Letter To Staff

Dear Holiday Park Staff,

We have officially gotten through the first 9 days of school. The children, our purpose for being at work each day, are full of excitement and wonder. Seeing them laughing and playing, learning and practicing deep breathing are the moments that keep most of us sane these first few weeks.

I have seen such amazing things the last 9 days. Children telling me about there amygdala, parents asking me why their kids are telling them their hippocampus isn’t working right now! First graders lying on the floor practicing brain breaks, classes modeling walking in line, entering the cafeteria, entering the classroom, etc

The morning greetings are amazing to watch. The genuine welcome of students into your classrooms is heart-warming. The look on the students' faces is so telling and each of you guys look genuinely happy to see them. Good job!

While there is much to celebrate, we all know how hard and exhausting the first few weeks can be. Pretending we are not stressed and exhausted might not be the best way to handle our feelings and emotions right now.

Just like for you, the world is spinning.  I think everyone feels that, but teachers, educators, and school staff especially do.  We have so much to do and take care of between school life and home life…and sometimes the world is moving faster than we can keep up with and all we can do is hold on for dear life.

Some of us are holding on for dear life right now. Feeling overwhelmed, ineffective, exhausted, and lost is the reality for some of us right now at Holiday Park. Getting through another day without questioning our job choice or crying is probably our main goal right now! If this is you right now, please give yourself permission to evaluate all of your self-given responsibilities and decide which ones need to take a backseat and even go in the trunk for a while.  After that, reflect on what is going well for you right now. Find something, even if it is getting to work on time, getting a great parking spot, or enjoying the company of your team. Spend some time thinking about that one success. It’s important! 

Next, separate “task” responsibilities from “teaching student responsibilities.”

“Task” examples – certainly not limited to the following

Taking attendance

Setting up phone

Turning in your sub folder

Writing lesson plans

“Teaching children responsibilities” examples –

Teaching and modeling every behavior expectation

Establishing relationships with each student

Establishing classroom management

Assessing students current abilities

Delivery of content

Keeping students engaged

Giving praise once a minute

Seems very overwhelming, right? So, we have to do two things:

Give each other some grace.

Help each other as much as we can.

How can we do that? We must have a plan and procedure to ensure we can do this. I am open for all ideas as this is the job of the organization. We are each responsible. Here are a few ideas to get us started:

Practice grace with each other:

·      If someone doesn’t say hello, don’t presume negative intentions, they could just be very overwhelmed and focused

·      For us veterans, please remember that newer teachers probably don’t even know what questions to ask you about. We have to be proactive and give, give, give, information about everything!

·      If you hear some negative tone or words from others please do not ignore, let’s remind each other of our commitment to no harm, but not in a judgmental way. If someone is sounding angry or frustrated, chances are they could use our help. So, without judgment, let’s offer whatever support is needed knowing that someday it will be us that needs the support.

Help each other as much as possible:

·      We have enough expertise among us to give each of us what we need. One idea might be to start to identify the types of support we each need to help us be successful and take some of the load off. If we set up two of the bulletin boards in the lounge or office hallway we could perhaps start to identify needs. I will put lots of sticky notes and pens by the bulletin boards and we can each put up words or statements of what we need. Anonymously is fine. One board for tasks, one board for teaching. We can then use that info to provide support. If we see a lot of “I don’t really understand what my lesson plans should look like” we can offer a few after school opportunities (not run by Emily or I) but by some of our colleagues that are good at this and have an efficient format to provide support.

·      Make sure we each have enough supplies to get us through the day. If you or a colleague needs pencils, paper, markers, or chart paper, let us know right away. I know that Emily is trying to make sure you each have what you need. A lot of items are on back order from the warehouse, but Emily has committed to getting each of you what you need so we might have to make a Walmart or Staples run. Please remember that the desire to have you get the supplies you need is very different from getting you all the supplies you want! But having easy access to pencils, paper, and markers should never be a problem.

As we identify these areas, we can give support to each other. We each need something; we are in this together as a team. Once we are giving each other support with task items and teaching needs, we will feel more peace as an organization and happiness and peace will replace frustration and exhaustion.

