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Blake Curriculum Update

10/30/2014

 
October 30, 2014

In our continued efforts to keep families informed and updated about the curriculum at Blake, each month we will be 'highlighting' updates from the different departments.  We hope this will help facilitate conversations at home and maintain a bridge between home and school.  Below please find the updates for the month of October.

Art
6th Grade: How can we use line to create the illusion of depth in a drawing? Students are creating architectural renderings of haunted houses. Using pen and ink, they are practicing mark-making techniques to create value and texture. They are using line quality and point of view to create a dramatic effect.

7th Grade:  Why do artists create self-portraits? How can I capture a likeness? Seventh grade students are exploring self-portraits. They are creating a series of self-portraits through observation with mirrors, working from photographs, and using a grid structure to measure accurate proportions. They are looking at and discussing different ways artists use the portrait for illustration and expression.

8th Grade: How do artists show movement in a work of art? Students are learning figure drawing. They are drawing from the skeleton to understand skeletal proportions and drawing from models to capture the figure in motion in gesture drawings.

English
Grade 6:  Students are in the final stages of instruction on Harris and Me, students’ first novel, where they learned about the elements of fiction including figurative language.  In addition to knowing more about key components of fiction, students recently completed instruction on pronouns, and they will integrate these skills into their writing as they begin crafting personal  narrative stories. Learning about the ET graphic organizer, students have also started recognizing  how this tool can help them create more developed open response paragraphs.

Grade 7:  Students in the seventh grade are wrapping up their fall short story unit focusing  on how an author develops believable characters. Students have also focused on identifying round and flat characters and determining how each type can affect a story. Upon the completion of this unit, students will prepare and write their first multi-paragraph essay of the year on an influential person.

Grade 8:  Students are finishing up their critical reading and class discussions on Arthur Miller's drama, The Crucible.  Using these class discussions of theme and their growing understanding of character development, students will begin working on their Geometric Symbol Project for the play.  For the project, students create a symbol for their character representing specific ways their character connects with other major characters in the drama.  After the project concludes, students will begin instruction on writing an analytical essay based on the play.

Library Media Center
The Blake LMC is almost finished emerging from its major overhaul.  All of our new, movable furniture is being regularly utilized by students and staff.  Tech Integration teacher Diane Horvath has also used our revamped room for two parent presentations.

Medfield schools are in the midst of implementing a K-12 instructional sequence focusing on digital citizenship. With the explosion in use of digital technology, both in and out of school, we want our students to be equipped for lifetime use of the internet in a safe, responsible, and productive way.  The project will launch next week, which has been dubbed Blake Digital Citizenry Week, with Advisory lessons on cyberbullying.  From that point on, digital citizenship lessons will be incorporated into regular classroom instruction. The Library Media department’s grade 6 and 7 related rotation periods will also contribute by teaching website evaluation, improved search techniques, proper citation, digital footprint, safe ergonomics, and how to avoid multitasking. Please contact Jon Haycock with questions (jhaycock@email.medfield.net).

Not too late for magazine orders – our annual magazine drive fundraiser has been extended through this Friday, October 31.  Please get your orders in to help raise money for Blake - not to mention your sons and daughters earning awesome prizes.  And don’t forget, if just half of an Advisory sells at least one order, they earn a mechanical pig to enter in the Thanksgiving Assembly’s culminating Pig Race – an unsurpassed Blake tradition for the past 16 years!  Thanks for your support.  

Mathematics
The 6th grade math students at Blake are settling into their MARS classes nicely. Last week, students experienced the math popcorn with extra butter while they practiced their skills in a statistics unit.  Students are busy learning when to look to measures of center and when to look to measures of spread when analyzing data.  Be careful asking your child the question, “What do you mean?”  You may end up with a quick lesson on calculating the average!

A full study of integers and other real numbers is underway in 7th grade math at Blake.  Our teachers are relying on your children’s artistic skills to help cement this knowledge.  Around our school, students were seen creating beautiful works of art to express what an integer is.  So if you would like to know, sharpen your colored pencils, graph a sketchbook and hand them to your 7th graders.  The answer will impress you!

