Adventures in Math at Lake: Learning Together

Part of the journey for me this year was to learn along with the teachers to use an assessment tool called PRIME. The Prime Diagnostic tool identifies five phases of development that students travel through in five areas of Mathematics. These areas are Number and Operations; Patterning and Algebra; Data Management and Probability, Geometry and Measurement. The prime looks at both conceptual understanding as well as procedural knowledge when assessing the student. The booklet helps the teacher identify which level to begin with the students. Once the level has been accurately assessed, the guide provides strategies to move the student to the next phase of their learning path. Typical phases for each grade are as follows: Grades k=1 Phase 1; Grades 1-3 Phase 2; Grades 3-5 Phase 3; Grade 6- Phase 4. The data obtained from the implementation of the PRIME assessment tool is to be used to facilitate school-based discussions around best practices in Mathematics instruction and ultimately to lead to improved student learning. I was lucky enough to participate in the process at various points in 5 classes this year. I was involved in the marking process as well as charting the results to ascertain our next steps. In one of the junior classes we looked carefully at the growth from October to April. In the overall scores over half the students moved into the next phase on the Operations Tool. Out of the remaining 9 students, 4 of them scored higher than their previous score, although it did not move them to the next phase. The phases for the Operations Diagnostic Tool D are divided as follows: Phase 1 less than 7; Phase 2 7=16; Phase 3 17=25 and Phase 4 26-28. The information is charted to give a visual representation of the results and to make it quite easy to see areas for growth. In this particular class relationships, subtracting decimals and mental math represented areas in need of attention and this guided the teachers program to fill in these gaps. The tool may take some time to administer, but in the end it is useful because it identifies clearly where the students are, drives the instruction to addressed the student needs; and provides positive reinforcement as the progress is evident. Exploring this assessment tool was a valuable experience in developing my instructional leadership. Working with teachers, learning along with them’ and sharing the experiences was invaluable. When the need involving mental math was identified the idea of using ‘Number Talks’ by Sherry Parrish was brought forth to help the student develop efficient, flexible and accurate computation strategies for addition, subtraction. Basically the ‘Number Talks’ strategy involves a daily 5 to 15 minute conversation daily around purposefully crafted problems. The talk is critical because it allows students to verbalize their strategies, justify their ideas and ask for justification if needed. As my next steps it is important to continue this collaborative process encouraging other teams to work together to promote professional dialogue and to increase everyone’s comfort in teaching Mathematics. A report from the Ontario Ministry of Education entitled A Forum for Action: Effective Practices in Mathematics Education discusses 10 conditions for success and provides a model for me to work towards as well as reiterates and validates the importance of the team approach. The following represents the 10 conditions: 1. Belief in the ability of students and staff 2. Student voice and attitude underlie improvement efforts 3. Team approach is needed 4. School and system leaders play key role in building capacity 5. Identifying learning gaps clearly is basis for improved instruction 6. Effective instruction builds on prior knowledge and understanding 7. Greater alignment is needed between elementary and secondary 8. There is no single strategy to improve mathematics teaching and learning 9. Direct instruction and practice have a place 10. Visual and tactile representation is useful to promote deeper learning Special thanks to Ms Marquardt, Mrs Slepica Stewart, Mme MacPhee, Mme Malette, and Mrs Langille for their time and support in exploring this tool together.

