Educators are known for their storytelling. If we wrote down everything that happens in a school year, we could easily write a book. I'm not sure about all of you but for me, my most vivid memories rarely have anything to do with curriculum and everything to do with relationships.
Damian arrived in my 3/4 split in late October. My students were already comfortable in the classroom with routines and procedures firmly in place. Damian disrupted them. He was reading far below grade level and his body, too large for his age, could be wrapping you in a hug one minute and "accidentally" bumping into a child in the next. I soon learned that Damian didn't have any books at home. So one day before dismissal, we filled his broken backpack with books to take home to keep. I still can purely picture in my mind Damian skipping out the door with pure joy as the overflowing books fell out of his backpack. He was gone again before the end of the year.
At Career Day, my dad was impressed with one of Michelle Stackpoole's students who was highly engaged and joyfully asked relevant questions. Ironically, he was brought to my office crying hysterically the following day after an issue with four square. He told me how he often would not remember a situation clearly after going into a "blind rage." Then, he explained to me how he would feel a "burdensome sadness." I soon learned he has been living with a kind guardian who took him in after finding him and his mentally ill mother living in a dilapidated house in Detroit.
Another one of our very unique students was noticed by many of our Career Day speakers for singing her little heart out during Leadership Choir. She sings with her eyes closed, smile wide, and the joy oozes out of her. Everyone there could see it and yet on most days we tend to squash that joy with the need to get on with our day or have her conform to some set standards.
The article "Joy: A Subject Schools Lack" by Susan Engel is one of the most powerful articles about education I have read in a while. "What if Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong?" is a close second. We desperately need joy in our schools for ourselves and most importantly for our students.
Joy!
Quotes from the articles:
"Becoming educated should not require giving up pleasure."
"The more dire the school circumstances, the more important pleasure is to achieving educational success."
"They should ...tolerate boredom so that they can become good at being bored later on."
"Teachers and administrators still rely on outdated systems of reward and punishment, using everything from red-yellow-green cards, behavior charts, and prizes to suspensions and expulsions."
"Does it make sense to impose the harshest treatments on the most challenging kids? And are we treating chronically misbehaving children as though they don't want to behave, when in many cases they simply can't?"
"Focusing on problem solving instead of punishment is now seen as the key to successful discipline."
"The prefrontal cortexes of aggressive children actually hadn't developed, or were developing more slowly, so that they simply did not yet have brains capable of helping them regulate their behavior."
Quotes from our students:
"What's different between the K-4s and here is that here the teachers don't interact with you. They are just here to do their jobs and go home."
"I don't know why teachers tell you they care. I don't trust them. If they cared, they wouldn't kick you out."
"I go home to an empty house every night. I'm there for hours before my dad comes home. It's just me and my phone."
"When I get mad, it's like a blind rage and then a burdensome sadness. I don't remember what happened and then it slowly comes back to me in pieces."
We have the most important job. We change lives everyday. Let's be the change.
Big Rocks
Thank you to our Career Day team (Judy, Julie, Mary Ann, Diane, Ron, Robin) for pulling off another very successful day. Additionally, thank you to Karen for preparing our Leadership Choir and Fatino for preparing our Cheer team. A few years ago, the dance teacher asked if everyone would go around and state their occupation and connection to Cooper during lunch. This year, besides the fun comments about cops love for donuts and U of M versus MSU, many people once again gave us compliments regarding the Leader In Me and the 7 Habits. They said that our students were polite and asked great questions. One person even commented on how nice the building is looking!
Robin's name was pulled for the Successory prize (a Starbuck's gift card) for helping a Cooper student with reading. We have placed many of the forms in mailboxes but will read a few throughout the week. Students thanked a variety of people from Jeff and Paul to Club leaders and classroom teachers. Thank you for all being successories to our students!
WIDA testing begins this week so please be courteous to our ELL teachers who will be using a lab and pulling students to test. Once again, WIDA holds the same weight as the MSTEP with the State and they must follow similar protocols.
We hate to do this but Learning Walks has been rescheduled again. It was supposed to be held this Monday but with so many subs lately, a stressful couple of weeks, and low moral we felt that we would try for another date. Hopefully, we can use that time to collaborate and reenergize ourselves with the positive things that are happening in the building in regards to teaching and learning.
The Human Growth Meeting is Tuesday, February 9 from 7:00-8:00. Thank you to Lynn and Bill for leading this meeting. We can make accommodations for parents who are unable to attend to view the materials.
Calendar for the Week of February 8, 2016:
Monday: WIDA testing begins
11:15 Student Lighthouse
Tuesday: 1:10 CPS Meeting (Sarah, Kristi, Linda, Julie)
1:55-3:30 Cyber Safety Presentations
4:00 Parent Meeting (Sarah, Kristi, Colleen, Shawn)
5:30-7:30 DSIT (Sarah)
7:00-8:00 Human Growth Meeting (Bill, Lynn, Kristi)
Wednesday: 8:00-11:00 LEAD Principals' PD (Sarah)
11:15 PTA Leaders
12:30-3:30 LEAD Principals' PD (Kristi)
Thursday: 1:00-4:30 Elementary Principals' Meeting
3:45-4:45 Extended Staff Meeting (Ben Hillard on the CCSS Math Shifts and
#WhyITeach)
Friday: School Improvement Interim Self Assessment Due
8:45-9:45 LEAD time with Accountability Partners
Pizza Salad Luncheon
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