A Super Busy Week!

Last week at this time, I was just back from vacation visiting our sons and grandsons. It wasn't the best time to take a vacation but it was important for our family to be altogether again for the first time in over a year, and we all had a wonderful time.  The vacation was too short, but both my husband and I had responsibilities at work.  Maybe next time we can stay longer.

I shared in an earlier post that I have a great staff; they take the initiative to do what needs to be done. We communicated via email or texts so I wasn't out of the loop as there were important things happening when I returned to school.

The first day back for teachers is something that is planned carefully because we set the stage for the whole school year. Mandatory trainings are part of that day; that is necessary but does not have to be painful. Our vice principals kept the teachers engaged with quick overviews and group activities to read, summarize, and share with the rest of the faculty. It helped to have chocolate to "reward" correct responses.

Sharing our school goals and focus for the year is an essential part of the first day back. Group discussions, sharing out, and having the opportunity to ask and answer tough questions really helped to improve our overall plans for the year. Now the challenge is to take the criteria we came up with as a group and to reflect so we can continue to improve.

This summer was especially busy with ongoing construction.  Completing the classroom renovations was a major coup given two weeks less time to do everything. I sometimes felt like I was cracking the whip, making sure the subcontractors finished their jobs so our teachers could get back into their rooms to set up for the new school year. The contractor joked that I was like a mama bear protecting her little ones.  I guess I'd rather be a mama bear than a another b word!

Yesterday, we celebrated the opening of the new classroom building with a Blessing and Open House.  When the Governor and First Lady accepted the invitation to attend, the event took on a new level of importance.  Thanks to all those who assisted with the planning, the day turned out great, and all of the guests were impressed with the new building.  We had a chance to share our vision for our students and how the building would enhance teaching and learning through collaboration, project-based learning, the integration of technology, and having students explore, discover, create, and share.

Tomorrow, students return to school.  We want them to be proud of the new classroom building and to commit to doing their part to take care of it.  All of the "old" buildings have also been renovated and the campus looks so much brighter and cleaner with the new exterior paint and the new roofs. Our first task for our students will be to co-construct criteria on what it means to have "Hale Kula Pride:  Take care of yourself.  Take care of others.  Take care of our school." I look forward to seeing what students come up with then it will be our job to make sure we are all doing our part to show Hale Kula Pride!

Ready or not, here they come!  Looking forward to a great school year!

Our aloha dinner the night before returning home. 

Our new 10-classroom building

The Governor and First Lady with our student greeters

We continue to focus on our vision and on reflecting Hale Kula Pride  in our actions.

Having a Great Time on Vacation!

As I write this latest blog, our teachers will be returning to school this coming Thursday, the 23rd, and we have an event that the Governor and First Lady will be attending on Monday, the 27th.  And here I am, more than 2,700 miles away from school.

I am enjoying my vacation with my family - all of our sons have flown the coop - and spending time with them and our grandsons is priceless.  Do I worry about what is going on back at school?  Well, I have been in touch via text messages or emails, but truthfully, I am really confident and trust our staff.

When teachers return on Thursday, we will have mandatory training; our vice principals have been tasked with a major part of the training.  They have shared their Google Slides with me, and there's nothing I would change.  They got this!

Our custodians have worked really hard all summer.  With the renovation of five classroom wings necessitating the removal of everything in the classroom and a summer that is two weeks shorter than last year, the custodians have had to work together to get everything done.  While I've been gone, they've been keeping me updated about all they've completed that day.  I really appreciate their initiative and their willingness to go above and beyond to get our school ready.

Just before school begins is probably the busiest time of the school year for our office staff. At this time of the summer, lots of parents are walking in to register their children for school.  In the past two years, we've had over 120 students enroll during the month of July, and this year is probably no exception.  Added to that stress is the Blessing and Open House event for our new classroom building which I have delegated to our School Administrative Services Assistant.  All of the office staff continue to do the extra work efficiently and without complaining.