Appreciative Inquiry

Appreciative Inquiry: No problems just puzzles

On July 4, 2014 I was fortunate to take part in an introductory session delivered by Tim Fleming from Innovative Works on Appreciative Inquiry sponsored by the Renfrew Country District School Board and the Ontario Principal’s Council. Appreciative Inquiry is an inclusive design that fosters creativity through the art of positive inquiry. AI’s process is developed through conversation, shared values, and collective visioning and provides an excellent tool for achieving student success. Appreciative Inquiry was developed by David Cooperrider and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University and The Taos Institute. It is an organizational transformation tool that focuses on learning from success. Instead of focusing on deficits and problems, the Appreciative Inquiry focuses on discovering what works well, why it works well, and how success can be extended throughout the organization. One of the most poignant quotes of the day for me was “we have no problems..we have puzzles”. It is this positive way of looking at our work and co-developing vision and actions that is at the centre of AI. Using an Appreciative Inquiry approach as a system or as a school wide process helps answer the question of “what are we being called to do?” It also acknowledges that the questions asked determine the data found and the results discovered, so it intentionally focuses on discovering strengths, opportunities, and potential. Through the process we can ensure students are at the centre; it enables a growth mindset; and creates conditions for staff and students to feel safe and valued. Appreciative inquiry provides clarity, strengthens relationships, builds new skills, promotes leadership, and nurtures a culture of continuous inquiry and learning: During the day long session we were introduced to the three elements that bring us from “being” to “doing”. It begins with 5 principles: Words create worlds; Inquiry Change; Image inspires actions; We can choose what we study and positive accelerates change. At the beginning of our day our facilitator helped us through the process beginning with the theme of ‘creating infectious momentum toward student success throughout our schools’. We were involved in a variety of tasks designed for us to identify successes; reflect on Core values; and imagine the future with a renewed sense of momentum. We were introduced to a tool to use for personal reflection, interviews or group guided discussion called the ‘Opportunity Tree’. Using this tool the group is asked to work through a three step process: Step 1 Write the possibilities or opportunity in the trunk: For instance What would you have if your problem went away? What would you like to see increased?; Step 2 In the branches identify the consequences/results of success. What would be the results if the statement in the truck were realized; Step 3 In the roots, identify root causes of success. To achieve the statement on the trunk, what needs to take place? What things need to change or be done to create success. The process itself involves the group working through the 5 D’s: Definition, Discovery, Dream, Design, and Delivery. In the definition stage the group must decide on what to learn about or what you want more of an affirmative topic. Discovery involves appreciating the best of what is and illuminating the positive core. The Dream phase makes the group envision images for a preferred future. In the design phase the group finds innovative ways to create that future and finally in the delivery phase the plan is implemented and reviewed to ensure sustainability. Getting the right topic and using the positive approach to reframing the words was a critical aspect to AI. According to the process our questions are ‘fateful’. What we ask determines what we will find; What we find determines how we talk; How we talk determines what we imagine together; and What we imagine determines what we achieve together. Some examples of affirmative topics included: Anti bullying reframed to Creating safe and inclusive schools; Staff attrition to Magnetic work environment; Poor communication to Open and transparent communication; Preventing high risk students from falling through the cracks to building an inclusive educational experience that meets the needs of every student. As a final activity in the session we were asked to come up with our question related to the work we have been doing in our schools. I worked with a group on creating a plan to use mindfulness to assist with self regulation. We worked through the AI process design an innovative plan to address this “puzzle” through the use of mindfulness practices. It resonated strongly with me as it harkened back to my days in the inner city classroom when I used mindfulness practices of ‘Silent Sitting’ and ‘Brain gym’ to centre my students and prepare them mentally for the work we were to do. My plan involves focusing my effort with the kindergarten students in the Fall. It will give me an opportunity to get to know all the new students in the building, model the mindfulness activity with the staff, and determine if this practice will have an effect on self regulation. By taking the lead on this process, monitoring the progress and reflecting on the learning I can build buy in for the practice and hopefully inspire others to use this technique in their classes. Through the introduction of this exciting philosophy of change I began to build ideas and plans for the 2014-15 school year. The day provided a thought provoking and engaging opportunity to refocus, regroup and build a renewed sense of the excitement for the ongoing year. This session also presented an excellent opportunity to network with my colleagues, and to discuss our puzzles together and look at a positive way to approach change. I look forward to applying my new knowledge and building a shared vision with the staff using the AI thought process.

