“Look Around Less, Imagine More”

Esther Hicks’ quote “Look Around Less, Imagine More” instantly struck me as my intention for the 2019-2020 school year at Rio del Mar. Imagination is the stepping stone- truly the predecessor- to what is seen and touched and can be held in the hand of a child. At this time of year most especially, I enjoy imagining and then living into our wonderful academic year ahead.

I am certain it will be a year of growth for each and every child,

a year of joyful smiles, laughter, and friendships,

a year of visible learning,

a year of abundance,

a year where my own kindergarten son learns to read and continues to pursue his passion for numbers,

a year of imagination and inspiration!

To our students: You are powerful creators of your own learning and your own experience. What do you imagine your first weeks of school looking like? How do you imagine feeling on campus? Where do you see yourself growing? What do you want to create this year? Let your imagination guide you as you step onto campus tomorrow. We are so excited for you. Welcome back to school!!!

Teachers and Staff getting ready for students by creatively thinking about the year ahead!

 

 

 

Vacation Musings

As a frequent user of  Kindle and Audible I found myself surprised by my own excitement at seeing the following stats displayed on my Instagram feed:

Maybe my excitement stemmed from our last professional development day when some of us joined the book club session discussing Mandy Ellis’ Lead with Literacy. This book really got us thinking about what it means to build a culture of literacy and the importance of physical books in our students’ hands. Rio’s first annual No-Strings-Attached Book Give Away solidified this importance of books in hands for me as our students (and teachers) were beyond thrilled to select and take home two books each! Reading this also led to the decision that I would read the same book to each and every classroom once per trimester and leave the book with the class. Reading our first book, Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick, was pure joy as I witnessed students making connection after connection with the text.

Or maybe these stats resonated with me because they appeared to me as I was in the process of doing one of my favorite things to do over vacation: Going through my parents’ books, selecting which one I want to read, and getting lost in them! (This winter break it was John Grisham’s Camino Island, Michelle Obama’s Becoming, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.)

Or maybe this got me excited because it is a New Year and when I think of setting goals I always set a few around reading: reading for myself, reading to and for Connor and Ella, attending my book club, and generally making space and time for conversations around books with friends, family, and my own children.

Whatever it is, there is no mistaking that having a book in hand can be magical- books are where we go when we have a free moment, they are where Rio is going with Reader’s Workshop, they are what inspire us all!

 

Making Meetings Meaningful: Would staff come to staff meetings if they weren’t required?

I vividly remember sitting in staff meetings as a teacher and getting talked at as the principal went over data that was so small I couldn’t even see it. To pass the time my colleagues and I would play a game called “Hydrate Now”. Whoever drank the most water was the winner. While this silly memory did build lasting friendships, it also left a lasting impression that today encourages me to put energy and effort into creating real meaning when it comes to content as well as how staff meetings look and feel. Namely, giving the majority to our time to small group rotations and choice that focuses on professional development for teachers, by teachers! 

This past week’s meeting was a great example of this kind of staff meeting turned professional development: After some quick updates all together in the library from me, one of our amazing teachers showed us different tech tips that took us deeper with online programs we currently use. From there we broke into three groups led by Rio teachers for Rio teachers. Our teachers worked in teams of two to zoom in on and share their learnings around the Workshop Model, Mentor Texts, and Conferring from the Cotsen Conference they attended last month. Teachers not presenting had choice in selecting two out of the three sessions to attend as participants. It was a beautiful afternoon of sharing and learning!

This coming week we have an optional Wednesday afternoon where teachers are welcome to attend a deeper version of each session or attend the third session that they did not yet attend. In my thinking, giving choice and making professional development optional at times is a great way to go deeper and provide opportunities for teachers to learn from one another even when it’s not a must do!

Choice, rotation, depth of learning over time, and peers teaching and learning from one another is exactly what we want to model and provide for our students as well. These are key pieces of what I believe will give a resounding yes to my opening question, not only for staff but for students: Would students come to school if they didn’t have to? I believe that when we meet student needs in this way the answer is yes.

 

What Apple Picking and Writer’s Workshop Have in Common

When I think of Writer’s Workshop I think about how we naturally teach our own children. Just today, I took my kids out to pick apples and they needed a mini-lesson on ripe apples versus unripe apples. I held up two apples, showed them the difference, and they were off! It was a short, explicit, and needed/meaningful lesson that allowed them to practice as I observed. Of course, my four year old had more skill picking only ripe apples but my two year old could also identify the truly unripe ones.

This kind of explicit showing and practicing with support is the purpose of a mini-lesson in Writer’s Workshop. Just like in life, the mini-lesson occurs throughout the writing process (from procedures for the workshop model itself, to gathering ideas, to drafting, to revising, to editing, to publishing and celebrating).

And, as in life, the most simple of things often go overlooked: Writers need time to write! Just as my own children needed time to actually pick apples, writers need time to write, practice the skill they have been explicitly taught, and make meaning individually, with their class of fellow writers, and with their teacher. The gift of time for writing is alive and well at Rio! Students are writing frequently (to build fluency), writing for extended periods of time (to build stamina), and writing on topics that resonate (to build a love of writing through meaning-making).

Enjoy these photos of our Kinder-6th grade writers in action these past few weeks using the Writer’s Workshop framework of mini-lesson, writing/conferring time, and sharing:

New Beginnings: Be You

At every age and in every role (student, teacher, administrator, parent) I have always looked forward to the beginning of each new school year. There is something so comforting in the routine and simultaneously so exciting in the newness and possibilities. While meeting with our amazing teachers and staff during the SBC Day, we had lots of logistics to discuss and plans to make, but the most important work we did had to do with why we are here: our students!

Students, my hope for you on this first day of school is that you come as you are. I want to meet YOU! I want to get to know YOU! When we know we are already good enough we know that we can make mistakes in what we do because those mistakes don’t affect who we are at our core- this is when real learning can occur! Along with our teachers and staff, I look forward to learning right beside you tomorrow and throughout the school year.