To be honest, I would argue that failure is not really an option for students at my school. I know that is a very bold statement, but we have a strong initiative put into place so that students don’t “fall through the cracks”. In a K-8 school of only 200, it is easy to keep a close watch on all the students’ academic, social, and emotional states. Not only do I know every child in the school by name, but I also know the majority of the parents. We have a very close relationship with parents in our school and often boast about being such a small community that takes care of one another. We are committed to being partners with the parents in our school, and I feel that we really do work together as a team. I am in constant communication with the parents of the students in my class and alert them weekly or even daily when there are areas of concern (or successes to be celebrated). Before I even got my roster of new students, I knew who was coming into my room, who needed extra support, who needed accommodations, and who needed to be challenged. In this type of setting it is really nice to be able to prepare for the needs of my students. This year I have had to do more differentiating than any year before. I have a lot of needs in my class but I also have a lot of systems put into place to meet the needs of my students. For example, I do “flipped learning” in math because I noticed that many of my students felt nervous, shy, or inadequate to participate during math. I now use math videos as a way to frontload the next day’s lesson. Now when students come into class, they have already seen the lesson, heard the math language, and have seen similar examples being solved so they feel much more confident in participating. This is also a resource for students who are struggling with a certain topic. They can always go back, re-watch, pause, take notes. etc. This has allowed me to teach math in a workshop/small group style where I am able to dig in deep with my students and support them at their level.
I am also fortunate to work with a resource team who knows all of the students extremely well. Resource offers “push-in” support to my 4th grade class during language arts block and math time on a daily basis.By having support staff like our resource team, aides, and a supportive administration, I am able to do a lot of small group instruction. If intervention is required, I am able to work with that student (or small group of students) while another adult is present to help facilitate centers, a whole class lesson, etc. For serious interventions, our resource team will pull students to work on focused content areas. In the Junior High students have the option of taking a study skills class in place of Spanish. In this class the students learn basic study and organizational skills while also having the opportunity to receive support on their assignments or preparation for a test. We also offer free homework club with classroom teachers twice a week after school in grades 4-5 and three days a week after school in grades 6-8. I know that this is a rare and very special school setting. I know that in many teaching situations you can’t always count on parents to be checking their child’s homework, helping them prepare for a test, and communicating with teachers about any issues going on outside of school. That said, I can honestly say that I don’t think failure is an option at my school. I don’t think it is ever too late to reach competency in a subject area. With the right support from teachers (and at home) and a lot of hard work, any student can achieve success. For example, one of my current students, Theo, is extremely dyslexic. Because of this, his parents had him going to a special center for half of the day everyday last year. When he was at the center he was missing math each day. Essentially Theo missed the entire year of 3rd grade math. Before the school year ended last year his parents asked to have a conference with me. They were concerned that he had missed so much math, and had decided that he would no longer be going to that center and he would be enrolled full time at Saint James. They asked if I would be willing to work with him over the summer. With the help of the resource team, we put together a packet of work to try to get him to grade level before 4th grade. I met with Theo once or twice a week all summer long, and his mom worked with him every night. Theo is now not only at grade level in math, but he is at the top of the class and his self-esteem (once very low) is now very high. He is a happy 10 year old boy who used to hate school and now loves it. In addition to math, we have put some awesome systems into place that have allowed him to share his thoughts and learning more than he has ever been able to before. Theo dictates his answers using an iPad app. It turns out, Theo is also an excellent writer… he just used to always be too frustrated to do it. I mentioned in my leadership platform that as a school leader, my first agenda item would be a commitment to excellence. With this mindset, I would also expect to adopt a “no student shall fall through the cracks” policy at my school. In order for this to work, the school must have a team of teachers that specializes in interventions. There must be ample opportunities for students to receive academic support and intervention when necessary. I would also promote before and after school peer tutoring programs. I think students helping one another is a very powerful thing. Like I talked about before, it was really powerful being able to know my students that were coming into my class and to be able to talk to their previous teachers. I think “grade cluster” meetings would be a really positive experience. I think our staff would be open to the idea of meeting in grade clusters or pairs to work hand-in-hand on creating systems to support every student. I could also share my “flipped teaching” with my colleagues and teach them out to make math video screen casts to front load material or offer it as a review. Commit to 5 things you are willing to do this semester that will make your school a increase learning opportunities:
School plays a huge role in building students’ agency and identity. Some students interact with their teacher more than their parents, so teachers act as a huge influence on their lives. “When the language students hear helps them tell a story about themselves that is one of possibility and potential, students perform in ways that are consistent with that belief.” (Fisher, Frey & Pumpian, 2012) I loved this quote from the text and firmly believe that teachers have the ability to lift students up and tear them down depending on how they treat them and speak to them. By letting students know that we believe in them, we help to foster a belief within themselves. All people have a story that they identify with. The stories that students tell about themselves can be good or bad. As teachers, we have the ability to help a child see themself and their story as good, capable, and worthwhile. By not just complimenting students, but giving them genuine feedback and encouragement, teachers can help students to see their own gifts, talents, and potential. Schools and teachers can have the same impact on a student’s life in a negative way. By constantly reprimanding a student, questioning their actions and motives, and humiliating them in front of the class, a teacher can take away a child’s sense of self worth. This consequently will affect their engagement level, which in turn will have more negative impacts on their life.
