An Inspirational Student!

I have been to 11 graduation ceremonies at Hopewell Valley Central High School since 2003. It took 7 years before I started to see students walk across the stage who were my students at Bear Tavern Elementary School. It took until this year for me to tear up at a graduation ceremony. Please take a moment to see why and watch the video below of former BT student and CHS graduating senior, Andrew Niederer. It will touch and inspire you.

Video courtesy of HV-TV

If you ever need a reminder of why we do what we do, this is it.

Learner Appreciation Week?

May 5th through May 9th is Teacher Appreciation Week, with May 6th being Teacher Appreciation Day. As a school leader, my thinking on Teacher Appreciation Week has evolved over time. Don't get me wrong the teachers with whom I work are dedicated, amazing professionals who should be recognized for their important work during this week (and every week). However, I feel as though the focus may be slightly askew.

I have found that Bear Tavern Elementary School's teachers are some of the most voracious and excited learners that I have ever met. During this school year our teachers have inundated me with conversations, comments, tweets, emails, and observations that demonstrate a dedication to learning, changing, improving, and never being satisfied. This is what makes them a truly special group of professionals.

Our Kindergarten through Second Grade teachers embarked on a journey to relearn how they teach Reading and Writing through the Workshop model. As a district, we did it correctly by providing continuous professional development and our teachers responded by taking the leap, trying new things, collaborating with one another constantly, and understanding the power of making an attempt and tweaking lessons (continuously). At the beginning of the year, the entire LA block was turned upside down and the teachers had to trust that these changes would benefit the children. Nine months later (yesterday), I stood in the cafeteria with members of the first grade team who were marveling at how far their students have come and the quality of the writing that they are producing. AND... the joy with which the students have embraced this work. Similar conversations are happening in Kindergarten and Second Grade. Why? Because our teachers have embraced the idea of learning a new curriculum and new strategies. I believe the best teachers are avid learners and it is clear that I work with many of those. I look forward to rolling this up to third grade next year!

Our entire school has embarked on developing a true understanding of "transfer of learning." Particularly in our 3rd grade through 5th grade (the testing grades), this has become a theme for the year. Last January I wrote a post after we had a faculty meeting with Grant Wiggins (read it here).  Here is an excerpt from that post:

It seems simple to say that we want our students to understand what we teach; however, our discussion of this topic was truly enlightening.  We explored the things that "a student who understands" can do and the things that "one who knows a lot, but doesn't understand" can do.  Take a step back and think about that for a moment.  It is a powerful distinction.  The examples that Grant Wiggins provided and the vibrant discussion of the staff helped to flesh out this concept.  I have to say that the level of interest, thought, and participation on the part of the faculty was inspiring; especially after teaching a full day!

This led to a discussion of the importance of transfer and what that means for children and assessment.  It is one thing to make sure things get covered and standards get checked off, but it is another to have proof that students understand what has been taught and can transfer that understanding to a variety of situations.  In particular, it is important to ensure that they can do this without the supports provided by the teacher or the scaffolding of a question that provides all of the information to answer the question.

This meeting sparked a discussion about how we design instruction to assist children in transferring their learning from the skills and concepts we teach, to application in a "real world" or at least more realistic environment. The work that our PLCs have done this year is reflective of a collaborative culture that has truly made inroads with this concept. Students are better able to understand their learning in a greater context. I mentioned that these are the testing grades earlier because often it becomes tempting to teach to the test; however, a teaching for transfer mindset is more likely to produce real learning that will ALSO be reflected on the test rather than narrow learning that is MAINLY reflected on the test.

Again, this work in the upper elementary grades is reflective of a culture of learning that consistently gives me a sense of pride to be a part of this community of learners. Additionally, the entire staff has done this while learning a very involved new teacher evaluation system throughout the year AND working to integrate our technology resources into the classroom AND working to share our story with the community via social media and other avenues AND...

I guess the point of this post is to recognize the importance of teachers as learners. The only way to continually improve and be the best at what we do is to continue to learn! I feel as though the highest compliment that I can pay the teachers with whom I work during the upcoming Teacher Appreciation Week is that I am honored to be a part of such an active community of learners.

So,

Happy Learner Appreciation Week!

#DLDay: The Verdict is...

I know, Digital Learning Day was February 5th, but on the 6th I got to be involved in a fantastic example of technology tools being used effectively to break down the walls of the classroom and allow students to learn and connect with students and teachers beyond their school.  I was fortunate to be asked to judge a Virtual Debate! South Orange Middle School sixth graders debated with Lower Alloways Creek sixth graders about the merits of homework.

