Week 12 11/22/19

Mr. Browne's Precept

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom" ~ Marcel Proust

Honey- Do List 

11/25/19  Review the Schedule for Wednesday's 1:00 PM Dismissal

11/28/19 Enjoy your traditions

You Are The Bee's Knees  

The reason that you are getting this on Monday is because on Friday, I was so moved by your cards of appreciation. I needed to respond once the tears stopped. Your words provided what I needed to power through to 9:00 on a very difficult day. I truly felt like I was part of the team and could finally let go of the worry that I was foisted on you. Our team is one that I have been most privileged to join. Those cards were so kind and just what I needed, when I needed it. Your words and actions every day towards adults and children prove that we are an incredibly special place filled with wonderful humans. Thank you for accepting and appreciating me. It is my honor and pleasure to serve you and our students. I appreciate you all so much!

I delayed sending this until Monday morning because I know you do not like and/or need reminders of work over the weekend. :) 

I would like to add a new feature to the "Bee's Knees" section of our blog. I would like Lee Academy Staff members to send me shout outs for our colleagues. Let me know some of the amazing stuff that your colleagues are doing by Friday at noon and I will include it in our Hive! 

School Showcase

Thank you to the volunteers for the school showcase on December 14th:

Lindsay

Danielle

Alyce

Sarah

Lee Academy will certainly be well represented and parents will have the chance to get to know our community. 

Pollinating Positive Behavior

This week's strategy to explore is Power Cards. Check out this link to learn what Power Cards are. I am looking forward to seeing some friends using them soon!

Art Grades

Given that art is being taught by an outside partner this year, students will not be graded in art. Please delete this section on the report card. Thank you to those of you that checked in about this.

The Literacy Honeycomb-Sarah Little

What are schools for? 

This past Monday and Tuesday, Keri and I attended a few days of Literacy Collaborative coach and administrator PD at Lesley University and I wanted to share a bit about what I took away from it.  Irene Fountas was the presenter each morning and one of the things I left thinking most critically about was her explanation of Literacy Collaborative's core beliefs about what schools are for:

• Schools are for thinking, talking, reading, writing
• Schools are for social learning, love of learning, joyful, independent, meaningful reading and writing
• Schools are for inquiring, expanding perspectives, thinking critically and empathetically
• Schools are for learning about humanity, the lives of others and learning how to act to contribute to a democratic and socially just world

I wanted to share these Literacy Collaborative core values as a way for us to celebrate all of the opportunities we give our students to do and learn these important things every day.  And to maybe set goals around what we want to start doing or do more of.  I have set a small goal for myself around creating more opportunities for meaningful reading and writing and for more inquiry - I focus a lot on asking kids questions, but I don't often listen to or do much with the questions they have about the world.  I'm sharing a few resources I found that are connected to these goals.  I've linked to them below if you'd like to take a look.  If you want to think or explore more about any of these core values, please let me know. 

Inquiry Based Reading Instruction (From the journal The Reading Teacher - a discussion about how to use nonfiction books to spark inquiry)
Nonfiction Writing from the Heart (From the book "A Place for Wonder: Reading and Writing Nonfiction in the Primary Grades - a chapter about how to help students spark ideas for informational writing)

Teacher Perspective on curriculum selection

In a few weeks, I have the opportunity to participate on a panel discussion around high quality curriculum and curriculum selection for schools and districts.  The audience will be policy makers, education non-profit leaders, district leaders, and school leaders from around the state.  I found out yesterday that, unfortunately, there are no classroom teachers on the panel.  I see this as a great opportunity to bend the ear of the powers that be as they think about curriculum selection and/or mandating curriculum (math or ELA).  So if you have important ideas that you'd like me to share with this audience, please send your thoughts about the questions:

• How does high-quality curriculum look and feel in practice? 
• How can you distinguish high-quality from lower-quality options when implementing curriculum in action?
• How should school and district leaders seek to incorporate the perspective of educators (and others) when choosing effective curriculum?

