To encourage dialogue and reflection about the ways that questions foster learning and growth, our question for the week is: What questions are on your mind right now? Asking More Questions (Week of 11/5/23) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
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Our Students
Blake's Core Values: Respect, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Reflection
Our Essential Question: How can we cultivate and curate the progression of student learning and growth?
Our Mission: Blake Middle School believes in a living mission statement, based on the concept that our community seeks and respects knowledge, integrity, character, wisdom, and the willingness to adapt to a continually evolving world.
The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning. - John Dewey
You cannot teach today the same way you did yesterday to prepare students for tomorrow. - John Dewey
After the chilly second half of the week, the milder temperatures were certainly welcomed this past weekend. I love the fall weather, but I sure had a hard time warming up Friday evening after going to the Holliston High football game! We enjoyed a very quiet, laid-back weekend - some time to rest, do some yard clean-up (never ending task!), and a fun dinner with my cousins on Saturday night. We also appreciated the extra hour of sleep, although I do not love the ‘early darkness’!
If I’m being truthful, my answer when a question comes up as to ‘how I would handle something’ is, ‘I’m just not sure - I have to dive in a bit and ask a few questions.’ I am continuing to learn that each situation is truly different and the systems we need (rather than want) to foster/nurture are ones that allow for the individual response with room for questions/exploration. It is this mantra/mindset of questions that I hope we continue to work towards for our students and ourselves. This is a common thread that will not change and will need to be present as the educational landscape evolves, and has greatly evolved, with machine learning and artificial intelligence. If nothing else (and we know there are many more reasons than this), the art of ‘asking the right questions’ and ‘effective prompts’ is something we need to embrace…
Prompt Literacy: A Key for AI-Based Learning
by Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Michael Fisher in ASCD
AI prompt literacy is an evolving space where educators can explore new pedagogical possibilities and better prepare their students for the future. Ultimately, supported by models like CAST, it can help personalize learning experiences, provide opportunities for more immersive and interactive learning, and enhance students' creativity and ability to build products that have never before been possible. It can also help students develop skills like corroborating and thinking critically about information—skills that will become increasingly important in the age of AI.
Below are some notes from DESE’s Better Together: Family School Partnership Summit 2023 conference - within, I have highlighted several questions that were posed to attendees. They do not have clear or ‘set answers’ - rather, they are ones we need to continue to wrestle with each and every day. I have also shared some recent podcasts that I have enjoyed - again, questions always come to mind while listening. One of the intentions I have in this ‘sharing’, in addition to the cathartic and reflective process for my own learning, is to prompt dialogue and questions - I welcome them and look forward to the engagement.
Notes from Better Together Summit
** Commissioner Jeff Riley’s Message…
‘Our children are watching; Our children are waiting for you’
Patrick Tutwiler’s Keynote
- Reciprocal energy is important
- 3 B Formula (Be Good, Be Brief, Be Seated)
- Beliefs
- You can’t separate ideas from the person
- Key is educators
- Core is love for students
- Educator who seeks to understand the stories and experiences of students and families
- Validating experiences is key to a successful partnership
- Will respectfully but not apologetically disagree if something is not in the best interest at a student’s core or of a student’s core
- Thriving - will reach and elevate its most underserved students and families
- Phrase - As a leader in education, I must love the student, the teacher, and the craft of teaching - none more than the other, but in that order
- What does it mean to love all of our students?
- To acknowledge and understand who they are
- Validate their lived experience and journey of people who look like them
- Provide them with what they need to realize their dreams
- Ideas
- Sustainable vision can not be imposed - needs to be formed collaboratively with meaningful input from the families that will be impacted
- Making an effort to ‘see’ our students and families
- Set of organizing principles (Stabilize, Heal, Transform)
- Stabilize/Heal
- We are still in a recovery context
- Experience challenges in state of mental health and staffing
- Must address these issues meaningfully
- Transform
- Not trying to just get back
- Envisioning a future that existed beyond what was in place before the pandemic
- Lasting change that is not limited by previous goalposts
- Push to reimagine early literacy and the HS experience
- Dropping anchors in the transform space
- Continual striving towards transformation
- Phrase is ‘more than ever’ not ‘like no other’
- More Than Ever
- Strategizing, revamping plans for students
- Work with families as partners
- Ensure students succeed emotionally and academically
- We are humbled and honored by trust families place in us to keep their students safe and help them grow
- We need your partnership and honest feedback
- Deep belief in responsibility and capability that every student can thrive
- Transform opportunities available to every student
- Create conditions for students to realize their dreams
Matthew Rodriquez’s Sessions
- Why do you do the work you do?
- Having teachers who look like you increases the likelihood of moving forward
- Some students are not here for the very reason being that we are doing things we thought were right
- We have to look ourselves in the mirror - What are we doing wrong? How can we change?