Before I talk about the technology, let me first say that these boys and girls were wonderful. They were prepared with strong arguments, they formed coherent rebuttals, and they presented convincingly. I was impressed with the amount of support that was cited on the subject from people like Alfie Kohn, Robert Marzano, Harris Cooper and other researchers in the field. The students understood that presentation is an important part of debate and they worked to put forth a compelling and convincing argument for their given side. The only part that was unfortunate was that I had to fill out my rubric and decide on a winning team. They both did such a remarkable job. If you don't believe me and you have about an hour, you can check out the debate here sfy.co/aZxd .


I was invited to be a judge by Melissa Butler, one of the teachers involved in the project. Here is the first instance of technology playing a role. Melissa (@AngelinaShy) is a member of my PLN. We connected through twitter and are both part of the planning team for #edcampNJ. Using twitter as an avenue for professional learning, growth, and connection has afforded me various wonderful opportunities (like this debate) and introduced me to some of the most amazing and passionate educators. Melissa co-teaches with Elissa Malespina (@SOMSlibrary) (another #edcampNJ organizer), who is also the media specialist at South Orange Middle School. They were connected with Ruth Williams' and Kristen Ayling's students in Lower Alloways Creek, NJ through another twitter connection, Jay Eitner (@iSuperEit) (you guessed it, #edcampNJ organizer), who is the Superintendent of the district and a strong proponent of technology as a tool for learning.

The students used various methods to research their arguments. It was clear during the debate that the boys and girls were using laptops and desktops to quickly get information to use in their rebuttals. I can only assume that with their teachers facilitating the process throughout, the students utilized resources in the schools' classrooms and media centers, including books and web based tools.

The debate, itself was held using Google Hangout. This is a personal favorite tool of mine. We use it often to hold meetings in the evenings to plan. However, the debate illustrates an amazing use of the tool to allow students to interact with people from other locations. Of course, there were their adversaries in the debate who were several hours away in another part of the state. In addition, the judges consisted of:

Tim Charleston @MrCsays - District Technology Coordinator of Green Brook Twp Public Schools - NJ

Tom Murray @thomascmurray - Director of Technology and Cyber Education for the Quakertown Community School District - Bucks County, PA

Annie Taranto @tarantoannie - Literacy Consultant for the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University, NY

Frances Ann Squire @FASquire - Jr. High Technology and LA teacher - Prince Edward Island, Canada
******Her entire class viewed and served as judges!

Bruce Arcurio (me) @PrincipalArc - Principal of Bear Tavern Elementary School, Hopewell Twp., NJ

As you can see by my highlighting above, the Google Hangout allowed these two schools to debate with judging from 3 states and a Canadian province! This was a wonderful example of

how technology serves as a means and not an end.  The tech was NOT the ultimate goal. The goal was to allow the students to research and conduct a debate using persuasive techniques. Technology served them in their research and presentation. It allowed for a connection between schools.  In addition, it provided an authentic audience with judges bringing their expertise to the process. It is unlikely that these students would have been able to debate for a similar judging panel live. However, in my case, I was able to close my office door for an hour and participate fully without the time and schedule juggling of going to one of the schools.

I was thrilled that technology allowed me to be a part of this experience and hope to participate next year. As far as I am concerned, the verdict is... Everybody wins in this situation!


What did you do to celebrate Digital Learning Day (#DLDay)?

Related articles

• Happy Digital Learning Day!
• 7 Tuesday Top Topics #DLDay #CommonCore
• Digital Learning Day 2014: K-12 Kids, Tech and You
• Happy Digital Learning Day #DLDay

Unannounced Observations

A strange phenomenon is occurring in my school at the moment surrounding unannounced observations. This year, the NJDOE has instituted a new teacher evaluation system for all teachers. One component requires at least one unannounced observation of the three required for tenured staff. This is a departure from past practice in our district. We have generally scheduled our visits. There was never a real sense of urgency to do unannounced observations because administrators work to be in classrooms for walkthroughs anyway, so "unannounced" informal observations were happening fairly regularly.

