Bravo Zulu!
A double Bravo Zulu this week. First I want to thank Trina Palosaari and Ann Carlson (and many of New Start Staff) who put on a very happy celebration last Thursday for John Hill on his 45th Anniversary with Highline. You may recall a few weeks ago I wrote about John and his service to our district. Last week the celebration culminated in a staff lunch and party at Salmon Creek. This happened because of the efforts put out by Trina and Ann to make sure this happened. The event was fun, tasty and well attended by Salmon Creek and even district facilities staff. Again, congrats to John, and thank you Trina and Ann for making this event happen. Bravo Zulu!
Secondly, some excellent team work happened to support one of our students. I want to send cheers to Andrea Love, Beverly Mowrer and Ann Carlson for ensuring that our student Angela Ness, had a complete and full scholarship package ready to submit to the Youth Maritime Training Association (YMTA). The scholarship is a substantial one, and one that can provide great opportunity for one of our students. Andrea, Bev and Ann have shown how caring adults can go the extra mile to give our student a real chance and opportunity to continue their education after high school. Good work and Bravo Zulu to you three.
A quick Bravo Zulu note: This year I have come to realize that a lot of exciting and good work is happening without my knowledge. You are a humble team that does a hundred wonderful things every week. I don’t hear enough about it to rightly thank you all. Please do not be shy and send me a quick note if you see your colleagues performing great acts of kindness and student support. A few of you already have been sending me names and deeds worthy of a Bravo Zulu (thank you), but I am sure there is more than I know. So please let me know when you see the good happening around us that I may miss. Thank you.
Instructional Point: Reengaging vs. Re-teaching
Last week my supervisor, Dr. Carla Jackson, shared with us an interesting practice idea that I believe we could incorporate into our daily teaching.
When we teach our students a concept and allow them to demonstrate the understanding of that concept through an assessment of some sort, we get a good gauge as to how well our students understood what was taught. Looking at student work tells us if they “got it or not”. If students evidenced they did not grasp a concept, it may be intuitive for us to go back and re-teach an idea to the class. What if we re-introduced the idea to our students, and then guided them in a comparison of their conceptions (what they did get) to what was taught? Would such an approach be less deficit based, and more prone to fill gaps and correct misconceptions that could make the learning go deep with greater understanding?
I’ll share an excerpt from Dr. Jackson’s letter to my colleagues last week. “…So here is how it might look in the classroom. A teacher gives an assignment – daily assignment, weekly test, or unit test to check on student learning. Rather than re-teaching the concepts to a small group of students who have not gotten the concept (or the whole class), the teacher identifies a few key examples of student work and presents them to the class with the following prompts:
· Which example is right? Why or why not?
· What is the difference between these two examples?
This approach engages all of the students, reinforcing and perhaps deepening understanding with those students who met benchmark, while providing opportunities to revisit concepts in a way that keeps the cognitive demand higher for those students who did not initially meet benchmark. Pretty simple – and although it may not always be the appropriate strategy for supporting the development of concepts, it could make a difference in supporting and growing student thinking.”
Let me know what you think about this idea. I have seen it already in some instances. As stated, it is pretty simple, almost a nuanced approach to how we bring kids back to idea or concept focus less on what they haven’t learned, and more of what they have.
More News:
Supt. Announcement: Thank you for your inputs and impressions on the district superintendent search that seemed to culminate last week in busy (and long) days for many people. You have had opportunity to view the candidates and share your impressions with the school board. This week, Wednesday or Thursday, our next Superintendent will be announced.
Golden Apple Broadcast: This week you will have the opportunity to watch the ceremony that was attended by several of us and students to celebrate Beverly’s award this month. The “20th Annual Golden Apple Awards” will be broadcast on March 1st, at 8:00 pm on KCTS Channel 9. The broadcast will include Bev’s speech and a video of her work and our students. Watch it if you can!
Pilot Surveys: This is the week to wrap up Pilot and Pilot Jr. Surveys. Please get them completed this week. Thank you.
Adult Certificated Staff: http://www.edtech.wednet.edu/pilot/
9th Graders (by age): http://www.edtech.wednet.edu/pilotjr/
My Schedule:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
ERAC/New Start | NS/Renton/NS | CHOICE/ERAC | Portland | Portland |
Feb 27 | Feb 28 | Feb 29 | March 1 | March 2 |
District Resource Meeting re: Woodside/Manhattan Teach Class Morning Office Meeting M/Erin Grotting Weekly Counselor | Teach Class ESD Meeting re: Suspension Alternatives NS Observation NS Sped Meeting School Board Prep | HIPP Staff Meeting CH Observation HIPP Student Intake Meeting CH SOC Meeting School Board Meeting Drive to Portland | PBIS Conference PBIS Presentation | PBIS Conference Drive to Seattle Evening Class at SPU |
Have a great week - Mike
