core belief and action plan. In assessing where our school is on the Family-School
partnerships rubric in the book Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family/school Partnerships, we fall solidly in the Open Door category of the Family Engagement Rubric with a clear eye toward Partnership. In our spring survey 86% of parents identified that they felt there were opportunities for involvement at our school and 73% noted that they feel well informed about what is happening in the classroom. I believe this response (from 23% of our families) is a result of what we already have in place. Parent/Guardian Teacher Meetings
We hold two official Parent/Guardian teacher conferences twice a year with our fall conference being student-led.
Parents are invited and encouraged to set up teacher or team conferences throughout the year as needed or desired.
Our teams often invite parents in when they feel it is important to go beyond a phone call or an e-mail.
Frequent Communication
Teachers and teams keep updated blogs and e-mail families regularly about the learning occurring or social/team events.
Teachers and parents use e-mail often to communicate about student progress.
All families and students have access to Power School where they can monitor student progress.
A weekly electronic newsletter is sent home highlighting school happenings and opportunities both within the school and in the community along with parent/guardian resources regarding our students.
We have bi-monthly PTO meetings and Principal Coffees around topics parents identified as needs/want to knows in a fall survey.
We started a school and library Twitter account this year.
Some Opportunities for Involvement
Parents/guardians can attend a limited number of field trips as chaperons.
There are some tutoring opportunities during the day in certain subject areas.
Volunteers are invited to bake for/chaperone school social events.
I sign all of my school correspondence to parents with the closing "Your
Partner in Education" because I want them to understand that I/we cannot
do what we do for our students without them. We have a good foundation; however, there is still more to be done to become a Partnership School. I am excited to go to #ptcamp with 100 educators participating in a global read for 6 weeks this summer on Beyond the Bake Sale. The conversations during this first week via Voxer, Twitter and Appernet have been inspiring and have opened my eyes to the possibilities of what we can do to move to the next level of work. Based on this first week at #ptcamp, I know that I'm going to walk away with a knowledge base and resources to partner in meaningful ways.
Remember: Your focus determines your reality Qui-Gon-Jinn
Based on my son's growing interest, my husband was excited to realize that he was ready to watch Star Wars. With some convincing of my 8 year-old daughter to at least try the first one in the series, "The Phantom Menace" was our feature film for a recent family movie night. When Qui-Gon-Jinn tells Anakin "Your focus determines your reality," I had an ah-ha moment. It struck me as good advice that I needed to heed and share.
Amidst the avalanche of education reform (Common Core, Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and mandated Teacher/Administrator evaluation) it is easy to lose focus on what matters. Let's face it, even rooted in the best of intentions and the need to close the achievement gap by ensuring the highest quality of instruction for all students, there is a lot to question about the grounding of these reforms, their impact, and the roll out (ahem...all at the same time). The inability to approach these questions in a thoughtful systemic way has created a culture of stress and concern not only in our school community, but across the nation. It was clear that something needed to change. I realized to ensure the complete success of our students, the growth of our staff, and the moral of our building, it was time to change our focus. It had to be on something other than Common Core State Standards, TEVAL/Admin Evaluation, and SBAC. It had to be on relationship building, providing learning centered instruction, creating opportunities for students to become change agents in our school, and engaging our families in authentic ways. We needed to shift our chair and try to see more of those sunsets Jon Harper wrote about in his recent 44 Sunsetspost.
So I did something that I hoped my staff wouldn't find crazy. First, I apologized. I explained that I was shortsighted for establishing the wrong priorities by choosing TEVAL and CCSS/Rigor as two of our three big rocks. I apologized for putting the focus on what should not be our reality. Next, I told them it was time for a mid-course correction where we, as a community, would choose the big rocks that mattered. And then, I invited them to create the reality we wanted by focusing on what will empower and prepare our students, on a culture and climate that makes EVERYONE excited to be in our school, and on measurements beyond the "big" assessment. CCSS, TEVAL/Admin Eval, and SBAC, under current regulations, are still a part of our requirements but there is more to a school, to its culture, to its success than these things. Last week, we made a decision not to wait any longer to choose a new vantage point. We shifted the position of our chair to see a few more sunsets.
"But we must wait," I said. "Wait? For what?"
"For the sunset. We must wait until it is time."
At first you seemed to be very much surprised.
And then you laughed to yourself. You said to me:
"I am always thinking that I am at home!"
Just so. Everybody knows that when it is noon in the United States the sun is setting over France.
If you could fly to France in one minute, you could go straight into the
sunset, right from noon. Unfortunately, France is too far away for
that. But on your tiny planet, my little prince, all you need do is move
your chair a few steps. You can see the day end and the twilight
falling whenever you like . . .
"One day," you said to me, "I saw the sunset forty-four times!"
One of my Big Rocks
this year is to become a "connected" principal. One objective toward
this goal is increasing my own digital literacy and use of digital tools
for the benefit of my staff, students, parents, and my own professional
growth.
My first step was following Jessica Johnson's and Dwight Carter's blogs along with their staff Friday Focus/Memos. I was inspired to create a Friday
Focus for our school that highlights "staffulty" and students and shares resources,
articles, videos, blogs, or tweets from other educators related to our Big Rocks. My next step was finally joining Twitter after years of encouragement from a very connected teacher, @PaulBogush,
who inspired one of my teachers at a Dialogue 21 Conference so much
with his session that she joined the Twitterverse that weekend and fully
embraced how web 2.0 tools could change her teaching and students'
learning. As a
result of the edchats, the very cool educators I follow, and what I hope
will be a growing PLN, I've decided to embark on the next step in my
digital journey and create a blog. I'd like for this to blog to reflect
my views and thinking as a leader as well as my learning journey.
I
am blessed to work in a district that supports technology for
learning. BYOD was adopted the year before I arrived; each team has a
Google Chrome book cart; and I have an amazing LMS/Tech Ninja (Denise) who is constantly demonstrating ways for students and teachers to
integrate technology through co-teaching, modeling, and embedded PD. We
also have the privilege of having district Tech Ninjas (Denise and Jeanne) who push our thinking and practice and keep us current. However, in order for transformation to happen, I know that I have to be a digital leader who models the use of social media and other tools to share and encourage learning and to connect with and inform stakeholders about all facets of our school. This means being open to change, taking some risks, and sharing the lessons of the inevitable missteps along the way. I say bring it on!
