Homemade coffeecake and juice were on the menu for this week's "Coffee with the Principal." It was our first-ever Coffee without actual coffee - and without clear actionable steps forward - but what was abundantly clear is that the topic of school climate and culture is a critical one.
I defined the current status of St. Robert School's culture, or way of life, and our climate, or prevailing "feeling." I shared my goals to maintain a faithful, rigorous program and a nurturing, safe, and comfortable learning environment, and then dissected the responsibilities of the principal, the teachers, and the parents in positively influencing these elements of the school experience. It became clear that this is one area in which the school's reach is realistically limited by powerful influences beyond our walls.
We identified some challenges and suggestions that surfaced in last spring's survey on community and diversity. Those comments centered largely around perceived social challenges - not only among students, but within the parent community as well. After briefly considering some expert advice on how best to manage such challenges, our group engaged in some thoughtful conversation centered largely on the topic of bullying and exclusion.
We learned that programs and policies don't impact these social power structures. The unsettling truth is that adults have no effective power to control bullying and exclusion. These forces can only be changed from within peer groups by empowering our kids with prosocial behaviors that have more clout than meanness. It's not enough to teach kids what not to do. We also have to teach them precisely what to do to promote kindness and compassion among their peers.
Harvard School of Education's Making Caring Common project was launched in response to the concern that young people today are more concerned about their own personal success than the common good. Student surveys conducted by the project reveal that students perceive that among the qualities of goodness, happiness, and achievement, their parents and teachers rank achievement first for them. We know that bullying is a side-effect of achievement pressure, and that it is less likely to happen in caring, inclusive school environments. We further know that promoting healthy social-emotional learning leads not only to improved relationships and health outcomes, but, ironically, to academic gains as well. So it seems that we have to do some soul-searching about the messages we may be sending - in our words and in our behavior - and make sure that our kids understand that their goodness is more important to us than any other achievement.
In the end, we agreed that the way forward comes down to faith. When our priority is to look outward and create a caring world, rather than to endorse a "me-centric" view of success, we have the potential to create a community of kids postured to make a positive influence on the world in ways that really matter.
This discussion needs to continue. Watch for a follow-up Coffee on creating a culture of kindness.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Before you were born
I received a message from a vendor today that included a warm acknowledgement of today's Holy Day along with a memory of her own childhood in Catholic school on December 8th. It made me pause. Are we doing enough to assure that our children will carry forward a knowledge and reverence for the traditions - and essence - of our faith?
Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. As Catholics, we know this as one of the Holy Days of Obligation, but what, exactly, does that mean?
In addition to every Sunday, there are a few other days in each calendar year that are deemed so important as to require our deliberate attention and participation at Mass.
One remarkable gift for us today is the reminder that God has chosen each of us for some particular role in his grand plan. To be able to say "yes," we have to hear him calling. To hear, we have to be listening. To listen, we have to be in relationship. Advent is a great time to deepen your relationship with God. The Holy Days are an opportunity. Don't miss the opportunity...go to Mass, show your children that this is essential, and reap the harvest of God's amazing plan for your life!
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.
Jeremiah 1:5
Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. As Catholics, we know this as one of the Holy Days of Obligation, but what, exactly, does that mean?
In addition to every Sunday, there are a few other days in each calendar year that are deemed so important as to require our deliberate attention and participation at Mass.
- January 1 - The solemnity of Mary
- Thursday of the sixth week of Easter - The Feast of the Ascension of our Lord
- August 15 - The Assumption of Mary
- November 1 - The solemnity of All Saints
- December 8 - The solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
- December 25 - The solemnity of the Nativity of our Lord, or what we more commonly call Christmas
Whenever January 1st, August 15th, or November 1st falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, a diocese may (and ours does) remove the obligation to attend Mass, often leaving just a few remaining obligatory days each year. But even so, in this age when even Sunday Mass attendance is viewed as optional, honoring these special days has become less and less common with each passing year. It seems that as it becomes more commonplace to look at the Holy Days as some quaint remnant of an earlier time, it also becomes easier to get swept up in this momentum of turning away and take the posture that honoring the day must, indeed, be optional - because, look around. Hardly anyone is going to Mass. But the difficult truth is that it's not optional. These days are fundamental to our identity - and obligation - as Catholics. So perhaps, before we wake up and realize that we're more than a generation removed from a real understanding of what we believe, some instruction is in order.
Because of its proximity to Christmas, many good Catholics misunderstand the Immaculate Conception as referring to the conception of Jesus, but of course if we do the math, it becomes clear that this is not what we honor today. Rather, it's the conception of the Virgin Mary herself in her mother, Anne's, womb. We acknowledge today, our fundamental belief that Mary was chosen by God to bear his son from before she was even conceived, and was then conceived without sin to be worthy of this remarkable role. There's much more to the story of course, as we will learn when we read about Mary's Yes in the Annunciation - at the age of about fourteen. One remarkable gift for us today is the reminder that God has chosen each of us for some particular role in his grand plan. To be able to say "yes," we have to hear him calling. To hear, we have to be listening. To listen, we have to be in relationship. Advent is a great time to deepen your relationship with God. The Holy Days are an opportunity. Don't miss the opportunity...go to Mass, show your children that this is essential, and reap the harvest of God's amazing plan for your life!