Leadercast 2014

On Friday May 9 a group of my colleagues from the Renfrew County District School Board and myself had the opportunity to attend the Ottawa simulcast of the Leadercast. Approximately five thousand people attended the live event in Atlanta, Georgia and another 115,000 people watched via satellite in 750 locations around the world. In Ottawa there was about 200 people participating in the one day conference focused on excellence in leadership. Listening to the insightful and inspirational speeches was reminiscent to the ‘WE day’ experience I was fortunate to participate in with our intermediate students about a month before. The theme of the event was “Beyond You Leadership” and it challenged leaders to turn their focus outward. Among the televised guest speakers were Randall Wallance, Laura Schroff, Desmond Tutu, Dr. Henry Cloud, Laura Bush, Malcolm Gladwell, Andy Stanley, and Bill McDermott. The local Keynote Speaker was Harley Finkelstein, Some key takeaways from the speakers include the following: Harley Finkelstein – local Ottawa keynote speaker CPO of Shopify. -started his first company at age 17 while a student at McGill. Is work a craft or is work a job? Job should be a part of your life not a means to an end. What do they look for in their employees? Resourcefulness “Draw an owl commercial” - Fail gracefully: learn from failures. Compensation is more than money. Perk: Hack days: what can you accomplish in 2 days? Share at the end of the time. Shopify regularly holds town hall meetings so his team always has a forum for compliments and complaints -Work life blending Andy Stanley, Leadership Communicator and Best-Selling Author Andy Stanley – To become a “Beyond You” leader you must fearlessly and selflessly empower leaders around you as well as those coming behind you. If your leadership is not all about you it will live beyond you. What is empowerment? How can I leverage my power for the sake of the other people? The value of a life is always measured by how much of it was given away The value of your leadership will ultimately measured in terms of how much of it was given! We celebrate generosity and selflessness. Get in the habit of making as few decisions as possible “You Decide.” Work for your team…as a team What can I do to help? Empty Your Cup If your leadership isn’t all about you, it will live beyond you. Dr. Henry Cloud, Clinical Psychologist & Leadership Expert What drives and sustains our influence? A boat has a wake on two sides: Relationships and results are two key factors of leadership. All influence is driven by trust. You will develop trust to the degree that people feel connected to them. It’s the connection that builds trust that comes basically from the human heart that wants to be known and understand. Leaders who go past themselves are leaders who give up the hardest thing – “control” Archbishop Desmond Tutu – Nobel Laureate & Human Rights Activist 1984 – Won the Nobel Peace Prize How you treat others is a measure of you as a human being. We must always be respectful & grateful for others. Respect, gratitude, believing in others & recognizing other's gifts. Nelson Mandela’s number one characteristic: magnanimity. Imagine a world in which human interests outweighed national interests. A person is a person through other persons – you are you because of others. I can never be who I ought to be, until you are who you are ought to be. The art of leadership: Listen not just to the voices they like - Not blinded by power - servants, - accountable -Lead, guide, direct, support because they know the way -Know when to retire Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States (2001-2009) If you are a leader, model the behavior you want others to imitate. People are not very good at listening to other people but they are very good at copying them. So…if you are a leader… be a leader worth copying. Calm is contagious. Treat people with respect…Don’t be mean. Don’t be sarcastic. Malcolm Gladwell, Award-Winning Journalist and Best-Selling Author Effective leadership is not explained by the deterrence theory but legitimacy Three elements of legitimacy in leadership: 1) respect 2) fairness 3) trustworthiness It matters not just what you say, it matters how you say it. Create a trustworthy system for dealing with people. When people disobey leaders, the question shouldn’t be what’s wrong with the people, but what’s wrong with the leaders. Responsibility begins at the top. Randall Wallace, Screenwriter, Director, Producer, and Songwriter Honour matters. The secret was in giving in secret. “What happens to your soul when you give is what matters. Give in secret, stand up all, and when you give, give you all. Final Reflection: In all, it was a very inspiring day and caused much reflection and after- thought. One of the common themes consistent in all the speakers was the theme of respect. Leaders treat others with respect. Leaders empower others. These words resonate through me and give me fuel to continue my journey. Harley Finkelstein showed respect to his employees and empowered them to take the lead in some way through his development of ‘Hack Days’. His ideas could be related to a vision of our future of education which I find myself reviewing over and over as I try to make sense of what I have learned and try to articulate the model as it is taken shape in my mind. First if we begin to look at our role as educators not as a job but as a craft…a place where our staff wants to be and a place where individual talents and skills are valued and cultivated, shared with others. Walkthroughs to me would not only be done by Admin, but regular walkthroughs by all staff to be able to see the continuum of learning and models of best practice. A time when our staff can act as leaders/mentors to their peers and conversation can start between educators focusing on their valuable work. A hack day could also be a time for a staff member to try out a new strategy and with the help of the team look at the value. Staff could also be team teaching frequently to allow those with expertise to share. At the same time, if students were given a ‘hack day’ once every few months to incorporate their passions to learn about what they are interested using their particular learning style, driven by their own intrinsic desire to learn, then share with others; school would become a much more engaging place for some of our learners. He spoke about having young students come into his workplace to learn about the work, which seems to be part of what I see as the Ministries move to educate our students about the various career pathways into the future. Finally the idea of ‘resourcefulness’ as a trait to be embraced and revered, can be linked to our character education something for both in our staff and in our students to pursue. Lots to think about, as I continue on this adventure into the world of the Leader.

Walk throughs Friday May 16, 2014

On Friday May 16 I took a walk though the school and look at the exciting learning I witnessed

Exciting Update on Sk Intervention

Although we have not completed all the data collection for our senior kindergarten, we are so excited we needed to share an update of three more students that continue to achieve exceptional results since our English intervention was put into place. Student 21 has jumped from PM 7 to 13 since last reporting. Student 22 has jumped from PM 14 to at least 17 and still climbing. Student 23 has jumped from PM 6 to at least 15 and still climbing. Well done team!

