Report Cards at BCS

We just sent home second quarter report cards.

I know that the look and feel of our report card is in transition. We are in the midst of switching to proficiency-based grading and reporting in grades K-8. At the same time, we switched to new gradebook software. We also changed from detailed Habits of Work in the lower grades to the Cross Curricular Proficiencies (CCPs). When combined with initiatives like student-led conferences, these changes are building to a new and improved system that will eventually give much more detailed information about learning and achievement. 

When I read through every report card, I noticed that most students are making steady progress towards achieving the proficiencies (standards) that we’ve set. I am proud of the many students who scored a 3 or 4 on CCPs and on content proficiencies. It is clear that there has been lots of hard work. At our next awards assembly, we will role out the next version of awards for the Cross Curricular Proficiencies along with Perfect Attendance recognition and The Bear Necessities Awards (for consistent behavior that is Safe, Responsible, and Respectful).

Last year, I began my current practice of reading every report card and commenting on each. I first came across this practice at Andrew Middle School in Medford, Massachusetts. My principal there, Ralph Watson, used to take home all 600 (!) middle school report cards each marking period and comment on each. Well, I figure that if Mr. Watson can comment on 600 (!) report cards, I can comment on 107. So, each term, I add my comment for the student and parents. This is just one more way to remind families that the staff at BCS really care about the progress of each child.

Our entire reporting system, and all the changes we are in the middle of, are all about being able to track and report on student progress.

If you have any questions or comments about reporting and report cards at BCS, please email, leave a comment on this blog or Facebook, or just call me at school.

Helping Students New to Town (#apr13)

As the school year is winding down in many places, it is time to think about September. I know that some of you are still doing state testing or feel like summer is still far away, but trust me, September is coming sooner than you think.

There is one piece of the start of the school year that needs special attention for those schools in small communities or those places with a vary low mobility rate. How do you welcome students who are new to town?

At my last school, this was a combined effort of the school and the PTO. The PTO mostly focused on the parents by sponsoring an open house for new residents and town organizations. This was held in the gym of one of the schools and featured groups of all stripes and the school principals. Rm my perspective, it was nice to meet some of the new families.

The other part of our plan was to welcome new students at the school. A few days before school opened, several student council members gathered in the lobby, set up a table of food, and waited for new students. Once we had a group, the students led other students on tours of the school. I mostly stood around the lobby and fielded the kind of questions that were answered at an orientation in the spring of course these parents were not in town then).

It was simple and direct. I heard from many parents and even a few students that this brief welcome was just what they needed to calm their nerves (at least a little) before the first day of school.

How does your school welcome those new to town?



Image credit cmatsuoka CC

Recycled Wine, Home School Connection (#apr13)

Several years ago B.K. (before kids), I laughed heartily when my principal told me about his lesson that weekend. Apparently, his fifth grade daughter had just completed D.A.R.E. training at school. Well, that Friday night at dinner, the principal decided to have a second glass of wine. Right away, the daughter started in him. She told him that one glass of wine was enough and that it wasn't really that healthy to have a second glass. She had learned this at D.A.R.E. I thought it was hilarious that she would learn something at school and then try to teach her father - even lecture him.

As a principal, I think back about at story and I understand that the daughter's talk and lesson about what happened at school is one of the many reasons she was so successful at school. She knew that her parents we're interested in her schooling and in her learning. She knew that some of what she learned had connections outside of the classroom. There was lots of good stuff going on.

I often wonder if some of my struggling students ever talk about what they have learned at school. I know they talk about lunch, recess, and the funny stuff that happens. I know they report to their parents when they feel they have been wronged. In all my conversations with struggling students and their parents, I can recall very little evidence of talk about learning. Hmmm.

All these years later, it is my time in the sun. It is time for that principal of mine to laugh with/at me. You see, my daughter just learned about recycling and how important it is to the earth. That very night, she lectured my wife and me about recycling. She was taking what she learned that day and teaching us.

If only she didn't use that tone that made us feel so guilty.

