Friday Focus 11-6-15
Learning for Life
Finding purpose
A few of us had the opportunity to attend the Star Summit in Ozark earlier this week. It's a collaborative PD experience involving Ozark, Nixa, Willard, and Republic. All of their teachers are involved in the event as it's one of their official PD days. This year a few surrounding schools were invited to attend as well.
The keynote speaker was Rick Wormeli, a celebrated teacher and author. He spoke on the topics of creativity, perseverance, and differentiation. I wanted to share a couple of the key thoughts that really jumped out at me. Here are a few of my notes:
"Motivation is not something we do to kids; it's something we create with them."
We know extrinsic rewards (grades) are not effective with many students, and even when they are, they are not long-lasting. Student motivation, and motivation for all of us, is closely linked to autonomy (choice, voice), mastery (feeling competent), and purpose (feeling meaning, like we matter). Create is a key word in the quote because creativity ties closely to all three of the previous motivators.
"Whoever is asking the most questions is doing the most learning."
When students are curious and have a spirit of inquiry, they are asking questions and seeking knowledge. They are active participants in the learning. Let's look for ways to have students developing their own questions.
"Tenacity and perseverance are closely linked to creativity and imagination."
This was a new idea to me, but the more I thought about it, it really seemed to make sense. Creativity and imagination are important ways we make meaning and find purpose.
"Meaning-making is necessary to retain sense-making."
Society is suffering from lack of meaning, and I think there is a real hunger for something greater than ourselves and our shallow appetites (more stuff, more fame, more pleasure). Wormeli wants his students to do stuff that matters, to themselves and others. He then pulls the curriculum into these learning experiences. As I think about the learning experiences from my school days that I remember the most, they are ones that were personally meaningful to me. We can't expect sense-making to last beyond the test, if we don't help students have personal meaning connected to the learning.
The keynote speaker was Rick Wormeli, a celebrated teacher and author. He spoke on the topics of creativity, perseverance, and differentiation. I wanted to share a couple of the key thoughts that really jumped out at me. Here are a few of my notes:
"Motivation is not something we do to kids; it's something we create with them."
We know extrinsic rewards (grades) are not effective with many students, and even when they are, they are not long-lasting. Student motivation, and motivation for all of us, is closely linked to autonomy (choice, voice), mastery (feeling competent), and purpose (feeling meaning, like we matter). Create is a key word in the quote because creativity ties closely to all three of the previous motivators.
"Whoever is asking the most questions is doing the most learning."
When students are curious and have a spirit of inquiry, they are asking questions and seeking knowledge. They are active participants in the learning. Let's look for ways to have students developing their own questions.
"Tenacity and perseverance are closely linked to creativity and imagination."
This was a new idea to me, but the more I thought about it, it really seemed to make sense. Creativity and imagination are important ways we make meaning and find purpose.
"Meaning-making is necessary to retain sense-making."
Society is suffering from lack of meaning, and I think there is a real hunger for something greater than ourselves and our shallow appetites (more stuff, more fame, more pleasure). Wormeli wants his students to do stuff that matters, to themselves and others. He then pulls the curriculum into these learning experiences. As I think about the learning experiences from my school days that I remember the most, they are ones that were personally meaningful to me. We can't expect sense-making to last beyond the test, if we don't help students have personal meaning connected to the learning.
Jeans next Wednesday
Everyone is invited to wear jeans and patriotic colors next week on Veteran's Day (Wednesday), with a donation to Ozarks Honor Flight. We will collect your donation in an envelope in the office.
Keep in mind Tuesday is our Veteran's Assembly, so we would like everyone to dress up to honor our guests.
Keep in mind Tuesday is our Veteran's Assembly, so we would like everyone to dress up to honor our guests.
SPED team takes the lead for Wednesday Late Start
We will meet in the library this coming Wednesday for some collaboration and sharing on the topic of tech/digital tools for learning.
Sub Shortage
We continue to have a shortage of subs in the district. If you know of anyone who might be interested subbing, send them to central office to get started.
The district is now offering a small stipend when a teacher gives up their plan time to cover an absent teacher's class. The amount will be $17.50 per block, PLUS we are kicking in a $5.00 Sonic Card from the building on top of the stipend as an extra thank you. Our team has ALWAYS been wonderful to help each other out and cover any gaps that arise. These heroic efforts are so appreciated. Thank you!!!
When you cover a class, you will simply need to complete a short form that Sheila has available for you.
The district is now offering a small stipend when a teacher gives up their plan time to cover an absent teacher's class. The amount will be $17.50 per block, PLUS we are kicking in a $5.00 Sonic Card from the building on top of the stipend as an extra thank you. Our team has ALWAYS been wonderful to help each other out and cover any gaps that arise. These heroic efforts are so appreciated. Thank you!!!
When you cover a class, you will simply need to complete a short form that Sheila has available for you.
Seat Belt Campaign
Kelsey Jenkins and Destiny Steele are kicking off a four-week campaign related to seat belt safety. They are asking us to show some seat belt awareness videos to classes during Liberator Time next week. Any support you can provide them is appreciated. They are working very hard to raise awareness and save lives. The schedule of all their activities are at the URL below, along with the links to the YouTube videos.
https://docs.google.com/a/bolivarschools.org/document/d/1pX8FEBqSlPsFFsipf-caS2d1DbiQvj0e0SKxO8kUoug/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/a/bolivarschools.org/document/d/1pX8FEBqSlPsFFsipf-caS2d1DbiQvj0e0SKxO8kUoug/edit?usp=sharing
SLOs and Parent Contact Logs
Thank you for submitting these two necessary tasks earlier!