March 13, 2015

“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 

As educators we must keep this in the forefront of our mind everyday. I enjoy hearing a teacher after having attended an outside student event; most often they have learned something new about one of our students. “I didn’t know he was so well spoken.” The artistic student, who this week we discovered came in second in the American Mathematics Competition; as her mom pointed out to Dr. Morse and me, she helps to break our stereotypical thoughts—one can’t enjoy both math and art. Everyday, we must remember everyone, including ourselves, is not a single story.

Staff News

Becky Kane is at home with her new baby girl, Nora Rose Dewitt. Notice I did not say, “resting at home”. Can’t be 100% on that point as she has two other children, Johnny and Layla, who may need their mommy time, too. I am sure EJ is taking care of business.

Matt Hughes should be returning tomorrow after his paternity leave. Matt, we welcome your presence back. We empathize…it will be difficult after only two weeks.

And while I had only just begun this blog, literally a day after Faith Furtado had returned from her maternity leave, I would like to belatedly welcome Faith back into the NKHS educational community.

Students as Learners

Zach Quarella, Zachary Boettger, and
Madeline White proudly showcasing
their program certificates

North Kingstown High School had 15 students participating in ACE Mentoring Program from October 2014 to March 2015 at New England Institute of Technology. 

The students include: 
Braer Franklin-Vinbu, Tyler Chin, Andrew Miga, Collin Taylor,

Heather McDermott, Zachary Overly, Zachary Quarella,

Christian Jobert, Collin Benzoni, Samantha McGrath,

Nathan Verdi, Raghid Alhazmy, Zachary Boettger

Daniel Richotte, Madeline White

First year students completed a group design project of a new single family house while the second year students participated in a national design competition. A big thank you to Jeff Cathcart from NEIT, the program coordinator and our own Donna Hutson for recruiting and marketing this worthy program to our students.

Amy Messerlian brought it to our attention that students and their peer partners in the new adaptive music class are having a wonderful experience.  Toni, your understanding of each individual’s abilities allows for full engagement in the lessons. Thank you.

Adults as Learners

Looking towards our Professional Development Day on April 3^rd, it is time for autonomy. Autonomy does not mean independence like the Wild West. As Edward Deci and Richard Ryan see it, it means acting with choice—which means we can be both autonomous and happily interdependent with others.  I would like to create conditions for you to make the most of your self-directed learning.

Edcamp is a participant-driven professional development “unconference.” There are no formal presentations, only discussions about relevant topics led by participants. Based on my research these are a derivative of a BarCamp that began over seven years ago that were user generated conferences with topics based around technology. 

Your topics may be based upon whatever is of educational interest to you. You are not limited to technology. Think, “Birds of a Feather.” For those that need specific details, they will be forthcoming. For now, think about, wonder, or consider what you may like to do on the morning of April 3. Someone else may be interested in that topic, too.

Student Management Office

The new site for our fire drills has its pros and cons. Based upon our first try it seems we should use it again with a few tweaks. Everyone exited the building at a door nearest you—excellent. Mitch is currently working on re-entering. He may have already communicated with some of you. If not, stay tuned he will. If you have additional constructive comments please forward them to Mitch.

Dom Marcone will now be in full time for Becky Kane while she is on maternity leave. Thanks Dom.

Health and Wellness

Sleep Part 2:

Your mind is surprisingly busy while you snooze. During sleep you can strengthen memories or "practice" skills learned while you were awake (it’s a process called consolidation).

"If you are trying to learn something, whether it’s physical or mental, you learn it to a certain point with practice," says Dr. Rapoport, who is an associate professor at NYU Langone Medical Center. "But something happens while you sleep that makes you learn it better."

In other words if you’re trying to learn something new—whether it’s Spanish or a new tennis swing—you’ll perform better after sleeping.

Technology

FUSE will be providing a two-day training for North Kingstown on April 28^th & 29^th. This will be disseminated through our tech lead teachers. As was offered for the Google Summit last month, if there is opportunities after the tech lead teachers schedule then it will open up to educators at the building level.

The two days will be for educators to plan and develop our own NK Summit for September 4^th.  The expectation would be that those who attend the training will be willing to present or co-present at the September 4th North Kingstown Summit. How exciting-we will be the beneficiaries of this training! Stay tuned for further information from the Assistant Superintendent’s Office.

Upcoming Events

Mon, March 16^th – PARCC testing begins

Wed, March 18th – Junior Parent Night, 7pm

Tues, March 24^th – School Committee Meeting, 7pm

Thurs, March 26^th – Band Concert

Fri, April 3^rd – Professional Development Day – no school for students

Fri, April 10^th - School will be held in place of the PD day and will follow a Day 1 schedule

April 20 – 24 – Spring Recess

Videos Worth Watching

Kristen Swanson--TEDxPhiladelphia

Long version of what an Ed Camp is, if you need more. 

ChimamandaNgozi Adichie

If you would like to hear more on the single story; it is long, but listening to the first 5 minutes does the trick.

Articles Worth Reading

Creating an Equitable Classroom

Food for Thought

"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."

Steve Jobs

Think, Create, Innovate...Denise