Deck the Halls

So, it's not hard to tell upon entering the second floor that it's homecoming week in Husky Country! The halls are decked out with school spirit ... something that hasn't happened in this school for a long time! Being the sponsor for the Freshman class allowed me to have the opportunity to encourage the Freshmen to go all out when they decorated! It was a success! The freshmen loved the idea of showing their pride in their school by decorating a hallway! To my amazement, the energy and and enthusiasm of the Freshmen trickled downward almost immediately! When the Seniors and Sophomore classes, who were working on their hallways at the time as the freshmen, saw how much pride and spirit the Freshmen were displaying .... they followed in suit! Within a short time the seniors and sophomores had regrouped and gone back to the drawing board! They too were going to get involved and show how much they cared about their school! What a wonderful moment to witness! I couldn't stop smiling! It made me realize what a difference this staff is making at North Marion this year! I draw from the popular movie, "Remember the Titans", "Attitude reflects leadership"! And  that is exactly what is happening at North Marion this year! The innovation zone began as just a far fetched thought, sometime last year and much like the students with the hallways, it has trickled downward to the majority of the staff! A major component of teaching this Freshman class was to teach them a culture. We wanted the freshman to have an attitude filled with respect, trust, and responsibility! If you look down the hallways you will find that not only has this been instilled in the freshman class, but it has also began to filter throughout the school! The deal breaker? Well, that would be the hard-working staff at North Marion! Staff members give up countless hours of unpaid time to make this school and their students better! The innovation zone, the innovative teaching of all teachers, and the fact that North Marion's teachers aren't afraid to roll their sleeves up and go to work is changing this school for the better! Oh yes, and not to be forgotten.... the Juniors have jumped into the running of the homecoming hallway battle!

Empowering Our Students

As Amy, Joetta and I were discussing student voice during a grant meeting this evening, I kept thinking about all the ways Kristin and I are empowering our students in our classes. I just had to share this story with everyone because I think it is so extremely powerful.

Today, I had a young lady approach me with a concern about one of her group members. She explained to me that her male peer had done something that was inappropriate and she and her group members wanted to fire him from the group because he had not been taking his work seriously. So, instead of approaching him upon hearing this information, I talked it over with Kristin and we decided that we should try the mediation approach because we both agree that it would be more powerful coming from his group members than a teacher telling him that his actions were not appropriate and....we were right.

I had Mr. Shaffer, our assistant principal, sit in on the mediation session so that the group knew that it was a serious matter. I gave everyone a chance to speak and express how they were feeling about the situation. I was so impressed at how they conducted themselves. The student that had caused the issue was very accepting of the process and did not become angry that his group members had brought the problem up. Instead, he owned up to this mistakes and realized that what he did, did not make his group happy and that he would make sure he stayed on task from here on out.

To see freshmen students conduct themselves in a way that they could problem-solve and discuss an issue within their group was certainly eye opening. It didn't turn into an argument. It wasn't a blame game. It was a genuine conversation from several peers to another, letting him know that they wanted him to work with the group and not distract the group from their work, otherwise, they were going to fire him.

I feel that if I or Kristin had approached this student on our own without the other group members, it wouldn't have had the same effect. This empowered the students to have a say in how their peer "got in trouble" so to speak. They were able to have an honest, open conversation with a great end result. I may be assuming when I say this; however, I believe that students respond better to their peers (when executed in the right way) than to teachers, even parents maybe.

I'll have to keep you updated on the student's behavior for the rest of the PBL, but if I had to guess I'm sure he'll be working diligently from here on out.

Essentials for Culture

Just found this interesting as I'm reading for a grant:

Essential Elements of School Culture include:

• Intense focus on school culture
• Students are comfortable talking with adults about academic and personal issues
• Verbal and written reflection shared among staff members
• Rituals (e.g. new student orientation; International Night; alumni reunions; etc.)
• Pick Me Ups (formal time to start each day as a community)
• A focus on professional development/life-long learning for staff members
• Inter-grade & across-grade student groupings
• Democratic governance
• Student leadership
• Respect and caring
• Diversity recognized and celebrated
• Clear policies and expectations for behavior
• Emphasis on reflection
• High attendance rate
• High graduation rate
• High college acceptance rate
• Low dropout rate
• Fun!