Image credit flickr user mandymoo CC

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Put the Book Down (#idesmar)

photo © 2008 Dennis M | more info (via: Wylio)

You hear the darnedest things in coffee shops. Today, I overheard the following (paraphrased with name changed):

My daughter, Sally, is having trouble in math.

She brought home a letter from teacher telling us that 3/4 of the students did poorly on the last test. Three quarters!.

Sally says this teacher is never available for extra help after school. She says she doesn’t understand any of what he is teaching. Also, she’s bored.

I listened and immediately started to figure out what the student must not be telling her mom. The teacher must not be too bad; it must be the kid’s fault.

So, my husband went to the parent conference to talk to the guy. The teacher sounded surprised that he is getting lots of feedback about the letter. He just doesn't understand why kids aren’t understanding the math. My husband asked him if he is trying more ways to explain the math. The young teacher says he's doing what the book says. My husband says you have to find ways for the kids to understand. Put the book down. Teach it differently. Explain it more to them.

The teacher got offended. He said he would give up his Friday afternoons to stay with the students. My husband assured him that Sally would be there.

At this point, I’d given up hope for this poor kid. I figured the teacher was no good.

Sally came home the next day and told me that math class was so much better today. She understands what they are doing. She gets it now.

What was different, I asked her. 

He didn't use the book. He talked to us instead. He explained things.

Who'd think that a little pep talk from a parent would be all it took to change this teacher? [said with serious amounts of sarcasm.]

So, there is hope for this young math teacher. Thank goodness.

The moral of this story is…

always listen carefully in a coffee shop.

Related articles

• Teach Students not Programs (transleadership.net)

The Telephone: It's All About Relationships (#14infeb)

In honor of Alexander Graham Bell's 164 birthday, here is a little tale about the telephone.

My first year as a principal I had a problem common among new principals: I was overwhelmed with the volume of calls to return. I was falling further behind all the time. I was prioritizing the issue that was right in front of me involving students or teachers. I was putting out fires and learning the school. I thought I was keeping up with it all.

In the spring of that year, the search committee that had first interviewed me reconvened to give me feedback about the first few months of my principalship. Fortunately, there was lots of positive news. However, among the more critical feedback was the feeling that I was not responsive to parents.
Some heard complaints that I never returned calls or that by the time I finally got to them, the issue was passé.

Ouch. This was not the way I wanted things to be. For a few minutes, I looked about for someone to blame. While I could find fault in others for a couple of specific instances, it became clear to me that I had not made responding to parents enough of a priority in my daily workflow. Once I properly placed the blame at my own feet, I had to figure out how to fix it.

Over the next several months and into the next school year, I worked out a system with the secretary* that reversed the problem enough that the end of year survey showed no problem for year two.

First, the secretary would screen calls to try to determine the real urgency. She would also ask if the parent had spoken with the teacher yet. If not, the secretary would ask the parent to contact the teacher first about the issue. Some parents had talked with the teacher, while a few convinced the secretary that they had.

Next, the secretary would email me with the subject line starting in "Call:" followed by the name and phone number (for more on how I use email to manage todos, read this). We used only the email system for low to medium priority return calls. If the secretary felt that the call was more important, she would email and either speak with me or leave a written message in a special spot on my desk.

So far, this system was essentially what hadn't been working. So, I added into the mix a change in mindset: Every call deserves a reply right away.

Since the workload or pace of the day had not lessened, I also started asking the secretary to make some return calls. Now, please don't think that I had the secretary do my work for me. I would ask her to call the parent and do what she needed to make sure the parent knew I would take the time to listen. So, the secretary would assess from the tone of the parent which of the following was enough. One, just the word that I knew of the call and promised to return it soon. Two, a scheduled return call. The secretary accessed my calendar and put in the phone call as an appointment for me. Three, skip the phone and get a face-to-face meeting scheduled.

With this return call made by the secretary, the parent knew that I was going to give the time needed. The parent knew that the call was important to the principal. Many invitations to a meeting were declined; the parents would say the issue wasn't that important. Whatever the response, the parent usually hung up satisfied for the time being.