A foundational skill is being taught in 8th grade math classes.  All students are working to solve linear equations.  This skills is the single most important skill in algebra and students will work with these equations all year long.  Often students are solving for x, but the variable may change depending upon the application.  Want to solve for time? You will see t.  Interested in calculating profit? P will appear.  Curious about the height of an object?  Use h.   This list goes on and on.  Blake students will apply their algebraic skills to these problems and more!

Science
The 6th grade Science Team continues to collaborate closely with our new content partner Kristin Buley.  She has brought a creative approach to learning in the science classroom.  6th grade students are currently diving into the Scientific Method.  Students worked with their peers to design their own experiment and shared their work by creating an Explain Everything project.  Students are now beginning to learn about controlled experiments and soon they will also begin brainstorming ideas about an independent investigation they would like to conduct.

The 7th grade is exploring the world of cells!  After finishing our recent unit on microscopes, students are in prime shape to use those new skills to closely observe animal and plant cells.  We will be looking at onion, aloe, frog blood, and students’ cheek cells over the next few weeks.  Students will also investigate the functions of an assortment of animal and plant cell parts.  They will use what they have learned by incorporating these functions into a form of integrative technology.  Students will use text, images, and videos to help explain how all of the parts of the animal and plant cells function and how those parts depend on each other for the whole cell to function correctly.  It will be a great few weeks!

With the canoe trips and both the Scientific Method and Metrics unit under their belts, the eighth grade science classes have moved on to learning about Mass and Volume. Students have been enhancing their precise measuring skills using multiple tools in the lab, including triple beam balances and graduated cylinders.

With October coming to a close, students will be learning how to calculate the volume of air in a sample of sand. They will also be discovering how to use water displacement to calculate the volume or mass by floating and submerging different objects. This will give them the proper foundation to begin learning about Density in our next unit of study.

Social Studies
6th graders are working towards memory mapping the Western Hemisphere and starting to learn about the landscape of the earth starting with mountains.  In a couple of weeks thy will be making paper mâché mountains as part of the mountain research project.

Students in 7th grade have begun an in-depth unit on ancient Egypt.  This unit will continue through Thanksgiving and will include a number of different types of assessments from a small map quiz to  a large test as well as a mini research project and an introspective piece of writing. The unit is usually one of the favorites for the students as they will be incorporating technology regularly through pyramid building software, Google Earth visits to different locations in Egypt,  and mummification discussions from world renowned experts.  A highlight of the unit will happen in mid November when an Egyptologist visits Blake to discuss her experiences in Egypt and share her numerous artifacts with the students.

World History I students are currently wrapping up the study of the Byzantine and Russian Empires and beginning a unit on the development of Islamic Empires. Students recently utilized their iPads to create a product which allowed them to summarize and reflect on their experience during the Russian Icon Museum field trip. The Islamic Empires unit will focus on the rise of Islam, its expansion around the globe and the causes and effects of that expansion from both a contemporary and a historical perspective.  

Wellness
Health Education: In grade 6, we are finishing up a unit on Self Esteem and the students are working on a Personal Coat of Arms project where they will present their individuals talents and strengths. In the 7th grade we are talking about Independence and Expectations, and will soon begin lessons centered around Family Communication. In 8th Grade, we are wrapping up a unit on the Psychology of Learning. Students have had an opportunity to find out what type of learner they are and were provided with study tips specifically designed to help them in their academic classes.

Physical Education: 6th and 7th grade students have finished the cluster vs cluster track meet and have moved on to our next units.  For the 6th grade, we are starting yoga and team handball.  In 7th grade, we are starting lacrosse and yoga.  We may continue to go outside for classes, so students should be prepared with sweatshirts and sweatpants!  In 8th grade, we are starting to prepare our students for the upcoming Turkey Bowl.  The Turkey Bowl is an annual touch football event for students with the multiple goals of raising food for the Medfield Food Cupboard, practicing collaboration skills, and experiencing enjoyment in a moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.  Students will play in teams of four players and will be asked to bring in one non-perishable food item per player.  The Turkey Bowl will take place on Tuesday, November 25th.  For more information, please visit us at http://blakemspe.weebly.com/.

