The Practice of Renewal

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This weekend, my husband and I traveled to New York City for my high school best friend's wedding. By ourselves. Without the kids. We haven't done that since 2009 when we only had two little ones at home.  

We were worried about the usual things: the cost, the children, my parents' sanity. How could we do it? Yet, how could we not? Laura had stood by my side as my maid of honor 12 years earlier, traveling across the ocean as a fresh out of college young nurse. My other best friend, Carys' godmother, was coming too and had many fun adventures planned for us. Little did I know that two of our other high school friends were coming as well and when we saw each other it was like old times. It was as if it had only been a sliver of time, not a chasm of over twenty years of love and heartbreak, marriage and parenthood.  

Sharpening the Saw reminds us to balance our heart, mind, body, and soul. It is an ongoing process of personal change. It encourages us to renew and enhance our greatest asset-ourselves. Hopefully, you were able to take some time to practice the habit of renewal this weekend. We have only three weeks left. It may bring challenges but by Sharpening the Saw we can increase our capacity for productivity and happiness.  

Big Rocks:

Field Day is this Friday! There will be no gym classes on this day. The 5th grade Field Day will run from 9:00-11:00 and the 6th grade Field Day will run from 1:15-3:15. Please wear red, white, and blue. Fatino and Lorraine have asked all teachers to send two trustworthy students to help assist with Field Day. 6th graders will report at 8:45 and 6th graders at 1:00. If your students can not participate, please let them now. Please refer to the Field Day Notes that were placed in your mailboxes last week for additional information. 

Thank you so much to the teachers who helped with 4th Grade Transition! We received excellent feedback from the 4th grade teachers. They felt that it was more engaging for their students. Many 5th grade teachers also gave a lot of positive feedback stating that they felt it engaged all students in the process and there were a lot of proud and excited students demonstrating their leadership. We also met with all of the 4th grade teachers and grouped for 5th grade classrooms, trying to be as intentional as possible with behavior and academic placements. We look forward to having the 5th grade teachers group for 6th grade on Tuesday.  

It is that time of year and Judy is putting together the 6th grade DVD. Please have all pictures to her by Friday. Please upload all photos to the appropriate folder in Google Drive.

Welcome back Nicole!  We are so excited to see your smiling face.  Many thanks to Emily Korpela for doing a terrific job while Nicole was taking care of baby Vivian.

Calendar for the week of May 30, 2014:

Monday: No school. Happy Memorial Day!

Tuesday: 5th grade grouping

                3:45-5:00 Lighthouse Team

Wednesday: 8:00 IST

Thursday: 8:00 Staff Meeting

               EPM 1:00-4:30

Friday: Field Day

Arggh! Calling All Pirates!

Arrgghhh!  Last week, many of us had the opportunity to see Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like a Pirate.  At lunch, we were so fired up that Bill actually wanted to return to the building for the afternoon.  Everyone was back early from lunch break and we were the last educators to leave the building at the end of the day!

In teaching and modeling some of Dave’s ideas, we decided to try to recreate part of the experience at the staff meeting.  Gold coins, mystery boxes, pirate music, and enthusiasm dominated the staff meeting.  Michelle did a phenomenal job modeling the the “Good Morning Transition” while standing on a chair.  Victoria was so overcome with excitement that she came in a tad early on her slide, her superhero cape flapping in the wind.  Boxes and Whiskers superhero was unveiled by Bill and Robin made the G rated topic of Immersion a bit more R rated.  

At the end of the meeting, even with all of the positive comments, I was not surprised to hear the question, “Did Dave talk about the issue of time?”  Dave did not specifically discuss “time.”  He does teach high school and have the ability to focus on a few key lessons throughout the day.  However, he did talk about the P of Pirate which may help provide a mindset shift about time.  The Passion of Pirate is also the extra umph we all need to finish the school year strong!

P stands for Passion, which he breaks into three categories.  Dave realizes that teachers have a deep, dark secret...we don’t love everything we teach.  For Dave, he loved the Civil Rights Movement and hated Railroads.  I loved teaching Michigan History in 3rd grade but didn’t love teaching plants with those hydroponic plants that I could never get to grow!  So what is your content passion?  Within your subject matter, what are you passionate about teaching?  The content that you are passionate is “easy” to teach.  Our enthusiasm and zest for it increase our enjoyment.  Yet, what happens when you are teaching “railroad” or “hydroponic plants”?

When you are struggling to teach the content, Dave suggests that you focus on your professional passion.  Within your profession, but not specific to your subject matter, what are you passionate about?  Why did you go into teaching in the first place?  Are there ways to infuse Life Changing Lessons into your teaching?  Many of you are gifted storytellers, know how to use humor to engage your students, or pick just the right book, video, or quote to inspire discussion and connect with students.  How can you use your professional passion to fill the gaps or increase interest in the content?

