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Posts Tagged ‘Irwin Park’

Students Are Pretty Awesome

Posted in SD45, tagged , , , , , on December 22, 2017| 2 Comments »

I wrote something earlier this week for our local school district audience highlighting the some of the community service I was seeing with our students. I will republish it here as although it is about our students in West Vancouver, it is really part of the story about the modern student. The modern student values academics but is really defined by being a passionate citizen.

For this column, I met with two grade 2 boys who planned and executed a book sale to raise money for cancer research. I also spoke with a group of grade 7 students who had found the amazing power of anonymous giving. Of course, these are just two of the dozens of similar stories across our district, and I know being played out across schools everywhere.

While we can get fixated on a particular test result or academic metric, it is great to step back and see the amazing ways are schools are honing the citizenship of our learners. And be reminded our kids are pretty awesome! Here is the full text of my article this week:

Everywhere you turn at this time of year, people are engaged in giving and charitable works. In our schools over the course of the school year, students and staff also engage in projects, small and large, that contribute to local and international charitable efforts. Many of these projects are focussed around the holiday season or other special occasions, but a number of initiatives also take place year-round.

While we often think of these efforts in terms of the benefits that flow to recipients, a growing body of scientific evidence demonstrates that acts of philanthropy strongly benefit the giver as well. To mark the season of giving, I’d like to highlight a few examples of this work around the district in this month’s column, and reflect on a few of the lessons that students have mentioned to me.

Caulfeild Elementary

On December 4th, Caulfeild embarked on a whole school inquiry, beginning with the question Through Empathy, can we better meet the needs of those in society? A representative from the Harvest Project visited the school’s assembly, held that morning, and students were shown a short video to provoke classroom discussions. The purpose of the inquiry is to move beyond “giving” and “awareness” to incorporate a meaningful understanding that not everyone’s basic needs are being met, and develop ways to support those needs.

École Pauline Johnson

In addition to a special effort on behalf of Cops for Cancer earlier this year, the school is very proud of two boys in Grade 2, Daniel and Robert, who collaboratively planned, launched and led a book sale this month to raise money to donate to cancer research. The boys raised $583.15 from the sale, and when I met with them to congratulate them on their success, they told me about how their initiative has sparked others in their class to also engage in community-minded projects. Daniel and Robert said that they were surprised with how helpful everyone was through the process, but also learned just how difficult the planning can be for such a large initiative.

 

Eagle Harbour Montessori

Each year, the school studies a continent as part of a year-round project. In September, each student in the upper elementary class researches a charity and presents their findings to the class. The class then votes to determine which charity the school will focus on for the year. To support the chosen cause or causes, students hold and organize their own fundraisers. Last year, as the school was studying South America, students raised funds for Free Kicks and the Galapagos Islands Trust. This year, with a focus on Antarctica and Australasia, students chose to support the Global Penguin Conservation and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

Irwin Park Elementary

Students at Irwin Park have been filling shoeboxes full of essential items for the Union Gospel Mission, part of its Day of Care in association with Me to We. This initiative also includes a pajama day and buddy activities to support younger students. Parents at the school have organized Santa’s Workshop, where families donate items and then students shop for their families to support the Grade 7 legacy fundraiser. Finally, the school hosted a loonie drive to support the purchase of a tree at the Dundarave Festival of Lights. All funds raised support the Lookout Society’s North Shore shelter.

Ridgeview Elementary

At Ridgeview Elementary school, the Grade 7 We Team, along with teacher sponsors Cari Wilson and Russ Paterson, spearheaded a food drive called the We Scare Hunger Campaign. All items collected were delivered to their sister school, Grandview Elementary, and some of the students even stocked the pantry at Grandview. This year, the group collected so much that they had to enlist the help of the district’s facilities crew to deliver the collected items. In addition a Grade 4 class at the school, together with teacher sponsor Amy Meldrum, launched its second annual sock drive, collecting more than 822 pairs of socks. The initiative benefitted babies and young children through BabyGoRound and all other socks went to the North Shore’s Lookout Shelter.

