Whole Child Newsletter
November 2021
It's a MiPHY Year!
- MIPHY info is a direct reflection of student voice.
- The data is reliable and effective when creating a MICIP data story in "non-academic" and "systems work" areas.
- Many programs/grants that fund at-risk programs in LEAs use MIPHY.
- This year's MIPHY will present an objective way to assess how COVID may have impacted student well-being (mental, social, and physical) and subsequent academic achievement.
The goal is to get 90%+ of 7th, 9th, and 11th, graders to complete the survey by December 15. Results should be available the day after submitting surveys.
MIPHY Reminders and MIPHY Links
Contact Eric Swihart at eric.swihart@jcisd.org for any assistance or questions
Jackson Storyfest Teacher Workshop
Our 34th annual Jackson Storyfest is coming up in a couple weeks, and I wanted to inform you about an opportunity for school staff that counts toward continuing education credits. Storyteller and teaching artist Noa Baum is hosting a virtual storytelling workshop for teachers to learn how to take a story off the page and bring it to life. The workshop is called is called The Art of Storytelling: Life into Words and will take place on Novermber 6th at 10:00 a.m. It is highly interactive and focuses on incorporating creative storytelling into your teaching style. This is a valuable chance to strengthen your unique storyteller voice and help your students discover how spoken words are powerful and how clear communication helps us understand each other and share what is important.
You should not miss this workshop if you want to do the following:
• Discover the power of oral language
• Learn a few simple steps to remember and tell a story
• Gain tools to hold students’ attention
• Develop creativity and self-expression
Here is the Zoom link to register for the session: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUod-qtqTgoH9PzSx4dZMoePIRourb68b1-
Can a Simple Intervention Narrow the Black-White Suspension Gap?
In this Education Gadfly article, Jeff Murray reports on an experiment conducted with more than 2,000 seventh graders in Wisconsin’s Madison Metropolitan School District (classes were 53% white, 19% African American, 17% Latino, 11% Asian):
- Students were asked to complete a writing exercise during class at three points during the school year, about an hour each time.
- Teachers and students were not told the purpose of the exercise.
- Students in a randomly selected control group were given a list of values, items, and attributes (for example, being a family member, enjoying sports, being creative, having a sense of humor) and asked to choose three that were most important to them.
- Treatment students were then asked to write about why those items were important; there was no time or word limit, and students were assured that they wouldn’t be graded on content, length, spelling, or grammar.
- The purpose, say the researchers, was to “help students access positive aspects of their identities less associated with troublemaking in school.”
- Control group students were given the same list and asked to choose three items that were not important to them personally, and then wrote about how those items might be important to others.
- Students who were not part of the study were given an unrelated but similarly structured writing task.
- Researchers got data on students’ suspensions in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.
- Students with a very high number of suspensions were excluded from the study.
What were the results?
- Black students in the treatment group had a 50 percent reduction in suspensions.
- Other racial/ethnic groups in the treatment and control populations showed no change in suspension rates.
- Thus the black-white suspension gap was reduced by about two-thirds.
- There was also a gap-closing effect on being sent to the principal’s office for moderately serious discipline infractions.
- Positive effects were even stronger among black seventh graders who had a higher than average suspension rate as sixth graders.
- The year after the intervention, results were similar.
- The study did not find any changes in students’ academic achievement.
Murray notes three caveats with the study: (a) the researchers didn’t pinpoint the mechanism of the positive changes in behavior; (b) we don’t know if teachers had access to what students wrote, which might have helped build relationships, reduce race-based stereotyping, and contributed to the positive impact; and (c) students with the most serious discipline problems were not part of the study, leaving unanswered the question of whether it would have worked for them. Clearly there’s more research to be done.
But meanwhile, asks Murray, “Why wouldn’t schools want to jump on this, even while the mechanisms at work here are being evaluated?” It takes very little time, virtually no resources (paper and writing implements), and might produce positive results.
“Researchers Test a Simple Method to Reduce Suspensions for Black Students” by Jeff Murray in Education Gadfly, October 4, 2021.
Giving Feedback That Isn’t Consigned to the Bottom of the Backpack
In this Tang Institute article, Bowman Dickson and Andy Housiaux describe every teacher’s least-favorite scenario: after spending hours reading students’ papers, correcting errors, and writing comments, students glance briefly at the grade, compare what they got with a few classmates, and continue to make the same mistakes on the next assignment. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” say Dickson and Housiaux, and provide a synthesis of the academic research on feedback that actually works.