Please remember how important you each are. The lives of our students depend on you. Their outlook on the world, their ability to obtain success, their ability to learn resilience, happiness, and self-regulation depends on each of us. There is no greater calling that impacts our society as that of a teacher.

Thank you for choosing this incredibly difficult, but rewarding profession. You are each heroes every day. You are probably not told enough, but you are valued and what you do is important.

Proud to work with each of you,

Rebecca

Our brains are hard-wired for safety. The part of our brain that is always on the lookout for our safety is called our Amygdala. When thinking of safety, it is easy to think about all of the physical practices we like to have in place within our organization for both ourselves and our students. Physical safety is very important and should always be considered and improved by each of us everyday.

The other parts of safety that we need to be committed to are not as commonly talked about or committed too. Our emotional, social, and moral safety must be ensured in order for us to be a healthy organization and for each of us to thrive. We talk about student behaviors and bullying, but it is a little harder to talk about adult behaviors and bullying. But we must. We must commit to safety in each of these domains both individually and as an organization.

Emotional Safety:

We are each responsible to know and understand our own emotions. When we realize our emotions are becoming out of control, we need to take a deep breath, take a short walk, or reach out to someone who can guide us through our emotions. Anger, frustration, contempt, disrespect, and any other emotion that can produce negative outcomes can not be leveraged against any staff or students at Holiday Park. We are also responsible to notice others emotions and offer care for them when they have no control over their emotions.

Example of Emotional Safety -

Every time I bring up an idea at our team meetings one of my team members rolls her eyes. I think I am going to flip my lid. I want to slam my hands on the table and ask her what her problem is. So, I asked to be excused to use the restroom and take a short walk. I have control over my emotions now and can address this with my team member using a more constructive approach.

Non-example -

Seriously,did you just roll your eyes at me again. I’m done! I slam my hands down on the table and tell little miss roll-her-eye’s that the next time she does that to me I am going to rip that eye right out of her socket.Got it? 

Social Safety:

Every group or organization has both spoken and unspoken codes of conduct. Social safety occurs when each member of the community adheres to those codes of conduct. When we see adults breaking the code of conduct we are equally responsible to address this conduct as it affects our entire organization.

Example of Social Safety -

Every time Miss Froggy talks about data she always mentions her own children as an example. I am frustrated, but control my non-verbal communication so that Miss Froggy does not feel disrespected or embarrassed. I will speak with her privately about my frustration at another time.

Non-example -

Every time Miss Froggy talks about data, she mentions her own children as an example, I am so sick of this. I sigh, roll my eyes, and start to work on my computer. I don’t care if anyone pays any attention to her right now or not.

Moral Safety:

We are each responsible to know right from wrong and make decisions based on what is right. When we agree to get pulled into something that doesn’t feel right, that is morally unsafe.

Example of Moral Safety -

I noticed that one teacher arrives late everyday to work. Her partner teacher always takes her children into the classroom so no one is really aware. I decide that this is morally unsafe to our organization and I plan to meet with this teacher to see if I can help in any way.

Non-example -

I noticed that one teacher comes to work late each day and no one ever notices. Her partner teacher takes her children into the classroom for breakfast. Our doors are right next to each other so I ask her if she wants to take turns taking in the kids so we can each come in late every other day as well. Great:) 

At Holiday Park we must commit, as an entire organization, that we ensure safety for all. Emotional, social, and moral safety for each staff member, student, and parent. It is who we are and what we want to be.

Organized vs. Cluttered

Organized vs. Cluttered

Speaks of Children vs. Commercialized

Relevant vs. Outdated

We know that what our school, classrooms, office, cafeteria, and bathrooms look and feel like gives our students and community their first gut reaction to who we are and the work that we do. Is our environment clean and aesthetically pleasing? Do we show our students learning and celebrate their work? Or, do we put up commercially bought posters and boards that look cute (maybe) but do not show the “life” that happens in our school everyday?

We know that our students have difficulty organizing their desks, backpacks, and homework. Yet, year after year, we get frustrated, see it happening again, and do nothing to change it. We are habitualized to this event and then wonder why our students have difficulty organizing their thoughts and ideas. We get frustrated when they lose their work or can’t find their materials.