Creating a new culture---

A step in the right direction? This is the graffiti MaryAnne found in the upstairs girls' bathroom last week:

Deep thoughts...

Do the opposite

This is a link to another blog about innovation.  Very short.

Around the Zone!

     I love it that our entire school is an Innovation Zone!  When we wrote the grant, we researched and found that there are 15 Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention.  These strategies work best when they are done together; it's not very effective to try just one or two.  This research only confirmed what our teachers had already brainstormed and what both teachers and students had said in an Edline survey we posted.  Therefore, we designed an ambitious, multifaceted project.  Three large areas we are focusing on this year are:  innovative, engaging lessons; embedded use of technology; and building community and connections.  Here are some of the dedicated and creative ways that our principals, teachers, staff, and students are working to bring about true educational reform at North Marion:
(Did I forget YOU?  Just tell me what's going on because I'd love to report about it!) 

Innovative, Engaging Lessons

• Mrs. Poling and Mr. Stalnaker are working to develop a journalism class in conjunction with the technical center marketing classes.
• Dr. Baxter is going into the ninth grade English/Social Studies class to teach them about the citizenship test.  Dr. Baxter is a primary source for this information since she is originally from Peru.  Dr. Baxter is also using Project Based Learning in her Spanish classroom. 
• Mr. Graser, Ms. Richards, Ms. Merrifield, Mr. Gerard, Mr. Myers, Mrs. Stanton, and Mr. Milanese are beginning a roller coaster PBL!  This will integrate physical science and math.  Students need to utilize the equations for distance, speed, momentum, velocity, and kinetic energy as well as use proportions and conversions of units as they design, build, and test their roller coasters.
• Mrs. Gaines and Mrs. Moore substituted in the ninth grade integrated class to get a look at what they might want to do next year as teachers of tenth graders!
• Mrs. Duckworth and Mrs. Schneider are using blogs instead of notebooks in their collaborative Earth Science classes.
• Mrs. Barner had students make biology collages to fill a bulletin board in the hall.  She also starred in a video "entry event" for a freshman PBL. (Mr. Graser dougied on a lab table for it, too!)
• Mrs. Stanton is using a time tested biology lab in which students burn peanuts and marshmallows to determine the calorie differences in food.
• Ms. Plachta began an oral communications class for ninth graders to help support the increased number of presentations that they will be required to do in their PBLs.
• Mr. Brown is inviting local emergency services personnel to his classroom to teach CPR with the dummies!  (Do not laugh about this--I know what you are thinking!)
• Mr. Barker and Mrs. Rakocky are developing a PBL on quilting and geometry.

Technology

• Mrs. Shackleford has stepped up to the challenge of handling all our technology needs from the library, and done a nice job of it.  Her son donated an entire day of installing software on the new laptops.  Both Mrs. Shackleford and Mr. Gerard provide tons of tech support without any additional time in their schedules apart from their normal job duties. 
• Mrs. DeVito has learned how to use WVEIS to set up the merged time frames for the integrated classes and then how to set up the schedules and grade books to go with that.
• Ms. Gilpin, Mrs. Mullenax, Mrs. Gouzd, and Ms. DeVaul learned to use Edline to set up students' assignments and daily agendas.  This will help students become more self-directed learners.  They are also designing an Edline training for parents.
• Ms. Carpenter and Ms. Elmer have started Globaloria at North Marion, a class in video game design.
• Mr. Milanese researched and purchased laptops and led a team of teachers who installed software on them two days after school.
• Mr. Beavan put together four lockable storage carts for the laptops.
• Ms. Carpenter oversees this blog in the evenings.