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.
Jeremiah 1:5
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Simple parenting for a complex age
I had the privilege a couple of weeks ago to attend the presentation on raising resilient children hosted at University School by REDGen, our local youth mental health advocacy organization. The speaker, Dr. Robert Evans, is a clinical and organizational psychologist and former teacher who works with schools nationwide to support innovation and change. An area of his particular interest and expertise is the impact that American families have on schools. Evans is a grandfatherly figure, educated at Princeton and Harvard, which gives him the clout to say some things that could be potentially difficult to hear. I expected that he might share some new techniques for parenting kids through the complex challenges of our contemporary world. His message, however, was almost radical in its simplicity, and an important reminder to parents and educators alike that, despite the rapid changes in the world around us, the basics that undergird healthy child development have not changed - and never will. Evans reduced them to three simple - but not always easy - things that children need from their parents: nurture, structure, and latitude.
Nurture refers to the instinctive relationship between a parent and child. It forms the bedrock of psychological strengths involved in learning how to relate to others and be part of a community. The need for it is so primal that babies will fail to thrive - or even die - without it. Given this knowledge, it is concerning that the amount of time that parents spend with their children has dropped about 20 hours a week over the past 20 years. Dr. Evans's debunked the fallacy that bursts of intense "quality time" will make up for quantity. He was very clear that we have to be physically and emotionally present to our children in large doses of low-quality interactions to effect healthy nurture. And he took us a step further in making the blunt statement that soccer sidelines and virtual or distracted connections are not a substitute for real presence.
Structure is that box of boundary lines that we place around behavior and expectations. You might be surprised to learn that it's not only comforting for adults to have defined boundaries for their children, but powerfully comforting for children as well. Fewer children today, however, are learning from early on that that "there's some stuff they have to do and there are some limits on what they want to do." Dr. Evans pointed out, by contrast, that kids who grow up in homes with clear boundaries have clear advantages when it comes to success in school and in life. They are better able to see things from another's point of view and to learn from their mistakes, for example. Interestingly, defining and maintaining limits also conveys our confidence that children can actually accomplish the things we expect of them, thereby building theirs.
Dr. Evans defined latitude as the freedom to learn from logical consequences of non-catastrophic problems. Healthy latitude, of course, avoids the extremes of maximum autonomy with no protection from danger and maximum protection with no exposure to danger (or opportunity for growth). Dr. Evans reminded us that the most important lessons in life are learned in a context of loss and disappointment. What distinguishes children, he says, is not whether these things happen to them, but what they do when these things happen to them. Today's parents, it seems, are much more likely not only to lack clarity in boundary-setting, but to support their children's outrageous behavior.
His empathetic explanation for all of these radical shifts in parenting was thought-provoking. He claims that parents are no longer trusting their primitive parenting instincts because of insecurities about exactly what it is they are preparing their children for. With the rate of societal change so rapid and the choices for children's futures exploding, it has become really hard to be confident about how best to mentor children for success.
Parenting is, in truth, more challenging today than it has ever been. We can't, of course, change the forces that surround us, but we have to simultaneously acknowledge that the complex ways we're living our lives today does interfere with the healthy development and resilience of our children. Our instinct might be to turn to parenting manuals and self-help gurus for new or better parenting techniques, but Dr. Evans's view was refreshingly simpler. He advised parents that we're better off being the best of who we are than something we're not. Kids don't need their parents to be perfect. So, find something you're good at and do more of it, he said. All kids have fragile moments, but most kids, he reassured, are mostly resilient without any extra effort.
Three simple takeaways that any parent can do more of to improve the outcomes for their children -wherever their futures may lead:
Nurture refers to the instinctive relationship between a parent and child. It forms the bedrock of psychological strengths involved in learning how to relate to others and be part of a community. The need for it is so primal that babies will fail to thrive - or even die - without it. Given this knowledge, it is concerning that the amount of time that parents spend with their children has dropped about 20 hours a week over the past 20 years. Dr. Evans's debunked the fallacy that bursts of intense "quality time" will make up for quantity. He was very clear that we have to be physically and emotionally present to our children in large doses of low-quality interactions to effect healthy nurture. And he took us a step further in making the blunt statement that soccer sidelines and virtual or distracted connections are not a substitute for real presence.
Structure is that box of boundary lines that we place around behavior and expectations. You might be surprised to learn that it's not only comforting for adults to have defined boundaries for their children, but powerfully comforting for children as well. Fewer children today, however, are learning from early on that that "there's some stuff they have to do and there are some limits on what they want to do." Dr. Evans pointed out, by contrast, that kids who grow up in homes with clear boundaries have clear advantages when it comes to success in school and in life. They are better able to see things from another's point of view and to learn from their mistakes, for example. Interestingly, defining and maintaining limits also conveys our confidence that children can actually accomplish the things we expect of them, thereby building theirs.