We know that leaving the same information up about who we are and what we are learning does not fairly represent all the learning and work that you and your students do every day. Yet we sometimes leave items posted for months, sometimes even the whole year, without even noticing.

Remember -

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Anything that is worth doing, and doing well, needs to be modeled and taught to our students. Nothing should be assumed about any student’s ability to succeed within our expectations if we have not taught it, modeled it, and modeled it again. Praised it, and celebrated it, and praised it again. This takes time. Yes, time away from your content. You might feel like you are wasting your time. You might feel like you are falling too far behind. You might think the other schools are passing us and we will never be able to catch up. But remember, slow and steady wins the race. Our students need the skills associated with organizing and respecting their learning environment.

The perfect example of this comes from our own classrooms and practices. When we first introduced breakfast in the classroom, many of the kinder and 1^st grade teachers were very concerned about the mess it would create in the class. I have seen these teachers, year after year, start very slowly and “model” each step of getting breakfast and throwing leftovers and milk away. And to everyone's delight and amazement, the floors in those rooms are near perfect! On the other-hand, our upper grade classrooms have stains and spills that are, quite frankly, gross! Not intentional by any means. Actually, quite the opposite has occurred. There is a normal assumption that any child that has been in school for several years and is a little older would know how to take care of their breakfast items appropriately. But they don’t! We may just think they are lazy or clumsy, or that all students create these messy floors because they are just kids. But the fact is, we probably have not taken the time to model and teach these procedures daily until we can “see” that they understand and have the ability to appropriately take care of their breakfast items. If kinder and 1^st grade students can do it after much teaching, then so can our older students. They just need to be taught and held to that expectation.

As we move into our new year together, please consider the following questions and give your voice to our group so that we can all develop a plan together that meets the needs of our kids.

How do we come together to make these things happen? –

If having an organized desk helps a student to find work and materials quickly, how do we ensure this practice?

If having an organized backpack is necessary for students and parents to find homework, materials, supplies, and communications home, how can we ensure this practice?

If we want to know if communication from school is making it out of the backpack and to the adults at home, what can we do to help us gain this information?

If making sure homework is completed and the work is gone over to ensure we are not encouraging wrong encoding, what procedures can we put in place to ensure we can check each child’s homework daily?

If having the ability to access needed materials is necessary for a smooth running classroom, what practices need to be in place for this to happen?

If we believe that our environment is an aquarium that displays who lives in the environment, what would you expect your classroom to look like? What is on the walls? Is the environment over-stimulating? Perhaps bare and boring? Is the “intimate” working space of the child honored (Clean, neat, and organized or messy, disheveled, and dirty? Broken pencils and crumpled up paper hiding in desks and corners of bins)?

If part of being socially responsible helps us to understand how to properly dispose of our trash and clean up after ourselves, what would we put into our procedures to ensure this is being taught and modeled?

Do our bulletin boards, both inside and outside, communicate current and relevant information about who we are, what we are learning, and what we are celebrating?

While we will share the above questions throughout the year, it is important to understand the end of the day clean-up and get-organized expectations. Teachers will model and teach these expectations clearly and ensure the organized and clean structure is in place everyday.

Every day before students leave:

Desks cleaned off

Floors picked up – no trash, food, clothing, pencils, etc.

Sink area clean – no food or trash in sink, no food stored

Inside desk cleaned and organized

Pencil shavings by pencil sharpener cleaned up

Homework and papers going home inside folder and then in backpack

Student chairs stacked

Brain break and closing circle after clean up to ensure a calm and focused dismissal.

Hopes and Dreams

Reading, researching, watching video's, all in the attempt to write some helpful thoughts and ideas regarding the importance of Hopes and Dreams. I ran across this brief article and decided I couldn't say it better! I have added an extra article links for Hopes and Dreams at  the end of this post. Enjoy!

 

HOPES AND DREAMS

In classrooms all over the country using the Responsive Classroom approach, teachers begin the year generating "Hopes and Dreams." They offer their own hopes for their class. They ask their students to construct hopes of their own. As we create and speak our hopes, we begin to imagine a year full of delicious and shared challenges.