- Beverly Tatum’s Work
- Fostering partnership with families
- Schools make assumptions about families
- ‘Silence can be loud’
- Conveyor belt is moving
- If we are engaging in anti-racist work we will and should be tired
- Be willing to have uncomfortable conversations
- Deficit Lens vs Equity Lens
- Deficit Lens
- ‘Victim-blaming’ Frame
- Equity Lens
- ‘Systemic Frame’
- Deficit Lens
- What challenges surface most for you when working to effectively engage families?
- If food is the only incentive for families to come and engage, what message are we sending?
- If raffles are the only incentive to get people in and engage, what message is being sent?
- Jason Irizarry - Naming with Courage
- What are some of the ways that you have seen schools make family members feel ‘like they forgot their homework’, when they step foot through the doors of their young persons’ school?
- What are some of the ways that you have seen schools make students or their families have to ‘give up parts of their identity’ in order to have a chance at success?
- What, specifically and practically, does it mean to ‘center community’?
- Current Practices
- Some of our practices promote inequity
- Assumptions of privilege and access
- Intention is to engage but the impact is a burden
- The school is determining legitimate engagement
- Dive into the particulars
- Let’s ask more questions
- Don’t create conditions that cause frustration
- If you’re not ready to do it, don’t start
- Just being heard is all right, but you have to be willing and able to make changes - truly
- How do we recognize the strengths that students bring? How do we elevate their voices? How do we create the conditions?
- How do we bring student voice forward?
- What does belonging actually mean?
- What stands out to you when you think about the work to foster youth agency from within our historical context?
- All behavior is communication
- Belonging & Youth Agency
- The two go hand-in-hand
- Where do students congregate? Who do they congregate with?
- Issues of involvement should be within their locus of control
- When students see change, there is something magical about that
- This work can happen in one classroom
- ‘Teaching in the Cracks’ - edited by Brian Schultz
How to Raise Grateful Children
from The Harvard EdCast
(23 minutes)
Andrea Hussong discusses the how and why of raising grateful children.
From Negativity to Empowerment: The Art of Positive Thinking with Michelle Gilean
from The One You Feed
(42 minutes)
Michelle Gilean is a highly respected figure in the field of positive psychology and mindset. With a background in national news broadcasting, she recognized the overwhelming prevalence of negative news and its impact on individuals’ well-being. Seeking to address this issue, Michelle studied under Dr. Martin Seligman, the renowned founder of positive psychology, and delved into the science behind a happiness mindset. Michelle’s book, “Broadcasting Happiness,” offers practical strategies for cultivating a positive mindset and creating positive change in both personal and professional settings. In this episode, you will be able to: Discover the impact of negative news on your mindset and learn how to protect your well-being Uncover the secret to focusing on solutions instead of dwelling on problems for a new perspective Harness the remarkable influence of positive thinking and unlock your full potential for success and happiness Tap into the power of optimism and cultivate a mindset that empowers you to overcome challenges and achieve your goals Learn how to choose progress over negativity and create a life filled with positivity, fulfillment, and growth To learn more, click here! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This is What Happens When Everyone Gets an "A" (with Monte Syrie)
from The Learner-Centered Collaborative Podcast
(49 minutes)
In this episode, high school English teacher Monte Syrie shares his experience and perspective on assessing student learning without traditional grading. Syrie discusses how he started "Project 180," where he gave every student an A at the beginning of the school year. He found that removing grades allowed him to focus on authentic learning and feedback. Students were motivated to learn for growth rather than a grade. Syrie also opens up about feeling disillusioned with the education system. He explains how he continues to iterate on his teaching practice to create meaningful learning experiences, even when it means going against the status quo. Syrie believes relationships, relevance, and growth matter most. He challenges traditional notions of assessment and compliance. Overall, Syrie provides an insightful look into his journey to "teach better" every day.
Is It Time to Rethink the Traditional Grading System?
from the EdSurge Podcast
(50 minutes)
More educators are wondering whether the grading system hinders many students rather than helps them learn. For this week’s podcast, we’re rebroadcasting an episode from this summer diving into alternative methods of marking papers in ways that encourage students to continually revise their work rather than quibble over which letter grade they deserve.
Sampling of Responses from Last Week’s ‘Question of the Week’: What are the ‘things’ that help make you feel connected and that you matter? What does that ‘look like’?
- The fact that everyone is related to each other by blood distantly.
- Belonging and compassion.
- Checking in with others/staff/students.... Asking them about their families helps me feel connected and in tune with the people around me and in turn it can also help weave the connection into our instruction as well using relevant examples into our lessons and making powerful/relevant connections.
- being like a being adoprable.
- Having friends.
- family and friends
- What makes me feel connected is the friends I have and that so many people care about me. I love to interact with people and that helps me get a connection with them.
- When I get chosen for leadership things I feel like a matter.
- The things that help me feel connected are a shared love of music. That looks like pieces of music in a lot of different styles.
- My family and friends
- Things that help me make me feel connected are doing things as a group.
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Take care.
Nat