They start with Grant Wiggins’s definition: Feedback is information about how we are doing that guides our efforts to reach a goal. “It can come from others, oneself, or even the task itself,” say Dickson and Housiaux. “It aims to improve subsequent efforts and not just correct work that has already been done.” They give several examples of feedback containing evaluation, advice, and praise, each followed by teacher feedback that’s far more likely to improve students’ work:
- Ineffective: B+ You still need to master exponent rules.
- Better: You are confusing the two main exponent rules – when multiplying two bases you need to add the exponent, not multiply. Practice a few of these types of problems for the next homework assignment.
- Ineffective: Make sure your main idea paragraph relates to your topic.
- Better: Your first sentence is about therapy dogs, but the rest of your paragraph talks about what dogs eat and where dogs sleep. Look at the examples of effective writing on your handout and then rewrite the paragraph.
- Ineffective: Wow! Your lab report is really nicely done.
- Better: You explained your results with good scientific nuance, your methods section is appropriately detailed, and your data presentation is just as polished as the sample lab reports.
“Feedback that is delivered effectively,” say Dickson and Housiaux, “will advance student learning in ways that even the most well-intentioned evaluation, advice, and praise simply cannot.” They boil down the research on effective feedback to four big ideas:
• Big idea #1: Students must engage with feedback in order to learn from it. “Feedback should cause thinking,” says British assessment guru Dylan Wiliam. “Feedback should be more work for the recipient than the donor.” This means reserving classroom time for students to process the teacher’s comments (often posed as questions or hints) and engage with a brief follow-up task – which might be correcting an error or writing about what they learned from the comments, what they did well, and what they will do differently next time. Students need to learn how to be “feedback seekers,” looking for it, taking it in, and following up.
• Big idea #2: Relationships matter. Establishing trust is an essential precursor; then the teacher can be a “warm demander,” setting high expectations and conveying feedback with growth-mindset language that speaks to students’ work, not their identity. Without a trusting relationship, teachers’ power position, along with their gender, race, or other characteristics, can trigger stereotype threat in students. “Don’t withhold criticism or overpraise mediocre work,” say Dickson and Housiaux. And create a classroom culture in which mistakes are seen as an important part of learning.
• Big idea #3: Focus on specific instructional goals. “If students do not understand where they are aiming, they will not be able to make sense of the feedback they receive on their performance,” say Dickson and Housiaux. That’s why it’s vital to be transparent about learning outcomes and assessment criteria, and provide exemplars of student work at different levels of proficiency. The teacher’s goal is to build skills and habits of mind that will help students think differently and get better. “Feedback should change the way students think and engage with future material,” say the authors, “instead of just fixing mistakes on past work.” To that end, less is more; feedback should target only a few key areas.
• Big idea #4: Separate feedback from grading. Giving grades is a requirement in almost all schools, but teachers should be under no illusions that grades improve performance. The challenge is getting students less focused on grades and more on continuous improvement. “Teachers can encourage students to focus more on the feedback they receive by spending time explaining the difference between feedback and grades,” say Dickson and Housiaux, “and then showing the ways in which students can improve by attending carefully to the teacher’s feedback.” Teachers also need to nudge students toward autonomy and independence, providing opportunities for and instruction in self-assessment and peer feedback versus constant dependence on teachers.
At the end of their paper, Dickson and Housiaux include six case studies showing how these big ideas play out in classrooms – a student demanding to know why a classmate got a better grade; students not improving despite copious written feedback on their work; a teacher’s comment taken the wrong way by a student; a student not doing homework and failing to ask for help. Each case is followed by focusing questions on what might change a frustrating situation.
“Feedback in Practice: Research for Teachers” by Bowman Dickson and Andy Housiaux, Tang Institute at Andover, August 2021; Housiaux can be reached at ahousiaux@andover.edu.
What Does It Mean for Children and Families to Be Healthy?
When considering the two-generation relationship, a good portion of child well-being depends on parent well-being. As the influential pediatrician, Dr. Donald Winnicott said, “There is no such thing as a baby, there is a baby and someone,” suggesting that babies live in relationship to others and would not survive or thrive on their own. Adult caregivers and parents have more power to effect change within a family system by focusing on their own health across these areas.
The Center for Youth Wellness identified seven domains of wellness that can help parents and caregivers to engage in restorative self-care, which is essential for stress reduction. Practicing these domains is also wonderful modeling for children (Center for Youth Wellness Resources, n.d.).