Consumer Science:  The first rotation of classes is ending on Tuesday, November 4th. It has been a great privilege to work with your children, teaching them how to follow recipes, and to safely use kitchen tools and appliances to prepare nutritious, delicious foods! I hope that you encourage your children to prepare the recipes they have learned in class for your family at home, and to assist you regularly in the planning, preparation and cleanup of meals. For more information about the consumer science program, please visit http://blakeconsumerscience.weebly.com/. I am looking forward to starting with a new group of consumer science students next week!

From our families to yours, we wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

World Language
At the beginning of the month the World Language department met to discuss our student centered goals for the year. We have identified several tasks that we would like our students to be able to accomplish during their time in our courses. While we teach four different skills in out subject: speaking, reading, writing, listening, and writing, we all agree that many of our students will, someday, be in a situation where they will want to converse with someone who speaks a language other than English. With this in mind, our students have been working on many proficiency –based tasks.

6th grade:  In Mandarin class, students are learning how to identify a few school items and describe them with color words.
In French, students recently learned how to meet and greet each other with a basic conversation, including asking names, how they are feeling, and saying goodbye.  They enjoyed practicing with each other and recording their conversations in the language lab.  We are currently learning to recognize and say the numbers 1-20 using songs and various games.  In the sixth grade Spanish classes, students are actively engaged in learning about the countries and capitals of Spanish-speaking world. They are currently creating Explain Everything videos using vocabulary to get to know a "friend" from another part of the world.

7th grade:  In Mandarin, students are working on provide more information about yourself include  name, age, likes, dislikes, and be able to find this information from others. They also started working on recognizing characters.  In French class, seventh grade students have just performed a greetings skit. They projected lockers and classrooms on the whiteboards using the Apple TV, and then in front of this backdrop they introduced themselves and discussed their likes and dislikes.   In seventh grade Spanish, students are finishing up our unit talking about nationalities. They've created their own profile on an Explain Everything, recorded their voices, and listened and to one another's work, while making suggestions to improve pronunciation. This week, students are preparing for their first speaking quiz in the newly updated language lab.

8th grade:  In eighth grade mandarin class, students are working on more greetings, likes, dislikes, and recognizing characters.  Eighth grade French students just finished creating children's Halloween booklets. They told a story imagining what each person in their family would be for Halloween. After completion, they shared their projects with each other. Eighth grade Spanish students are continuing to build their knowledge and vocabulary around the theme of "making plans". They are learning to initiate conversations via phone calls and texts, invite their friends out, and either enthusiastically accept an invitation or politely decline the invitation as well.

Week of 10/28/14-11/3/14

10/27/2014

 
October 28, 2014

Dear Blake Community, 

With the end of October here and November on our doorstep, I hope that everyone enjoyed a restful couple of days over the weekend.  After a very full couple of days (Friday night dance at Blake, Holliston's youth soccer 'Spookerfest' - an annual event!, and Maggie's performance in Peter Pan on Saturday evening), we did our best on Sunday to take it easy, watching the Patriots, going to Owen's basketball game and having family dinner before our week began.  Our first 7th/8th grade dance this past Friday was a great success and I would like to thank all of the staff who chaperoned the event to help provide a safe and positive experience for the students:  Eileen Hurley, Kelly Ruminski, Deb Manning, Elise Malone, Erin Winter, Kristin Buley, Matt Marenghi, Patty Graham, Tracy Allen, Cynthia McClelland, Gabby Harvey, Jess Waite, Erin Kearney, and Kelly Campbell.  It is great to have a nice cross-section of staff for our students.