The process of developing hopes and dreams each year in our schools is a process of reviving hope -- and I am convinced that hope is one of our most critical community resources. In today's schools, hope seems almost fragile and under siege from so many external, as well as internal, sectors. Yet, how do we teach or learn without it?

To do our job well, to teach with conviction, patience, and skill, requires a steady infusion of hope. We have to maintain our hope that children can succeed, even in the face of struggle. We need to believe in our own efficacy; our ability to reach hard-to-reach children. We need to assert our own priorities and knowledge of how children learn. We need to say out loud that we have high expectations and good plans. We also need to invite our children to articulate their social and academic goals. When we ask our children to explore their hopes, we give them the opportunity to invest in their own schooling and, with eagerness, to bring their hope into the classroom each year.

Thus, we begin the year with a hopeful statement and a hopeful question: "My hope for you this year is __________. What is your hope for this year?"

When we ask ourselves and our students to generate hopes, we activate our imaginations and practical knowledge. Our best hopes can be translated into successful action plans. If I want my fourth grade students to become problem solvers, I am ready with opportunities to learn and appropriately phased interventions. To help Keisha become a better reader, a reader of chapter books, together we will select appropriate texts and a series of instructional steps. What is important is that teacher and students are a team working on student- and teacher-named goals.

A FEW PROCEDURES

The teacher names and models "Hopes and Dreams" for the class.

It is important to remember the following:

• Hopes are framed in a positive and inspirational manner. They are intended to guide and stretch the group. For example, "I hope that all of you do proud work each week. Every week, you will select some work and say, "That was good work. I'm proud of it."
• Hopes need to be general and offer descriptive detail. It is important that children form a picture and see themselves in the hopeful setting: being problem solvers, having purposeful conversations, making new friends, trying new tasks.
• Hopes are realistic and draw on experiential or developmental frameworks. For example, some teachers might base a hope on prior experience with the group or predicted developmental considerations. Those can be strengths or weaknesses. For example, knowing that a particular group is highly creative, but also highly social, not distracting themselves with non-stop chattiness will inform a hope. One teacher, realizing that her group was young and on the impulsive side, developed her hope around children learning to think before they acted and "use their brakes." Some teachers might align their hopes for the year with new curriculum initiatives -- solving math word problems and social conflicts.
• Hopes provide whole class rather than individual focus; something everyone will work on together. For example, anticipating that her third graders might become gender exclusive, a teacher framed her hope to say, "My hope for you this year is that girls and boys will continue to work and be friends with one another."

The students generate their own "Hopes and Dreams" for the year, and add a way to work on them.

"My hope for myself this year is______________. I will work on it by_________________________."

• The teacher brainstorms with the whole class possible hopes and dreams. "What is a hope someone might have this year in school?" (Examples from last year could be a way to start.)
• Students' hopes might express social or academic goals. ("I want to learn hard math. " "I want to learn cursive. " "I want to learn to write a poem. " "I want to get my homework done without fighting. " "I want less homework! " "I want to have a friend that is a boy." "I want to not give up so easily when I don't 'get' things right away. " "I want to not go to time out so much.")
• Students' goals might express areas to improve or just to enjoy more. ("I hope to have more time to make up plays." "I hope to do more art." "I hope to do harder math.")
• It is important to differentiate between a plan for a career and a hope for something a student really wants to learn this year in school.
• Some teachers like to have their students articulate both a social and an academic "hope."
• Students do a draft. Some teachers find it helps to have students visualize by drawing a map of last year's classroom and locating themselves in three different areas. Those teachers ask students to 'star' on the map three areas: Something they really enjoyed. Something that was hard for them (Working on writing for example). Something they want to work on this year.
• The teacher conferences with children about their hopes, helping them find words or express ideas.
• Children do a first draft, writing and illustrating their own hope for the year.
• Children do a final written and illustrated "Hope and Dream."
• The Hopes and Dreams are displayed on a beautiful class bulletin board.

The teacher and students follow-up on their "Hopes and Dreams."