West Bay Elementary

One Grade 6 class at West Bay Elementary school maintains contact with a group of school children in Africa, sending letters back and forth. A Grade 7 student spearheaded a shoebox clothing drive for women’s shelters in Vancouver; he made announcements and collected clothing and toiletries from each division, packed the items in shoeboxes and individually wrapped them. The Grade 7 students at the school have all been involved in the We Scare Hunger campaign, collecting canned goods to benefit food banks. The four Grade 6 and 7 classes provide dessert for the Oppenheimer Christmas Dinner – between the two classes, they bake about 500 dozen cookies, which are donated to the residents of the Downtown Eastside. Parents get in on the giving action too, by putting together hampers for families in need.

I had the chance to speak with Grade 7 students at West Bay about the “Joy Virus” they spread at Park Royal. The students in Mr. Darling’s class decided to pass on the “Secret Santa” this year and instead bring cheer to complete strangers at Park Royal. It was interesting to hear the reactions of students. They found great joy and fulfillment for doing good for others, without a typical reward attached. A number of them spoke about how they have also done recent random acts of kindness, not because they would get credit, but because they knew it would create joy for others, which in-turn warmed their hearts. It was a wonderful lesson in the power of giving.

The descriptions above are just a few examples of the organized giving efforts in place at West Vancouver Schools. Many other charitable actions are taken by students in our other schools, and secondary students are also very involved, particularly as members of the many clubs that thrive on our high school campuses.

Finally, our own staff gets in on the action every year, by supporting local charities with funds raised during the district-wide Holiday Party celebration. Staff members at our schools and sites donate items to themed baskets, and a draw is held to give away the amazing and beautifully presented donations. This year, funds will be donated to Out in Schools, a program that works with the education and non-profit community organizations to reduce isolation, foster belonging and increase the safety of learning environments for all youth. A second donation from the fundraiser will go to the Street2Peak project, an organization that works with some of our region’s most vulnerable at-risk youth, using physical fitness, outdoor pursuits and marathon training to turn lives around.

I am very proud of the work being done by the West Vancouver Schools community to support those in need, whether locally or around the world. We each have a special gift, and I know that our community is a generous one.

Thanks to West Vancouver Schools Communications Manager Bev Pausche for assistance with this post.

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Inside Stories

Posted in SD45, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 22, 2015| 2 Comments »

story-4

As regular readers know, I blog in West Vancouver as part of a rich community of teachers and administrators who are regularly sharing insights into their school, their profession and their work.  The blogs, from teachers and administrators, give a wonderful window into school life.  They are as diverse and varied as the topics which we spend our time on each day in schools.  Here is a recent sampling of what those around me have been writing.

Steve Rauh, the Principal of West Van Secondary blogged about our district-wide keynote presentation from Paralympic Champion Josh Dueck:

From his opening slide with the formula Passion + Perseverance = Possibility, Josh shared with us his personal pendulum story of hope, loss, love, despair, love, and hope again. I cannot remember hearing or seeing a more inspirational story or person who brought themes of recklessness, intuition, passion, ego, regret, humiliation, persistence, determination, and possibility.

For West Bay Principal, Judy Duncan, her latest post is all about looking ahead to the remainder of the school year and key topics at her school including their new learning commons, fresh ideas around communicating student learning,  IB self-study, self-regulation and a focus on the communication competency:

Teachers work passionately to facilitate rich learning opportunities for students and we work together with determination and enthusiasm to affect positive change within the school.  I am optimistic 2015 is going to be another wonderful year, full of noisy learning, quiet contemplation, continued collaboration and an abundance of creative thinking. High five for our Top 5, but let’s keep moving!

At Irwin Park Elementary, the students have also been setting goals for the remainder of the year – that are posted around the school.  Principal Cathie Ratz reflects on what she sees:

  They tell a story of Irwin Park students wanting to be better listeners, better self regulators, better readers, writers, eaters, swimmers, skiers, brothers…  The goals are realistic.  In most cases students identified a plan to meet their goals and in some cases personal supports to help them stick to their plans.  I wonder about self esteem and self control as predictors of success. Need there be an esteem vs control debate?  Does feeling good lead to a complacency that may interfere with the discipline needed to achieve success? Worthy debate?