There were some variations on this system. In some cases, the secretary would just skip right to the meeting without giving me the initial message. This was usually a stroke of genius as the secretary was far better tuned to emotions than I. In other situations, I would ask the secretary to skip right to the meeting because I knew enough of the situation. I also sometimes asked the secretary not to return the call at all. Instead, I would go speak with the teacher and ask her to call first. In most cases, the parent really didn't want to speak with the principal, the parent just wanted resolution.

There were a few drawbacks to this system. Not everyone was satisfied having to wait; they expected the principal to available to them at all times. Also, this increased the workload on the secretary. Finally, there were a couple of times where I got the email, but just did not call back in a timely manner - a couple of times, but far less than before.

All told, I am pleased to have gotten the situation under control by making sure that parents felt like I was listening and that I cared; we benefitted from a stronger relationship.

And after all, it's all about relationships.


*For purposes of anonymity and due to multiple personnel involved in secretarial tasks, I am using the term "the secretary" to describe the actions of at least three different people in two different roles over three different years.


Cross posted to Connected Principals

S.W.I.G. to Combat Churn

That's S.W.I.G. - no, not a gulp or a programming language - This is the Student Welcome and Induction Group. Well, it will be someday after the plan is refined, honed, and actually implemented.

A Draft Plan for Welcoming New Students During the School Year

I've been giving thought recently to one of the problems that many struggling schools face: high student mobility rates or churn during the school year. You see, in many state testing regimes, every student sitting in your school on the day of the test counts towards your scores. That's true even if the student arrived at your school for the first time that very morning. So, we might be responsible for the performance without having had the chance to educate the child.

However, let's put testing aside and instead focus on the children. Children move. A lot. Schools will always have new students during the school year. In our unending quest to do what is best for students, we need to make sure that our new students in October or March have the right welcome. If you believe, as I do, that a student who feels welcome in school will learn more, then we need to provide the right welcome.

The right welcome is one in which the child and the parents feel like we are glad they are with us. The right welcome is also evident when the whole staff is prepared for new students. In addition, the right welcome includes a large volume of information swirling about. Finally, the right welcome must go beyond the first two days.

Now for the Draft Plan. During the S.W.I.G. planning meetings, the S.W.I.G. would have decided on a list of protocols to be followed when a new student arrives and the timing for such. Surely, the S.W.I.G. would take into account how comfortable a new student is and the timing of each step. In any case the core of the Draft Plan is as follows:

• Greet
• Screen
• Inform
• Remediate (?)

So, you get the word that a new student is arriving. The school secretary calls the S.W.I.G. into action. S.W.I.G. members include the secretary, counselor, teacher/curriculum specialist, and the principal (and/or assistant principal).

The secretary pulls out a New Student/Family Kit (hopefully prepared by a volunteer in advance). This kit would include items such as:

• Small welcome gift for the student (school swag or a pencil) and a lunch ticket for first day(s).
• Important documents for the parent (Handbook, Newsletter, Curriculum Brochures, PTO information, Free/Reduced Lunch application, School-Home Communication Brochure, other?)
• Registration and Health Forms/Emergency Card - TO BE COLLECTED ASAP
• Parent Assignment: Tell about your child in a Million words or less (essay or form version)

The secretary then notifies the teacher who will be receiving the student and the principal. Teacher, principal, and a student buddy then come to greet the new arrivals. The key is to make the child and the parent feel welcome and comfortable as soon as possible.

Once the secretary and others have done the greeting, it is time for Screening. We need to know what this student can do. We need to know if our assessments match with whatever school records we've already received. Depending on the teacher's wishes and needs, any one of the S.W.I.G. members might be involved in the screening. The idea here is to get a baseline of data about the student just like the teacher or S.W.A.T.* would have done in the fall.

A small but important part of welcoming a new student is the process of informing those who need to know. I would define that to include, but not limit to, the following:

• All staff notification - with the barest of personal information - maybe in weekly memo?
• HR teacher - with records, photo, screening data
• specialists - basic biographical information and IEP/504
• library - basic biographical information and IEP/504
• kitchen - only name and class just to be prepared
• nurse - all health info (some families will require a meeting with the nurse. So be it.)

Once the child first goes to class, the teacher will handle introducing and integrating in the class.