• From hopes and dreams, we derive our rules. (See next month's Responsive Classroom column for more on this.)
• During the next six weeks, the teacher revisits students' hopes and dreams, asking such questions as, "How do you think you're doing on your hope to make a new friend this year? I notice ____________. What do you notice?" Sometimes the benchmarks are clear and sometimes they need more specification.
• Hopes and dreams are sent home to parents.
• Parents also might be asked to formulate their hopes and dreams for the year for their children. Some teachers use a fall parent night for that.
• The teacher might revisit hopes and dreams at mid-year. Some children are ready to celebrate and create a new hope. Others might want to revise or think about the next steps in achieving their original hope.

A FEW TIPS

• Kindergarten and pre-kindergarten teachers might wait until children have become familiar with school before beginning their "Hopes and Dreams" activities. Young children also might be confused by the word "dreams," so teachers might just want to talk about hopes. Children might illustrate their favorite areas of the classroom.
• It is important to remember that with some children you are planting a seed. It might be a while before the idea takes hold.
• Some children "test." Their initial hopes are silly or not realistic -- "My hope is to play video games all day long." I find it helps to stay serious, convey the responsibility of the task, and stick with it. I reinforce the relevance of school-related hopes and urge them to find a way to combine play and learning.
• Some children are resistant and defiant or utterly discouraged. "I just hope school gets over fast." "Nothing. I hope nothing." "I just don't wanna be here." I tend not to give up and keep reiterating my own hopes for children to like school. "My hope for you," I keep saying, "is that we can figure out something that makes school good for you. There is something you will feel good about, proud about, excited about this year. Let's work on it." One of my most resistant students wrote finally (after several days of balking), "My hope is to like school better this year." (He now is 25 -- and a teacher!)
•  

In sum, "Hopes and Dreams" is a strategy to engage children and teachers in setting a positive, workful tone for the year. It gives us all permission to begin the year recalling the apt words of Sara Ruddick, "for children, hope is as important as breathing."

Ruth Sidney Charney's Responsive Classroom Strategies: Hopes and Dreams: A Strategy to Begin the Year

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/charney/charney001.shtml

Article

https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/our-hopes-and-dreams-for-school/

 

 

Interactive Modeling

 

 

We remember what we do ourselves

Instead of assuming that if we tell children how to do something enough they'll "get it," Interactive Modeling shows students exactly how to do what we expect. It also gives them the mental model to understand what we expect, allows peer models, and thought sharing of what they notice and observe.

In many of our classrooms, we teach our students a skill or routine and wonder why the students “just don’t get it?” We have taught it and taught it, and still, they just don’t always seem to get it. Why can’t they remember where to put their homework, how to walk in line, use complete sentences to answer questions?

We know that we taught the skill or routine, we try to remind the students how to do it, have even sometimes used a thinking map to post the expectation, yet they still ask, “Where should I put my homework?” Does any of this sound familiar to you? It does to me, and reading this summer about Interactive Modeling helped me remember how powerful specific modeling, practice, and feedback can be to learning.

The 7-Step Learning Process

When I read the sample lesson plan about teaching students how to paraphrase a research source, I noticed how simple and easy this process could be. The seven-step model seems like it could be completed in just a few minutes, but is efficient and effective.

The seven-step process requires the teacher to be prepared and clear on the learning goal. The process chunks the learning into bite size pieces and gives the students a picture perfect image of your expectations for them. The seven steps to interactive modeling are as follows:

1. Describe a positive behavior you will model.

2. Model the behavior.

3. Ask students what they noticed.

4. Ask student volunteers to model the same behavior.

5. Ask students what they noticed.

6. Have the class practice.

7. Provide feedback.

Links to Videos and Articles About Interactive Modeling

Interactive modeling Sample Lesson Plan –

https://oqoyz1y45eq3fjitpwe0w2k8-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/sites/default/files/pdf_files/IM_in_action_paraphrasing.pdf

1^st grade interactive modeling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfOm7PPzWQQ

Interactive modeling of time-out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwN2dFkeYzI

4^th grade interactive modeling – choosing a partner

https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=qEQBVAX9684