It is always a hard decision for parents to decide what to do when their child isn’t feeling 100%  Two of West Vancouver’s most experienced Kindergarten teachers Christy Campbell and Andrea Daudlin, the writers of The Self-Regulated Teacher share their words of experience:

Sometimes a sick child may still wish to come to school. But in the classroom we are very close to each other in proximity. The children are playing at Centre Time quite close together. They sit close together while eating at the tables. They still hold each others’ hands. Because our supplies are shared, including crayons, scissors, gluesticks and pencils, a sick child at school increases the risk of spreading infection to the rest of the children in the class.

Your child will enjoy their school experiences much more when they return to school rested and healthy!

At Hollyburn Elementary, Principal Tara Zielinski has tackled a topic that is always on the front burner with teachers and parents – testing!  Her latest post looks at the use of data in schools.  For her, the key is how the information will be used:

Should we test?  Absolutely.  However, we must be focused and intentional in what and why we are testing.  More importantly, we must be prepared to use the outcomes to enhance our students’ skills and be flexible and reflective as we navigate the strategies employed to respond to our students’ specific and individual needs.

Bowen Island Community School Head Teacher Laura Magrath used her blog to share her reflections on the challenge of learning to reflect.  Reflection is a key piece of the new curriculum proposed in BC, and Laura points out it should be included in all classes:

Reflection needs to happen multiple times throughout the learning process. Reflection while we are actively learning provides us with feedback that can alter our learning journey. For example, when shooting a basketball, I get immediate feedback that can be utilized. Not enough arc, I hit the rim. Next shot I think of the arc and overcompensate. I get immediate feedback again as I hit too high on the backboard. I try again and get the feedback of: Swish! Nothing but net. This kind of reflection-feedback loop should occur in our all of our classes.

Laura’s Bowen Island colleague, Scott Slater, who in his first month as Principal of the school, sees his school as a moving school, differentiating from the school as potentially a wandering school:

It is best, however, for schools not to wander.  Implementing change in a school requires a significant amount of time, energy and inertia, and if not done well or without follow-through, innovation too often feels like adding to practice rather than evolving practice, of increasing workload without increasing student achievement.  A wandering school means that broad changes may be made, but likely not deep ones.

Ridgeview Principal, Val Brady, tackles the issue of evaluation, assessment and reporting with her latest post.  There are shifts taking place with how teachers and schools communicate with parents on student learning at the same time we there is a shift happening with curriculum.  So, in some ways report cards are still the report cards we all remember from school ourselves, but increasingly there is a a focus on areas of competency:

Report Cards are intended to provide clear, meaningful comments from your child’s teacher and highlight strengths and areas for improvement.  Beyond commenting on basic skills, progress reports will highlight student progress and development in key competencies areas, Inquiry Learning and student self-awareness as represented in the Ridgeview Learner Profiles

Cypress Park Vice-Principal, Kim Grimwood, has taken on a more personal topic with her latest post – a topic many parents spend a lot of time considering – video games.  For her video games are not simply either good or bad:

I think we need to take a more balanced approach.  One day, when I think my children are ready, I will probably purchase some sort of video game system for our family.  I will do this for many reasons. Firstly, I’m sure my children will have fun and enjoy passing time by playing video games. Secondly, I believe that many games can build important cognitive skills and develop my children’s understanding of technology.  Thirdly, I’m not above wanting my children to not feel ostracized for not having what their peers have (within reason of course).

Of course, this is just a small sample. You can check out all of our bloggers  by visiting our school sites here.

There are so many wonderful ideas being shared.  Hopefully this sampling will give you one or more “must reads” to add to your regular list of those you follow and learn with.

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Dr. Shanker and Self Regulation – Continuing the Conversation

Posted in Change, Health, Parenting, Personalized Learning, SD45, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 19, 2013| 7 Comments »

selfreg

Two of my most popular posts have been about Dr. Stuart Shanker and his work; each post has received well over 10,000 views.  To recap, the first post in November 2010 is here and the second one here  was written in April 2012.

West Vancouver is part of the first wave of school districts in British Columbia, along with Bulkley Valley, Coquitlam, Greater Victoria, Nanaimo and Surrey, who are working together on a project to implement and monitor the impact of self-regulated instructional models.  One of the greatest contributions to date has been a one-stop shop for resources on Self-Regulation (here).