Our first round of observations completed before the New Year were all announced, but our second round of tenured observations have all been unannounced. This has created a different vibe in the building than I have been used to for the last 11 years. I remember back when I started teaching 20 years ago in a different district where all observations were unannounced; the principal would walk out of his office with his leather portfolio and news would spread like wildfire through the building that he was on the move. It was crazy because usually when he came to your room, you were already teaching and never got the message in time anyway, so you just did your thing and got observed.

Now, I am the principal and over the past several weeks every time I leave my office, I notice people looking to see if I have my iPad in my hands. It has actually become somewhat of a joke where I either hold up my hands to show that I am not "carrying" or I politely remind the teacher looking at my hands that, "my eyes are up here:-)"

Here is the crazy part, I am seeing some great lessons!! I am beginning to think that when teachers have advanced notice of observations they tend to over-think it. I have a wonderful staff who are dedicated to student learning and success every day. Conducting unannounced formal observations has only served to reinforce my belief that our staff "gets it" and that our children are being served well through their efforts. Can all of us improve in some areas? Yes, and that goes for me, the teachers, and anyone reading this post; however, I think that the shift to including an unannounced component to our observation system has been a positive one. I realize this may not be a revelation for those who have always conducted unannounced observations, but it was a wonderful reminder for me!

What do you think? Are your observations announced or unannounced? Which do you prefer? Why?

Don't Jump in Front of Trains, Mermaids, and Children!!

Let me preface this post by saying that I do not generally play the lottery.  I have always been of the opinion that every day that I don't play, I win a dollar. Don't get me wrong, if the Powerball gets real high and the entire school staff is going in on a pool of tickets, I'm in. I don't want to be the only one at work the next day. But in general, I am not pleased with the odds when it comes to such things.


Last Wednesday, my wife and I took our daughters to a concert at the Camden Waterfront.  We saw Train, The Script, and Gavin DeGraw. The concert was fantastic and all three bands put on great shows. Two days before the concert my wife and daughters found out that there was a radio contest. Apparently, if you show up at the concert dressed like a mermaid, you can have a chance to go onstage with Train (Train's latest album is Mermaids of Alcatraz). My 14 year old and my 7 year old were both set on making mermaid costumes and getting up on stage.

My first instinct was to tell them that the likelihood of getting up on stage with Train at the Susquehanna Bank Center was slim. That was my adult brain working there. I didn't do that. I'm not sure when it occurs that you start realizing the odds of things, but it sure isn't when you are 14 or 7. My daughters knew that they were going to get up on stage. As an educator, I always have to remember that sometimes the worst thing that we can do for children is to limit them by our expectations. I realize that the context of this is slightly different than reading or math achievement, but the principle still applies.

So, we went to the show and my daughters got their tickets for the drawing to go on stage since they were

picture from www.savemesanfrancisco.com

dressed appropriately and had their picture taken. We had lawn seats to the show and enjoyed the first two acts on a beautiful evening. Now, I should also mention that Train is my 14 year old's favorite band and this was my 7 year old's first experience ever at a concert. When it came time for them to go up to the front to see if they were chosen, my wife went with them and I remained with our things on the lawn.

As the 50 or so Mermaids began to come onto the stage I searched for my daughters' purple tank tops and mermaid bottoms on the stage and on the big screen. Lo and behold, there they were. They actually got up on stage in front of 20,000 people or so. I must admit, I started to scream my fool head off. Anyway, they were awesome up there (Here is a video from YouTube of the number).  One of my daughters got to sing into the mic and held the lead singer's (Pat Monahan) hand when they took a bow and the other one high-fived him and was having a great time singing and dancing. When they came back to the lawn my 7 year old jumped into my arms to show me the Train towel they gave her and shout how she got on stage. My 14 year old was basically shaking and stuttering in excitement and disbelief. My wife had a smile from ear to ear.

Now, why do I write this post? Remember what I could have said when they told me about the contest? I could have thrown their dream in front of the train instead of letting them be mermaids and have fun on stage with Train. I think that it is important to remember that the wonder and belief of children is something we should all respect; when it comes to crazy radio contests or when it comes to any dreams they may have.

You might be saying, "Yes, BUT what if they had not gotten on stage?" I say, "so what?" They had fun and that would have led to a great discussion on handling disappointment. Really, there is no downside to supporting them.

What do you think?

Related articles

• Train: Mermaids of Alcatraz Tour Review (freshbeatsandgoodvibes.wordpress.com)

ClassCharts - A Classroom Management Tech Tool Worth a Look

If you have not checked out ClassCharts yet, it is worth giving it a look. This past year in my school my special area teachers were looking for a mechanism to provide consistency with behavioral expectations across all classes.  ClassCharts is a tool that can give them that consistency in a unified fashion without unending meetings and set-up time.  I intend to suggest it to them when they return for next school year.

