February 27, 2018

A Call for Support

I remember holding my newborn daughter in my arms in the middle of the night 30 years ago. In this moment I was completely present with her and my attention wasn't being pulled in multiple directions by the needs of my other children. I was struck with the realization of how hard it was to give each of my children the kind of undivided attention that I wanted to give them. It was so hard to meet each of their needs in the way I knew they needed and that I wanted to give.

In so many ways, teaching is like that. In each of our Crews there are 25 children present. 25 children and a teacher.  We know that each of them need the learning personalized for them in many different ways. There are many different paths that need to be explored and constructed to ensure success for all of our children.

At Renaissance, we have created a programming structure that is delivering a way to personalize and differentiate the needs of our students.  This programming is not fully funded by the district.

I wonder if you know that at most elementary schools, the programming doesn't look the same as it does here at Renaissance? Every child at Renaissance is touched, supported and instructed by a team of experts. It's impossible for a single teacher to do this.

Each year the funds available from the district to design the programming we offer diminish.

Current programming and programming budget looks as follows:

Funded by district dollars:
* a teacher for each classroom

Funded by district dollars in combination with our fund raising and what is at risk:
* a literacy specialist to work with students
* a literacy specialist to coach and collaborate with all classroom teachers
* we added a math specialist to work with students
* a math specialist to coach and collaborate with all classroom teachers
* instructional assistants who float among all our classrooms to work with small groups of students in all content areas
* digital tools for learning, for every student (not many schools can claim having one-to-one devices for their kids)
* professional development opportunities for the growth of all staff

Ask any teacher in our school what the programming listed above is doing for the students in their classroom!

Last year, fund raising dollars from Life Is Art were used to:
* $60,000 to provide three instructional assistants for all students
* $20,000 for professional development funds for growth of all staff
* $6,000 for technology replacement and maintenance
* $5,000 for white bus maintenance

This year, our site based budget will not cover our current programming. In order to maintain having a literacy and math specialist, instructional assistants and supports such as technology - we will have to raise funds, through our fundraising, to maintain our current programming.

But wait...what about the fees? Those dollars are not part of our general school budget. Those dollars are explicitly for the cost of our Adventure Education program and the field work experiences.

Our shortage in the general budget, that is devoted to the programming we offer, is $225 a student. Yes, we could balance the budget by eliminating our math/literacy specialists and instructional assistants. That will be a huge loss to what we can do for our students and an enormous strain on classroom teachers.

Last year we received monies from the district in what was called, 'technology rotation funds'. Those were dollars to replace outdated and non-functioning devices. We will receive absolutely no monies from the district for technology this coming year.

We have a need to maintain the strong programming we currently provide. Please help us raise $225 per student! Life Is Art is our annual event to raise funds with the goal of supporting our current programming. It's not too late to attend. It's not too late to attend! You can also help by donating funds directly to the school. Life Is Art is creating an on-line option for donations to make this easy. Look for that in our school newsletter. Any amount you can contribute will help.

Thank you for your support,
Deborah

February 19, 2018

Social Construction of Knowledge

What is that?

In an Expeditionary Learning school, we believe that as learners our ability to construct new understandings comes from the opportunity to learn among a group of peers. The learner begins with an initial understanding and constructs, or builds, new understandings as they have experiences and conversations within a learning community. When we hear what others are thinking, it extends our own thinking.

Because we believe this is a powerful learning model, we use it every day intentionally within our classrooms. And we use this model when we work together professionally.

Friday of last week, we had a full day of learning together. We are increasing teacher leadership by sharing the role and responsibility of facilitating our professional development sessions.

In the morning, we started with drumming. We practice and live those important rituals as a staff for exactly the same reason we do them with kids. To build our sense of belonging and circle of safety.

Drumming is a fundamental form of human expression and a tool for developing unity.

We moved into a rich experience of unpacking the teacher transfer of Adventure Education. We know that it is the role of the teacher to support students in making the transfer of the learning experiences gained on Voyage into the classroom and other areas of a students' life. But what about the transfer a teacher needs to make to their own practice?

Here's the guiding questioned we grappled with...

Capitalizing on teacher leadership to facilitate our professional development session. Ms. Lisa guides us through this learning discovery.

Using a 'Chalk Talk' protocol - one we use with students too.
Without talking, each learner moves about the room and records their thoughts about the Outward Bound principle on the poster. While moving from poster to poster, the learner also reads the thoughts of others and can build on those, disagree, and write new ideas.

  

We don't make this stuff up!
We use the guiding principles from Outward Bound.
These are the principles that guide the work of
Expeditionary Learning schools.

Here's what the focus of each of these
 'Chalk Talk' posters were about:

Modeling What You Are Trying to Teach.

Gradually Stepping Back and Letting the Students Take Charge.

Breaking Down Complex Tasks Into Small Steps.

Working In Small Groups.

Picking Projects That Seem Impossible To Students And Then Accomplishing Them.

Joining Very High Standards With The Expectation That Everyone Is Going To Succeed And Help Others Succeed.

Changing The Context.

Doing a Minimum Of Instruction With A Maximum of Application.

When you first read these, they read like a list of good pedagogy for teaching in the classroom, right? And they are! But here's the surprising part, these are the practices used by Outward Bound instructors! These very practices are ones that teachers have adapted well to the classroom. Another whole level of transfer!

After the 'Chalk Talk' protocol, teachers worked in grade level teams to brainstorm how they currently do these practices and ideas for improvement.

We are more than grade level teachers - we are literacy and math specialists, instructional assistants, special education teachers, speech teachers, Performing and Visual Art teachers, and Physical Education teachers.
We know one teacher would never be able to meet all the needs of students.
We believe in Crew and we teach as a Crew. 

These 'anchor charts' of our thinking now live on the walls in the lounge to keep the learning alive in the coming days. We use anchor charts with students the same way. We can look back on this shared experience and continue to talk about how we are taking an idea to action.

In the afternoon, Ms. Pam facilitated a Love and Logic training.
Many of us have been using the 9 Essential Skills of Love and Logic for years, and always benefit from a refresher. Some of our staff is new to these skills - and we honor the belief that we have to support one another so we can all succeed.

We are always so thankful and inspired by our professional development time together. To be great educators, we need thoughtful time to learn and grow together. We also need the time to connect and build the relationships that build Crew, so we can provide that for our kids.