Update on SK intervention results May 14

General Lake Senior Kindergarten Results -May 14, 2014 The following 20 Senior Kindergarten students were marked as ‘at risk’ because of their reading development by the teachers. The students from 1-10 were in the English Senior kindergarten program and the remainder were in the French Immersion program. In March a focused intervention was put in place to address the needs of the English Senior kindergartens. This intervention took the two classes and divided them into three ability groupings. The SERT teacher worked with one group, and the other 2 teachers worked with the other two groups during the first 2 out of 3 blocks of the day in language and math. A similar focused intervention has also been put in place for the French Immersion students during their 300 minutes of Core English class in late March to address those students identified with reading concerns. It has been noted that the French Immersion students traditionally progress slowly initially in their reading achievement but by grade 3 they catch up. It was reported by the teachers that the other students involved have shown tremendous progress in the groupings because of the focused interventions and have benefitted greatly from using the high yield strategies. Gains have been slow, but steady for the identified ‘at risk’ students in the focus group as you can see in the following data. Recently tutors have been added to work daily with the focus group. *A Communicative Disorders Assistant has also begun working with some of the students twice per week. *indicates student receiving CDA support 1. Letter and Sounds Letter and Sounds March 24 Upper Case Letters 18 Upper Case Sounds 17 Lower Case Letters 16 Lower Case Sounds 14 May 1 Upper Case Letters 20 Upper Case Sounds 20 Lower Case Letters 19 Lower Case Sounds 19 Pre-Primer Sight Words March 24 3/40 May1 7/40 PMs 1 1 Has not moved, still at a PM1 Next step: Tutor started May 12 for daily reading support 2. Letter and Sounds March 24 Upper Case Letters 20 Upper Case Sounds 11 Lower Case Letters 14 Lower Case Sounds 11 May 1 Upper Case Letters 21 Upper Case Sounds 17 Lower Case Letters 22 Lower Case Sounds 18 Pre-Primer Sight Words March 24 2/40 May 1 5/40 PMs 1 3. Letter and Sounds Letter and Sounds March 24 Upper Case Letters 18 Upper Case Sounds 13 Lower Case Letters 15 Lower Case Sounds 14 May 1 Upper Case Letters 23 Upper Case Sounds 21 Lower Case Letters 24 Lower Case Sounds 20 Pre-Primer Sight Words March 24 9/40 May 1 14/40 PMs 1 1 Has not moved, still at a PM1 Tutor started May 12 for daily Echo reading 4. Letter and Sounds Improvement in letter /sound Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs March 24 0 PMs May 1 1 5. Letter and Sounds Improvement in letter /sound Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs March 24 0 May 1 1 6. Letter and Sounds Improvement in letter /sound Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs March 24 0 May 1 1 7. Letter and Sounds Improvement in letter /sound Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs March 24 0 May 1 1 8. Letter and Sounds Improvement in read behav Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs March 24 0 May 1 0 9. Letter and Sounds Recognizes all Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs March 24 0 May 1 1 10. * Letter and Sounds most Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs March 24 0 May 1 1 Cda support 11. * Letter and Sounds March 24 Letters 23 Sounds 16 May 1 Letters 25 Sounds 19 Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs 0 Continue to work on sight words Tutor began May 6 daily reading –CDA support 12. * Letter and Sounds March 24 Letters 24 Sounds 20 May 1 Letters 26 Sounds 20 Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs 0 0 uses finger tracking and picture clues Continue to work on sight words Tutor began May 6 daily reading –CDA support 13. * Letter and Sounds March 24 Letters 20 Sounds 14 May 1 Letters 21 Sounds 15 Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs 0 Lacks attentiveness/ Tutor began May 6 daily reading CDA support 14. Letter and Sounds March 24 Letters 25 Sounds 15 May 1 Letters 26 Sounds 20 Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs 0 uses finger tracking and picture clues Continue to work on sight words Tutor began May 6 daily reading 15. Letter and Sounds Letters 20 Sounds 20 Letters 24 Sounds 21 Pre-Primer Sight Words Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs PMs 0 0 uses finger tracking and picture clues Continue to work on sight words Tutor began May 6 daily reading 16. Letter and Sounds March 24 Letters 10 Sounds 13 May 1 Letters 18 Sounds 13 Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs 0 continues to be a concern Tutor began May 6 for daily reading 17. Letter and Sounds March 24 Letters 22 Sounds 17 May 1 Letters 24 Sounds 21 Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs 0 uses finger tracking and picture clues Continue to work on sight words Tutor began May 6 daily reading 18. * Letter and Sounds March 24 Letters 21 Sounds 10 May 1 Letters 21 Sounds 14 Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs 0 uses finger tracking and picture clues Continue to work on sight words Tutor began May 6 daily reading-CDA Support 19. Letter and Sounds March 24 Letters 20 Sounds 15 May1 Letters 24 Sounds 19 Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs 0 uses finger tracking and picture clues Continue to work on sight words Tutor began May 6 daily reading 20. * Letter and Sounds March 24 Letters 15 Sounds 8 May 1 Letters 21 Sounds 10 Pre-Primer Sight Words PMs 0 uses finger tracking and picture clues Continue to work on sight words Tutor began May 6 daily reading CDA Support