I had an opportunity to test drive the Website with a free account. ClassCharts is a free teacher tool created by teachers in the UK. As one who finds visuals very appealing when working or learning, this tool is well suited for my needs.  The ClassCharts interface provides teachers with a data-rich seating chart that provides  flexibility and customization for various classroom needs and functions.

At its core, ClassCharts is a seating chart, into which you can import pictures of the students and arrange them according to your classroom layout.  The system then allows you to add specific data about your students that can appear on the seating chart.  Some of the built-in fields include, behavior data, aftercare status, free meals, gender, group, literacy target, and reading age.  Fields can be added to meet the data needs of your classroom.  A teacher can then have the 4 most pertinent pieces of information visible on the chart, which can be printed or viewed on the computer or mobile device, while all of the other data can be seen in reports or other views on the computer.

It is a rather simple set-up and the knowledge base section of the website is quite well done. There are video tutorials for some of the main functions and informative descriptions to help with most questions. There is a digital brochure that discusses some of the major components, but I suggest setting up a free account and taking it for a test drive.

Two of the features that I was most impressed with include the collaboration tool and the ability to upload students via excel spreadsheet. Collaboration allows teachers to be consistent over the course of a day, a week, a month, etc.

By sharing students with colleagues teachers can have a fluid view of various data, including behavior.  This enables them to respond appropriately. The system allows teachers to award points for positive behaviors and subtract points for negative behaviors. Depending upon your philosophy with this type of information their are also functions that allow for giving access to real-time data to parents and the students via individual accounts. From a practicality perspective, the ability to upload a spreadsheet of students is very important since most districts can provide teachers with a CSV file that would be easily uploaded from Excel.

I can't stress enough the flexibility of the tool and its visual nature. It makes the data easily accessible and user-friendly. The long and short of it is that I recommend taking a look at this versatile tool.  It will be a wonderful way to manage some key classroom data, collaborate with colleagues, and provide substitute teachers with printed visuals that they need. Also, as a teacher created tool, using it supports innovation among educators world-wide.

Also, if you are an edmodo user, it is currently (as of this post) the #1 free app in the edmodo store and can be downloaded right into edmodo! (Note - you do not need to use edmodo to use ClassCharts)

After you try it, I'd love to hear your comments below!

A Few Words About 50 Years of Learning Together

On June 27th, on his blog Evolving Educators, @ScottRRocco invited other administrators to share their speeches as a resource for one another.  This sharing of resources is the foundation of PLNs and helps us all to become better educators.  This year Bear Tavern School had its 50th Anniversary and as principal I had the great honor of speaking at that event.  Below I printed my speech.  I hope that it is as inspiring and helpful as the school for which it was written.  Enjoy!

So here we are, near the end of our ceremony celebrating an anniversary for an amazing place of which I am humbled to be the lead learner.  I am celebrating my 10^th anniversary as principal of this fine, fine school and couldn’t imagine it any other way.  You have heard about some of the history of this place.  I think that it is ironic that as this school went into its first year of existence there was a natural disaster that delayed the opening and caused the community to pull together to educate the children and get this school opened, a little later than the other schools in 1962, but open nonetheless.

As we came into our 50^th school year we also had an unfortunate vandalism disaster befall our beloved school.  It was one that brought tears to many of our eyes and caused us to fear that Bear Tavern may not open in time for the children.  I’ve come to learn over the course of my life that sometimes the most beautiful things come from something painful.

 John Steinbeck used the metaphor of the pearl to describe this in his book of the same name.  Pearls are formed when a foreign substance, like sand, gets caught inside of an oyster and as a defense against the pain, the oyster begins to coat it with a substance that eventually becomes the beautiful and rare pearls that we enjoy.  This is a simplistic description; however, I think it is appropriate for how our year began. 

Our community was shaken and had choices to make.  We chose to make something beautiful.  I don’t just mean that we got our school back to its pristine appearance, which we did.  What I am talking about is the beauty of spirit that was shown by this community as it banded together for our children and our school.