Everyone knows I am on vacation so they limit their communication with me, but they do answer my questions and reassure me that things are going fine.  I trust them; they take their responsibilities seriously and do more than what is asked of them.

We discuss the General Learner Outcomes with our students, but really, they apply to our staff as well:  Self-directed Learner, Community Contributor, Complex Thinker and Problem-Solver, Quality Producer, Effective Communicator, and Effective and Ethical User of Technology.  Our staff demonstrates these attributes every day when they are doing their jobs.  It is why I can take a vacation and not feel stressed about what I need to do when I return.

Right now, our grandsons are spending the night and tomorrow with us. They are growing up so quickly, and I want to enjoy this limited time with them. This might not have been the best time to go on a vacation, but as I tell our staff all the time, our family is our priority.  It helps to know that our staff is competent so I can truly enjoy my vacation with the family.

We enjoyed taking our grandsons to the Discovery Children's Museum. I think I had as much fun as they did!

Why Can't I Be More Creative?

I'll be honest. I have no confidence in my creativity. I don't know why, but somewhere in my past, I must have been told that I was not creative. So now, I have a difficult time being in a room with others and having an assignment to "create" something. I get that uncomfortable feeling and find myself watching and trying to hide the fact that I'm not participating or following instructions.

This is somewhat disconcerting to me because I think I was pretty good at getting my students to think creatively when I was a classroom teacher. I remember some of the fun activities we did, the many creative ideas my students came up with, and their confidence when sharing something original - an idea or a product. As a mom, I was determined that my sons would feel comfortable about thinking out-of-the-box, and I challenged them to make up their own games or to find creative uses for ordinary items.  I made it a point to not buy coloring books but to have lots of paper, crayons, pens, etc. around so they would draw what they wanted to and not have to "stay in the lines." My intentions were tested when my oldest went to kindergarten. The teacher shared that he had done well on the pre-test but he could use help with his fine motor coordination. She then showed me all the other students' coloring of a bird and then showed me my son's. He had used an assortment of crayons and it wasn't neat like the others. When I asked my son about it later, he proudly stated, "Everybody else used only one color. Mine was a rainbow bird; I used lots of colors!"  As the year went by, I noticed that my son began to conform to what was expected. Did school kill his creativity?

What does it mean to be creative in school? What does that look like, and how do we get students to a place where thinking of and sharing creative ideas is the norm and not the exception?

So often in school, we structure our day so there is minimal time for students to explore, discover, and create on their own or with peers who have similar interests. The adult in the classroom tells students what to do, how to do it, and how much time they have to complete it. Activities such as writing or art which are opportunities to share our creative ideas are often structured as well, and we give students samples to follow or everyone is given the same assignment and is expected to complete it the same way.  How do we move away from giving students the structure or the expectation to providing them with opportunities to think and act creatively?  After much thought, here are my suggestions:

• We need to know our students, especially their interests and their strengths.  Give them time to explore so they can discover what they enjoy doing or what they're good at.  Doing so can instill in them a confidence that they can contribute to their classroom community.
• Expose our students to great works of art, music, and literature from different cultures. They need to hear and see examples of the classics and to create their own ideas about why these have survived the test of time. 
• Allow students to share their opinions and to understand that everyone is entitled to their own likes and dislikes based on their own personal experiences.  Everyone's voice must be respected.
• Provide a structure for students where they brainstorm and think of as many ideas as they can. From this open-ended divergent thinking activity, students choose one to focus on. For example, ask students to list as many uses as they can for a paper bag or a pencil or an envelope.  Then students choose one unique idea, sketch out their process,  and then create and share it. We may be surprised with the creative ideas that emerge from this simple activity.
• Model and share examples of creativity. "Johnny came up with a different way to solve that math problem.  Johnny, can you explain your thought process with the class?" or "Listen for descriptive words or phrases while I read the story aloud.  Raise your hand when you hear something that catches your ear." Then stop periodically and call on students to share what they heard and what picture those words painted in their minds. Provide students with examples so they can understand what creative thinking is.  The more we do this as teachers, the more natural it becomes.
• Teach students different tools - both low-tech and high-tech - so they have a choice in how they want to create and share their learnings.  Choice is a powerful motivator, and we might be pleasantly surprised at the final products. I was amazed with what some of our fifth graders created and shared when they could choose their own topic based on the theme of the quarter. Some students used tools that they discovered and learned on their own; clearly, the teacher had created a learning culture in her classroom where students were confident and self-directed learners. 
• Finally, TIME is such an important factor if we want our students to be creative.  Every student is different; some will jump right in while others need time to reflect and think before coming up with an idea. We need to recognize these differences and make sure our schedule includes time for personalized learning.  