As you know an ongoing area of growth for me is establishing a healthy work/home balance.  I know how fortunate I am to have a job that I love and a vocation that reflects my values and beliefs.  I have shared many times that the lessons I have learned as an educator have helped me as a father, husband, and friend, and I know that the converse is true as well.  The growth and endeavors that we are embarking on feed both my professional and personal lives, so it is sometimes hard to tease out the separation.  If I'm being honest with myself, though, I know I have used that as my rationalization to dive more deeply into my work.  A year ago I attended Robert Kegan's workshop on the 'change process' and I certainly still have room to grow in regards to my goal of 'balance'.  With this in mind, I am sharing three posts that I hope you find of interest - they all related (some more directly than others) to the ideas of work/home balance as educators...

The Secret Lives of Teachers
by Steve Drummond in NPREd
I appreciated Drummond's post, from both the lens of a student and a teacher.  I still remember as a kid seeing one of my teachers 'out in public' and not having any clue how to interact with her.  It is important that we not only acknowledge our lives outside of school, but to make sure that we give time to our outside lives as well.  I also believe it is important as educators to bring aspects of ourselves into school - to help highlight and show students that we are not 'just teachers' - that the word teacher encompasses much more than that and who we are as individuals help to shape our teaching.  It also served as a great reminder of the importance of fostering the 'outside lives' for all of us.
"Many people remember it vividly: the disorienting feeling of encountering your teacher in the grocery store, or in the line at McDonald's, talking and acting just like other grownups. A jarring reminder that they have lives outside the classroom.But of course teachers go off and do all sorts of things: They write books and play music and run for office and start businesses. For some, a life outside the classroom is an economic necessity. In many states, more than 1 in 5 teachers has a second job...And still others have some private passion that has nothing to do with teaching or school — it may be the thing that keeps them fresh and fired up when they are in the classroom.For others, it's a natural outgrowth of their lives as educators: the drama teacher performing in community theater, the history teacher/Civil War re-enactor, the music teacher onstage at open-mic night."


Sweet Ideas for Halloween-Inspired Learning
by Gretchen Vierstra in The Teaching Channel
With Halloween this Friday I thought that everyone might enjoy reading some different ideas that could be potentially brought into the classroom.  It also reminded me of some nice ways to bring our own aspects of ourself into school in a creative manner.

Helping Kids Take Criticism Constructively (Even When It Isn’t Constructive)
by Jessica Lahey (@jesslahey) in The New York Times
With Term 1 interim reports sent home on Friday, I found Lahey's post and ideas of a 'growth mindset' to be timely and relevant.  A 'growth mindset' in regards to 'criticism' is important for students and adults alike and is certainly an area I know that I can still find improvement.  She highlights six reminders that I believe will help us to keep in mind as we work towards enhancing and improving our methods of feedback.
"We all face criticism, both constructive and destructive, but how we deal with that criticism determines whether we persevere and learn from experience or crumple under the weight of our own self-loathing and despair. Receiving feedback is a skill, and like most skills, it requires practice, and a willingness to change and improve. Most children get plenty of practice. Ironically, adults need to help them make that practice count — by giving them feedback on how they handle criticism."

"A growth mindset is the best gift we can give our children. Thus armed, they can be brave in the face of constructive criticism, believing it can make them better, stronger and smarter. They won’t need us to dress it up or sand it down because, given a growth mindset, kids can handle the truth. When the worst happens, and malicious criticism comes their way, kids with a growth mindset will able to focus on their own effort and progress rather than the expectations and limitations other people place on them."

"Criticism comes to everyone, eventually. It’s inescapable, and more relevantly, it’s a necessary part of growing up. As we can’t protect children from it, the best we can do is ensure that they are equipped with the emotional fortitude and strength of character they will need to forge ahead, stronger, smarter and braver for the experience."

I certainly do not have the answers as to how to attain the 'ideal' balance for work and home.  I do know, though, it is a worthy goal and is one that we want for our students, for now and for their futures.  If we can continue to acknowledge our own areas of growth (fostering a 'growth mindset') while feeding our lives outside of school, I think we are moving in the right direction.  This is an uphill challenge for me, but it is one that is worthy of the proverbial climb.  Please continue to push me and hold me accountable - I appreciate it.

