Reflections. Looking back. Looking forward.

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On the night before the first day of this school year I wrote this post outlining some goals and dreams for our school. Now, in the craziness that is May, with Open House, end-of-year performances, and making plans for next year behind the scenes, I'm taking a look back at the list of things we hoped to accomplish at our school this year. People who know me well embrace me as a girl who likes to dream big and start lots of things, some times too many! Other ideas I embark on with enthusiasm, and sometimes without having a clear path or plan, embracing the mess and learning as I go. I love setting goals. I love imagining things. And so, nine months later it's time to reflect on this year and time to start penciling in dreams for 2015-16. 

Here's the "dream list" for this year (in italics), and the results in bold. 

357 students by name in the drop off line! I am looking forward to greeting the students I know and learning the names of our newest students as fast as I can!  

I love drop off! I look forward to it every day, rain or shine! This year, I had big kids getting out of the front door for the first time with the addition of 4th and 5th grade. I also had some awesome helpers out there!

My helper almost every day!

Learning like a pirate- seeking treasure and getting to know our crew was a big focus this year as we looked deeply as a staff into kindness, empathy, and building relationships with kids and each other. 

Connecting as a staff

Connecting with kids

Autism Awareness Parent Night Team

Kindness Capes

Writing! Every student and teacher in our school has a writer's notebook and we'll be exploring writing and writer's workshop together all year long, culminating with a Family Writing Night in the Spring. 

Everyone wrote at Star this year- even the teachers at our staff meetings! And Akshaj, one of our 4th grade students even published his second book E-Tron (which you can purchase on Amazon here, or get Super Mouse, his first book here). We also had 4th graders submit entries for the B Street Theatre Script contest! We did not have a Family Writing Night, but it's on the list for next year!

Reading!  Our library is slowly getting ready to open, and we're starting a monthly family/student book club this year after being inspired by this post! We love to read at Star!

We finally opened our library in May and we held three Family Book Clubs! Hopefully we will have more next year.

One 5th grade class!

The library!

Homework! We're rethinking homework this year in hopes of making it more inspiring, relevant, and meaningful. Here's a post you might be interested in if you're tired of traditional homework! 

We did re-imagine homework this year, decreasing the amount and creating opportunities for optional activities including students writing blog posts. Most of the feedback was positive although a few parents noted they thought we should have more homework in our end-of-year survey. We'll keep looking at this next year.

Adopt a college! New this year, each classroom is adopting a college and we hope the college will adopt them back! If you see pennants and college flags around our school, it's because we are planting the seed that college is possible for each an every student in our school. Each grade level has a few college-related vocabulary words and we are looking forward to singing fight songs and promoting college spirit!  

We DID get the flags up! That's about it. Ugh. I wish we had done more in this area. But this is that evidence of too many ideas to implement well at once. My fault. 

Art! We are excited to be incorporating more art of all kinds this year. We will have a school-wide visual art program, grade level plays, and we are hoping to fundraise for a portable stage! Every student in our school also will learn Spanish, and we're hoping to incorporate more music in the coming year. 

Big win here. A school-wide art show at Open House last night, choir, Spanish, and yes, we got that stage thanks to generous parent and community donations! And every class is finishing with a performance, play, musical, or showcase of some kind!

Choir performance to a standing room only crowd!

Schoolwide Art Show at Open House

Technology! This year, we have a Mac lab, Chromebook carts, an iPad mini cart and teachers have iPads for teaching. We decided to purchase iPads instead of a traditional document camera since there is so much additional functionality for not much more money. 

Technology is everywhere at our school. We even purchased more, and we need more. Our teachers infuse it into every subject area and kids dig it! Our biggest problem was sharing the 30 iPads so they now live in my office and kids come and go all day checking them out :)

Maker Space! This year we are trying to incorporate a maker space, Minecraft, Genius hour, STEAM, and more. Our after school enrichment will feature a Maker Monday session that will combine Minecraft, making, DIY and more with our very own IT team of Joe Wood and Joe Cook! We can't wait to see how that evolves. 

Another big win. Our after school Minecraft Club was a huge hit, filling up in as fast as four minutes when signups opened. Over 100 kids participated. Special thanks to Joe Wood for creating the amazing worlds for the kids to build in! Additionally, our 4th and 5th grade team knocked the ball out of the park with their enrichment elective rotations that culminated with a showcase every 6 weeks for students and families. The 4/5 enrichment block included digital photography, stop motion video, art, engineering, Zumba, knitting and crocheting, coding, YouTubery, debate and improv, and more! Second grade even  built their communities in Minecraft! STEAM is an area we hope to ramp up next year schoolwide-- inspired by school visits over Spring Break.

