Quotable: The easy question is whether a student has learned something; the far more important, and unsettling question is whether the student has been given something worth learning.
The Next Couple Weeks:
Monday, April 23: Grade 2 Common Core in TIC
Monday, April 23: 8:00 Student Study Team
Monday, April 23: 4:30 - 8:30 Kindergarten Round Up
Tuesday, April 24: 4:30 - 8:30 Kindergarten Round Up
Wednesday, April 25: Secretaries' Day
Wednesday, April 25: 8:35 - 9:00ish Assembly, Grades K - 2
Wednesday, April 25: Grade 3 Common Core in TIC
Thursday, April 26: 4:30 - 8:30 Kindergarten Round Up
Friday, April 27: 8:00 Staff Meeting
Educational Hoarding:
Have you ever watched the show "Hoarders"? Honestly, that show makes me crazy. The people on the show have held on to so much stuff that their homes become unmanageable. Their gathering and keeping "stuff" becomes such an obsession that their normal lives are highly impacted. As they work through the issue of sorting, organizing, and getting rid of their possessions, it becomes a traumatic time.
The same is true in school. Especially at a time when we are faced with adopting new curriculum, changing from GLCEs to Common Core. We may not be physical hoarders of "stuff", but we may want to hoard our teaching strategies and ideas that are no longer relevant. Collaboratively, we need to work through the process of focusing each activity while letting go of less effective strategies, the strategies we want to hoard and the strategies that don't allow us to be most efficient for each student. Can this be a traumatic time? Absolutely!
We are often faced with new things to do. One of the most powerful ideas of PLC is the idea of "what do we STOP doing" in favor of more focus on the learning and the results of that learning. In order to become an efficient staff and system that focuses on the critical learning of each student, we need to look at all of the activities and strategies that are being implemented and evaluate their effectiveness. What should we continue doing? What should we let go of?
During your PLC meetings, have the STOP doing conversation. Becoming a non-hoarder of educational ideas and strategies gives us freedom to focus on what is critical, brings a deeper calm and is worth the trauma of the whole process. The positives of the STOP doing conversation outweigh the trauma of letting go of some of our "favorite" strategies or teaching ideas. If anything is a hindrance to student achievement, we must STOP doing it. Collaboratively, we need to be an efficient system that is focused on the results of each and every child at Parma Elementary. We all must be non-hoarders of what we have always done.
Math Facts:
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
What did the zero say to the eight?......"Nice Belt"
Now that is funny!
Highlights from the Week:
- Betsy Powers is celebrated for earning a Top Teacher Award at the School Board meeting.
- I had a kindergarten student ask me this week, "Ms. Haney, is it your honor to be at this school?" To which I replied, "Absolutely!"
- Kindergarten students were so excited about their poetry unit they snuck Shel Silverstein books out of the classroom to read at recess and lunch.
- A third grader told me that he was reading a book and completely lost track of time. I love that!
Inspiring Video:
When you have 3 minutes, please watch this video on attitude. This is a good reminder for this time of year.
Interesting Article to Read:
This article addresses those students who seem to be tuned out or appear to not be paying attention or the ones who constantly are blurting out. It gives lessons this teacher learned from these students.
Have a fantastic week!!!
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