- Balanced nutrition/healthy eating can mean a focus on healthful food choices, prioritizing family meals more often, or drinking more water. It can also mean caregivers involve children in meal preparation once they’re old enough to help.
- Healthy sleep habits are so restorative. Keeping regular routines and practicing good sleep hygiene (cool room, no screens before bed, etc.) can improve outcomes.
- Regular exercise/physical activity doesn’t have to mean trips to the gym. Taking a walk with a friend or going to the playground with a child is just as good.
- Psychotherapy and/or psychiatric care is an important part of health for many people. Destigmatizing this kind of care benefits everyone. Normalize psychological care whenever possible.
- Supportive relationships are needed for mental and other forms of health. Humans are interdependent and need each other to survive and thrive. Promote social interactions for families, even if they need to be virtual, outdoors, or over the phone for the time being.
- Mindfulness and meditation practices can be additional supports for relaxation, stress reduction, and overall wellness. Simple breathing practices are doable for adults and children. ZERO TO THREE has resources for families and educators.
- Time spent outdoors cannot be oversold. It doesn’t have to be a nature trail through the wilderness either. An hour spent in a city park is still a green space that will have a positive impact on everyone’s well-being.
Achieving Equity Through Student Self-Advocacy
What can you do right now to improve services and empower your students to self-advocate? When we formally identify or informally recognize gifted learners, we also need to help them find their voices and choose their own paths to success. This edWebinar, based on the research and lived experiences of gifted education experts, is designed to help allies better support underrepresented gifted learners as they break through the barriers to self-advocacy and follow their dreams.
Self-advocacy is especially critical for students who face these obstacles:
- Limited family/community/school connections
- Lack of opportunities
- Limited familiarity with navigating the system
- Insufficient educator training in culturally responsive practices
- Inequitable instructional and support services for diverse gifted learners
- Faulty identification processes
Click HERE to Register
Young Poets Contest
Hello All,
I am excited to announce the kick-off of Jackson District Library’s annual Young Poets contest! For those of you who are unfamiliar with this event, Young Poets is an opportunity for all Jackson County K-12 students to submit their poems for the opportunity to be printed in a library anthology. It’s a great way to get students writing and thinking creatively. We will be accepting submissions from November 1st to February 15th. Please find the contest guidelines attached!
The submission process is as follows:
· Students are to submit through their school, at a JDL branch, or with this online form: https://forms.office.com/r/RBdWjSFKS6
· Students are also welcome to mail poems to the following address:
Jackson District Library
Community Engagement Department
244 W Michigan Ave.
Jackson, MI 49201
· Each poem must be submitted with a student entry form, except those submitted online with the link above
· Teachers are welcome to scan poems and entry forms for their whole class and email them to community@myjdl.com
The online submission link will soon be available on our website, myjdl.com. If you have any poetry modules in your lesson plan, please use them as an opportunity to get your students to submit. Thank you for all you do for our community, and for always helping us make this event a ton of fun!
Noticing and 5 to 1 Interactions
Did you notice all of your students today?
There is tremendous power in noticing. When you strive to notice kids several times each day on a consistent basis, it will help you foster connections in your classroom and reinforce each student’s value.
There are many ways to notice children. Here are some examples.
- Greet students by name when they enter your classroom.
- Say good-bye, using students’ names, when they leave your classroom.
- Acknowledge students when you observe kind gestures.
- Use non-verbal noticing such as waving or nodding your head.
- Praise students when you recognize that they are taking risks such as trying a difficult math problem or solving a problem.
- Thank students for asking or answering questions.
- Compliment students when they are helpful.
- Tell students you are happy to see them after weekends or holiday breaks from school.
The goal for child-caring adults, educators and caregiver is to display a ratio of 5:1 positive interactions between themselves and children of all ages.
Contact the Whole Child Team!
Janelle Buchler: Whole Child Consultant (janelle.buchler@jcisd.org)
Eric Swihart: Whole Child Coordinator (eric.swihart@jcisd.org)
Caitlin Williams: Attendance and Homeless Program Coordinator (caitlin.williams@jcisd.org)
Rebecca Hurst: Behavior Health Project Coordinator (rebecca.hurst@jcisd.org)
Kelsea Jabkiewicz: Whole Child Coordinator (kelsea.jabkiewicz@jcisd.org)
Tonya Kendra: General Education Social Worker (tonya.kendra@jcisd.org)