Elizabeth made this! A driving ice cream!

Sphero bowling

Totally new classroom design! I'll share more pictures later, but our two 4th grade teachers have totally transformed their learning environments- no front, comfy learning spaces, rugs, tables instead of desks and more. We were inspired by two blog posts Reimagine Classroom Design and  Room Design or the Hobbit: An Unexpected Gathering when designing our new spaces. 

Not only did they redesign classrooms in a new way, but we got even more inspiration for our new school from a visit to the Cove School in Marin County-- inspired by Google!

No Office Day! Tomorrow is my first #noofficeday! Check out my previous post about getting out of the office and into classrooms with teachers and kids. 

This was another big win for me. Almost every Monday I was out and about in classrooms with teachers and kids! Check out this post for a look back at No Office Day via Twitter! Next year, I hope to be out at least two days all day. Or schedule one "Office Day"-- I like that idea better!

Looking back, I'm excited about all of the new experiences we had at our school, and looking forward to 2015-16!

What are you excited for in the coming year?

Where the Wild Things Are #leadwild

Wild first grade writing 

Deep conversation. On a Sunday. Questions. 
This question.
Are we really leading
wildly
if we are talking about
something
we could have done
20 years ago?

Is it technology?
Is that what makes us
wild?

Is it just-right pedagogy?
The art and science of teaching and learning.
Is it creativity and collaboration?
Or inspiration?

What if the most powerful learning I see in a day
is written in pencil
in a notebook
on the floor and under a table by a 7 year-old?

Or on sentence strips
written in marker with the word
chameleon
spelled wrong
by a first grade zoologist.

Old school tools for future ready schools.

Whether learning or leading
where the wild things are really
found
are in the connections,
the ideas
that spread like wildfire
fueled by technology.

Technology that allows a Bee-bot dance 

coded by two fourth grade girls
in California

to be shared
anywhere
in the
world.

Live.

What was old is new
again
Kagan and Calkins and
brain-based strategies are now
remixed with rich academic language
and content
for a digital world.

New is the audience.
Sharing.
Shining a spotlight
on the work of kids and teachers.
Twitter and Voxer.
Storytellers of our time.

New are the leaders willing to connect with
a souped up walkie-talkie
to ask questions
to listen
to learn
to be inspired to try out an amazing idea the next
day.

New are the leaders who learn first
Fearless and thoughtful.
Reflecting in a public space
sharing struggles
and celebrations
in blog posts or a tweets or in stories of
only 7 

words.

Radical? In a way. 

Revolutionary? Maybe.
Relentless?
Yes. Leading wild means digging in and digging deep.
It means never giving up.
It means saying I don’t know
but I’ll try.

Learning has no destination.
We may never arrive, but we are on a journey.
Together.
Traveling a path where strangers are friends
and impossible is nothing.

Lead wild.

The power of a post.

This past week I read a post about Kyle Schwartz, a third grade teacher from Colorado who asked her third grade students to write about what they wished their teacher knew. The assignment, started by the teacher as an attempt to get to know her students better, has sparked intense conversations and disagreement. When I first read the post, the message really hit home. It made me think immediately of students I know or have taught over the years who struggled with making friends, or who have experienced loss or trauma.

It made me think of a particular student who got in so much trouble one day at school-- the day everyone dressed up as a famous person from the past-- and he didn't. Not because he didn't want to, but because he just didn't have anything that would have worked. From the moment he arrived at school that day, he was angry. 

My heart broke for him that day. He wasn't in my class, but I had taught him the year before and knew that most evenings he spent with high school kids who lived in his apartment complex. He was eight. He ended up spending most of that day in the office after starting fights and disrupting class. I'll never forget him or that day, and I always wondered if that day would have gone differently if the project would have been something he could have completed at school. Did we as educators set him up for success? That day is one of the reasons that I stopped at-home projects that required adult help to complete. That day changed my practice. 

And so, when I read the post about Kyle's students, I shared it. We need to know the stories of our students, their hopes, fears, and struggles. I think Kyle's question was a good one.

And then I read Rafranz Davis' post this morning and it stopped me in my tracks. 

Rafranz asks tough questions as she discusses student voice, trust, and privacy. She raises important issues I hadn't considered when I read the post about the third graders in Colorado. When I read the post, I thought of kids. Not those kids exactly, but the kids I've known over the years. The kids who my hearts breaks for and that keep me up at night.

But Rafranz is right. 

If I write about the first grade teaching team at my school without naming them, it would take no longer than a second to Google them. They are easily identifiable. Every time I write about my school I know the audience is potentially the world, which includes their friends and family. Do they read my posts? I don't know.

But they could. 