Please click here for Blake Updates.
Please click here for Thursday Packet Information.
Take care.

Nat Vaughn

Week of 10/21/14-10/27/14

10/20/2014

 
October 21, 2014

Dear Blake Community, 

After a busy week (hard to believe it was only a four day week), I hope that everyone was able to enjoy the beautiful autumnal weather this weekend.  We enjoyed a pretty relaxed weekend, attending the Medfield-Holliston football game Friday evening, doing leaf pickup, and some simple down time with the kids.  

This past week I was fortunate to find time to have a couple 'check-in' meetings with staff, colleagues, and parents.  A few were scheduled, but others were impromptu conversations that afforded me an opportunity to listen and talk through some ideas, questions, and concerns.  I so enjoy these conversations and they were a great reminder for me as to how important the day-to-day dialogue is for us.  The nature and topics of these discussions varied, but a common sentiment certainly was shared regarding the 'expansion' that has taken place over the last 5-10 years in the role of an educator.  Our jobs have grown and the pace has certainly increased, and at times this can lead to exhaustion and frustration.  I would be lying if I did not admit to sharing these feelings from time to time.  And, if I am being honest with myself and others, I also recognize that I can (and do) contribute to the rapidity and pace at Blake.  I do have high expectations for all and these conversations help me to hear the different perspectives and are important to keep me 'in check'.  

In taking some time to reflect upon the feelings of being overwhelmed and/or frustrated, when I'm in a good place I work to identify what keeps me going and encouraged in our work.  For me a constant and necessary aspect has been the conversations and relationships with both students and invested adults, be they parents, teachers, administrators, or community members.  It probably comes as no surprise how much I value reflection as a core part of our culture at Blake, for students and adults, and the learning and growth that has taken place for me has come from the connections I have made with others.  With this in mind and as part of 'Connected Educator' month, I am sharing a few posts that relate to the role that connections play for educators...

The Top 4 Excuses for Not Being a Connected Educator
by Angela Watson (@Angela_Watson)
Watson's post highlights four common 'excuses' that she has heard (or maybe even felt) and some counterpoints for connections.  This by no means implies that these are sentiments I have heard from our staff here at Blake, but I did find her approach to connections to be interesting and worthy of reading.
"Being a connected educator has transformed my teaching and added so much joy to my life that I want every discouraged and overwhelmed teacher to know: You can become energized once again. You can love your job!"

The Downside to Being a Connected Educator
by Pernille Ripp (@PernilleRipp)
Ripp's honest perspective and recognition of her own feelings are refreshing and important to hear.  As noted above, I can certainly identify and affirm that each of her 'bullet points' have been thoughts I have experienced.  That said her ending words ring true for me regarding the overwhelming benefits I have found through the connections I have made.
"Don’t take this post the wrong way, I love being a connected educator, but I am not a fool when it comes to the downfall of it all.  I struggle with many of these things regularly and yet every time I run into something negative, I consciously reaffirm my decision to be connected.  The positive outcomes will always outweigh the negative, but let’s not fool ourselves that being connected is always a magical thing.  It can be, but it can also be hurtful, brutal, and time consuming.  And yet, I wouldn’t go back to how I used to be; the benefits have simply been too great."

A reflective, collaborative mindset for Connected Educators
by Tom Whitby (@tomwhitby)
I have referenced Tom Whitby in the past and am sure I will in the future.  He is certainly a big proponent for connections and the integration of technology.  He has inspired me in his openness for 'push-back' and opposing thoughts - always looking to hear 'the other side', an admirable trait and one that is worthy of aspiration, both personally and professionally.
"I see connectedness for educators as an accelerant for reflection. It promotes self-reflection, as well as reflection on education as a system for learning. It also stimulates reflection on the pedagogy and methodology within that education system. The whole idea of connectedness relies on the hope that educators are reflective. If they are not reflective, or lack the vision of the big picture of being connected, then we could have Connected Educator Month, every month for the next twenty years and never affect any change in the system."