So back to me and my lack of confidence when asked to create something.  I realize that I may never overcome my discomfort when producing an art project.  However, I can be creative in other ways, most importantly, as a school leader. How we address the needs of our school community to ensure success takes commitment and creativity. I am committed, and I will continue to explore creative ways to ensure that every student and every staff member has the tools they need to be successful. 

During the Cardboard Challenge, students were able to create what they wanted using old cardboard boxes and other materials. This is such a fun activity for our students as well as for our military partners who guide the students through their projects.

Students were able to create games and have other students try them out. It wasn't unusual to hear students critique their own product and share how they would improve it.  This is something we want students to do - to self-assess so they can continue to improve.

"Myths & Lies" about Education

During the school year, my personalized professional development consists mainly of reading blogs that are posted on Twitter, Google+, or Facebook primarily because they're shorter and with all the expectations of a school administrator, finding the time to complete a book can be a challenge.  Now that it's summer, though, I thought I'd read a book that was recommended by someone I follow on Twitter.  It's called, 50 Myths & Lies that Threaten America's Public Schools. (Click on the link to read an interview with the authors.)

As someone who tries to keep up with the trends in public education, I found the book to be validating as well as somewhat discouraging because there are so many misconceptions about public education and the answers provided by conservative think tanks, policy makers, or large publishing companies are not what will make a difference for our students.

My major takeaway from the book is this: our public education system is not broken.  There are lots of great things happening in our public schools, but if we don't solve America's inequity problems, we will always have a large group of students who will struggle with learning.  It's not their fault.

It's not enough, though, to wring our hands and justify that there will always be students who fall through the cracks or who are born into situations where struggling in school is a very realistic possibility. The question then is, "What can we do about it?"  The authors of 50 Myths & Lies offer some solutions in the interview: mixed housing areas so all low-income people are not in the same area; higher taxes on the wealthy and some corporations to fund teachers, police officers, firefighters, the military, and other service positions; dual language schools; and more money in education budgets to fund quality early childhood education programs or after-school or summer enrichment and tutoring programs.  These are great ideas for policy makers to consider, but I don't hold out much hope that action will be taken anytime soon.

Those of us who are in the schools do our best with what we're given. I can think of lots of ways to spend the money if we had more funding for schools, but the reality is that we shouldn't count on getting more. When the Governor and the Legislature are obligated to balance the budget, it is assumed that the extras will be cut out of the Department's request especially during lean years. So what are schools supposed to do?

That's the big question schools are grappling with, and I know that like every other school, we're not waiting. Schools don't wait; we act because we know that our school communities trust that we will do the best for our students. So despite the fact that funding is inadequate to address the needs of our individual schools, we find funding through grants or partnerships to ensure that our students continue to grow as learners.  Or teachers volunteer their services because they know it will help their kids.

A book like 50 Myths & Lies that Threaten America's Public Schools does not seem to have the same impact as the movie, Waiting for Superman.  John Q. Public loves to bash our public schools but they offer no viable solutions on how to "fix" our problems.  Educators in public schools take the heat from the public without fighting back and continue to do our best for our students and our school communities. But maybe it is time for us to be more vocal - not necessarily to fight back against the "myths and lies" --  but to share the positive things going on in public schools today.  Public schools deserve to be supported!

