Warner Update
Making a difference, one person at a time
The Fisherman and The Banker (March 2 - March 9)
An investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The Banker complimented the Fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Fisherman replied, “only a little while.”
The Banker then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?
The Fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.
The Banker then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The Banker scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the Banker replied, “15 – 20 years.”
“But what then?” Asked the Fisherman.
The Banker laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”
“Millions -- then what?” asked the Fisherman.
The Banker said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
NEXT WEEK AT A GLANCE:
Monday, March 4th: K-2 Craft Club after school
Monday, March 4th: 7pm Musical at CAC
Tuesday, March 5th: Book Fair Begins at Warner
Tuesday, March 5th: Mindfulness Visit at Warner 8:30am (Ingham ISD, Holt Schools)
Tuesday, March 5th: Erin Kreger at Warner
Wednesday, March 6th: Grades 3-5 Assembly at 8:45am
Wednesday, March 6th: Favorite Animal Day (Reading Month)
Wednesday, March 6th: 2:40pm Staff Meeting in Library (Reading Month/Literacy Night info)
Wednesday, March 6th: PLC at 3pm
- Discuss Quarter 3 Common Assessments
- Discuss WIN time preparation
Thursday, March 7th: Dudes & Doughnuts 7:45am
Thursday, March 7th: After School Yoga/Mindfulness with Erin Kreger
Friday, March 8th: 8am Staff Meeting in Miss VanBuren's room
- Chapter 4 in Simplifying Response to Intervention
Friday, March 8th: Happy BDay to Jen Reed
Friday, March 8th: Read Around the Jungle (Reading Month)
Saturday, March 9th: Happy BDay to Micki Archer
* Monday, March 11th is Professional Development (see directions below)
Please see the attached document for instructions to prepare for our PD with Anne Marie on Monday, March 11th. You will be spending 1/2 day with her, and there are some things we need you to do in order to get the most from the day.
- It has been a few years since we focused on writing. We are coming together to re-align our language and practices around writing instruction as set forth in the Michigan Essential Practices in Literacy (www.literacyessentials.org)
- We want to examine how we are performing in writing as a district, rather than look at individual student performance.
- Our Common Assessment work has allowed us to begin developing these district assessments. Scoring the writing assessments is a critical part of this process and may require some training.
Please see the attached document for writing prompt and directions. Note that this is to be done independently by your students without help. We want a clear and accurate picture of where our kids are in regards to writing. We are hopeful that with writing workshop implementation across the board, we will see great results in our students' writing. Also, these are not to be scored. You will be looking at them on the 11th with Anne Marie. Make sure to bring your classroom set of papers with you to the PD.
Did You Know?
Mindfulness with Teachers
When teachers learn mindfulness, they not only reap personal benefits such as reduced stress and burnout15 but their schools do as well. In randomized controlled trials, teachers who learned mindfulness reported greater efficacy in doing their jobs16 and had more emotionally supportive classrooms17 and better classroom organization18 based on independent observations.
Mindfulness with Students
Studies find that youth benefit from learning mindfulness in terms of improved cognitive outcomes, social-emotional skills, and well being. In turn, such benefits may lead to long-term improvements in life. For example, social skills in kindergarten predict improved education, employment, crime, substance abuse and mental health outcomes in adulthood.19
Additional research: Mindful Schools curriculum reduces depressive symptoms
A 2010 pilot study37 found that the Mindful Schools elementary-grades curriculum reduced depressive symptoms among minority children. Researchers randomized 18 minority children at a summer camp to either mindfulness or health education. Children were ages 8-11, and 64% were from Caribbean and Central American countries. An instructor led ten 15-minute lessons from the Mindful Schools curriculum. The mindfulness group showed significantly more reduction in depressive symptoms than the control group. Anxiety results were in the same direction.