Building Community and Connectedness

• Mrs. Powell has revamped the peer tutoring program along with help from Mrs. Doshier.  Twenty peer tutors will receive FOCUS training in connecting with freshmen through GEAR UP funding.  Mrs. Neptune's WVU intern helped design the tutor forms and prompts used in the program, and has pledged some of his contract hours next semester to help with it.  Mrs. High, who implemented the first peer tutor program at North, will be volunteering here.
• Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Furbee, Mrs. Straight, Mr. Butcher, Mrs. Duckworth, and several other teachers are hosts of peer tutors and helping implement the new program.
• Mrs. Gouzd and Mrs. C. White have started a club called "Husky Mentors" that pairs freshmen with  upper classmen mentors who will be friendly to them in the hallway, send them notes, and eat lunch with them.  Several teachers have started new clubs so that students have a place to feel connected.
• Mrs. Neptune and Mrs. Powell continue to expand the C.A.P.S. program at our school, which stands for Community Awareness and Partnerships for our School.  Some volunteers from C.A.P.S. have already asked to sponsor a LEO club, and have signed up for e-mentoring through a program we are piloting.
• North Marion Alumni attended a panel discussion hosted by the freshmen and their teachers to provide the background of North Marion's history for the first freshman PBL.

Our students are benefiting from the hundreds of extra hours our teachers as professionals are giving of their own time to make North Marion a better place.

And thank you for being kind when I've forgotten to write about you today.  Many of you are holding down the fort and making these things possible.  Many of you are awaiting your opportunity to contribute, perhaps later this year or maybe next year, and I want to remember you in the next post.  Thank you Husky Family for your positive and supportive attitudes.  But then, what else would we expect from Huskies?

In the Zone

Since the first day of school it seems like everything has been moving a hundred miles an hour! I think we quickly found that this is just as much a learning process for the teachers as it is for the students. We've had to learn how to lesson plan together, teach together, and discipline together. Technology is a huge part of curriculum that we are trying to implement into our teaching delivery as much as possible! For those of you who have experienced what blackboard via Fairmont State or Mix via WVU look like and how they function, we are tyring our best to run edline in the same mannerisms. With this implementation, we've found that it requires us to troubleshoot technology more than we had anticipated! Many things that we assumed students knew how to use, pertaining to technology, we have found they needed instruction in. Simple things like, how to send an email and how to attach a document. This are great learning tools because we know that in the future this is foundation with technology is something that needs to be done with the whole class prior to starting content based instruction.
Discipline wise, we have found that in most cases, many of the issues that we previously experienced in our classes disappear when the students are engaged. They are too busy in the classroom with their activities to pick up their cell phone and get on a social network or text.
Culture - Teaching a culture to the students was essential. We spent the first three weeks of school developing and instilling a culture with our students. This culture was based on trust, respect, and responsibility. The students responded wonderfully to this! They really latched on to the notion that we were giving them privileges and a voice. We did activities such as allowing them to create their own classroom management plan.
Another thing that we have noticed is that some of the students who would have been honors students in a traditional classroom setting have experienced some frustration in having to think outside of the box and work in a collaborative method. While they are not resistant to the approach we are taking, they are frustrated because they want direct instruction 100% of the time. It's what they're used and as many of you know, change, even though often times for the best, is something that is difficult to swallow. All in all, the results have been amazing thus far! We haven't had a head hit the desk and we've even had to tell students that they had to leave class because they don't want to get up from their work! Watching students utilize self discovery is wonderful thing! Their faces light up when they achieve the goal of finding an answer on their on and they take ownership!
One last thing, this has been such a great group effort from the entire staff! Everyone has been so cooperative and eager to assist! Without everyone, this wouldn't be possible, so many thanks go out to everyone! We'd love for every teacher in the building to come in and experience this on their own! Our doors are open and our students are eager to share with you! Come visit anytime!!!

Interesting video

Here's a nice video about High Tech High School, which is a total PBL school. It's a little long, but the "guy in charge" has some interesting things to say about why PBL instruction works and what has worked for them specifically.

The Signs are All Around Us ! :-)

WBOY t.v. came to North Marion to learn more about the Innovation Zone

Click here to watch the WBOY t.v. news story about the innovation zone !  Here is a link to the previous story they ran in March.