I saw the best in people.  I saw families adopting bulletin boards because teachers would not have time to complete them before school started with only days to prepare for their school year.  I saw community organizations and businesses offering support through the resources available to them.  I saw a community come out for a grand reopening, not just to rejoice in the fact that the doors were open, but to roll up their sleeves and work together, yes to work Better Together to get our school ready and so much more.

Our school theme is “Better Together.”  It has also been a theme throughout our day.  During the gazebo dedication this morning I spoke about how that wonderful structure is the product of students, teachers, parents, and community organizations working together.  During the Art Unveilings I discussed how the partnerships that we have made with our neighboring corporations, colleges, and community organizations result in the beautiful works of art that we proudly create and display on our walls.  Better together really kind of sums up life.  When you think about most areas of your life, aren’t they more joyful when you can share them with others?  Aren’t the difficult times more tolerable when there are others there to help you through?

As an elementary school community it is our mission to educate the children of Hopewell Township; to develop strong minds, strong bodies, and strong character.  This school has been built on a foundation of community that goes back to the day that it opened.  I received a letter yesterday written by a teacher in the audience today.  Her name is Jeanette Frantz; the letter and the picture she sent with it can be found in the cafeteria, but I can sum up her whole letter with her final sentence.  “Good memories of Bear Tavern School remain in my mind, but most of all – the people of Bear Tavern School will always be in my heart.”

The people of Bear Tavern School; that truly is what we are as a school.  Mrs. Frantz’ memories of her 20 years at Bear Tavern boil down to the people.  I would have to agree.  My memories of the last 10 years at Bear Tavern School have been about relationships, community, and the people.  We educate the children in a safe and comfortable environment in which they know we care for them.  Prior to my arrival, Mr. Scheetz (my predecessor) and the staff embarked on a journey to become a Responsive Classroom School.  This approach to educating children is rooted in the idea that children learn best in a place where they feel comfortable and empowered.  We use the acronym CARES to remind ourselves of the type of environment we wish to provide for the children.  The letters stand for Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-Control.  You’ll find this represented in the cafeteria, as well.

I don’t want to go on much longer, but I do want to leave looking forward.  As we move further into the 21^st century our world and society is changing.  This is a fearful thing for many among us.  We feel comfort in the things that we had and experienced when we grew up.  Our challenge is to balance the solid traditional foundation that we have created here at Bear Tavern with the innovative spirit that continues to make our country great.  These boys and girls before us will live in a world that we can’t even imagine. 

If we could go back to 1962 and tell the staff and students that in 50 years having a telephone in your pocket everywhere you go would be the norm, what would they say?  Or if we even tried to explain the Internet or Apps? What would someone say if they were asked to “just Google it?”  I think that they would see it as science fiction, not as fact.  As we move forward at Bear Tavern we need to be sure that we are working together as teachers, parents, and community to educate the children for their future by learning from the advances of our past.

I am committed to working with the people of this community to provide children with the modern education that they require; we will utilize the technology at our disposal to do so whether it is chalk or an iPad.  Please continue with me on this journey.  Our work can only be Better Together.

I will end with words from a favorite book that I have read to many classes over the years.  The book is entitled, A Fine, Fine School and was written by Sharon Creech.  Mr. Keene, the principal says, “Oh! Aren’t these fine children? Aren’t these fine teachers? Isn’t this a fine, fine school?”  Thank you all for working with me to make this such a fine, fine school!

Thank you. 

So Much to Say…

  

My last post was over one month ago.  I have to say that I have missed writing blog posts during that time, but I also think that it has recharged me for writing more this summer.  Our school year in New Jersey went until June 25th  and the last month was very busy, so I took a break from writing (I don't know that it was a conscious decision).  During that time so much has happened that I will be writing about over the summer in retrospect.

We had our school's 50th anniversary celebration; we had HVAC crews in our school displacing classrooms and installing HVAC; we have begun work in grades K-2 with new Readers and Writers Workshop units and curricula; we have done work on teacher and
principal evaluation systems; we have improved our home/school and community connections; we have had a very positive year and ended strong.

I have begun graduate work again; I have lost 30 pounds; I have started running; I have been reflecting upon my successes and struggles; I have committed to a new digital book club with 5th graders next year; I have worked to schedule greater amounts of PLC time in my school next year; I have started delving deeper into the Danielson Frameworks; and I have committed to writing more this summer.




So, you see, I have so much to say this summer!  I look forward to sharing and reflecting with you over the next two months as I prepare for an amazing 2013-2014 school year.


  Stay tuned!

