North Side News
Week of November 26th - 30th
A Learning Mindset For All........
You can exhale! It is not another thing we will add to our plate, instead it reminds us of our overarching job as educators - to help our children understand, want and practice life with a GROWTH MINDSET, not a fixed mindset (which is where most of them lie today). EFFORT is the backbone of this mindset! So, how do we make this happen, you might ask?! Hold your horses, we will get there.
First, I want to share bits and pieces from this book regarding "rigor." We all love this word...ok, maybe not, but it is a BIG word in education! Mraz and Hertz explain, "Rigor is active. Rigor is passionate. Rigor is about who we are as much as what we know........We cannot let fear of benchmarks stand in the way of helping children find their value and their voice.......A child in passive receipt of learning will be in passive receipt of life..........And how do we make the goal for the children's future be just not "college and career ready" but "love, life, and agents of change ready?" (Mraz and Hertz, 2015,) Lucky for us, we work for East Noble! We focus on the whole child, including providing life skills. WE INSPIRE, ENGAGE AND EMPOWER our students!!!!! We provide our students with opportunities to Communicate, Collaborate, Critically think and be Creative through inquiry and exploration.
Changing student's mindsets will not happen overnight, but it is worth the challenge to help them develop a growth mindset. The rigor in the classroom should move from the "work we do" to "How we do the work, Who we are, and What we believe about ourselves and others." Mraz and Hertz explain that there are habits or stances that we must build in ourselves to be happier and more successful in life. They are empathy, optimism, resilience, persistence, and flexibility. Stop for a moment and think about your students, do they know and understand these 5 stances? Do they display these habits as they work through concepts and skills within the classroom? I am guessing your answer for most is "NO!" I know that we all know the definitions of each of these words, but let's see what they all have in common:
Empathy - ability to understand and share the feelings of another
Optimism - confidence and hopefulness about a successful outcome of something
Resiliency - ability to recover quickly from difficulties
Persistence - to continue doing something even if it is difficult, not giving up
Flexibility - willingness to change or compromise
Hmmmm........... They are the "LIFE READY SKILLS" that our district is committing to providing our students with so they may be productive citizens in life. Looking at all of these definitions together - ask yourself some questions: 1) Do our students even know these words, let alone what they mean?; 2) Do students know what these things "look like?"; 3) Do I share stories, model, or provide real life examples of these habits for students? 4) Do I point out when students are modeling these habits within the classroom or school day? If I don't, should I point it out?
So much to think about and not only in the school setting, but in our personal lives as well. My mind is running wild as you can see and I started thinking about my own children - do they have these 5 habits? The short answer is "NO!" If you have had the pleasure of discussing my 9th grader, Hunter, you would know I am struggling with this high school stuff! Through middle school, Hunter was an A, B student who did exactly what he needed to and took advanced classes and even two classes for high school credit during his 8th grade year - Way to go Hunter, right? Well, Alegbra I in 8th grade is where the signs started showing up - school was always easy for Hunter and now he had to really think, problem solve and put some effort into his math. This is when reality hit for both Hunter and me - he didn't have persistency, resiliency, optimism and definitely wasn't being flexible. He didn't understand struggle, he wanted to give up and just get by. Oh, the fits he threw as I lectured him on working through the challenges, getting extra help from his teacher, and having the confidence in himself to learn it! Well, we made it through Algebra I, but ......we are knee deep in Algebra II right now and IT IS NOT PRETTY!!!!!! He is averaging a C to D in Algebra thus far and has the fixed mindset that it is hard and he is doing the best he can (No he is not!!!) and the teacher sucks! Sound familiar? Now, I can't leave Hudson, my 11 year old out or Annistyn, my 8 year old........ Annistyn is just like Hunter, she is quick to get frustrated when things don;t come to her academically and gets an attitude. Hudson is different, I see persistence and resilience and optimism most of the time, but he definitely needs reminders. For example, on his birthday, he got a Morph Board (yes, he asked for it). It is a scooter/skateboard and even more, all in one. He instantly took the Morph Board outside and tried out the skateboard function and guess what?! It wasn't all that easy! He spent maybe 10 minutes trying to skate and then gave up! It was too hard!!!! He needed reminding that it takes practice and more practice and patience and confidence to ride a skateboard (and no way could I ride one). He got back out there and now he is pretty darn good on that skateboard! Notice, it took my encouragement for him to utilize the 5 stances to overcome his skateboard challenge!