Honestly, I try to be very cognizant of the words that come out of my mouth, especially when talking to children. I mentioned in another blog post that during my undergraduate studies I had a very negative experience during a classroom observation. I was observing a 4th grade classroom, and the male teacher became very frustrated by some of the students’ behavior and began to yell and the entire class for several minutes. On another occasion I walked by one of my colleagues’ classrooms and heard her screaming at her 6th grade students. On both occasions my first thought was “shame on them”, and then I felt almost embarrassed for them. This type of action was unproductive, ineffective, and inappropriate. I felt badly that they did not have the skills to better manage their classrooms. The 6th grade teacher no longer works at my school because this type of behavior was negatively affecting enrollment at the school. She had a reputation for “being mean and yelling all the time”. This year I have a class that has a lot more needs than I’ve had in the past. I’ve made a commitment to myself to try avoid using phrases like “they’re low”, or “they don’t know...”, or “they can’t...” because it is my job to lift them up! (Obviously I would never say something like that in front of the class, but even when I am talking to resources or asking other teachers for advice, I want to always try to phrase things more positively. For example “They are working on mastering….” or “They could use more support in this area”. If I am speaking and thinking positively, than they will pick up on that too. I also try to be very specific when highlighting things that students are doing well…. or on the other end, I try to be very specific when asking a student to “stop” doing something so that they understand why the action is not appropriate for the classroom. That way they are not feeling in trouble, and hopefully they are learning that their actions affect the rest of the class. If I was the adminstrator at my school and I wanted to make choice words a focus among the staff I would start by modeling it! As leaders we have to always walk the talk, right? I would give teachers specific compliments to highlight the good work that they’re doing. I may do this in person, via e-mail, or even give teachers “shout outs” at our staff meetings. I may even start an “affirmations board” in the faculty room where teachers could lift each other up with kind words and compliments. I would also model this to teachers when working with students. For example, when spending time in the classroom I would encourage the hard work and effort that I observed, and I would touch base with specific students. I would also use purposeful language when redirecting students. That way teachers can see alternate ways to address their students. I think teachers always need gentle reminders, so it is a good idea to discuss choice words at faculty meetings throughout the year. Giving specific examples of stories like the ones we read in the text are very powerful. I would also give my teachers examples of sentence frames that are more productive than other common phrases used by teachers. We could even make posters of these phrases to hang in the staff room or for teachers to paste into their plan books. Additionally, I would spend time observing teachers in the classroom and, if necessary, I would have some of those courageous conversations that are necessary for teacher growth. I would talk to teachers about the language that they are using and give them suggestions, alternate options, and resources. It is critical that leaders explain the importance of choice words to teachers so that they understand why this is a focus of the school culture. Teachers need rationale for learning and change just like students do. I work at a very small school, so every teacher has a voice. There are many opportunities to discuss topics that are important to individual teachers - you simply have to request that it be an agenda item for our next meeting. It is in this way that I was able to share our weekly leadership habits with my staff (which they really appreciated!). During the school year I will often email a great article that I read, put a copy of an inspirational quote in all of the teacher’s boxes, or write it on the whiteboard in our staff room. I really value the openness and communication at my school - I feel as though I really do have a voice. Like I mentioned before, I think all leaders need to start with modeling the behavior that they want to see in others. If I openly discuss my teaching practices and use of choice words, and model this in my classroom, in the halls, and on the playground, it will not go unnoticed (and will hopefully rub off on others). In my commitment to using choice words I promise that I will:
When it comes to the concept of Do No Harm, I believe it makes a lot of sense. Students don’t need 100 school rules when most of those rules would fall under the three categories: do not harm yourself, others, or the environment. There were several quotes that I read and heard that really stuck with me. One of them was “rules do not teach students to behave, people do.” I agree with that 100%. I have seen in my own classroom that students follow the rules when they feel they are being supervised, but once unsupervised they have no problem with breaking the rules. I think the reason for this is because students are constantly being told to behave, but not why they should behave. Another line that stuck with me was “when students don’t know how to read, we teach them. When they don’t know how to do math, we teach them. When they don’t know how to behave, we punish them.” As teachers it is our responsibility to teach students not only how to behave, but why it is important for them to do no harm to themselves, others, or the environment. By making students a part of the process, they become more accountable, empowered, and hopefully better understand the implications of their actions. I believe the restorative practice method is an amazing way to give students a voice and build a stronger community.
