This Week
Fahari's Weekly Staff Memo: 11/24/2014 - 11/28/2014
A Message from Fahari's Principal: Stephanie Clagnaz, Ed.D.
Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart
Thanksgiving is a time for us to reflect on the wonderful gifts that surround us day in and day out. At this time of year, I intentionally make time to reflect on the things for which I am grateful. I have a wonderful husband and family that bring me joy, happiness and love everyday. My children have grown into adults who love and serve others and make me continuously proud. We are blessed to have all the things we need: a home filled with love, enough food and clothing, jobs we enjoy, and our faith.
I am also grateful for my Fahari family. The work that each of you do with and for the children and families that we serve is the most important work that exists. In addition to teaching the children to read, write, and to do math, the social-emotional work of helping each of the children to become more productive and empathetic human beings is the heart of our work together. Each day, we are called upon to be teachers, psychologists, counselors, mentors, and friends. In other professions, work can be compartmentalized into a 9 AM - 5 PM day. This is not so when we work in schools, especially when we care as deeply as we do for our students. Each of you is truly a hero. I find evidence of this in the ways I see you touching the lives of our children each and every day.
During any day of the week, I will observe a teacher working with a small group of students to ensure that instruction is uniquely matched to the child’s needs. I see operations staff making sure that systems and procedures are structured so that student needs are met. Our counselors help the children to deal with burdens that sometimes weigh them down. Culture team members support behavioral challenges. Formal school leaders work to create and implement systems to best facilitate the growth of each student and the growth of the school as a whole. Our Board spends countless hours to help Fahari to grow and to be strong. Our team works tirelessly to get the work done. This takes place each and every day...evidence of each of you being a true hero.
I am grateful for every one of you individually, but am most grateful for what we are accomplishing as a team. Without the contributions of each person, our mission cannot be fulfilled. I am grateful to hear your voices during Friday shout-outs, recognizing the gifts and talents that individuals and teams make evident to demonstrate service and leadership to our community. I am grateful for the progress we have made together. We still have work to do, but we are making progress because of what each individual brings to our team. I am grateful for you and I value you for helping to make us whole. Thank you for your hard work; thank you for your caring; thank you for your love of our children, our families and of our school.
I wish each of you and your families a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. Take some time to reflect on the blessings in your lives and the things for which you are grateful. Take some time to rest and have some fun; enjoy family and friends; relish in a few moments to be alone with your own thoughts. Recognize the beauty around us each day. Give thanks for what we have been able to accomplish as the Fahari team. Fahari is truly on the rise!
Culture News
Chancellor Fariña argues that one of the six elements of an effective school is a culture of “continuous learning and trust”. In fact, in the representation of the six elements of effective schools, you'll see trust as the element that surrounds all of them:
The idea of trust has also been a theme in our study of the Patrick Lencioni’s Five Functions of A Team. Why all the fuss about trust? And why is trust important to our thinking about school culture? How does it connect to our implementation of restorative practices?
We've thought a lot about trusting our teammates, but I want us to consider what it would mean to truly trust our students. I think this is particularly important as we continue to venture into becoming a school where students learn at high levels and where we respond to our students from a restorative stance. This week I was had privilege of watching three of our students demonstrate why our kids deserve our trust.
On Friday, I facilitated a Restorative Conference between a teacher and a student who had caused harm in her classroom. The student struggled for many days to accept responsibility for her behavior and also refused to “make things right” with the teacher. As the process continued the the teacher, bravely, made herself vulnerable to the student by accepting her own role in the situation. The student, who had thus far been very difficult, responded to the teacher’s vulnerability in kind. She accepted responsibility for her actions and did what needed to be done to make things right before returning to class. There were several moments in this story where we as adults could’ve stopped listening to the student, opted not to make ourselves vulnerable to her, or refusing to give her opportunities to make things right. Yet we trusted that if we did these things, she would respond. And eventually, she did. Through that trust, the student found a genuine learning opportunity.
This week, I'd like us all to think about what it would mean to truly trust our students. Here are some scenarios that come to mind:
- Waiting before giving a student the correct answer. Let struggle for that one extra second—trusting that they can do it.
- Giving a student that is struggling academically another opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of a skill or content—trusting the adage “All kinds of kinds”.
- Making ourselves vulnerable to our students through affective statements and affective questions—trusting their capacity for empathy.
- Offering our “middle” students a more challenging text—trusting that they will grow.
- Knowing that middle school kids say and do impulsive and silly things, affording them another shot to make things right—trusting that they can.
Let's all resolve to continue trusting our truly remarkable students.
Thanks for all that you do.
Jared Roebuck, Assistant Principal for Administration and Culture
Family Engagement Updates
Thanksgiving Messages from our students and families!!!!!
“I’m thankful for my teachers for helping me in school. Teachers need to be helpful for people. They support me in my life. They hold me up.”
Johnell Whitlock, 5th grade, Princeton
“I am thankful for teachers helping me with stuff and they correct me when I’m wrong. Teachers can be really fun!
P.S. Keep up the good work!”
Tyrese Daley, 6th grade, Fisk
“I am thankful for teachers because without them I wouldn’t be able to know the things I know because if they didn’t push me to do better, I wouldn’t have the brain to do great things!”
Samuel Dalce, 7th grade, UMASS
“I am thankful for teachers because if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here right now. Teachers have helped me by pushing me forward to do my classwork so I can get into a good high school.”
Tajauna Isaac, 8th grade, Empire
As we enter into this period of giving thanks, our students and families remind us of what they are thankful for. I am thankful to be part of a community that is transforming the lives of children and families in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn everyday!
On behalf of our students and families……...THANK YOU!!!!!!!
~Ms. Clarke, Director of Family Engagement
Technology and Data Updates
Tech Tip of the Week: Printing out Google Docs with comments
In order to print out the feedback you have given students on their writing pieces, you will need to do the following:
1. In Google Docs, click on the Comments button
2. You will have to Re-open your comments so they can be redisplayed on the Google Doc.
3. When you Re-open all of your comments they will appear next to the text that you provided feedback on.
4. In order to print out the document with the comments, you will click File, then Download As, then select Word document.
Once downloaded to Microsoft Word, the comments will appear in the margins and you can print out the document with all comments linked to the text you provided feedback on.
STANFORD 10 Testing:
STANFORD 10 is a nationally normed assessment delivered by Pearson Education which assesses student performance across core academic subjects. At Fahari, we assess math problem solving skills and reading comprehension. We will administer the Reading Comprehension exam this week to all new students in grades 5 through 8.
Important Dates:
November 26 – Report Cards mailed out to all families.
November 26 – Updated reading levels for November goals due.
Next week's schedule updates
Will it be an A or B week?
We will be following a B schedule next week.
Who Will Be Out?
Monday, November 24th, 2014
Tuesday, November 25th, 2014
Tamara Destine (AM out)
Please note there will be no staff memo the week of December 1st. Our staff memo will resume on the week of December 8th.
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, November 26th, 2014
1:15pm dismissal for all faculty and staff
Thursday, November 27th, 2014
Thanksgiving Holiday - No School
Friday, November 28th, 2014
Thanksgiving Holiday - No School