A final step for the new student is to Remediate if needed. This could take several different forms depending on the needs of the child. We might choose intensive remediation during first few days in order to catchup fast. Another choice would be to assign the student to pre-existing intervention groups or create a new group to fit the needs. The teacher, the various intervention staff, and the principal will need to design the right program rather quickly. Early success would be a great way to welcome a new student.

Please leave a comment with your experience welcoming new students or combatting the deleterious effects of high student turnover. 

Some notes

• Throughout all of this, everyone has to smile and be nice to the new family.
• The homeroom teacher and others must have some notice whenever possible. Some can pull off not looking surprised and a little put out, but why put the teacher into that position (when I taught, I learned of new students when they walked into my roon.)
• Make sure there is enough furniture for the new student. The custodian might be a big help.
• S.W.I.G. should review the plan periodically.
• *S.W.A.T. = System Wide Assessment Team

Cross posted to Connected Principals

Welcome image from CC flickr user mckaysavage:

India - Sights & Culture - 027 - Chalk & flower welcome drawings

An intricate floor design done in coloured chalk and accented with flower petals welcoming us into a school near Kanchipuram,Tamil Nadu. Called rangoli (sandpainting) intricate decorative designs are drawn by the women front of their hut, house or apartment block every morning anew. The designs can be simple or very large and intricate. They are drawn to invoke prosperity, invitation and welcome of guests.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T Essential in a High Poverty School

Recently, I was preparing for an interview at a school with relatively high rate of low income families (75%). Since my administrative experience is with middle class and wealthy communities, I asked my PLN for some info. Two administrators came to the rescue: Mike Roberts whose answers are in blue and Doug Green whose answers are in green (bios for Mike and Doug are at the end of this post).

• What are some successful ways you involve parents?

Parent E-mail- I get parents email address at meetings and Open House. I then email the whole school as a whole on Sunday afternoon's with the upcoming week's events. For example: picture day, Masquerade Ball, Field Trips, etc. I think another good way is to take a personal interest in all the kids, but especially your at-risk students. I set down with them one on one and make goals. If they reach their goals, I put a post card in the mail telling their parents that I am proud of their achievements.

Even poor parents come to school if their kids are on stage performing or if you have some kind of event that features free food. We had a carnival in the spring and various dances with teachers as DJ’s and myself monitoring the dance floor.

• Do you have successful alternatives to the standard Principal/Parent Coffee at 9 am?

Most parents are working. I do reading and math nights with minimal turn out. Again email is powerful. I email myself and bcc my parents. This way they don't know each others' email address in case they ever want to grind an axe.

Make home visits. Get out in the hood. Ride a bus and see who is at the bus stops. Give kids rides home who are sick or who miss the bus or who misbehave. Be fair and try to get to a point where the kid tells the parent what he did wrong. That is when you can get the parent working with you. Otherwise you will get an endless version of “why you pickin on my kid.” Remind the parent not to beat the kid. Go out of your way for black and hispanic parents. If you do, the word will get out that you are not a racist. Parents will play the race card so you just have to be better and earn their respect.

• Do you have any ways to counteract the parents' own bad experiences in school?

Just try and have the most positive school you can have for kids. If their kid gets out of bed wanting to come to school, it will make the parents happy.

See 1 and 2.

• What, besides money-related items, is the biggest challenge in working with poor students?

Instilling a sense of hope in some of them. They must see that education is the key to breaking this cycle of poverty. 2 weeks ago I started taking my upper grades students to visit college campuses. Just took my 5th grade to Georgia Tech. My 4th grade visits Jacksonville State University next week. Instill Hope.

Parents don’t generally have the academic background to help with learning and they aren’t able to take kids places for various kinds of enrichment. (Museums, libraries, or even trips out of the neighborhood.) Homes have TV but little or no reading material. This is why poor kids seem to go backwards during the summer and rich kids don’t.

• How do you welcome or induct a new student - assuming your school has a high turnover or churn rate? 

Video Morning Announcements are huge. We do these on closed circuit every morning. We recognize students accomplishments, birthdays, new students, etc. We want the whole school clapping when this occurs.

