School Board Meeting 9/12/16 Snapshot

• Congratulations - A huge congratulations to the 2016 Above & Beyond Team- the sixth grade team of Nancy Moore, Kari Barlund, and Matthew Simley!

• Approvals: Please welcome Melanie Walberg - Elementary Special Education Teacher  and Kara McDonald - Paraprofessional. Also, April Spaeth has been named our .5 Music Teacher - Please welcome them!

• Coaches: A big thank you to the following for stepping forward and assisting in the coaching of our student athletes -  Brenton Newling is our new assistant wrestling coach, Taylor Tappe is our new Junior High Girls basketball coach, Garret Jensen and Ryan Vigen are our Junior High Boys basketball coaches,  we wish you ALL the best!

• Presentations: A very nice summer recreation update was provided by Kitti and Tavia - Thanks Ladies!

• Recognition: Fall sport captains did a nice job introducing themselves and talking briefly about their season. Also, a nice update was provided by our Envirothon Team - Nicely done students!

• Enrollment: Currently we are down 19 students, nine from a graduation class of 72 and an incoming kindergarten class of 63. Hopefully we acquire a few more students as we forward.

For a full report and minutes please go to the school web page www.frazee.k12.mn.us > District > Boardbook.

Also please follow us on Facebook and Twitter @FVhornets

Next School Board Meeting is scheduled for: 10/10/16

Fundamental Purpose: High levels of learning for ALL!

Dear Teacher,

I didn’t sleep much last night, because I kept thinking about the upcoming school year. Wondering and worrying what it’s going to be like.

I’ve been thinking about it for sort of a long time now. It started back around the 4th of July when the first back-to-school sale flyers showed up in our mailbox. I don’t want to admit to my friends (or even my family) how nervous I really feel.  But, I do feel nervous. And the closer it gets the more butterflies seem to be living in my stomach. Starting fresh. Everything new. So much unknown. So much to figure out. You can relate, right?  You’ve had many first days, too.

Sometimes, in the dark of my bedroom or in the backseat of the car, I find my mind racing with worry. The questions start swirling . . .

• What if my teacher doesn’t like me?
• What if my teacher doesn’t like some other kids?
• What if I don’t have friends?
• What if everyone laughs at what I say?
• What if it’s terribly boring?
• What if it’s terribly hard?
• What if I can’t get to the bathroom in time?
• What if there are so many rules I can’t remember them all?
• Who can I trust?
• How much homework will I have?
• What if all this worry makes me cry?

The more I think the more worried I get. But I’m hoping, once I get to your classroom, my worries will start to dissolve. I’m hoping once I meet you and see how you look at me, I’ll suddenly know everything’s going to be okay. Because it will be, right?

But, instead of just worrying, I thought maybe I would try writing down a few ideas to share with you. Nothing earth shattering. Just simple ideas I have about things that teachers like you can do to make a difference for kids like me. Hopefully, this stuff isn’t new to you. But, honestly, I’ve known some teachers in the past who seemed like they must have missed this stuff completely in their teacher’s training. At least I’m hoping that’s what it was, because I can’t believe they just simply didn’t care.

So, here they are. Seven simple requests to help kids like me believe that school is a good place to be this year.

Please learn my name. Learn how to say it and learn how to spell it. It is quite literally who I am.  When you mispronounce, forget, or snicker with others about my name, you disrespect my very existence in the world. I understand that maybe my name is different from the names you are used to. I understand that it might take some practice to learn to pronounce it correctly. It’s okay. I can help you as long as you are willing to learn. I know you will ask me to learn many difficult things this year. And I am hoping in return you will respect me enough to know my name and say it with the respect that my parents intended when they carefully chose it for me.

Please smile. Starting over with everything new is scary business. On the inside I’m feeling all kinds of anxiety and your face is one of the first places I will look for signs that things are going to be okay. So, please, smile warmly. Smile like you mean it. Smile like you’re truly glad you get to be my teacher this year. If there is room for me to believe anything different, there will most certainly be heartache ahead for both of us.  But when you smile, a big genuine smile. I see that you care and that you want everything to be okay, too.

Please listen. Look me in the eye and be truly present when you talk to me. Show me that you care enough about me to learn what is inside of me. Ask powerful open-ended questions and then, please, please, please, don’t jump in to answer for me or ask a whole other question while I’m still working to formulate an answer to the first one. Instead, just wait. Give me the time I need to find the words to tell you what is on my mind and in my heart. When you rush me, it makes me wonder if you really care about what I have to say in first place. When you patiently wait, I see that I am worthy of your time and attention.

