September 3, 2018

Good morning- I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful Labor Day weekend.  Thank you for a wonderful first week of the 2018-2019 school year.  I loved seeing the relationships being built with students in many classes around the building.  If you didn't find time the first two days to get to know your students, look for ways each day to spend even 5 minutes getting to know them.. It will pay off. This Friday is the All-School PBIS Activity & Convocation Day.  Class lists and Scavenger Hunt directions will be shared soon.  Please be an active participant in the event, even though Peer Leaders will be leading.  This is a time to get to know students across all grade levels and to encourage relationship building among students. The schedule is found here. A reminder for the end of the day. The front of the school is considered a two lane road.  If the buses have their stop signs out & lights flashing you can not pass them. Thanks for your patience as we get the students off safely every afternoon. We spoke about the Crisis Response and Intervention team briefly last week.  Geoff Mostow is one of the district trainers. If you are interested in being a part of the team please let us know.  We are planning a re-certification class for October.  Attached are the General Overview of CPI.  Please review them and let Geoff know if you have any questions. Dates to remember: September 5- Class meetings (see the AHS calendar for times.  Please wait for classes to be called to the auditorium and attend with your class. September 12- Picture Day (All staff MUST have their picture taken for                         ID purposes.)                          New Faculty introductions at School Committee September 13- Faculty meeting 2:50-3:50pm September 24-28- Start With Hello Week! September 25- Department Liaison meeting 2:50pm September 27- Parent's/Back to School Night  6-8pm Please review the Faculty/Staff Handbook as well as the Mandatory Trainings and return all forms to Linda Chaney.   Here's a few articles I've read in the past couple of weeks and thought I would share.  Food for thought..... Deeper Discussions with the TQE Method The Structure of Tracking: Instructional Practices of Teachers Leading Low- and High-Track Classes A note from Hack Learning........ I've been thinking a lot about homework lately, asking myself these two questions:  1 - Why do we continue to assign it? 2 - What does the research say? I wrote this in a blog post last year: Neither question comes with a silver bullet response. I suspect the best answer to the first is, it’s the old That’s-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it mentality. Most educators simply don’t know how to escape the age-old tradition of homework. The second question — “What does the research say” — is far more intriguing when rephrased to, “How is homework research conducted?” Some research A recent study, published by the American Psychological Association, is indicative of how almost all homework research is conducted and a perfect example of why the research is so misleading. Consider this quote from the study: "The students were given questionnaires asking how often they did homework and how much time they spent on various subjects. They were also asked whether they did their homework alone or whether they had help and, if so, how often. Their academic performance in math and science was measured using a standardized test. Adjustments were made to account for gender and socioeconomic background. Prior knowledge was measured using previous grades in math and science." I’ve consumed many books and studies, similar to the one referenced above, regarding the impact of homework on learning, and every single piece of research I’ve read on the subject measures student performance with some sort of test or grade. These studies, I believe, are unreliable, because test scores and grades are highly subjective instruments that undermine what we know about learning, nearly as much as homework does. What's the answer? While I'd love to drop a simple "Stop testing and grading" on you, I won't, because this is a systemic change that can take years. And innovative problem-solving requires right now strategies. What You Can Do Tomorrow 1 - Change your homework mindset. Decide how to inspire students to learn outside of school on their own. This involves choice and engaging ways to apply lessons to the real world 2 - Encourage creativity. Ask kids to create activities that demonstrate how they think about a lesson or concept learned in class.  3 - Ease up on parents. If homework requires parents to offer too much assistance, students may rely too much on their help. This creates friction on many fronts. Replace "Help your child complete this worksheet" with "Ask your child why she did it that way or what she could do differently." Also, reading, walking, playing and just being together are wonderful out-of-class activities. Changing any mindset is difficult. Feel free to look for help. Reach out to peers and to experts on Twitter, Facebook, and other places.