"The more we collaborate, the more we reflect. The more we reflect, the more we need to collaborate. Being connected, for me, has expanded both my collaboration and my reflection. My goal is to get others to do that as well. Using technology to connect more educators with a reflective and collaborative mindset is the best hope for an education system in need of change."
As a big proponent of reflection, I enjoyed reading Whitby's perspective as to how he views reflection, collaboration, and connectedness as distinct, yet intertwined.  For me the importance of connectedness and impact it has had and continues to have for me has been simple - providing an avenue for growth, reflection, and continued learning.  At the proverbial 'end of the day', this is what we want for our students and community, as reflected in our mission statement:  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.  I look forward to continuing to foster the connections, both with those at Blake and those outside of Blake, as the days continue in our work together.  Please know I welcome the conversations, ideas, and divergent thinking that can come out of the connections we have made.  They do take time and can interrupt our work, but at times I think that is just what we need.

Please click here for Blake Updates.
Please click here for Thursday Packet Information.
Take care.

Nat Vaughn

Week of 10/14/14-10/20/14

10/13/2014

 
October 14, 2014

Dear Blake Community,

I hope this weekend provided an opportunity for everyone to breathe, relax, and get a well-deserved break.  We have enjoyed a nice few days together as a family - unplugging, dinner out as a family, sports games for the kids, and a visit with relatives who are east for a couple of weeks from California.  Monday was a nice 'catch up day' - yard work and a neighborhood dinner before the four day week!

I would like to once again thank and recognize the Blake staff for their commitment to our students.  The work we are doing and endeavors that we are embarking on are worthy of the time, care, and thoughtfulness that was in place.  Our initiatives are coming together and continue to expand and I am excited about the prospects for our students and our professional growth as educators.  I have received a number of notes and e-mails sharing the excitement about this work and I continue to be impressed, encouraged, inspired, and pushed by the true presence and professionalism that is in place.  

With these thoughts in mind I am sharing posts this week that I found particularly timely in relation to the work we have done as a staff over the past few days.  As I have said many times, an openness to change and feedback is a critical component of growth for students, staff, and the greater community.  

No Changes for Me, Please
by Amanda Dykes (@amandacdykes)
I came across this post via Twitter from Patrick Larkin (@patrickmlarkin) and it struck a chord.  I often hear from colleagues about the resistance they encounter with their staff and parents when it comes to professional development or simply the idea of 'change'.  As we work towards the realization of our mission, it is important that we push one another to resist natural feelings of resistance and to continue being open to ideas.
"I hear often that there is no need to change because it works, kids make good grades, they learn to read, and pass standardized tests. If that is the ultimate goal of education then they are correct. If that is the goal of the school, then they are the best of the best. But is that what school is ultimately for? Or is school to give students skills they need for today and for the rest of their lives? Maybe this is the beginning of the problem. We don’t all have common goals or we have short term goals that focus on now."

Why Twitter? Why Not?
post by Cynthia Stogdill (@CynthiaStogdill)
With October as Connected Educator Month, I found Cynthia Stogdill's brief post as a nice articulation of the type of growth we get when we collaborate with other educators.  I am certainly not endorsing the '3 a.m. work ethic' (unless that is your personal preference!), but one thing I have found from Twitter and other methods of collaboration is that great ideas arise when I least expect them.
"We cheer each other on when things go well, and offer our support when things get really, really dark. I am a better person and educator because my view is wider and larger than my building, my district, and my profession. And for the record, most of my really good ideas come from Twitter at 3 a.m."

Beyond Twitter and Google +: Staying Focused on Real Connection
by Andrew Marcinek (@andycinek) in Edutopia
As a big proponent of using technology for collaboration, I appreciated Marcinek's 'push back' that he offers - recognizing what is critical at the heart of being a 'connected educator', namely 'student learning and growth'.  
"Allow yourself a healthy balance of screen time with analog time. Put the devices down and not only do yourself a favor, but also model a good example for our students. Don't feel the need to sign up for every new app or service, but instead find a few that work for you, and use them effectively in order to make your connected educational life more efficient and resourceful. Sometimes the best connected educators are the ones who can disconnect frequently."