Bear Tavern staff and students show their age

Bear Tavern - iPads in Kindergarten

Bear Tavern Kindergarten teachers and students were highlighted on the front page of the Trenton Times on Saturday March 2nd for the use of iPads in the classroom to augment instruction.  I am very proud of the work our school community is doing to use technology as a tool for learning.  Please check out the article at:

Hopewell Valley school district experiments with iPads in the classroom

Please leave comments below.  I would love to share them with the teachers.

Related articles

• Hopewell Valley school district experiments with iPads in the classroom
• Custom iPad Cases for Teachers and Students Make a Splash in Schools

Balancing 21st Century Writing with Tradition

This afternoon we had a half day professional development program.  The district allotted the time in the Elementary Schools for the grade level teachers from all schools to get together and work on creating and preparing for common benchmark assessments.  The grade level with which I worked already finished creating its benchmark assessment in reading for the second marking period.  Over the course of the next week the teachers will be giving the assessment to the students.  So, today we spent some of our time calibrating our holistic scoring practices by reading several passages and real student open-ended responses and scoring them using the NJ Open Ended Response Rubric.  Overall, the group did a wonderful job and was fairly consistent in their scoring of the responses.

While this was a successful exercise and I believe it prepared the teachers for the work of the next week and a half, it was one particular discussion that caused my mind to race for the rest of the afternoon.  One of the teachers was having a difficult time with the responses because the grammar, punctuation, and overall writing mechanics were poor, yet these responses did not receive the lowest scores.  How could this be?

Well, on a basic level it is fairly simple.  These open ended responses are designed to gauge reading and comprehension ability, not writing ability.  There is a writing portion of the test that takes care of that.  So we looked at the rubric and really studied what each of the four points asked and were able to come to agreement on the higher scores even though the writing did not reflect strength in traditional composition techniques.

The reason I wrote everything above was to give background for this part of the post.

Some teachers were lamenting the demise of the rules of writing and saddened by the comment that these responses, which were drawn from an online bank of past test questions and response, made on the state of traditional writing.  As I saw the pain in one particular teacher's face and felt for her (by the way, she is a wonderful teacher and her students are well prepared), I couldn't help but feel a bit differently.

In the interest of full disclosure I must say that I was a high school English teacher and I taught the 5 paragraph essay religiously to my students. I understand the mechanics of writing; however, I feel that sometimes we hold on to the past at the expense of the future.  Let me explain what I mean.

1. 5 Paragraph Essays - When was the last time you wrote one?  I am not saying that we shouldn't all learn to write them, but realistically we learn to write them in elementary school so that we can write them in middle school so that we can write them in high school so that we can write them in college so that we can write them.... where?  Not really anywhere.  I am sure all of the professional essayists out there are quite angry with me right now and I know that learning to write those essays helps me in all of the writing that I do now, but I wonder if I needed to learn that form of writing or if some other form would serve me just as well.

2. Mechanics, Punctuation, etc.- All of these things are important to learn.  Writing generally makes little sense if one does not have a grasp of these concepts; however, sometimes we focus on these things so much that we do so at the expense of thinking and creativity.  Writing is not proper form.  Writing is thinking.  I have brilliant students in my school who will likely be innovators of the future that will change the world; however, if we hold back their creativity because they don't conform to our rules of writing we may never get to see that.

3. Indenting- Another focus of the discussion was the loss of indented paragraphs.  Most of the responses that we were scoring (as well as several typewritten examples we found in a book) were written in block paragraphs with no indentations.  This was troublesome to some teachers.  I made the comment that this particular convention of writing is not as important in many areas of modern writing.  Take the blog for example.  If you surf through many blogs you will find that there are many who indent and many who don't.  The key in blogging is relating to your audience, not necessarily traditional form. (I hope that I am still relating to you.)  By the way, in 2013 blog writing is a more likely activity of the average person than most forms of writing that would require a 5 paragraph essay.

4. Tradition- Now here is the real controversial point.  I would lay odds that moving forward our current students will interact with their writing in an increasingly dynamic fashion rather than a static traditional fashion.  What I mean is that  we are all becoming increasingly comfortable and fluent in the dynamics of electronic reading.  As you read through this post there are hyperlinks to various terms.  These links will take the reader to a different location to gain more information about various topics.  Additionally, there are graphics included in the blog to bring certain concepts to life.  In many electronic writing pieces there are also links to videos that illustrate points in the writing.  What I am saying is that writing has become dynamic and interactive rather than static.  Who knows, maybe even writing in 140 characters or less is an art form to be appreciated by writing teachers?