This Week

This week I will be out in Arizona visiting my son. I had planned to take this trip prior to having the great opportunity to work at the Lee Academy. Thanksgiving is actually my husband's birthday and my son always makes a big deal of his dad's birthday. Plus I could not stand the idea of him being so far away and alone for my favorite holiday. Keri will be in charge while I am gone. Thanks for being the team you are so that I can actually step away for a bit and not worry (too much) about what is happening at work!

Week 11 11/15

Mr. Browne's Precept

"In kindness is encompassed every variety of wisdom." ~ Ernesto Sabato

Honey- Do List 

11/1/19       Register for whole-school PD in TeachPoint

11/18/19     Family Council

11/20/19     First School Preview Day

11/20/19     Whole School PD Teachers Only

11/20/19     Governing Board

11/22/19     Picture Day Make-Up

11/22/19     Family Movie Night

12/1/19       Let Jodi know if you are interested in volunteering at the school showcase

Shout Outs 

Amelia Chase and Chris Wade are a dynamic duo when they are with their students. I had asked Amelia and Chris if we could assign Chris to our K1 friend to maintain adult and student safety and to backfill his position with Ms. Jasmine. Jasmine broke up with us and Amelia has spent the past week alone with very piecemeal support/ I appreciate both of them for their willingness to jump in and support where they can. 

Eleanor gave me the name of a sub that has panned out and the sub is taking a day in December for us. Unfortunately, she is booked for the rest of November in other schools. Thanks, Eleanor. 

Dysregulated Students

This week are the team meetings for our two most visible learners who we all care deeply about. I know that there is a lot of curiosity and interest surrounding both these students. Operating from the paradigm that we are a family of professionals, I wanted to update you that as of this writing (Friday 11/15 at 4:52) there is not another seat available for these young friends. I am confident that one will present itself but I wanted you to have the realistic expectation that nothing will change immediately after these meetings at the end of next week. 

Superintendent's Visit 

The superintendent's visit was over in a flash but went very well. Our energetic tour guides were fun and joyful. This is the text of an email from the office of community engagement that I received today:

Greetings from the Community Engagement Team:

Thank you for helping to make Superintendent Dr. Cassellius' school visit so special!  It was a pleasure learning about your school culture and high expectations for success!  We look forward to future engagement opportunities with your school community. 

Attached are a few photos from the visit. Please share this message with your team.

Best, 

Dr. Casselius and the tour guides

Dr. Cassellius receiving her book

View from the District

The District has scheduled the annual school showcase on December 14th. It will be held at Boston Latin Academy (205 Townsend Street, Dorchester) on Saturday, December 14 from 9am to 1pm. The District believes that showcase is a great opportunity for parents to get information about all the schools on their choice list and meet with staff from any schools they are interested in. Unfortunately, it is 11 days before Christmas and I have plans with my family for a holiday tradition. Keri has a very special party to host as well. We are looking for volunteers who would like to sit at our table and greet any families that may wander by. I am willing to offer a comp day for the first two staff members to volunteer. Please let me know by 12/1. 

Pollinating Positive Behavior

This week we will save Pollination for our whole school PD. The topics will be the following:

K0/K1- FAIR behavior plans for K0/K1 with Jodi

K2 & 1- BIMAS Data and Planning with Jen

2&3- ILPs with Paula

My Way Cafe

This week we launch My Way Cafe! The practice went well. There will be a lot of choices come Monday. I am hoping that we can be all hands on deck during lunches. No matter what our roles are getting our little ones through the line and making choices will help the process run more smoothly. 

Governing Board

This week at our governing board meeting I will be reviewing our enrollment projections for FY21. This is one of two times during the budget process that we can advocate for changes. As you know everything hinges on our projections as that is what our funding is based on.  If you are interested in hearing more about projections please attend this meeting. The good news is that for the most part, we look stable with our projections. There is only one area that I want to be a bit more probative around.  

School Preview Day

Our first of three school preview days will be Wednesday the 20th. Do not be surprised to see a family or two touring our building or sitting in on a class. 

Faculty Senate Debrief

I am assuming that Lyndsay communicates the outcomes of our debriefs with all of you so that it would be redundant to do so here. Please let me know if that is accurate. 