Note:
Follow the Hawaii Department of Education on Facebook. You'll be amazed at all the GREAT things happening in our Hawaii public schools! https://www.facebook.com/HIDepartmentofEducation

A Confession

I've blogged about my concerns with the Smarter Balanced Assessments earlier in a blog titled, "What's Wrong with this Picture?" so I won't repeat my concerns.  Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders took the assessments beginning in April and ending sometime in May when the last students submitted their results.  It was a challenge for many, especially those students who aren't at grade level yet.

We started getting results in mid-May, a few at a time.  Our scores are not looking great.  We were prepared for lower scores than previous statewide assessment results; after all, this is a new test, and our students are not used to that format.

Before the school year ended, I was having a conversation with a teacher I really respect. She co-taught in an inclusion classroom and many of her students struggled academically.  Several of them had special needs or English was not their primary language. However, no one would know that when they observed in this classroom and saw the students collaborating on projects, sharing presentations, asking questions of each other to clarify what was shared, or working in groups to solve a complex math problem. "They have come a long way since the beginning of the year," this teacher shared, "but they still struggle with academic language.  They need that opportunity to discuss with their peers first. Then they can communicate their ideas but writing will still be a challenge for them."

So knowing that the SBAC results may not reflect our students' true potential, why do I keep checking several times a day to see if any more results are posted and if our percentage of students with a score of 3 or 4 has gone up? I wish I could care less, but hard as I try, I find myself looking at the scores and feeling somewhat disappointed.

After all, I know that the public uses test scores to judge our schools.  We see headlines in the paper comparing schools by test scores, and we see magazines use the State Strive-Hi results to give our public schools a letter grade.  There are winners and losers when the media opts to grade schools on a bell curve.  My heart tells me not to worry about test scores, but my head wonders if there's more we can do to help our students be more successful on these kinds of assessments.

As the principal of our school, I was conflicted.  As I reflected on this quandary, I remembered a fable titled, "The Animal School" written by George Reavis back in the 1940's.  This fable reminded me that our job as educators is to see the possibilities in every child and to help every student achieve to their fullest potential.  That is what is important, and that is why I have been an educator for over four decades.

Will I continue to check the SBAC results every day? Probably, but I will look at the results as just one piece of data and definitely not the most important one for our students.

Another School Year Comes to a Close

In three days, SY2014-2015 will come to an end.  I was browsing through the yearbook that the Parent Teacher Organization put together and reminisced about everything that had taken place this past year.

Our Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation process was our biggest challenge this year. Every member of our staff was involved in the process, and the whole school community rallied around to ensure that the visit reflected our self-study report.  The Visiting Committee validated our report as well as the areas of strength and areas for improvement. We are still awaiting news from WASC about our accreditation term; we will let you know when we receive that report.

As I thumbed through the pages of the yearbook with photos of the different activities, I felt proud that our students were community contributors.  Our students loved participating in activities like the Turkey Trot, Jingle Bell Run, and Jump Rope for Heart.  We contributed generously to the Hawaii Foodbank, the Wounded Warrior Project, the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, and the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. Our second graders also participated in their annual beach clean-up as a culmination of their social studies unit about renewable and non-renewable resources. We will continue to encourage our students to participate in these kinds of projects so they realize that they can make a difference in this world. After all, we may live on a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but our students are global citizens.  What we do now impacts their world in the future.

Our taught curriculum focused on the Common Core State Standards and embedded critical thinking, problem-solving, and project-based learning. But school is more than just academics.  As I browsed through the yearbook, I saw evidences of other meaningful learning experiences such as the school-wide Cardboard Challenge, grade level gardens, learning about Hawaiian history and culture, intramural activities, and service clubs such as Student Council, Greeters Club, and Junior Police Officers.  A well-rounded school experience includes art, music, drama, and physical education as well as the academics, and we are pleased that Hale Kula offers these opportunities for our students.