Obviously, you see that I do not have the answers or a magic wand (If I did, Hunter would be getting a B in Algebra II, just saying), but I do believe that the more we can instill these habits into our children/students, the more productive and Life Ready they will be. Let's model, encourage and provide opportunities for our students to utilize a "Growth Mindset" instilled with empathy, flexibility, persistence, resilience and optimism.
This great read does share application and practice of these five stances as well as the theory and relevance behind them. I just haven't read that far......
McTeacher Night/Turkey Hands a success, Upcoming PTO Events:
Also, we sold almost 300 Turkey Hands, WOW!!!!! Our PTO was busy making those cute little turkeys for our students to enjoy! And thank you, Amanda Hayward, for making the flyers and getting them ready to go home.
For the month of December, the PTO has a few things planned. First off, they are bringing back holiday shopping for students! YAY!!!!! Kids love this! Our PTO is hosting the "North Side North Pole" during the week of December 3rd-7th. Students may browse the store items on Monday or Tuesday (you bring your whole class to look) and then the store will be open for business Wednesday through Friday!
During the week of December 10th-14th, the PTO will be selling Candy Canes for $0.50. This will be set up like popcorn, they turn in their order form by Thursday and receive the candy canes on Friday.
Lastly, the PTO will host a bake sale at the December Music Program as n the past. A flyer will go home to ask for donations.
"We find comfort among those who agree with us, and growth among those who don't." -Frank A. Clark-
Week of November 26th-30th:
PD: Getting Consistent with Consequences (cont.)
12 p.m. - 504 Meeting - P.E. (Tina, Cory, Stephanie)
1:10 p.m. - DATA MEETING with 1st grade
2:10 p.m. - Stephanie to play game with K.G.
3:30 p.m. - Initial CC - I.T. (Stephanie, Amanda W., Amanda H., Laura S.)
Tuesday, November 27th:
11:10 a.m. - Stephanie to play game with T.R. and M.W.
12 p.m. - DATA MEETING with 5th grade
12:50 p.m. - DATA MEETING with Kindergarten
1:30 p.m. - Initial CC - P.J. (Laura P., Amanda W., Dawn, Stephanie, Cory)
Wednesday, November 28th:
11:10 a.m. - Stephanie to play game with E.M., L.P., and C.E.
12 p.m. - DATA MEETING with 4th grade
1:50 p.m. - DATA MEETING with 2nd grade
3 p.m. - BIP Update - N.D. (Anita, Laura P., Amanda H., Erin, Stephanie, Cory)
6 p.m. - Board Meeting @ Avilla Elem.
Thursday, November 29th:
*Stephanie out in the AM*
3 p.m. - Initial CC - G.H. (Jessica, Stephanie, Cory, Jamie, Amanda W., Laura S.)
Friday, November 30th:
9 a.m. - 2nd and 3rd grades to play @ HS, "Annie"
Canned Food Drive sponsored by the NS Student Council
December 3rd-7th: North Side North Pole/MOY Testing begins......
**MOY Raz-Kids and iReady Diagnostic begin**
PD: Coding
North Side North Pole Browsing
12 p.m. - CC - B.A. (Tina, Laura P., Amanda W., Stephanie)
3 p.m. - RTI - S.J. (Anita, Jen, Beth, Stephanir Cory, Jamie)
Tuesday, December 4th:
MOY testing continued.....
North Side North Pole Browsing
3 p.m. - RTI/BIP - R.W. (Keeley, Laura P., Amanda H., Cory, Jamie, Stephanie)
3-3:30 p.m. - Star Club Meeting
Wednesday, December 5th:
MOY Testing continued.....
North Side North Pole Shopping
8 a.m. - CC - E.R. (Cherri, Laura P., Stephanie)
3 p.m. - PBIS Meeting
Thursday, December 6th:
MOY Testing continued.......
North Side North Pole Shopping
Friday, December 7th:
MOY Testing continued.......
North Side North Pole Shopping
Saturday, December 8th:
Robotics Competition at Avilla
Great things are happening......
Thank you to our Social Committee for our "Soup Cook-Off." The staff had fun taste testing and voting, but man was it hard to choose!!!! So many yummy soups to eat! I believe there are some neat things coming for the month of December as well.....
I would like to welcome our new school nurse to North Side. Whitney Aumsbaugh will be joining us the first week of December, shadowing Nurse Ronda. She will take over for Nurse Ronda the next week. Thank you Ronda Huff for all of your years of service to North Side, you will be missed!!!!
November PBIS Reward - each grade level may choose a movie or game time for those students who earned their reward. Students may bring their own snacks from home to enjoy during this time! You may choose your day (Thursday or Friday) and time for this event.