Finally, what is your personal passion?  Completely outside of your profession, what are you passionate about?  For Dave, it was magic that he would infuse into his lessons to increase engagement.  For Lynn, it might mean turning into her alter ego, Sparkalee the clown.  Bill uses Detroit Tigers Baseball.  I used baking and cooking (what kid doesn’t like food?) and drama; turning many hard to read textbooks and lessons into plays for the kids to perform in class.

As we enter the final stretch, don’t forget to take a moment to think about your passion for education.  We should be finishing the year with the same intentionality with which we began.  That’s a difficult task right now.  Find that passion.  We didn’t become teachers for the tests, the rules, or the worksheets.  I’d bet the majority of us became teachers for the children.  For the believe that what we do matters.  To honor the potential of each child and the passion we have within ourselves.

Quotes:

“Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.”  Denis Diderot

“Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art.”  Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Big Rocks:

Fourth Grade Transition is this week!  A big thank you to all of the 5th grade teachers for synergizing and creating a “3rd alternative” for our transition day. We are excited to see how the new plan goes.  For those of you that don’t know, Linda coordinated letters to be sent from our students to the feeder schools a few weeks ago.  The principals were so excited when Kristi and I gave them the letters at the staff meeting so I’m sure the students were just as thrilled.  We will still start with a quick welcome in the cafe and then the students will proceed to their partner class.  Cathy Santi did a terrific job creating a scavenger hunt for the 4th and 5th grade students to do together.  If you see the students in the hallway, make sure to say hello and have your students welcome them to Cooper.  Mary Ann and Michelle still helped out with snacks and tokens.  Michelle got a huge deal on water for all of the students.  I’m sure I’m forgetting someone so thank you to all!

A big thank you to everyone who helped Tara’s class with the Heifer project. They far exceeded their goal, earning over a whopping $625!  Mrs. Martin’s class helped the cause by raising enough to buy their own goat.  I’m sure Tara’s class with keep us posted.  Well done!

The PTA Leaders are ready to help a great cause as well!  Starting this week and going to June 3 will be the Cooper Coin War for Relay for Life.  All proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society.

Sixth Grade Send Off is scheduled for June 15.  A big thank you to Wendy for organizing this and creating a new format.  It looks great!

We are still trying to figure out if we can do some different teaming next year.  If you are interested in any different teaming formats or room assignments, please send Kristi and I a proposal as soon as possible.

5D will be the new evaluation for the coming year.  This is all we know so far.  This is a pdf of the rubric.  http://tpep-wa.org/wp-content/uploads/CEL-5D+-2.0-with-Observables.pdf

Calendar for the Week of May 23:

Monday: Detroit Tigers Day

Tuesday: 4th Grade Transition (Grant/Hayes)

Wednesday: Soccer Clinic

Thursday: 8:00 Staff Meeting

               4th Grade Transition (Cleveland/Roosevelt)

               3:45 Lauren’s Shower

Friday: School Improvement Plan Due

          Theme ballots due to Sally

A Life Well Spent

This week, a fifth grader was brought to me during lunch for “popping” his milk, resulting in four other milk soaked students.  Before calling his mother, I asked him if this would be allowed during dinner at his house.  He eyes widened with confusion.  I stopped and asked the question, “Who do you eat dinner with?”  He responded that he ate with his brother and sister.  When I asked about his mother and grandmother, he replied that they either ate later on the couch or in their room.  Once again, I was reminded that we are not only teaching academics but life skills as well.

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We have a difficult job. Perhaps, it is not a job at all but a calling. At the end of the day, one thing is for certain. A life spent teaching our youth is a life well spent. As Teacher Appreciation Week comes to a close, please know that we appreciate all of you more than you know!

Favorite Teacher Appreciation Videos:

Big Rocks:

It’s the last week of MSTEP!  We have a few classes to finish up and will complete all of the make-ups this week. Thank you for your help, patience, and flexibility during this time.

F & P scores are due into Illuminate by Friday.  We were happy to provide additional support this week.  If you have any additional questions or concerns, please let us know.  Please attach your last running record to the pink sheet.

ACES was rescheduled for Monday at 10:30.  Please follow the map that Fatino provided.

We need a date for our Volunteer Luncheon.  Is anyone interested in taking the lead on this?  This is always such a lovely day to thank our Cooper volunteers.

We have placed in your mailbox a response from Andrea Oquist regarding the Third Grade Reading Legislative Bill that was featured Hometown Life.  It is important as educators we understand the current bills that are impacting us in education.  The original bill required mandatory retention for struggling readers in third grade.  The newest bill, House Bill 4822, although still extremely concerning, at least takes into consideration the views of parents and educators.  The view of the Board of Education and Central Office is that this is the most palatable of all the bills knowing that one will go into effect.

Calendar for the Week of May 9, 2016:

Monday: ACES 10:30

             Fire Drill 1:30

Tuesday: Teach Like a Pirate (Sarah, Judy, Robin, Victoria, Bill, Michelle)

Wednesday: 9:30-11:00 QAR (Sarah)

Thursday: 3:45-5:00 Extended Staff Meeting

Friday: 8:45 LEAD time with Accountability Partners

           F & P Scores due into Illuminate

          Last day of MSTEP!!