Please don’t judge me before I show up. Maybe you’ve seen test scores or reading levels or you’ve heard stories about me from the teacher down the hall. Maybe you had my brother in your class two years ago. But here’s the thing, I’m so much more than what you’ve read or heard about me. I’m more than a reading level or a proficiency label. I’m not the same kid I used to be and I’m certainly nothing like my brother!  So, please don’t let your head get so full of ideas about me before I even show up that there’s no room for me to show you who I really am. I’m uniquely me. Just wait. You’ll see.

Please don’t let me fool you. Before I know that I can trust you, I might try to fool you with some sort of distraction. I might chatter and talk too much. Or I might not say anything at all. I might play the part of the class clown or the tough guy. But no matter what disguise I wear on the outside, on the inside I am hoping that you will care enough to see, hear and accept me for who I am. Sometimes, I’ll admit, it’s a bit of a test, just to see how committed you are to really building a relationship with me. And sometimes in the past, I’ve found grown ups that were scared off pretty easily. I’m waiting to see how this year will be.

Please show me that you are human, too. I want to know you, not just as another teacher, but as a real human being. I want to see you laugh and I want to see you cry. I want to know little interesting details of your life, like what’s your favorite kind of sushi and how you’re coming with training for your first 5K. And I want to know that you are as imperfect as I am. I want to know that you make mistakes, that you struggle sometimes, and that you have uncertainties, too. When you let me know you in this way, making yourself vulnerable along the way, it makes it so much more likely that I will do the same. You go first. You’re the grown-up.

Please read to me. No matter how old I am. No matter what class you teach. Please keep bringing the inspiring words of the world into our classroom through read aloud. Find great picture books and poems and quotations and letters and newspaper articles. Help me build empathy and understanding and courage and optimism and tenacity through the words of others. The world is bursting with worthy texts. Keep finding them and bringing them to our classroom. And read them to us as though they are gold. You do the reading work, we’ll do the thinking and feeling work and together our classroom community will grow stronger day by day. These texts you read aloud will become the foundation of our community, creating windows to the world and exercises in empathy.

Thanks. See you soon.

Me

P.S. I’m so lucky to be coming to your classroom. Thanks for all you have done to make school a wonderful place to be.

P.S.S.. Even though you probably didn’t need these tips yourself, would you please help pass them along? It would mean a lot because some kids might get teachers who don’t understand this stuff the way you do.

3 Things to Try During the 2016-17 Year

Welcome back everyone!

1. Get kids moving and listen to some music! Students learn better when they’re not seated all day long. (So do adults, by the way!) Start a class with a stretch, walking around the room, or even a few jumping jacks? Physical activity improves focus, and it can also build teamwork. Also, consider some music when the lesson is done, playing some soothing music, lightly, can be very advantageous in calming students and relaxing those with anxiety.

2. Inspire Genius! So you’ve heard, I hope, all the buzz about Genius Hour. Maybe you haven’t tried it yet because it’s scary to feel like you might lose control of your classroom when students are working on different projects at the same time! By loosening the reigns, students will be able to develop their passions, and you’ll be able to enjoy a new role as a teacher who isn’t simply imparting knowledge but is guiding the learning process itself!

3. Engage with parents more. Don’t wait until something goes wrong to have your first contact with parents. If we wait to hear from parents, or wait to contact them only when something is going wrong, many times the only contact we have with them is negative. When a parent’s sole interaction with a teacher or school is negative, they will understandably be much less likely to want to interact with the school. Try starting off the year with positive email or  phone call home about their child. 

Remain positive and have a great year!

Top Ten / #4

John Hattie’s Top Ten Visible Learning Takeaways –

Number Four: Teacher Credibility

Students’ perceptions of their teachers carry incredible weight in their determination of a teacher’s credibility.  John Hattie stated in a 2012 article that “The key is the student's’ perception that teachers have credibility in enhancing their learning. Students are very perceptive about knowing which teachers can make a difference to their learning.  And teachers who command this credibility are most likely to make the difference.”  Although important, the focus here is not on the teacher’s’ perception of themselves, but instead on the students’ perception of them.  Hattie states that students will turn off if they do not perceive the teacher as credible.

Application to the Classroom

If you are looking for applications to best integrate teacher credibility into our environment then Drs. McKroskey, Haskins and Fink are a great resource (“Make Them Believe in You”). They have researched and shared the four key credibility factors: trust, competence, dynamism, and immediacy. In more detail, here are some of their findings:

Trust begins with the students believing the teacher has their best interest at heart, are fair, include everyone, do not embarrass them, and take in an interest in their life outside of school.

Competence means not just mastering a subject area, but also delivering it meaningfully. This necessitates the critical skill of being able to explain complex ideas and material in a way students can understand.  This is another example of Hattie’s idea of Visible Learning where teachers must be able to see learning through the eyes of their students in order to be effective explainers.

