Thursday, March 28, 2013

What is Most Important?

I had a fascinating conversation with two of my kindergarten teachers this afternoon.  They spent yesterday in an all-district kindergarten teacher meeting and were updating me on plans for kindergarten students in our district to be formally assessed in writing six times over the course of a year.  Students will be demonstrating their abilitiy to write a narrative piece, an opinion piece, and an informational piece.  There will be pre and post writing assessments in all three topics.

Think about your kindergarten experience.  With all due respect to author Robert Fulghum, all I ever needed to know, I really did learn in kindergarten, but I'm fairly confident I did not learn how to write an informational or an opinion piece in kindergarten.

I understand all of this is developmental.  Of course, I don't see any of our kindergarten students submitting a piece for any medical journals any time soon, but our kindergarten (actually all of our) students do regularly amaze me with their sophistication and academic maturity.  This should be no surprise to me because I know their teachers and parents.  These kids are set-up for success, and I have no doubt that our kindergarten students will become successful with all of these types of writing and more.

Here's the best part.  My teachers weren't complaining about the new standards and expectations.  They weren't even concerned about being held accountable to higher standards than ever before with seemingly less resources than ever.  They were most concerned about us not forgetting that these same young people also need to be kids.  These young people need time to explore writing, time to share with their classmates, time to grow and develop in rich, language environments, time to love learning.  These teachers were already planning how to make sure we don't lose focus of what's most important.  I applaud them and everyone who commits to putting first thing first.

And now...putting first thing first for Novi and other lcoal schools is Spring Break.  It's OK to "sharpen our saws."  In fact, it's crucial.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

A Great Start Each Day!

How do you start your day? 

At Novi Woods, where I am principal, we are very intentional in how we start each day of learning.  While I am outside with another teacher directing traffic and greeting students in the pick-up/drop-off line and other  teachers are guiding kids off the buses to the school, all other staff welcome over 480 kindergarten through 4th grade students to their classrooms.  Student "safety-leaders" monitor doors and hallways while kids say good morning, give high-fives, chat about their evenings and plans for the day.  Excitement for learning and leading is in the air.

At 8:40 I make a quick call over the PA that morning announcements will begin in 5 minutes.  Assigned students from the school help me with morning announcments and a 4th grader reads a morning "Words of Wisdom."  It goes something like this:

"Good morning, Novi Woods.  Today is Wednesday, March 27, and we are growing great leaders!  I have several helpers from 2nd and 4th grades, and their names are:------------.  Please stand, face the flag, put your right hand over your heart, and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance."

After the Pledge I share any quick thoughts or reminders for the day and then our 4th grade leader reads a brief and inspirational passage about leadership and making good choices.  We close by saying:

"Let's make it a great day Novi Woods, and remember...it takes teamwork to make the dream work!"

All of this takes less than 3 minutes, but for me those three minutes are magical.  It's the only part of the day when the entire school is literally doing the same thing.  It's the only part of the day when everyone is focused on who we are, what we do, and why we do it.  It's the part of the day that sets the tone for all of the learning that happens for the rest of the day.

I recognize that in our country people have the right to not say the Pledge of Allegiance, and I'm very proud of that right and all of the rights we have in our country.  With rights, however, come responsibilities, and every adult at Novi Woods take the responsibilty for the teaching and learning of 488 young people seriously.  I'm proud of how Novi Woods, a public school where all students are welcomed, starts our day to expect all of our students to be successful.


Finally...many thanks to my friend and colleague, Mrs. Barcomb, for her excellent work on the look of this blog.  She is just one of the many unsung heroes in our district.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

We Must Do The Work

Have you ever noticed it's easy to get caught-up in the petty things that don't really matter?

This is my very first real post on my very first blog.  It's interesting to me that I have spent the better part of the last hour worrying about how my blog looks.  I've been trying to get the perfect picture as a background and the best "gadget" to make sure everything looks professional.  After what seems like an inordinate amount of time, I realized I hadn't even thought about what or why I wanted to write.  As you can tell, I finally gave up on the cute pictures and links.  Rather, I decided to focus on writing.

After attending MACUL (Michigan Associations for Computer Users in Learning) last week, I was inspired to start this blog simply as a way to share.  I wanted to share my thoughts as a school principal and educator.  I wanted to share my thoughts as someone who cares deeply about children and their learning.  I wanted to share my thoughts about inspiring and being inspired by teachers and other professionals who put their passion for students on the line each and every day.  I wanted to share my writing.

When I was a classroom teacher, I was never accused of having the perfect bulletin boards, the cutest room, or the best clip art on specific activities.  I'm sure, however, I did get caught-up in plenty of things that did not matter as much as digging-in and teaching, digging-in and reflecting on my practice, digging-in and improving my instruction to better meet my students' needs.

One of the pillars in our district is K-12 writing.  As I attempt to help our building and district improve our students' writing skills, I'm reminded that the only way to get better at writing is to write.  We must do the work.  My greatest hope for this blog is that I model for staff and students that writing is thinking, and we must do it to get better at it!

Thanks for reading. Please excuse any typos along the way, and come back for more!

(And I'm hopeful that eventually this blog can look a little better with a completed profile, nice pictures, useful gadgets, .....)