November 8, 2019

Mr. Browne's Precept

"To succeed in life,  you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone." ~ Reba McEntire

Honey- Do List 

10/31/19     Action Plan Template for Unit Completion

11/1/19       Register for whole-school PD in TeachPoint

11/12/19     Pages Due for Superintendent's Book

11/13/19     Superintendent's Visit to Lee Academy

11/13/19     Let Jodi know if you want to participate in the OLOS study. 

11/22/19     Picture Day Make-Up

Shout Outs 

This week I am back to shouting out this entire flexible, wonderful, and inspiring team. There is something special here. The "all hands on deck" way we function, daily,  is amazing. If one of us is down another lifts us up. If our load is heavy others pitch in to make it lighter. We are an outstanding family. We are helping our extended family members to raise great humans who care about each other, after all we model that beautiful humanity EVERY day. 

Dysregulated Students

I love how members of our LAPS family are ready to jump in when teachers are working with a dysregulated student in the classroom or a hallway. We truly are in this together. When you come upon the situation always ask if the adult needs anything. Sometimes it is best to only have 1-2 people involved. 

Superintendent's Visit Book

Here is the text of the email that Keri sent all of us about the book project for the superintendent's visit.

Superintendent Brenda Casselius is set to visit the Lee Academy on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 13th. Since we expect the visit to be short and certainly not all-encompassing, we would like to present her with a book showcasing our fabulousness (I think that's a word...). 

Each class is going to have a page in the book. We're hoping you and your students can find some time to develop your idea together and to type the page by Tuesday afternoon. The theme of the book is: What makes the Lee Academy such a special place? If there's time for a few students in your class to illustrate your page, we could aim for that as well. 

I am so excited to see the finished product of our book. It will be nice to capture the things that make us so special. Thank you, Meghan, for creating the first page. Could you please aim to finish this project by the end of the day on Tuesday so that we can assemble the book and have it ready for our end of the day visit on Wednesday?

Pollinating Positive Behavior

Each week in the Hive we will have some ideas, from Jessica Minahan, to try to grow into being part of our school culture.  I look forward to observing these in action.  This week we will focus on Transitions which can be hard for students with anxiety.

Components of a Transition	Appropriate Transition Warning
The cessation of the first activity	Find a stopping point (a natural close) and use a concrete warning for that point (five more pages, read until the sticky note, one more YouTube Video, etc.)
Making the cognitive shift to the next activity	Use visual schedules, photographs of what "being ready" for the next activity looks like
Starting the next activity	Use traditional countdown types of warnings (5 more minutes, use of a timer, this should be concrete for our younger learners
Lack of structure and specific expectations during the transition time	Suggest tasks or activities that "absorb" the downtime (push in chairs, pass out papers, sharpen pencils) for more sponge activity ideas see below

Sponge Activities

Put notices in student mailboxes Fold notices or papers Clean whiteboards Push in chairs Organize Books Count students for "attendance" Sort colored pencils and crayons Other classroom jobs Simon says or other nonverbal games (for the whole class)

Morning Announcements

This week's word of the week will be Courageous.  

The Quirky Holidays for next week are:

• 11/12   National Pizza with the Works Except for Anchovies Day
• 11/13   World Kindness Day
• 11/14   National Pickle Day
• 11/15   National Clean out Your Fridge Day

Home Visit Payments

I have submitted the spreadsheet with the payment amounts to James. He let me know when I was checking the 11/22 dates for checks that people would have to fill out a W9 tax form. Look for that to be coming soon. 

OLOS Study

We have been asked to participate in the OLOS Study.  OLOS stands for: Optimizing Learning Opportunities for Students. The project aims to understand the classroom environment and how it may relate to a child's academic, social, and emotional experiences. The information gathered will help develop an observational tool for preschool through third grade to be used by educators to assess the classroom learning environment. For more information please click here.

Individual classroom teachers can elect to participate. Please let me know if you are interested (or not) by 11/13. 

Whole School PD Outcomes

I really appreciate how all of you hang in there for whole-school PD. I know how long the day is but the richness of our discussions, problem-solving and learning together is an honor to be part of. We are starting to build our toolboxes for our friends who are working so hard to learn to regulate themselves and control the very big feelings in their small bodies.

