Wildcat Weekly
January 21, 2019
#kidscandoamazingthings
Wow! Hopefully you were able to enjoy your weekend! Yesterday was great to have a bit of sun and did you check out that blood wolf moon?!
This past week, as are most weeks, was a learning experience! We asked the question, how might we hand over the reigns of the learning to the kids? Our work this first semester...yes it has almost been a semester, has been challenging and rewarding all at the same time. For every one thing we are finding challenging we find one or two solutions and I hate to say it but it has really made time fly!
The result of our attempt to have our kids as ambassadors of their learning was a huge success! For those staff that were able to attend STEAM Night, I think you would agree, our students stole the show! Having our community and families take part in this event helped solidify how amazing our kids are and just how capable they are at sharing their passion and learning! We sold them on the idea that they were experts, which they were, and they took it the rest of the way! We had around 70 of our kids take part as ambassadors for the night. The greatest comment I heard from a few of them was that they were going home tired! A win! We will be successful when our kids go home tired and we go home refreshed!:)
It would be easy for some to say, "Well that was an awesome night for STEAM teachers and students!" Well this was true, it was centered around those topics and classes and it was awesome! But as with all that we do, hopefully we can agree that our kids are at the forefront of our efforts and it's not a them and us affair. I have to tell you that it was a lot of work! This event took a great deal of planning but most of all it took a shared challenge of how do we get our kids to share their learning? This event could have been put on in any content, by any teacher or by any group of students. This night was about their STEAM projects indeed, but what it showed us all is that our kids' purpose and sense of excitement is real! Creating an authentic audience simply made it shine and I'm glad we took the extra steps to find this out.
As we work through improving our practices, public exhibition is one way that can bring out the best in kids and as we learned gave them a real sense of purpose. I am sold and ready to make the pitch that our next public night in not STEAM alone, but includes activities from all content areas. Let's start this conversation. Our second semester is only beginning, having a plan in place for a May Exhibition Night starts now! We are not strangers to lofty goals. I am behind you 100% and will do everything I can to help anyone experience the value of student exhibition. It is certainly worth the extra effort!
If you get a chance please consider stopping by our History Expo this week and coming to join in on the fun during our Stop Motion Film Festival! Great stuff!
Have a great week Wildcats. Glad you're here!
Coming Up On Our Calendar
This Week
1/21 - No school MLK Day
1/22 - Fire drill 2:35
1/24 - 7th grade STEAM Film Festival, 4:30 at Dallas Cinema
1/24 - 8th grade History Expo
1/25 - No students - District grading day
Next Week
1/28 - No students - District Planning Day
1/30 - NAEP testing for a handful of 8th graders
Some Quick Stop Motion Examples Created at STEAM Night!
Coming Up In PLC
January PLC Schedule
1/21 - No School MLK Day
1/28 - No Kids Planning Day