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Dear NMFA Families,
We have been enjoying the last snowfall, but we may need to brace ourselves for more! We really do not want to have anymore "snow days"!
Parent Conferences
THANK YOU to everyone who has come to our school for Parent-Teacher Conferences so far. If you missed signing up for them, please call the office so we can sign you up! We are trying to encourage everyone to meet with our teachers in person. If you cannot meet in person, we can arrange phone or Zoom calls.
SHOUT OUT TO Destination Imagination Teams
"We are so proud of our teams that went to the Destination Imagination State competition on Saturday. They showed creativity, teamwork, perseverance, and much more. It was great to see all the smiles and high fives being given to each other.
Our Gr. 2-3 Smarties 2 Team placed second!
Our Gr. 4-5 Seven Bears Team placed third!
Congratulations to all of the teams for participating!
A special thank you to our chaperones: Gabby Delmont, Maureen Alexander, Kelly Winters, Liz Bercaw, and Megan Matsen. We could not have made it through the day without their help!"
~Ms. Crowley
A very special thank you to Ceil Crowley who works tirelessly with all of the teams throughout the year every week!
Distinctions of Equity
I have loved school and learning my entire life. Even now as a principal, I am continuing learning and taking classes with other leaders in education throughout our state. Over the next couple months I am part of a cohort with the University of MN Principal Academy focusing on Literacy Learning for Leaders. One of our discussions today was about the DISTINCTIONS OF EQUITY. I want to take a few moments to distinguish between three key areas when we are engaged in equity work. We often confuse their particular purposes. As a result, we use them interchangeably when they are not. Below is an outline that is helping our staff understand the distinctions between them. Since these are not a continuum. We cannot begin with Multicultural Education and believe it will lead to Culturally Responsive Instruction. Why? Because Culturally Responsive Instruction is focused on the cognitive development of students. Multicultural Education and Social Justice Education have more of a supporting role.
Multicultural Education focuses on celebrating diversity. It centers around creating positive social interactions across difference. Diversity and inclusion efforts live here. Multicultural education concerns itself with exposing students to multiple perspectives, and other cultures. For students of color, the focus is on seeing themselves reflected in the curriculum. The goal is social harmony.
Social Justice Education focuses on exposing the social, political and economic context that students experience. Social Justice Education centers around raising students' consciousness about inequity in everyday social, environmental, economic and political situations. Anti-racist efforts live here. Social Justice Education concerns itself with creating a lens to recognize and interrupt inequitable patterns and practices in society.
Culturally Responsive Education focuses on improving the learning capacity of students. Culturally Responsive Education centers around the affective and cognitive aspect of teaching and learning. Efforts to accelerate learning live here. Culturally Responsive Education concerns itself with building cognitive capacity and academic mindset.
The goal is Independent Learning for Agency.
Have a great SPRING BREAK!!
Be safe, kind and responsible...and be cooperative!
Love,
Mrs. Kranz, Principal
North Metro Flex Academy