Dr. Shanker’s work is clearly providing inspiration around the province, and we are seeing that in each of our schools in West Vancouver.  While the work models may look slightly different in each school, the impetus of having students in their zone for learning is district-wide.  A number of recent blog posts by some of our district educational leaders support this influence:

Westcot Principal, Liz Hill describes her school’s work with The Zones of Regulation:

We often make the assumption that children know how to identify their emotions, but akin to teaching reading, writing and math, emotional  literacy is a skill that needs to be taught to our children.  The Zones of Regulation framework teaches the language of emotions.  This helps children understand how one’s state of regulation impacts one’s ability to be calm, alert and ready to learn.  Using this framework, students develop  their own personal toolkit of strategies and learn when, how and why to use  strategies to help them  be “good to go” or “ready to do their best learning.”  These self-regulation tools may include breathing techniques, stretching, exercising, reading or simply getting a drink of water.

West Bay Principal, Judy Duncan, describes her school’s efforts to look through a lens of self-regulation:

Self-regulation spans all five domains (biological, cognitive, emotional, social, pro-social) and is really about the burning and recovering of energy.  As Shanker states, “optimal self-regulation requires a child to match his or her energy levels to meet the demands of a situation in a maximally efficient manner.”  More and more research is linking how well students do in school to their ability to self-regulate.  We are seeing this firsthand at West Bay, thus the excitement to improve our practice.

Our school’s Self-Regulation Team meets regularly to discuss how teachers and students can be supported in the quest to maintain self-regulation in the classroom. The team shares its work at staff meetings and in informal conversations; our teachers are keen on deepening their understanding of self-regulation and are open to trying new strategies to support their students. If you were to wander into our Grade Two classroom, you might see some students wearing noiseless headphones, some using cardboard study carrels (they call these “force fields”), others sitting on wiggle cushions, while others may be perched on stools at the side of the classroom.  These seven-year olds are beginning to figure out what they need to help them learn.  This metacognition piece is key.  As one little girl blurted out the other day, “I need to self-regulate!” Being aware of your own emotions and what you need to achieve a state of calm is very powerful!

Lions Bay Vice-Principal, Jody Billingsley, describes a number of ways they are fostering self-regulation including a series of classroom management techniques:

Classroom management techniques that have the children thinking about their levels of arousal when in a lesson.  We have “check ins” where the student self-assesses as to whether she is calmly focused and alert.  We call this level 4 – directly stemming from Shanker’s stages of arousal.  If they are at the level 3 stage (hypoalert) of arousal, they may be daydreaming, whereas at level 5 students may be over-stimulated and not able to focus (hyperalert).  If we see a child that is not at level 4, we give a friendly reminder to “check in” with themselves, or “give themselves a hug” as a way to think about where they are with being calmly focused and alert.  The idea is to have them see when this is occurring, reinforce behaviour with a verbal or non-verbal cue, and eventually watch how the students do this independently.

Irwin Park Principal, Cathie Ratz, has her school focussed on MindUP™ to help students be calm, alert and ready to learn:

It is a family of social, emotional, and attentional self-regulatory strategies and skills developed to cultivate well-being and emotional balance. Based on the notion that intellect does not exist in isolation from emotions,  connections to others or the rest of their bodies, the MindUP™  program is designed to address these components of learning for all students.

By teaching our students about the brain we make them more aware of their own thoughts and emotions. It can also help them to develop the ability to think about thinking, or metacognition. That awareness would then give them better control over their own mind—directing their attention more appropriate, or calming themselves down—in ways that could improve learning.

These are only four stories, but there are stories like these in every school in West Vancouver.  It is often a lament that schools and those who work in them, are slow to change.  Where, three years ago, there was hardly a person in our district who could describe the power and importance of self-regulation, this research now influences how we teach, organize our classes, and how we think about our buildings in every corner of the district.

Finally, I encourage you to spend some time with the wonderful resources being collected as part of the newly revamped website in support of the  Canadian Self-Regulation Initiative.

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Stories – From Current Reality to Possible Future

Posted in Change, Personalized Learning, SD45, Technology, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2012| 6 Comments »

I am trying to become a better storyteller.  While some may still believe our way to a new educational model will come through government policies and proclamations, the more likely successful route is through the development and sharing of educational models for a possible future. The models we develop and share can, and will, serve as guides as we move away from the current educational reality.  And, there is an appetite for evolution and transformation — almost everyone I speak with, be it student, parent, teacher or administrator, is excited about what is possible — call it 21st century learning, personalized learning, or just “learning”.

