STUDENT WORK
Our focus for the school year is looking at student work. The reason for this is we need to begin the process of looking at what students are producing in the classroom and outside of it as well. If our true goal is to become the best middle school in New York City then we need to measure how we are doing. One way to do that is to collect data on a regular basis to see if our students are improving. It makes sense. You take an initial assessment or diagnostic, and then you continue to measure the same skills throughout the year to see if students are learning. If all the students are improving, we are achieving our goal and we are being successful.
Another way is to see what the students are able to produce within the classroom period(s) on a daily basis. If they are able to demonstrate an ability to make connections, build on concepts, and organize information to develop a stronger understanding, then we can be confident our students will improve and the school will be successful. In order to measure if they are able to connect, build, and organize, we need a product from them; hence the reason for looking at student work. If a child sits through one period of class and all they have is a couple of pages in their notebook full of notes from listening to a teacher speak or walk through a Powerpoint presentation, how do we know if they have comprehended what was shared? Better yet, what good is information that is not processed? By measuring what we have asked them to do within the time we get with them each day, we will see if we are asking our students to perform at a higher level. We will learn if we are giving them the opportunity to develop or whether or not we are challenging them. These are all expectations we have of ourselves and the school. We must take a deeper look to see if we are truly achieving our goals.
There is a vast amount of creativity throughout our school. When it comes to producing projects or approaching a topic in a way that can help our students understand a concept easier, our staff does a tremendous job. Now it is time to see what we are asking our students to do within those projects or class time. For instance, we can have a class draw a pizza pie with piecing missing to represent fractions. The opportunity for our students to draw and use an image to represent a number allows for our visual children to engage in a lesson. This is great. My next step in investigating the value of the work would be to see if the child was challenged or if they are able to build on what they drew. Prime ways to do that is to attach a set of questions to the task that would see if the student really did get the concept. I would avoid Yes/No questions at all costs because that falls into students playing the 50/50 odds. Another great way to “beef up” this assignment is to have them write about the process or produce a journal articulating what they learned in class. The dictation of their thoughts into written words not only increasing their stamina for writing but it challenges their spelling, grammar, vocabulary use, and gives them the opportunity to draw conclusions from the lesson shared (this is based on your feedback – the more they get, the more they think about it).
The most important part of the fraction activity is to use what is collected as a means of your interaction that period or during the following days. If you received the picture of the pizza, would you know if the student really comprehended the lesson? There would always be the chance that they copied from someone else but any assignment is at risk of that (unless you use some of my fool proof methods to prevent students from copying – see me anytime to pick at my brain for those ideas). If I was able to draw a pizza representing seven-eighths, then does that mean I know how fractions represent the operation of division or if I took one more slice away I would actually have three-fourths instead of the common answer of sixth-eighths? Does it mean that all fractions come in the form of pizza or circles? Could this concept be applied anywhere? Could three-quarters be supplemented for three-fourths? How can a clock help with fractions? I could go on forever with these questions, but the point is that you cannot really gather much with a drawing. Although the activity was engaging (how many students do you know who wouldn’t choose to draw instead of write?) and unless you are conferencing with every student during the period (which I completely promote), then you are not going to know if they learned anything about fractions. In addition, you would have to meet with every student just to find out if they understood your lesson. The written portion or question section could narrow down the list of people you would have to assess.
Once you get the questions answered, it is extremely important that you meet with the child after, either individually or in groups (students who made the same or similar mistakes is a great way to set them up). During this time you go over the questions to find out if they really did not understand or if they made little mistakes. You re-teach if it’s needed. Do not think that handing back corrected work will teach all of your children what they don’t know. That’s like me putting a memo in your mailbox and assuming everyone is going to read it (love the morning announcements for reinforcement).
This year when I visit your classroom, I am going to be looking for what the students are doing and producing in your classroom. For instance, the other day, I visited a teacher. I sat for about fifteen minutes of the end of the class. The students were listening to this person speak and articulate what they were going to do the following period. When I spoke to this person after, I asked what the students had been asked to produce. The person had no answer. When I asked what the students learned, the person spoke about the Aim and concepts covered. When I asked how did he/she know if they learned the concepts, he/she hesitated to answer. Then the person stated that he/she asked questions to the class and the students raised their hands and responded. This is a common answer according to research in this area. One student answers one question about one part of one concept at a time. If that was a good way to measure whether a class learned something then Jeopardy would be a one question show and would only last about 5 minutes after all the participants introduced themselves. My point is this. Help the students learn by asking them to produce work and not just simple work such as drawing, recording notes, cutting papers, etc…but real work such as responding to questions building on concepts, writing, explaining, developing new conclusions, etc…. Start measuring your own classroom and see if you are achieving your goal of raising student achievement. If you’re not, then let’s start doing it now. Every path begins with a first step. You would have already done the most important part of our focus of student work, looking at your own work.