I've learned a lot from these posts. And honestly, I think that's kind of the point. The REAL power in blogging is in sharing our reflections, our thinking, and struggles. It's about putting ideas out their and hoping someone learns something valuable from my post- even if I make a mistake.

So what did I learn? 

I learned that when I post (Twitter, blog, Facebook, anywhere!) I need to consider the audience. Is there anyone out there who might be harmed by my writing? Is there anything I'm sharing that is confidential? When I write, I always write thinking the world is my audience, and I need to be okay with anyone reading it. I don't want to hurt anyone or cause someone to lose trust in me. 

I learned that Kyle Schwartz asked a great question. What do you want your teacher to know? I think this is a GREAT question. So now I'm thinking about how this question could be asked but the responses shared differently. What if the whole school had been asked and the responses collected in a Google form and compiled in a word cloud generator to see what words show up the most? 

The information gathered is powerful, and yet probably could have been shared in a better way that didn't potentially identify the students or their families. I don't know them, but someone does. I would recognize my child's writing if it were posted. Or maybe the answers don't need to be shared publicly at all, but rather used to generate questions about what we can do differently, as educators and as people.

Kyle's post has an important message for us all. Knowing our students as individuals needs to be a priority for every educator. We need to ask tough questions. We need to know the answers no matter how heartbreaking. I believe Kyle had her students interests and needs in mind. That she wanted to know more so she could make a difference.

But I also think that both Kyle and Rafranz have highlighted the real power of blogging. By writing in a public space, we invite conversation, reflection, and change. We can learn from each other. 

Purpose. Audience. Message. So much power in every post. 

What can we learn together?

Jennifer

Learning. Leading change.

I’ll never forget the day I first saw this Playing for Change video in 2009. It gave me chills. It moved me. I was participating in a training about how to collaborate effectively, and how to move schools from good to great. This video is still one of my favorites, and I think it really speaks to what we are trying to do as far as change in education. These musicians are playing together, collaborating, connected by technology. Sure, they are singing the same song, but each brings their own passion and creativity to the piece. How can we lead for change? What components do schools need to have in place to inspire this feeling for kids and teachers? At Star Academy we’ve taken our inspiration from a variety of places and I am so excited about the level of innovation and inspiration at our school. What have I learned? Here are are a few “instruments” for inspiring change in your school.

Get out of your office

If there is one thing school leaders can do to change the culture of schools, it’s to get out of the office! I’m in classrooms every day, and almost every Monday I’m in classrooms with teachers and kids all day-- with no meetings! In EdWeek’s “No Office Day” post, Adam Welcome says,

“There's no denying a Principal has administrative 'office' duties, I get it. There's just no other way to feel the pulse of your school without constantly being on campus and in classrooms. My first year as Assistant Principal and Principal, I was in each classroom, every day, for the first one-hundred days! You can't feel the pulse or set the tone of your school in an office.”

So, get out of your office. Next year, I’m hoping to schedule one “office day” and be out and about the rest of the week.

Create a culture that celebrates risk taking and innovation

Ramsey Musallum Ted Talk: Three Rules to Spark Learning
Watch this video. It says it all.

1. Curiosity comes first
2. Embrace the mess
3. Practice reflection

#Embracethemess has become an unwritten hashtag for our school.

Start with the standards. Start with the “why”.

Why did we shift to the Common Core anyways? Common core IS NOT all about having a new boxed curriculum to follow in a lockstep fashion. Remember, we teach KIDS, not programs. My K-5 school doesn’t even have textbooks except for math. Teachers create their own curriculum, starting with the standards, infusing the 4 C’s, student interests and needs. Common Core IS all about getting kids college and career ready, ready for the future. We don’t know what the future looks like but we definitely know that jobs will involve technology and collaboration. The jobs we are preparing students for may not even exist yet.

Teachers and parents often ask us why we have first graders using email, blogging, and writing with Google docs. Aren’t they too young? Besides the fact that they LOVE it and they can totally do it, the standards also explicitly state what kids are expected to do. Starting in KINDERGARTEN.

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We keep this standard in mind all the time, and felt it was so important that we added it to the report card in all grade levels.

Digital writing in the common core is being rolled out in different ways in schools, but what I hear emphasized the most is the typing requirement. Yes, being able to use a keyboard is important. Digital writing is all about creating, having an authentic purpose and audience, and about interacting with others. Connecting. Collaborating. Success should not be measured by how fast you can type. Having said that, putting this standard out there leaves teachers and leaders with tons of questions. But what does this standard look like?

Model. Model. Model. Provide mentor texts.