5. Shakespeare- The works of Shakespeare are considered classics.  I taught his plays and he is one of my favorite writers.  Based upon Shakespeare's understanding that writing was a medium to bring ideas to life whether on the page or on the stage, I have to believe that if he had the tools of the 21st Century at his disposal, he would have exploited those tools.  Hey, not everyone liked Shakespeare's writing as is evident when Robert Greene wrote in Greene's Groatsworth of Wit Bought with a Million of Repentance, 

Cover of William Shakespeare

"There is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you; and being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country."

In the passage Greene is complaining of a young upstart Shakespeare who is an actor that thinks he can write as well as the educated writers of the time.  It sounds like Greene was a bit of a traditionalist and Shakespeare was shaking the foundations of his world. Hmmm...

6. The Dictionary- So why does the dictionary keep getting bigger every year?  As time marches on new words are introduced.  We add words to our collective lexicon when they become ubiquitous in our culture. Words like "blog" or "crunk".  If you want to see some that are being considered check out here.  Once again, if we stuck with tradition there would be no progress; we wouldn't be able to just "Google" something, we'd have to "find something by searching with an electronic search thingy."

I guess the point of this post is that I think that we have to remember that some of the greatest developments in language come from accepting the changes that the future brings.  We must defend the rules of writing to a point, but not to the point that we hamper the creativity of thought.  Let me be clear, I know the tasks for which we must prepare our students and I am committed to doing so; however, I would rather see a child who can think, create, problem solve, infer and demonstrate it through a visual representation than one who can't but can write a nice paragraph.  Is that crazy?

A Reflection On The Media Coverage of the Tragedy in Connecticut

First and Foremost, I must express my most heartfelt sorrow and condolences for the senseless act of violence that took place on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut.  I cannot imagine the pain that the community is feeling as they mourn the loss of so many innocent lives.  This was truly a dark day for  humanity and for our collective innocence.  The bravery of teachers and first responders in keeping safe as many of the children and adults as possible is inspirational.

The purpose of my post today is to reflect on my experience watching the 11 o'clock news last night.  When I returned home from school on Friday, I intentionally kept the news off and the conversation on other things because my 6 year old daughter was playing with her 5 and 4 year old cousins.  This was a reaffirming sight that helped all of the adults during this difficult evening.  Once all went home and both of my daughters went to bed (the 13 year old was at a friend's house until 10pm), my wife and I watched the 11 o'clock news.  This probably was not the wisest move before bed as it kept me up until about 2am and caused me to sleep through the 7:30am #Satchat twitter chat in which I intended to participate.

The news of the day was clearly disturbing, as it was for all of the world.  As an elementary school principal it was difficult to process what I was seeing and hearing, but one thing that was clear was that I did not like the way it was being reported.  I switched channels and found that it was no different on any channel.  Here is my problem...

This event evokes the most visceral emotions imaginable.  While I was at school, I basically read a bulleted list from the Associated Press and every fiber of my being was shaken and I felt sick to my stomach; there was no need for the news to amplify the feelings that I was already feeling.  Now, when I watched these 11 o'clock newscasts, I was disgusted by the need to further scare the public and magnify the already unimaginable feelings that we have been experiencing.

It was like reading essays in a creative writing competition.  If I was judging these newscasts as pieces of fiction, I would have been praising the use of descriptive language and literary conventions in bringing the scene to life.  The use of words such as, slaughtered, madman, evil, lifeless bodies, carnage, diabolical, and so many others would have been perfect for evoking images in my mind as I read a James Patterson novel or a Steven King story; but for this real-life tragedy, it just seemed in bad taste.  I think that sometimes in the name of informing the public our news outlets focus so much on outdoing one another that they forget to be cognizant that there are humans on the other end of their broadcast.

Please don't think that I want to limit news coverage or prevent anyone from learning the facts.  I just think that there needs to be some thought given to when a story needs to be left alone and simply reported.  I assure you that all of the feelings that were intended by the gruesome descriptions on the news were evoked without the use of the most horrible adjectives the writer could find.  I am a true proponent of 24/7 news.  I love my smartphone and having the option to engage with the news when I want to and in a personal and private fashion.