PRAISES OF THE WEEK
The entire staff for stepping right into the Think-Pair-Sharing
The entire staff for getting their classrooms ready for the first day of school.
David Deatherage for putting student work up in the hall and in his classroom with responses
Sandie Murphy for also putting up student work in the hallway
The 6th grade team for picking up where they left off last year…getting to business with incredible collaboration, collegiality, and dedication. They even use a Yahoo portal to share lesson plans and interact – SOOOO AMAZING!
John Gonzalez and Phil Williamson for turning our supply closet into an organized room. You have to see it! It looks like a whole new place! John says you haven’t seen anything yet, as he takes on the ELA closet next.
Ms. Quiambao and Mr. Allen for getting Tenured on September 2nd. CONGRATULATIONS!
Mr. Seeram and Ms. McKinley for working their tails off the whole summer to give us, yet again, the best opening ever.
Ms. Mildred, Josie, and Alicia for attacking our attendance and getting our absenteeism down to 43 students. A school record for the shortest time. They promise me we will be over 90% next week.
Ms. Levene and Dr. Schultz for their incredible efforts in getting all the proper science supplies into the school in a timely fashion. They made a million phone calls and their work paid off. Great Job!
Ms. Vega for giving us an incredible bulletin board in the lobby. She is in the process of updating the names and says it will be done during this upcoming week.
Ms. Mildred for setting up our attendance bulletin board. We are ready to acknowledge great attendance!
WILL YOU BE MENTIONED NEXT WEEK?
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE DISCIPLINE COMMITTEE
The discipline committee meets every week from 3:15 to 4:15 to address issues surrounding the structure, implementation, and effectiveness of the school-wide discipline code. In our first meeting, we set goals for the school year and addressed some issues regarding the code's implementation this year. - JOIN THE COMMITTEE: Members of the discipline committee are eager and excited to work with new staff members and veteran staff members interested in improving our school's culture. Please join us at this week's meeting on Thursday in Ms. Quiambo's room.
COMMUNITY CORNER
The biggest preparation we have now is getting ready for the OPEN SCHOOL NIGHT. It is on September 23rd from 6pm to 8pm. We are expecting a great turn out. Changing the format to grade teams is a fantastic idea. It is a great opportunity to meet the parents, share what’s going on in the classrooms, inform them of big dates and events coming around, and, most importantly, make them feel welcomed. The grade teams have already began discussing what they are going to do. The sixth grade team will be informing parents about the literacy initiatives they are launching with the students such as reading levels and what they mean along with the importance of reading in school and at home. One grade team has proposed bringing in some food to share with the parents. This is of course not required but it will definitely make a person feel welcomed. Keep up the great planning everyone. Parents beware, you are in for an exciting night.
ATTENDANCE
For the first time since I have been principal (I seem to be saying that a lot since the beginning of last year), we were able to get our attendance down to about 40 students within the first week. This only lets us know that we are on our way of reaching our goal of over 93% attendance for the school year.
Great attendance means everyone has a better chance of learning. It also is a reflection of their desire to come to school. The more students talk about wanting to be in your classroom, the better their attendance will be. The more they make it to your class, the better they will perform on tests and in life.
The main office has been working diligently to reduce the number of no-shows. They have been calling every child who is absent (we started off with over 130 absentees) and doing home visits. What we can do to support them is make our students feel welcomed and safe. We can also follow up with any students who are absent by calling home or asking their friends about them. The easiest thing you can do is let a student know he or she was missed. “Hey Kareem, I didn’t see you in school yesterday. Everything okay?”
May your preparations meet your vision, your colleagues provide information, and no risk blinds you from your mission. Have a great week….
Birthdays:
Terri Miles August 9th
Daniel Schultz August 22nd
Wendy Perez August 30th
Sandy Chmielewski August 31st
Latanya Phelps September 5th
Renne Word September 12th
Melissa Quiambao September 12th
Jocelyn Unger-Baitz September 23rd
Jeanette Vega September 28th
Daughn Lee September 30th
Quote of the Week
“I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” --Henry David Thoreau
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