Our Tool Box for Anxiety

Things We Have Tried

Positive Results

Transition Warnings

Changing the Channel

Mixed Results
Safe Space/Cool Down Corner 
Breaks

Things We Want to Try

Picture cues as reminders

Rewards for trying strategies that lower anxiety

Transition activities

Non-contingent breaks

Power cards 

Things We Want to Learn More About

Explicitly teaching strategies to reduce anxiety

Age-appropriate strategies for K0/K1

Our Tool Box for Opposition

Things We Have Tried

Positive Results

Use specific language about task completion to transition from preferred to a non-preferred activity

End of day or next day reflection and processing

Switching adults

Embedding choice in demand (Where do you want to read? Egg Chair or Library?)

Providing a rationale for direction first

Visual and Written Cues

Things We Want to Try

Giving a task or job for  transition or a non-structured time

Individual calming kits

Picture to puzzle making kit

Use a picture of the chair to remind the student to sit

Things We Want to Know About

How to implement very frequent reinforcement sustainably. 

Whole School PD Update

We are adjusting our plan for whole school PD to allow us to go a little deeper into the Behavior Code work and to accomplish some district-level work as well. This will require us to do some differentiation for adult learning which is something that people have also been asking for. Will you please note the changes below in your team's Blueprint for Learning (WSPD are the blue boxes)?

11/20

K0/K1- FAIR behavior plans for K0/K1 with Jodi

K2 & 1- BIMAS Data and Planning with Jen

2&3- ILPs with Paula

12/4

K0/K1- Uncertain- Perhaps BIMAS if available

K2&1- FAIR Behavior Plans with Jodi

2&3- BIMAS Data and Planning with Jen

1/15/20

Whole Staff including Co-educators Can-Do Descriptors with Paula

1/24/20

Strategies for Emotionally Dysregulated students with Jen and Alyce

Week 9 October 28 2019

Mr. Browne's Precept

The mind is everything. What you think you become. ~ Unknown

Honey- Do List 

10/31/19     Action Plan Template for Unit Completion

11/1/19       Register for whole-school PD in TeachPoint

11/13/19     Superintendent's Visit to Lee Academy

11/22/19     Picture Day Make-Up

Shout Outs 

This week's shout out goes to Mr. Ben. Mr. Ben wrote a grant that resulted in a $5,000 award that will be applied to our Urbanity Dance partnership.  This will be a huge help in a very difficult budget year. 

Paper Consumption

I apologize in advance for the hypocrisy of what I am about to write next since I just copied 4 chapters from a book for everyone. The following message goes for me as well.

We need to be mindful of our paper consumption. We have gone through 50,000 pieces of paper in 9 weeks. That is 251 sheets of paper per student.

Thank you for all that you do for our students. I know this may seem like I am asking a lot when you ask for so little but I appreciate your conservation efforts. 

Superintendent Visit

The date of the superintendent's visit has been changed from 11/12 to 11/13. She will be in our building for 30 minutes. In those 30 minutes, I would love for her to see the best of us. What are your thoughts about what she must-see? She will be here from 2:15 to 2:45. 

Morning Announcements

This week's word of the week will be anxious.  I will be sticking with character traits for the next few weeks. I know that is what many of you are working on. 

The Quirky Holidays for next week are:

• 11/4   National Chicken Lady Day
• 11/5   National Color the World Orange Day
• 11/6   Saxophone Day 
• 11/7   National Director Day
• 11/8   National Parents as Teachers day

Professional Development

The goal for where we are in our professional development cycle is that each team will develop a toolbox of interventions for students with Anxiety and Oppositional Behaviors. 

The expectation is that you will decide with your teammates if you want to read and be the expert on "Get Away from Me" (Anxiety)  or "You're not the Boss of Me" (Oppositional Behavior)

I would like each of you to attempt one strategy between now and our next WSPD that is introduced in the chapter you chose.

At our next WSPD we will use the Three Levels of Text Protocol focusing on Level 3 (what is the implication for our work). 

We will then work in expert groups to complete some of the activities in the Companion Chapter that corresponded with the type of behavior we focused on, anxiety or oppositional.