One other pet peeve of mine is the blanketed coverage of the event that is nearly impossible to avoid.  Working with and having young children makes it important for me to be assured that I am in control of what their ears hear.  It is nearly impossible to put on the television at all when they are awake for the coming days because I lose that control as a parent.  I wish that the news would be as sensitive with this devastating information as it is with the results of the Olympics.  During the two weeks of the Olympics the evening news casts read a disclaimer letting the viewing public know that if they do not want to know the results, they should turn down their volume or look away.  With these kinds of warnings parents could have more control.

I realize that the issues that I am having with the news coverage will likely not change and that I just need to deal with it; however, I can always dream.  Of course, things are raw for all of us at this moment and I know that I am over-sensitive to everything, but I think that we need to realize that there is truly only so much our hearts and minds can take.  On Monday when I return to school with the staff, we will be dealing with our own emotions about this tragedy as we address the many needs and emotions of the children.  I know that we, as adults need to take great care in what the children see and hear on the television, but what about the adults.  Do we really need to be treated as though we aren't able to form our own emotions?  Do we really need a news writer to amplify them for us?  I don't think so.

The Daily 5 - Faculty Book Study

This month we kicked off a book study of The Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser (the 2sisters) at our faculty meeting.  I am devoting 25-30 minutes of each faculty meeting to discussion of short sections of this book to allow for some in-depth discussion of the structure.  I have to say that the 30 minutes we spent this past Monday were fantastic.  It was wonderful to be a part of such rich discussions around a topic that is so vital to what we do in the elementary school.

I have found over the years that moderating a book study can be stifling.  It puts a great deal of onus on the moderator and it can limit the direction of the discussion.  So we are using a method that has been successful for us in the past.  I asked the staff to read the first two chapters before the faculty meeting and put three sticky notes in the book with questions or comments that they would like to answer and/or discuss.  Once at the meeting the staff breaks up into groups of 5-8 teachers and all members of the group are equal contributors to the discussion.  After the first 2 minutes of the first meeting it always seems to flow nicely.

I chose to move to each of the groups and take part in all of the discussions.  I must say that it was amazing to see that the teachers were discussing so many of the same things in different groups.  One of the major topics of discussion revolved around how to fit all of the pieces of The Daily 5 into our two hour language arts block.  The great thing about these book discussions is that the answers are generally all right there in the collective experiences of the groups.  I listened to teachers who have been working with this structure explain some of the techniques that they have used to accomplish their goals in that time frame.  Additionally, members of all of the groups were spit-balling different methods for doing the same.

Another big discussion topic was assessment of skills.  In the book the sisters talk about how they moved from worksheet driven "busy work" to skill driven practice when the teacher is working with a group.  It is difficult sometimes to see that there are a variety of methods for assessing students' mastery of skills and concepts that do not involve making them fill out a worksheet that we need to later grade.  The prevailing idea that came from some groups involved keeping a skills chart for each child and assessing their mastery during small group reading instruction.  This would be a much more authentic assessment than a contrived worksheet that is completed partially to practice skills and partially to ensure that students are accountable.

The other major discussion topic was the idea of trusting the students.  We work very hard to create community in our school and classrooms and our children are given many opportunities to demonstrate that they can be trusted to make appropriate choices; however, during our reading block we still have some difficulty letting them have control of their learning and trusting that within the framework and parameters set, they will make the right choices.  I have seen it firsthand in classrooms that are structured around The Daily 5.  Students are engaged and making good choices.  The key is teaching the choices, setting the expectations, and then scaffolding the students to the point where they can stand on their own and the teacher can focus complete attention on the small group or individual instruction/conferencing.

Is all of this easy? No.  But, I think that the work that is done in the first weeks and months of school to set up the routines can lead to a great deal more valuable instructional time as the year progresses.

Needless to say, I felt that the first installment of our book study portion of the faculty meeting was a success.  It was heartening to hear dedicated teachers truly sharing their ideas and providing one another with support and ideas for moving forward.  There was so much more discussed than I can write here. I can't wait until next month's meeting to be a part of these discussions of chapters 3 and 4!

If your school is using The Daily 5, please comment and let me know any important successes, struggles, ideas, or caveats that you think I could share with the staff.  I always enjoy learning from the experience of others.  I have gained a great deal from reading some of The Daily 5 posts from Jessica Johnson's (@principalJ) blog "Reflections from an Elementary School Principal."

Other great resources include:

The Daily Cafe
The Daily 5 - Pinterest Board
MNWelementary-daily5andcafe wikispaces