We need models. Real examples. Teachers and school leaders struggle with this. They can tell you the 4 C’s but often can’t articulate what it looks like in a classroom with real kids? Teachers wonder, “Where do I start? What if I fail? Do you really want a messy, noisy classroom?” As school leaders we need to tell teachers what we want to see, model it when we lead staff meetings, and celebrate it-- even if it fails or doesn’t go as planned.

Teachers work hard, and I believe that at the end of the day they are trying to do in their classrooms what they think their administrators want to see. I’ve heard teachers say that their teacher prep programs or site administrators have said explicitly that classrooms should be quiet and orderly, and that success is measured by time on task. And now, with Common Core, they are hearing “and add the 4 C’s!” It’s a mixed message at best when teachers try to figure out how to incorporate collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication into their current classroom model. And then we see things like kids doing worksheets in cooperative table groups.

At our school, we’ve spent a ton of time on this. What does digital writing look like for 5 year olds who may not write well yet? And how can we connect our classrooms with the world?

Blogging rocks this standard! There are three roles kids can have-- reading, writing, or commenting on posts. All of our teachers have classroom blogs, and the kids are more often than not the authors, writing about things they are learning about and that they care about. Classmates, families and friends comment on their posts and all of a sudden our students are creating content and engaging with the world and each other. You can check out our classroom blogs here. Check out this third grader’s student of the week post and comments from almost every one of her classmates, or this first grader’s Power Ranger inspired post with 25 comments from teachers, friends, and family near and far. Even our parents are blogging! Check out this post by guest bloggers AJ and his mom on our school blog! Our classroom blogs are all different, some with video posts, some pictures, some authored by students, and some by the teacher. And although every blog is unique, we all started with inspiration from Linda Yollis and her 3rd grade classroom blog. Just having kids comment on posts is a great place to start, and we were inspired by watching this video! We also looked at tons of blogs by classroom teachers to get ideas before starting.

Inspire change.

People always ask me if I require teachers to have blogs, and I don’t. What I do have is an expectation that teachers communicate with families. This happens in lots of ways, through our blogs, Google sites, teachers tweeting, and email. Does it take time? Yes. Do our families know what is happening in classrooms? Totally. The best thing about blogs is that the pictures help the kids be part of the conversation. Can you tell from this post what these first graders have been learning about? More importantly, could a first grader tell the story of his/her classroom by looking at this post?

The challenge is to inspire change without having to require it. Do I require things? Sure. I require teachers to leave thorough sub plans when they are gone. But the inspiration to change doesn’t necessarily come from me. Amazing things happen when teachers get inspired. It could be anything from a Kahoot game to a blog post to a video of images with music. So many things have taken off school wide because our teachers were trying things and sharing the awesome things happening in their classrooms! I don’t need to require things because our school has become a place where teachers raise the bar for each other. They embrace the mess and try things with no guarantee of success. Every day.

Say yes. 

I want to say yes. When a teacher asks me to try something new, I try to say yes. I want to provide what they need. I also say yes, and… “How can I help?” “What do you need?” Tina Fey’s four rules of innovation (you can read the entire post here) can inspire a lot of the work we do in schools and in life:

Rule 1. The first rule of improvisation is to AGREE. Saying “no” grinds invention, innovation (and improv) to a screeching halt. Obviously in real life you’re not always going to agree with what everyone says. But saying YES reminds you to respect what your partner has created and to start from an open-minded place. Start with a YES and see where that takes you.

Rule 2. The second rule of improv is to not only say YES, say YES, AND. In improv, you agree and then add something of your own. If your partner starts with, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you just say “Yeah…” the skit has stalled. But if you respond with, “What did you expect? We’re in hell!” things keep moving forward.

Rule 3. The next rule is MAKE STATEMENTS. Don’t respond with questions. Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles. Speaking Valley Girl (ending every statement with a “?”) does not work, either. Instead of saying, “Where are we?” make a statement like “Here we are in Spain, Dracula.” This may be a terrible start, but it leads us to the best rule:

Rule 4. THERE ARE NO MISTAKES only OPPORTUNITIES. The next big laugh is just around the corner, as well as beautiful happy accidents. Many of the world’s great discoveries have been an accident. Bad glue created sticky notes (Post-It® Notes).

Be patient.

Change takes time-- years possibly. Just be brave and start somewhere. The best advice I can share is to be a lead learner and get messy and embrace change with your teachers and students. After I left the classroom two years ago, I started this blog partially because I wanted our teachers and students to blog. I wanted to model being a digital writer. I really felt that if I wanted teachers to embrace anything that I needed to be willing to do it myself. This blog also provides me with a space to reflect on the amazing job I get to do every day. Do I succeed every day? No way. Do I learn every day? Absolutely! 

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Jennifer