I had about 37% a year. It was vital that I greeted the parents when they registered the kids and started to get to know them. Where you from? What brings you here? What can you tell me about junior. Act happy to see them and don’t act even a little superior. Act interested in what they have to say. Be empathetic. Even poor parents can smell distain a mile away.

• When you first started at a high poverty school, what were some surprises?

None really. Kids are kids. Poor kids appreciate the things you do for them more than wealthy students. They appreciate the field trips and AR parties. It really means a lot to them. I love being their principal. I'm making a difference.

Kids came to school with emotional problems that steamed from events at home and in the neighborhood. Mommy’s new boy friend was a big negative as it took attention away from the child and he wasn’t dad. The number one abuser was the boy friend. There were always surprises due to unique and crazy situations that came up. It required a lot of problem solving and an excellent sense of humor.

• Finally, any sage advice that I should know?

Read: "Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire" and "There are No Shortcuts" by Rafe Esquith. You have to make it your personal mission statement that the quality of your students' lives are going improve because they were at your school. Don't worry about pleasing the central office crowd. Stay totally focused on making a difference. You will find it very rewarding.

Keep your ego out of situations. If a kid or a parent calls you an m f’er, step back, think, and ask what you can do to help. Don’t yell back or show emotion. This will only throw gas on the fire. If a parent comes into your school yelling, let them know they can yell all they want in your office with the door closed. Otherwise they need to leave. You also need to be fearless. Watch some old Clint Eastwood movies and try to walk like he did with the same expression on your face. Don’t dress like a dork. You don’t need to dress in expensive suits. Just pay attention. If apparel isn’t your strong suit, let your wife dress you. I did. After she died from ALS last year I was proud that she knew that I would be able to dress myself. Kids would tell me, “hey Dr. Green, you look cool.” It wasn’t an accident.


It is interesting, but not at all surprising, to see that so much of what both of these gentlemen had to say centered on showing genuine respect.

What have you done to include/engage parents in schools with high levels of poverty? Please leave comments below.


Cross posted at connectedprincipals.com
Image from flickr user Fabio Ikezaki CC


Our Guest Answerers

Mike Roberts

@mikeroberts1973 view full profile →

West Georgia Principal,devoted father,husband,Christian. Seize the day! http://ies.carrollcountyschools.com

Douglas Green

@drdouggreen view full profile →

Endicott, New York Blogger DrDougGreen.Com - Retired Principal - Former caregiver for wife with Lou Gehrig's disease http://drdouggreen.com

Inform, Invite, Perform (and Feed): A Plan to Increase Parental Involvement

I often hear other principals mention that they struggle with getting parents more involved in the school. A couple of weeks ago, I was asked how I might tackle this. After much thought and research and a meal or two, I have boiled down my solution for this long-standing struggle.

I've come up with a three (OK, four) part plan for increasing parental involvement in schools. Inform, Invite, Perform, and FEED!

Inform
For many, this is the easiest part of the plan. Put out tons of information in several different formats. The time honored newsletter is a great way to start. Most parents will appreciate an email newsletter with tons of information about the school. Remember to create a predictable publication schedule and stick to it; I've had emails from parents asking about my newsletter when it was only a few hours late. Most important for a school newsletter would be to include many voices. Although the principal might have an interesting things to say, it is the voice of the teachers that will really grab the parents' attention. Put the staff on a publication schedule and insist on it.

With the advent of Web 2.0, stopping at a one-way newsletter is just so 20th Century. Start a blog about the school. Create a school Facebook page. Send out Tweets throughout the day to your parents.

Finally, use every opportunity in front of parents to communication a piece of your message. The Band Director allowed me to grab the microphone while the Jazz Band was setting up. I took the chance to speak about some of the work we were doing.

Do not be afraid to ask the teachers to participate via class newsletters, class websites or blogs, and more.

In short, give an overload of information about the school and their child's experience. Parents want to know.


Invite
Most folks won't show up if they are not invited. So, invite them. Often. During the school year, I will photograph a really wonderful bulletin board or display of student work, post it to my blog, and invite parents to come in to see it in person.