"A connected educator is so much more than social media. A connected educator is invested and focused on his or her students. These educators find time to share digitally and converse in face-to-face forums. I imagine that Twitter will live on and that educators will continue to flock toward it. But remember to keep focused on student learning and growth. And despite all the Twitter followers in the world, making a connection with one student is better than any award out there."

Adolescence Should be Celebrated, Not Endured
by Karen Weintraub in The Boston Globe
My mother shared this article with my siblings and me this week - an interview with psychology professor and author Laurence Steinberg (Age of Opportunity:  Lessons From the New Science of Adolescence).  This is a quick read offering nice insight and perspective about adolescence and the importance of teaching self-regulation.  I particularly appreciated his advice at the end for all of us...
"That people approach adolescence with more optimism and less trepidation. I think that if you approach something — anything in life — and you feel like, all “I really want to do is get through this,” that’s going to determine how you act. You’re going to not make any effort other than protect yourself. I don’t want parents to be approaching adolescence that way, and I don’t want kids to be approaching adolescence that way."

I hope we can all continue to enjoy and embrace this age - it's critical.  As we continue our day-to day work with students under the umbrella of study skills, homework discussions, progress reporting, mobile learning, and standards based assessment with an eye towards a 'portfolio approach' to assessing progress, I hope we can keep our fondness and appreciation for adolescence at the heart of our work.  Thank you for joining me on this journey - and, as always, I welcome the dialogue and conversations.

Please click here for Blake Updates.
Please click here for Thursday Packet Information.
Take care.

Nat Vaughn

Week of 10/7/14-10/13/14

10/6/2014

 
October 7, 2014

With the fall weather now upon us, I hope everyone enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend.  After a late night Friday evening (greeting our guests from Bengbu at midnight Friday evening - way past my 9 p.m. bedtime!), we celebrated my mother's birthday Saturday evening.  Sunday's crisp weather included a family bike ride in the afternoon before gearing up for the week.

It was great to see the 7th grade students and Blake staff arrive safely Thursday afternoon from their trip to Nature's Classroom.  I would like to thank all of the chaperones for volunteering their days and nights to provide a wonderful experience for our students:  Maura Batts, Susie Boulos, Kelly Campbell, Shawn Carrigan, Sara Donovan, Mike Gibbs, Mike Gow, Gabby Harvey, Jon Haycock, Eileen Hurley, Cori Jacomme, Greg Keohan, Kerrie Krah, Deb Manning, Matt Marenghi, Matt Millard, Kristen Musto, Judy Silva, and Sandy Spierdowis.  I want to extend an extra thank you to Judy, Kelly C., Matt Marenghi, and Tricia for their tireless hours preparing for a safe, productive, and smooth week.  A thank you as well to the 7th grade teachers and other teachers back at Blake this week who helped provide a rich experience for students staying behind and also assisted with the necessary coverage throughout the week.

This week we crossed our 'one month in' mark on the calendar, and in my preparation for our faculty meeting and professional day this week I took some time to reflect upon the initiatives we are working on and goals for the Blake community.  One fear I have, if I'm being honest, as educators is that we may 'lose sight of the forest for the trees'.  Our day-to-day (and in reality sometimes minute-to-minute work) is so important and the details are critical for preparing lessons, and as a result we do not always have time to take steps back to observe and recognize the connections and themes that produce opportunities for learning.  This week I am sharing a few articles that I found centering as they highlight key factors that foster motivation and 'drive learning'...

Liking Work Really Matters
by Paul A. O'Keefe in The New York Times
O'Keefe has worked with colleagues researching task completion and the impact that 'interest and relevancy' play in regards to one's work.  
"...researchers found that, compared with those who simply summarized the material, the ones who reflected on its personal relevance reported more interest in science — as well as significantly higher grades, on average by almost a full grade point. This was particularly true for those with the lowest expectations for performing well in their class.  Research also shows that social engagement in activities can foster interest."