I completely connected with the idea that students always need opportunities to participate in instructional time. When punishing students by locking them out of class or sending them to the administrator’s office, they are missing out on valuable class time. I feel that it is these students that could benefit from this class time the most! When students already feel behind they become overwhelmed and are much less likely to participate or engage. If I were an administrator, students would be in class participating in instructional time as much as possible. Unless a student was a threat to themselves or others, they should remain in class and other disciplinary actions would take place. In the Restorative Practices Handbook, the author explains that this constant push for academic achievement has led to less time in schools and classrooms for form relationships. The result of this is that students feel less connected to their community and to their learning, therefore becoming less likely to excel. If I were a school leader, I would make community building a big initiative at my school. I agree that improving relationships with and among students would improve academic success. I’ve talked about in earlier posts how important it is for teachers to really know their students and spend time building a rapport with them. If this were the case, I believe that teachers would have a much better understanding of what is going on in their students’ lives, and would be able to better support them in their needs. When a student acts out, the teacher may react differently, more sympathetically, improving the situation overall. I feel that there is a lot of value in learning best practices for classroom management and that many teachers may have not had the opportunity to learn or discover some of these skills. The text talked about how rather than punishing students, we need to be able to teach them what unacceptable behavior is, why it is unacceptable, and how students can help restore bad situations that they may have caused. In my classroom, I try to always be very specific with students if they are doing something disruptive or inappropriate in class. Telling students “stop that” does not help them to learn what they were specifically doing wrong, or why it is not acceptable in class. Teachers need reminders of simple tips like that. Being a Catholic school, we spend a lot of time discussing values. Some of the major values that we work to instill in our community is the idea of helping others and taking care of our environment. We aim to love and take care of all of God’s creatures. We have an anti-bullying program that taught monthly. Classroom teachers are also required to have class meetings (similar to circle from Restorative Practices Handbook) to discuss things going on in our community, in our classroom, on the playground, and in our individual lives. I do think that we put too much emphasis on following schools rules and are too quick to punish for things like uniform violations, haircuts, tardies, gum in class, etc. Personally, I prefer to “choose my battles” (more with the parents than anything)... and I don’t really see the point in punishing students for things that are not harming themselves or others. The text also talks about inconsistency of rules being enforced. I would say that is definitely a factor at my school. Some teachers are old school and are quick to punish students to breaking school rules, while others, like myself would rather spend my time and energy on building relationships with my students rather than upsetting them. This semester I will commit to:
1. How is the challenge of making stakeholders feel welcome to your school (or place of work) connected to your school mission?