Of course, to invite someone you must have something to which to invite. In other words, create programs and experiences that include parents. Invite parents to assemblies (if you have the room). Ask them to come in and volunteer in the library. Maybe parents will help out in the office. Parents can read, so get them in to class to be mystery/guest readers. Build a database of parent skills and then ask for help on a project. Ask parents to join a Site Council or Parent Advisory Board. Introduce new parents to the PTO president. Just ask.

Sort of like a baseball diamond in a corn field, ask them and they will come.


Perform
Not so fast, I say. Sure, some parents will come every time they are asked. It's the other parents that we are trying to get involved. One sure fire way to have more parents attend school events is to have more students perform. A good concert or play will bring them in. How about an art show with student docents? Talent show, recital night. Make some of these events part of the curriculum - not extracurricular - involve more parents.

But, performing is not just for the arts anymore. A good old fashioned science fair will attract many moms and dads (even some grandmas). There are many variations on the science fair idea that will work as well (states, inventors, countries - depends on the curriculum). While not typically called performing, students presenting their research or their work is a prime time to invite parents in. Don't just show the powerpoint while parents watch. Instead, the child will actually present her work to mom and dad (could be a great prelude to a student-led conference).

If the child has to be there to perform something, the parents will come too.


FEED!
The parents like food as much as the staff does; as much as the kids do. Serve food and more parents will come. It doesn't matter what as long as you are offering up free food. You might even create a sense of community through some sort of spaghetti dinner or something (but that is the topic of a future blog post).


So, there you have it. My very first three (four) part plan. If you want to increase parental participation: Inform, Invite, Perform, and FEED!


Your comments will go a long way in making this a two-way communication, not just my voice.

Squirrels Have Squirrels (# 24)

Gerry, the mentor that I mentioned earlier, would often say, "Squirrels have squirrels" shortly after certain parents left the school. Most of know this phrase better as, "The apple doesn't fall  far from the tree."

I don't know why Gerry used squirrels instead of apples, but I like it. I use it now on occasion to explain a student's behavior. Before teaching, I would not have understood the sentiment.

I can remember the first squirrels that I recognized. In my first year teaching, I had a student I will call Bill. Bill was sloppy, disorganized, disheveled, and not really interested in school work. My partner teacher and I called a meeting with Bill's parents. We'd met Mom already and knew her to be nothing like her son. We were perplexed. Until Dad walked in.

Dad was a larger version of Bill. They were like twins (except for the 30 year age gap). Now I got it.

Now, after 14 years in education, I understand squirrels. I have learned to work with squirrels. I have learned to value meeting them and listening to them.

Of course, my own mini-squirrels are now running around. I wonder how long it will be until some teacher meets me and thinks, "Oh, now I get it. Squirrels have squirrels."



Day 24 of my month of blog-a-day (Spilling Ink http://tinyurl.com/nc7gg3). 6 posts remaining. Ok, so I am a little bit behind. I've been kind of busy (and stressed, but more on that later).

2010 Spofford Pond Parent Survey

Dear Parents at Spofford Pond School,

Please take our annual Parent Survey. Your responses are anonymous and very helpful to the Spofford Pond Site Council.

Click on the link or the title of this article now. The survey is only open for ten days; it closes at 5:20pm on June 16, 2010.

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2vyejhfg91pofih/start

Thank you very much.

Larry Fliegelman on behalf of the Spofford Pond School Site Council

Spofford Pond Site Council Positions Available

Download now or preview on posterous

SiteCouncilNominations.10.doc (38 KB)

Dear Parent,

Please take a look at the attached information about joining the Spofford Pond School Site Council.

We need you.

Thank you.
--

Posted via email from Principal's Page attachments

Grade 6 Parents' Night

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Olia, Suzanne MS GUIDANCE <solia@masconomet.org>
Date: Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 11:53 AM
Subject: Grade 6 Parents' Night
To: Lawrence Fliegelman <lfliegelman@boxfordschools.org>

Could you please be sure to advertise this event for your Grade 6 parents?  Thank you.