"Taken together, interest matters more than we ever knew. It is crucial to keeping us motivated and effective without emptying our mental gas tank, and it can turn the mundane into something exciting. Teachers, managers and parents must play an instrumental role in fostering interest in their students, employees and children — interest that will help them achieve their most important goals."

Voice and Choice in the Classroom
by Anthony Conwright in Education Week
In this post Conwright shares the adjustments he has made in his teaching to incorporate student voice and choice into his lessons.
"As a teacher, I have been plagued with the anxiety of wondering if students are engaged and if they find my class interesting. One way I alleviate this fear is to ask students what questions they are interested in, which takes pressure from my shoulders because the students provide a blueprint for me to follow to capture their interest."

"I have learned that my role as a teacher is not to simply give information but to facilitate discovery, which sometimes means I have to give up some of my control and hand it over to my sixth-graders. If we are preparing students for the real world, we must prepare them to be citizens in a democratic society, which starts in the classroom."

Why You Lead Determines How Well You Lead
by Tom Golditz in The Harvard Business Review
We are always looking for the right ingredients to inspire our students and spark an interest, and we often talk about the 'push-pull' between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.  Golditz writes about a study of Army leaders, following the path of West Point students from matriculation to the actualization of their careers and the factors that had the most significant impact on their growth and development.
"As one might predict, we found that those with internal, intrinsic motives performed better than those with external, instrumental rationales for their service — a common finding in studies of motivation. We were surprised to find, however, that those with both internal and external rationales proved to be worse investments as leaders than those with fewer, but predominantly internal, motivations. Adding external motives didn’t make leaders perform better — additional motivations reduced the selection to top leadership by more than 20%.  Thus, external motivations, even atop strong internal motivations, were leadership poison."

"One of the longstanding dichotomies in the field of leader development is whether to teach leadership as skills that lead to higher performance (a competency-based model that is relatively easy to metric), or to teach leadership as a complex moral relationship between the leader and the led (a values-based model that is challenging to metric).  Our study demonstrates that those who lead primarily from values-based motivations, which are inherently internal, outperform those who lead with additional instrumental outcomes and rewards."


The Connected Educator: It Begins With Collaboration
by Tom Whitby (@tomwhitby) in Edutopia
As October is Connected Educator Month, I found this post by educator and avid blogger Tom Whitby to be particularly relevant.  Collaboration is at the heart of true learning and growth, for students and staff alike, and I hope we can find more ways to learn from others while sharing the good work we have in place here at Blake.
"The idea of collaboration requires a mindset of believing there is room to learn and grow. It is also a belief that we are smarter collectively than individually.  The term connectedness applies to those using technology first to connect with others for collaboration, and then to use that collaboration to direct their own learning. While it's true that we don't know what it is we don't know, if we're ever to discover that unknown, we need to connect with those who do know it. This is the benefit of dealing with many other educators. There is always a more knowledgeable educator who can teach other educators what they need to know."

"In a society where digital has replaced analog and the country's infrastructure is being retooled to accommodate information technology, we are preparing citizens for a world of continuous technological evolution. We, as educators, need to understand that dynamic and evolve at a pace that keeps us from falling behind. The tools of communication, collaboration, and creation have radically changed and will continue to transform.  The connected educator is a model for all educators as we move forward. A connected educator is as much a learner as a teacher. A connected educator is digitally literate, adapting as needed to inevitable changes. A connected educator is relevant in a world where rapid change is already a constant for our students."

Focusing on interest and relevancy will help our students to find their passions, persevere, and develop a sense of internal motivation to learn and grow.  For us to do this as educators and invested adults, we must continue to have conversations - not just the easy ones, but difficult and uncomfortable ones as well - with one another in a true spirit of connection and collaboration.  I look forward to our connections this week and in the weeks ahead.

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Nat Vaughn
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