This week we learned about the first pillar in creating a culture of student achievement. The overarching idea is that when students, parents, and stakeholders feel welcomed in their school environment, engagement goes up. Engagement is a huge factor in student learning and achievement. We were reminded this week that students are the ones who ultimately make the choice if they are going to engage, participate, and learn. By welcoming students and ensuring that they know they are an important part of the school community, it is very likely that their willingness to engage in their learning will improve. Below if the Saint James Academy mission statement: SJA provides a student-centered educational environment focused on Catholic faith, service and leadership that is based upon a challenging curriculum that prepares students to lead productive and successful lives. Our mission states that the school provides a student-centered learning environment. A student-centered environment should feel warm and welcoming. Students should feel that all the faculty and staff are there for them; to keep them safe, to help them learn, and to support them in their needs. I would argue that in general, Saint James actually does a great job of this. The school is very small (around 200) and I would say most teachers know the names of almost every student in the school and greet them by name every day. I would also say that Saint James does a really good job of trying to reach the needs of every student through remedial and enrichment opportunities. The mission statement also touches on our Catholic faith and service. The school’s Catholic identity promotes a great sense of community among the families. The sense of community is a huge draw to the school. Parent and family stakeholders are encouraged to attend the many community events that take place each year. Parents also serve on the school board and are welcomed into the classroom through volunteer opportunities. In addition, parents and teachers are very closely connected. Weekly newsletters go home updating parents on school events, classroom projects, and weekly curriculum goals. Teachers are also very quick to get in touch with parents regarding any concerns involving their students or opportunities to offer praise for their hard work and success. 2. What did you do to assess which stakeholder group (or subgroup) could be more effectively welcomed? And what did you find? In order to assess which stakeholder group could be more effectively welcomed, I decided to carefully observe teacher, student, and parent interaction during morning drop-off, after school pick-up, and during lunch time. What I noticed among both the parents and the students, was that new students and families did not seem to be welcomed by their peers. Being in a small school, there are a lot of familiar faces. Typically the families know and greet one another. At both drop-off and pick-up this week there were groups of mothers gathered together, chatting and catching up in different corners of the playground. None of them seemed to greet or even acknowledge the parents of new students to the school. Teachers did their best to touch base with the new parents, but even them got caught in conversations with parents of old students, wanting to hear about summer and life. Many of the parents of new students grabbed their child and shyly walked back to their cars. Thinking back to last year, I noticed a similar situation happening with parents of my ELL students. The parents from my class who spoke little English, rarely engaged with other parents, faculty, and staff. I always made my best effort to converse with them (and use my best Spanish) but they seemed to feel shy and unwelcomed in a way. I noticed similar behavior happening on the playground at recess. In my class in particular, none of my students are malicious or cruel, but they also weren’t going out of their way to make our new student feel welcomed. I saw her sitting at the end of the lunch table quietly eating her lunch and then later, standing in the corner of the field watching her classmates. It wasn’t until I had a little pow wow with some of my 4th grade girls did they reach out to her and invite her to hula hoop with them. And although they seemed sincere in their invitation and their intent to play with the new student, the same thing happened again the next day. Looking around at other grades I saw similar situations with new students from each class. Future Sphere of Influence: What would you do to improve welcoming this group if you were the school leader? There were a lot of great ideas for welcoming students and families in the Fisher, Frey & Pumpian text. I loved the idea of teachers writing handwritten welcome notes to new families sharing how happy they are for the family to join the school. I think that’s a wonderful personal touch to ensure that new families feel noticed and included in the school community. Another idea that I would put into place if I were a school leader is the welcome sign in the front office. Everyone loves to see their name in writing and feel acknowledged. It is also a great way for current families to learn the names of new families and make a point of welcoming them. I also loved the idea of celebrating attendance. As teachers and administrators we know that students need to be at school to learn. One of the big goals should be fostering a love for school and a desire to be there. Celebrating good attendance is one great way to promote students’ desire to be at school everyday. In addition to these great ideas, I would make an extra effort to get in touch with each new student and parent. I think personal phone calls go a long way. Even an e-mail asking how the first week went, if there were any questions, and how we can make the family feel welcome is a great way to connect with new families and let them know that they are important. I would also pull each new kiddo out of class or touch base with them on the playground. Getting to know students, building a rapport, and also letting them know that they can come to you is important for all school leaders to do. I would also encourage classroom teachers to buddy up their new students with a kind (and outgoing) peer to stick with them in class, on the playground, at lunch, walk them to the bathroom, etc. I would also promote families being “buddy families” with new students. Buddy families could give them important information about the school, invite them to a social or community event, and introduce them to other families from the school. 3.Current Sphere of Influence: What can you do in your present position to enhance welcoming these stakeholders? In my current position I can absolutely go out of my way to identify and greet all families (especially the new ones)! It is also part of my philosophy that teachers should make a huge effort to get to know their students (and their parents) well. Not just their academic needs, but also their personalities, how they are doing socially, and physically. Students who haven’t had breakfast have a hard time focusing on curriculum all morning. If I get to know my students and parents well, I can make better connections with them. When you remember specific things about people if makes them feel special and important; that they are worth remembering and talking to. I also can work hard to make my classroom a warm, inviting, and safe learning environment. I can model tolerance and acceptance in my speech and actions. I can be available to parents and students and give them opportunities to be heard. I can (and do) have weekly class meetings where we discuss topics such as friendship, citizenship, bullying, behavior, etc. I can also communicate with my fellow teachers and staff members about certain students that need an eye kept on them or an extra hello each day. Current Sphere of Influence: Commit to 5 things you are willing to do this semester that will make your school a more welcoming place:
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