Monday, November 9, 2009

What a Week!

What a week at Harriet Bishop!
  • Strings lessons started today. It is amazing to see kiddos walking through the hallways with violins and violas in hand, or basses or cellos on their backs!
  • Our Artist in Residence, Leo Lara, will start on Wednesday. Check out our newsletter to find out more about this amazing musician!
  • Wednesday is also Veterans' Day, when students will learn about the sacrifice and valor of veterans and current servicemen and servicewomen.
  • On Thursday, M.A. Rosko, from Fox 9, will be doing live shots at Harriet Bishop as our students will participate in the WSSA Stack Up event.
  • Our 5th and 6th graders of the Willow Community are giving their time and making a difference at Ebenezer Care Center through service projects.
  • Students buildingwide are participating in a food drive for local food shelves from now through November 18th.
  • Mr. Risteau and some very creative students recently finished making their stop motion animated movie shorts.
  • Speaking of some creative and capable students, did you know that Harriet Bishop's Spelling Bee was filmed and broadcast throughout our building, complete with graphics and text? No bid deal you say... Mr. Risteau was absent that day. It was done ENTIRELY BY STUDENTS!!!
What a week! What wonderful opportunities for students! What a terrific group of professionals who work here! What a fantastic group of students!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Achilles Heel of Change

Achilles was one of the principal players in the Trojan War, and star of Homer's Illiad.  He was handsome, strong, cool, a real legend.  I guess one can equate him nowadays with, oh, Derek Jeter (the World Series is on my mind) or a stud football player.  However, Achilles had a bit of a problem.  He was invulnerable except for his heel (seriously, his heel?  Where do people come up with these ideas?!).  And, of course, he was killed by an arrow shot...yes... in his heel.  Bad luck for po' Achilles.
I was reading today about identification of gifted and talented students.  Always a juicy subject.  I like the work of Joe Renzulli (well, that would be Dr. Joseph Renzulli to me, since I've never met him... but I did meet his wife, the esteemed Dr. Sally Reis of gifted education fame), and I in particular like the three conceptual rings of giftedness (above-average ability, task commitment, and creativity).  That model makes giftedness more personal, less of a numbers game.  I was reading an article that was written by Dr. Renzulli, and in it he referred to the Achilles Heel of Change.  Being a language arts teacher, I loved the metaphor, and it inspired me to write about change as it pertains to Harriet Bishop.  He writes, "Even the modest changes in the status quo inevitably raise concerns and questions on the parts of practitioners who might be affected by the proposed changes."  Harriet Bishop is experiencing changes in the status quo, and many are affected by the changes.  That has been duly noted, and extensively considered.  But what has changed, really?
We have an increased number of identified gifted students in our school.  They have not necessarily been identified as "gifted" across the board - meaning that they may be gifted in one area.  But they certainly are needing challenge in their daily school lives.
We are working hard to flexibly cluster our students based on many things, and that means a shake-up of how some things were done in the past.  Pre-assessments, figuring out grades between teachers, the list goes on and on.  What the list provides, however, is a better, fuller way to meet the needs of ALL students.
We have two new programs in our school - strings and Spanish.  Scheduling of time and space has been a dance.
We have a mission statement that takes into account the needs of all learners - all of them.
These are all changes to Harriet Bishop - ones that we can't take at face value, and ones that we must serve fully.
Renzulli then writes, "The Achilles Heel of change is not guidelines, but apathy."  (Isn't that awesome?  I think so!)  If we believe in the change that we have instituted, then we must mobilize.  We must become the change we want to see (Thanks, Ghandhi!).  Apathy isn't part of the equation.  It just isn't.  We have work to do - all of us...the entire Harriet Bishop community - staff, students, families, the community.  We can question the changes, because that makes us reflective of the process.  We can voice concern - AND celebrate the successes, because that forces us to take a broad look at exactly what is going on.  But we must be committed members of the team.  There are wonderful things going on here at Harriet Bishop.  There always have been wonderful things going on at Harriet Bishop. 
Let's look at Achilles again.  The reason he was vulnerable in his heel was because when he was little, his mother Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him into the River Styx ("come sail away, come sail away, come and sail away with me!").  Well, she got most of him - all but his heel.  Trying to completely protect didn't work, and that was ultimately Achilles' downfall.  Every single thing, every single person, has an Achilles heel.  Knowing what it is, is the best way to protect against it.  We can celebrate all that Harriet Bishop has been historically, and celebrate the new things that Harriet Bishop has embraced, knowing that they are good for all learners. This is GOOD change.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Gifts from a Letter

I came across an article today from SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted).  It's called "September Secret", and I'm putting the link to the article with this entry because it really is something everyone should read.  But it got me thinking about all of our students, and the gifts and challenges each one of them brings to the classroom.
In this "letter", a young student writes to his teacher (I'm using "he" collectively here - I don't know what gender the writer was) at the beginning of the year about what he already knows coming into the classroom; how he has an Aunt Martha who told him the story of the aliens with seven fingers who did math in base seven; how he gets conflicted in class, because he doesn't know if he should raise his hand or not raise his hand - that he doesn't know what everyone expects of him; that his learning must be in base two because it only has two fingers - either "on" or "off".  The letter is a beautifully written example of the myriad thoughts going through the minds of our children every day in our classrooms. 
We don't have enough hours in the day - as teachers or as parents - to react to and provide for every single need of every single child every single day.  So we have to pick and choose.  We do so as parents: whether it's about the use of TV or Nintendo; where to live, what activities to join, the amount and kind of vegetables to serve (and in increasing numbers - the type of food we are able to buy to serve).  Schools are no different...well, actually they are, because each classroom is headed by one person who has to make those choices for 24+ children.  The easiest thing to do is to find all the similarities of the students, because then we have less choices to make.  But once children are seen a collective entity, rather than individuals, we lose sight of the shore.  It doesn't get easier.  When children are seen as the same, we end up making more work for ourselves, because there WILL be some children who are not learning.  And every student in school has the right to learn.
The child who writes this "letter" talks about being "autopedantic".  This is the type of student who, left to his own devices, will continue to learn.  How lucky for him.  Not every gifted child is like that.  Neither is every non-gifted child - but we don't expect them to be.  We have to make sure that even with our limited time, we are making choices that will result in equitable learning for all.  For all.  Gifted children deserve the same educational expectations we have for regular education children, and special compensation that we have for special education children.  Sometimes I wish we could get rid of the term gifted.  Seems that sometimes that term often comes with its own disdainful emphasis placed on it, as though when we say it there should be an extra sigh.  "He's a *sigh*gifted student, you know. *sigh*"
Well, when you read the letter written to a teacher - at least when I read the letter written to the teacher - the sigh disappeared and I saw a face of a real child who just wants to learn.  That's a gift in and of itself.  I encourage you to follow the link and read the letter.
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/september_secret.htm