The Principal's Corner:
I just bought a new book the other day called The Creative School by Ken Robinson. It’s a great book about creativity, original thinking, the educational models of different areas and countries, and other topics. Someone who loves the educational world would really enjoy it. One great quote from the book is “We stigmatized mistakes. And we’re now running a national educational system where mistakes are the worst thing you can make and the result is that we are educating people out of creativity.”
I remember when I was first learning how to ride a bike. I had this orange and black bike which I thought was the most amazing piece of machinery ever constructed. Turns out it was a 20 dollar bike from Target, but that is a story for another time. My father took me out for my first ride, and I made the mistake of trying to gun it right out the gate and fly. I fell down about 4 seconds after he let go of the seat. I tried for about another 30 minutes and in the end, I made a bunch of mistakes, and I failed. If I was getting a grade on my bike riding ability I would have gotten the lowest mark.
But my father, thankfully, outsourced the job to my older cousin Brian who put me back on the bike and stuck me in the grass instead of the cement sidewalk. He told me to pedal around on the grass, and when I would fall he would show me where I messed up. He would talk to me about balance and he would watch again. He would show me how to break by not smashing the handle brakes super hard, and he would watch again. He didn’t give me a grade, he gave me meaningful feedback. Slowly I learned how to ride the bike. By the end of it I went from not being able to ride a bike to thinking I was unstoppable over the course of a few weeks.
In schools, sometimes we focus too much on the grade and not enough on the meaningful feedback that teachers give to students each and every day. That is what truly drives the learning. Our staff has been working on utilizing smaller group instruction K-5 in all subject areas and conferencing with kids more and more. We’ve worked on making feedback to students more than just a yes or no and pushing them to dig into reasons and evidence to prove what they know. We’ve focused on Visible Thinking to make sure the students are aware about how they learn just as much as what they are learning.
I didn’t learn how to ride a bike, speak English, kick a soccer ball, write poetry, solve complex math problems, or analyze historical documents because I got a grade for it. I learned how to do all of those things because people gave me specific, targeted, meaningful feedback, in a positive manner on how to improve. The “grade” was a just a quick reference point for how I was doing.
Are grades important? Absolutely, but so are mistakes. They all fall under the big umbrella of feedback. I challenge us to think about how we can use mistakes in the same importance as we use grades to help guide students towards what we want them to truly learn.
MacGregor's Message:
Kindergarten Registration is Ongoing
If you will have a kindergarten student next year but were unable to attend this year’s Kindergarten Registration event on March 6, please register your child as soon as possible. This will help as we plan our staffing for the 2018-19 school year. To register your child online, please visit the Kindergarten Registration webpage at https://goo.gl/k5pC8X. If you would prefer to register your child in person, please visit the district's registration office at 411 N. Highlander Way. The office is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
Counselor’s Corner
March is Reading Month! And with that, our school has launched so many exciting activities and incentives to promote reading. In addition to becoming better readers, reading in and of itself has many social and emotional benefits. According to The Reading Agency, benefits of reading include increased empathy, improved relationships with others, reduced symptoms of depression and improved well-being throughout life. Additional benefits to reading for pleasure include better communication between parents and children, increased self-esteem, reduced anxiety and stress and a greater understanding of other cultures.
If you would like to further explore the healing power of books with your children, be sure to check out “Books that Heal Kids,” found at http://booksthathealkids.blogspot.com/. Book topics include everything from acceptance, anxiety, and arguing to sibling rivalry, teamwork, and tattling… not to mention so much more! Additional parent tips to help children become successful readers can be found at Reading Rockets Parent Tips - www.pbs.org/launchingreaders/parenttips.html
Clearly, reading to and with your child has countless benefits. In fact, just 15 minutes of reading at home per day can make a difference in students’ reading fluency. Below are some tips to help prioritize reading in your home:
- Always have books on hand. - Keep a book in your bag or in the car. Make frequent trips to the library or check out bargain book sales or garage sales.
- Keep it up. - Encourage your child to read. Introduce him or her to a series, or consider subscribing your child to a magazine for kids.
- Focus on their interests. - Encourage your child to check out books from the library that feature characters or topics he or she is interested in.
- Read out loud together. - Schedule time to read aloud together. Take turns reading passages. Use different voices for different characters, or ask your child to make sound effects for the story.
- Make reading a routine - Make reading a regularly scheduled tradition in your home. Many children enjoy reading or being read to before bed.
- Be a patient listener. - Even if your child reads slowly, try not to finish sentences for your child. Instead, gently correct mistakes, sound out words together, and let your child know you are proud of his or her effort.
- Cut out distractions. - When reading, turn of the TV and put away electronic devices. This applies to kids… and adults!
- Ask questions. - Ask your child about what he or she is reading in school or about what you are reading together. Try to ask open-ended questions, such as “Why do you think the character did that?” or “What do you think will happen next?”
- Read beyond books. - Read menus, greeting cards, comic strips, or newspaper articles together.
- Have fun with it! - Even though March is Reading Month, keep the love of reading strong the entire year! The benefits are worth it!
Your Partner in Education
Jennifer Starkey
School Counselor