Of course, a review of the year would not be complete without mentioning our construction project. We started off the school year in the beautiful and spacious new administration building, and as the year ends, we are beginning to move into the new classroom building; next year, about 200 students will be in the new classrooms, and all students will be able to use the tech lab. Construction will continue for at least one more school year when the library media/student center and the covered play court should be ready for occupancy.  We are so grateful to all those who made this project possible! Our students now and in the future will be the beneficiaries of their foresight in allocating the funding necessary to upgrade our facilities.

The ending of the school year is bittersweet.  While most of us look forward to summer break, working in a military-impacted school means that about a third of our students and their families will be leaving our school. I wish I could see all of our students as they progress from kindergarten through fifth grade and transition to middle school and high school, but that rarely happens in a military-impacted school. It is my hope that these students will remember their time in Hawaii and at Hale Kula with warm memories and that they will spread "aloha" wherever they go. Fortunately, through social media, we can keep in touch with those who have left Hale Kula.

As this school year ends, I'd like to thank everyone for making 2014-2015 a memorable year at Hale Kula Elementary School!

Students ran to music at the annual Jingle Bell Run and brought in donations for the Wounded Warrior Project.  The Student Council representatives researched different charitable organizations and voted to donate any funds raised to the Wounded Warrior Project. 

Our JPOs worked with the military police once a month to remind drivers to drive safely.  

Our partners, the HHBN 25th ID, assisted with various projects throughout the year. We really appreciate their partnership with our school, and they enjoy being with the students and helping out.  Here, they are helping with the Cardboard Challenge activities. 

Disconnected Leadership - Something to Think About

I look forward to reading Peter DeWitt's blogs in EdWeek.  I find myself agreeing with him most of the time about issues like school climate, accountability, testing, and leadership. One of his recent blogs was about Disconnected Leadership.  Peter conducted a survey and suggested that there are 3 areas that are at the heart of the disconnect between teachers and school leaders:  faculty meetings and classroom observations which in turn affect school climate.

This blog made me reflect on how I lead at our school.  I wondered whether our teachers felt the same way as many of the teachers in the survey.  I think our teachers would agree that we do try to communicate as much information as possible via emails or our staff bulletin rather than through faculty meetings. Many of our teachers know of my aversion to sitting in meetings where we "sit and get" and where the agendas are composed of compliance issues and mandates.  This is primarily why I do my best not to do that to our staff.  However, Peter suggests that another reason why teachers may be disengaged in faculty meetings is because they have not been asked for their suggestions and have not helped to co-construct the agenda.

Peter also mentioned that classroom observations are a problem, especially when teachers are at the receiving end of feedback and the observation does not create new learning opportunities for them.  A major component of our State's evaluation system is a teacher observation using the Danielson framework. I personally do not believe that 30% of a teacher's evaluation should be based on one observation, and I've shared my viewpoints previously in an earlier blog. I enjoy going into classrooms to talk with kids and see what kind of learning is taking place, but I prefer less formal observations that give me information about what goes on in the classroom on a daily basis and not just once a year during a required observation.

Finally, Peter shares that school climate is impacted negatively when relationships between leaders and their staff are strained, and he suggests that we start by changing the way we do faculty meetings and classroom observations/evaluations.  I agree.  I believe that how we conduct faculty meetings, professional development sessions, or observation feedback with our teachers should mirror what we want to see in the classrooms where the outcome would be excited learners following their passions and trying new ideas, collaborating with their peers, and self-reflecting to improve.  The first step is being open to ideas from our staff to determine faculty meeting agendas or professional development sessions.  The second step is to work with teachers to build their capacity to lead these sessions with their peers.

After all, education is about the learner and the learning.  This is true not only for students but for teachers and school leaders as well.