Dynamism is focused on the learning being presented in “exciting and engaging ways.” This requires a variety of techniques and enthusiastic interactions and deliveries.

Immediacy refers to using approaches and techniques that reduce the physical and communicative distance between students and teachers including moving out from behind podiums, grouping classes in circles, and using inclusive language (i.e. we or us).

Hattie, J., Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement (2009)

Hattie, J. Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning (2012)

Effect size image retrieved from: http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/what_works.htm

School Board Meeting 5/9/16 Snapshot

• Approvals: Please welcome Patrick Starbeck - Elementary EBD fall of 2016. Also, Jim Jacobson has been named our District Technology Coach - Congratulations Jim!

• Retirement: Nancy Jacobson was recognized for her years of service!  - Thanks Nancy for all you have done and we wish you the best! 

• Retirement announcement / effective 12/30/2016: Pam Pontius has announced her retirement effective 12/30/2016.

• Presentations: Terri Nelson (Indian Education Coordinator) gave a very nice update in regards to our Indian Education programming and services, also Karrie Schultz gave an update on Early Childhood Family Education, Thanks Ladies!

• Technology: Laura Jensen and Nancy Jacobson presented to the board on various ways the Elementary is blending technology into the classroom, Nicely done Ladies!

• Elementary Playground: Discussion continues, Bruce Pudwill presented on behalf of Playscapes, many questions were answered.

For a full report and minutes please go to the school web page www.frazee.k12.mn.us > District > Boardbook.

Also please follow us on Facebook and Twitter @FVhornets

Next School Board Meeting is scheduled for: 6/14/16

Fundamental Purpose: High levels of learning for ALL!

Top Ten / #5

John Hattie’s Top Ten Visible Learning Takeaways –

Number Five: Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is one of the cornerstones of Hattie’s visible learning premise. The power of immediate feedback to impact student achievement has few equals in regards to effect size. He asserts that it is important for teachers “to pay attention to the formative effects of their teaching, as it is these attributes of seeking formative evaluation of the effects (intended and unintended) of their programs that makes for excellence in teaching” (2009, p. 181).

Hattie found that when teachers use data and evidence-based models the effect size was higher than when teacher judgment was used. Furthermore, when the formative data was graphed the effect size was higher than when it was only recorded.

Application to the Classroom

If you are an educator that is fortunate enough to have a 1:1 instructional environment, or at least easy access to classroom technology, there are a multitude of online formative assessment tools that can redefine your formative evaluation methods and feedback effectiveness.  

Hubpages.com lists some of the top tools out there (Socrative, Formative, Kahoot!, Google Forms, and Quizzizz) which provide the opportunity for efficient and focused feedback to inform both the teacher and the student how they are progressing.  Most of these tools and many others provide easy to use graphs, charts, and spreadsheets to capture the feedback in the most user-friendly ways.

Hattie, J., Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement (2009)

Hattie, J. Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning (2012)

Shute, V.J., Focus on Formative Feedback (2008)

Effect size image retrieved from: http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/what_works.htm

Science & Change

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”—Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin was the innovator of his time in the field of biology. Today, modern biology would cease to exist without the Theory of Natural Selection and Evolution. However, when Darwin created this Theory, he was ridiculed and rejected by his community and fellow colleagues. I begin with this because the processes of evolution can also be used to explain the transmission of ideas, also known as the meme. Furthermore, we cannot resist “change” because it may be difficult or uncomfortable.

A meme can be treated like an organism in gene pool (population). That organism must survive by adapting to its surrounding environment and passing along its genetic information to each successive generation. In order to survive, a variety of variables (changes) in the environment may occur and those organisms who have the “tools” to adapt to these changes will flourish and pass these “tools” on to their offspring. In order for a meme to survive in the meme pool (eg: culture), the idea must be able to be transmitted understandably to other individuals and survive the process of “imitation”. In order for the meme to flourish, it must thrive and be accepted in the meme pool or risk being lost forever. (1)

The culture surrounding education is changing whether we accept that or not. That change may be technology, social media or knowledge acquisition. Regardless of what change we see, or which one effects us the most profoundly, it is our duty to teach our students how to foster these changes. We need to provide our students with the appropriate “tools” that they require to succeed in their next challenges. Let us start first with a meme, educational innovation. With the support of colleagues, we can successfully propagate this meme (however it may look to us individually) and prevent it from dwindling away because of the fear of change. Let us end the culture of complacency and begin the culture of innovation. We owe that to our students.

Kristin Melnyk

Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute - 

A Winnipeg School Division Project