The power, then,  is in the thousands of edu-bloggers sharing their stories; the stories that lay the ground work for others to seek their paths to the future. There isn’t just ‘one way’ to the possible future with education and schooling, and it is also the reason why we need so many voices, (at times, seemingly at odds with one another) to offer a range of paths toward what is possible. The next education system will not come in a binder, it will come from teachers, schools and districts embracing new opportunities to grow and create more ‘new’ stories in our schools than there are ‘old’ stories.  As mentioned in my previous post, the system will become increasingly flexible at every level, and the role of education leaders will be to knit these stories and network together.

I have previously cited Dean Shareski (here) and what he describes as narrative champions.  In finding ways to become a narrative champion, Dean writes about subscribing. In West Vancouver, I see this happening as more people subscribe to the Principals’ Blogs (receiving alerts as new posts are published). He describes the retelling of stories, and something I try to do on a semi-regular basis through blogging, and as we also do through the district website and other venues.  Finally, he lists the recording of stories — and this is something we need to become better at — finding ways for those who do not have a public voice to share their learning, teaching and their messages more widely. I have also found Steven Johnson’s book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation to be very influential reading with the notion that radical innovation is very accessible for those who are able to cultivate it by stitching together the ideas of many.

Here is a short animated summary of the book:

In my bid to become a better storyteller, I will be adding three more stories that will continue to weave the West Vancouver story and build paths to the future. The three different, but equally strong, presentations at the April 10th West Vancouver Board of Education meeting included Zoltan Virag sharing what he is doing with iPads in Music (click on the link to find some fabulous iPad music resources) at Irwin Park Elementary School. Then, Jody Billingsley shared (his blog post here) his presentation on the ripples of influence of Lions Bay Community School, in the school, community, and in the world, with the final story of the evening from Liz Hill, Ryan Loewen and Amelia Poitras who shared some exciting findings from their first year of using Fast ForWord at Westcot Elementary.

Some of the most important skills of the digital age, are time-tested, but the power in telling stories has not only stood the test of time, it is more important in this age than ever.

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Home Reading Goes Digital

Posted in Change, Personalized Learning, Technology, tagged , , , , , , on October 31, 2010| 3 Comments »

How best to use new technologies to support our primary students is an issue we are wrestling with in our district.  As teachers and schools experiment, some thoughtful and innovative practices are developing.  One that is worth highlighting comes out of Irwin Park Elementary School.  They have taken home reading and moved it into the digital age.  What I really like about the initiative is that it doesn’t simply replicate what has been done in the paper-based world on computers, but allows collaboration in a way not possible without the technology.

The program comes from the primary classes of Maria Yioldassis and Leslie Dawes and has been supported by the school and by our District Principal of Technology and Innovation, Gary Kern. 

This project exposes students to digital text and introduces them to reading online in a school context.  It also allows students to collaborate and share their experiences with other students. 

The teachers have students read digital texts they find on two popular sites, Starfall and Tumblebooks.  Both sites provide text at various reading levels and accompanying visuals.  Once students finish reading the books, they make brief comments on what they read, a process that can first be done in class, and then be repeated at home (see screen shots below). 

Some of the findings from this initiative include students having become self-confident in navigating through their e-books, choosing an appropriate book, reading the book, and then sharing what they have read through the website.  This process has been replicated at home and also during choice time within the classroom.

Teachers have also reported an increase in student confidence with online material; an increased awareness of what others are reading, and an overall sharing and appreciation of books read.

This very simple idea is spreading in West Vancouver. This fall, professional development days focussed on digital literacy; a number of teachers throughout the district have become comfortable with creating similar class spaces for their home reading programs. Many who are very interested in using this technology in their classes see this as a wonderful entry point – it is not an add-on as home reading is already going on. In addition, it allows parents to participate; it gives students greater ownership of their own learning, and it models the collaborative skills we want to build in students throughout their schooling. 

What we are finding is the entry point for most teachers with a digital presence is as a one-way communication: informing parents and students of upcoming calendar items, class news and homework.  What is exciting about this Home Reading program, something we are calling a “next practice,” is how it engages students and families with the technology.

There is still a lot to explore, particularly with our youngest learners and how best to use technology to support their learning, but projects like this one are very exciting.

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