Sixth Grade Parents’ Night at Masconomet Middle School
When:  Wednesday, April 28th, 2010, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.,
Location:  Masconomet Middle School, Auditorium.  

Sixth grade parents are invited to an informational evening at Masconomet Middle School.  This is an opportunity to meet administrators and Guidance Counselors.  Programs will be presented including a guided tour.  There will also be an opportunity for questions and answers.   

HAVE A GREAT BREAK!

Suzanne Olia
Masconomet Middle School
Administrative Assistant
978-887-2323 x6119

Posted via email from Principal's Page attachments

Placement Information for current 3, 4, 5 Parents

Download now or preview on posterous

Placement letter to parents FY11.pdf (216 KB)

Download now or preview on posterous

Student Placement Information FY11.pdf (50 KB)

Posted via email from Principal's Page attachments

Calendar for 2010-2011 School Year

Download now or preview on posterous

School Calendar 2010.11FINAL3.2.10.pdf (118 KB)

The Boxford School Committee recently approved this calendar for the 2010-2011 School Year.

Posted via email from Principal's Page attachments

A Conversation with Dan Pink

I wish I could claim that I had the conversation with Dan Pink the other night. Instead, I listened, live, to an interview and Q & A session with Dan Pink through Classroom 2.0 (see badge lower on the left of the page). Dan wrote A Whole New Mind a few years ago and recently published Drive. He writes about thinking and motivation.

Thanks to an online colleague, David Britten (http://rebel6.blogspot.com/), I have here a selection of quotes from Dan Pink, some with my commentary afterward.
   

• "Fostering self direction is the key to improvement in performance."
• Sometimes we call this teaching students to be responsible. Really this is more about motivation. Pink says that there is no one who is totally unmotivated (I agree). Our job as educators may be to find out what motivates a student and then to make that motivation work towards important learning.
• "Mastery requires regular feedback."
• "Conversation changes the world."
• I had a great conversation recently with a parent who, at the end of a meeting about her child, said that the best way to stop bullying would be to pass a more specific anti-bullying law. 
• I shared with her that I thought laws won't make a difference. Bullying actions are bad, and the kids know it - they know right from wrong. I think the key to dealing with bullying is to have a consistent message between home and school: bullying is bad. Stop it. While sometimes punishment works, more often than not much other work is needed to really change a child's behavior.
• The mother responded thoughtfully that she had never thought like that.
• I am certain that the parent left my office with a somewhat different picture of what motivates some bullies and some ideas about ways to resolve the situation.
• I mention that encounter with the parent to illustrate the immediate (albeit small) power of a simple conversation.
• "Grades should not be the end of conversation, but the beginning of one."
• Many parents and students place enormous significance on grades. While they are certainly important, I believe that the feedback about the standards is far more telling. Think about it;  the grade is one overall score. A grade does not tell you much about the student. Doctors used to use something like a grade: you are sick or he has xxx. Today, doctors, instead give you a great layer of detail about your white blood count or show you the x-ray to see for yourself. While some may not want to know all of the details, most appreciate understanding what is going on. Standards on the report card are like the information that the modern doctor gives. Your teacher gives a great amount of detail about a subject. We have broken down the major content areas and tell you some level of detail about each important standard. The grade is just the beginning of the conversation; the standards on the report card tell much. Of course, talking directly with your teacher and your child will give the most information and cannot be overlooked as the most important conversation.
• "Days end question: Was I better today than yesterday?"

Welcome!

Thanks to a parent volunteer, our front office is now more "Welcoming!"

Come on in and check it out.

Thanks.


- Larry Fliegelman

Spofford Pond School Recognition Wall

During the vacation, Bob Whiteneck, Head Custodian, finished work on our new Recognition Wall in the main lobby. Please stop by and take a look.




- Larry Fliegelman

June 2009 Parent Survey

Later this week, I will present this information from the Parent Survey conducted in June 2009. The results show an positive increase in many important areas.
Thank you for taking a look.
--
Larry Fliegelman

Download now or preview on posterous

2008 2009 Parent Survey comparison.pdf (54 KB)

Download now or preview on posterous

2009 Spofford Pond Parent Survey Report.pdf (68 KB)

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