Dr. Evans defined latitude as the freedom to learn from logical consequences of non-catastrophic problems. Healthy latitude, of course, avoids the extremes of maximum autonomy with no protection from danger and maximum protection with no exposure to danger (or opportunity for growth). Dr. Evans reminded us that the most important lessons in life are learned in a context of loss and disappointment. What distinguishes children, he says, is not whether these things happen to them, but what they do when these things happen to them. Today's parents, it seems, are much more likely not only to lack clarity in boundary-setting, but to support their children's outrageous behavior.
His empathetic explanation for all of these radical shifts in parenting was thought-provoking. He claims that parents are no longer trusting their primitive parenting instincts because of insecurities about exactly what it is they are preparing their children for. With the rate of societal change so rapid and the choices for children's futures exploding, it has become really hard to be confident about how best to mentor children for success.
Parenting is, in truth, more challenging today than it has ever been. We can't, of course, change the forces that surround us, but we have to simultaneously acknowledge that the complex ways we're living our lives today does interfere with the healthy development and resilience of our children. Our instinct might be to turn to parenting manuals and self-help gurus for new or better parenting techniques, but Dr. Evans's view was refreshingly simpler. He advised parents that we're better off being the best of who we are than something we're not. Kids don't need their parents to be perfect. So, find something you're good at and do more of it, he said. All kids have fragile moments, but most kids, he reassured, are mostly resilient without any extra effort.
Three simple takeaways that any parent can do more of to improve the outcomes for their children -wherever their futures may lead:
- Don't do things for your children that they can do on their own
- Don't leap to fix problems for your children before they've had a chance to grapple with them on their own
- Remember that your children don't have to like you all the time, but they do have to learn to be like you
Finally, look at your children's grandparents for some clues about how to be truly present to your children; and, every now and then, act like a grandparent and just enjoy your kids. Speaking as one, I think you'll find it truly delightful!
Friday, November 11, 2016
Headwinds and heart
Reilly Hall was buzzing with energy and engagement; information, and conversation: questions and answers; ideas and passions. No, it wasn't a school lunch period. It was, perhaps surprisingly, a school night. And the energy was coming from grown-ups - our grown-ups: the parents and teachers and staff members who build this school day by day and are invested intellectually, emotionally, and financially in its success. Together, we took our first bold - and tentative - steps into the unwritten task of "Charting Our Future" in a rapidly changing landscape.
Thank you to the 71 parents and 26 teachers who joined hands and hearts and minds at our meeting last night to take those steps together. They listened thoughtfully to an overview of the current facts and trends that are shaping our future and then engaged in a spirited process of surfacing values and visions that will launch a three-month strategic planning process to begin next month.
The world is changing; education is changing; and our school will need to change in some way to meet the headwinds we're facing. The conversation about what form that change may take is just beginning. If you weren't able to join us last night but would like to include your voice in future planning, watch for upcoming follow-up communication soon.
Together, we will continue to build a strong and sustainable school for the next generation of Catholics in Milwaukee's North Shore.
Thank you to the 71 parents and 26 teachers who joined hands and hearts and minds at our meeting last night to take those steps together. They listened thoughtfully to an overview of the current facts and trends that are shaping our future and then engaged in a spirited process of surfacing values and visions that will launch a three-month strategic planning process to begin next month.
The world is changing; education is changing; and our school will need to change in some way to meet the headwinds we're facing. The conversation about what form that change may take is just beginning. If you weren't able to join us last night but would like to include your voice in future planning, watch for upcoming follow-up communication soon.
Together, we will continue to build a strong and sustainable school for the next generation of Catholics in Milwaukee's North Shore.
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Private heart, public square
The heart of a nation comes out in an election (Gianna Jessen). What will next week's election say about the heart of our nation? Despite the challenges of the current political climate, we are called as Catholics to live our faith in the public square. And we are called as a Catholic school to form our students to do the same. How do we do that?
We teach our students about history and government, about our founding principles, about the electoral process. We teach our older students about the party platforms and policy issues. We teach them to be respectful of differing points of view while also teaching that God's law can never be compromised.
On Tuesday, we will give our students an opportunity to experience the responsibility of voting. They will sign in, go to a booth and place their votes privately on a Google survey form. We will tabulate the votes by grade level electoral college-style to provide another layer of learning by experience.
And we will have some fun. Tuesday will be an out-of-uniform day for all citizens of St. Robert School. Students and teachers are invited to wear any combination of red, white, and blue - or to dress as a former or current president.
Thanks for supporting our mini experience of democracy in action - and for guiding your children to vote their conscience.
We teach our students about history and government, about our founding principles, about the electoral process. We teach our older students about the party platforms and policy issues. We teach them to be respectful of differing points of view while also teaching that God's law can never be compromised.
On Tuesday, we will give our students an opportunity to experience the responsibility of voting. They will sign in, go to a booth and place their votes privately on a Google survey form. We will tabulate the votes by grade level electoral college-style to provide another layer of learning by experience.
And we will have some fun. Tuesday will be an out-of-uniform day for all citizens of St. Robert School. Students and teachers are invited to wear any combination of red, white, and blue - or to dress as a former or current president.
Thanks for supporting our mini experience of democracy in action - and for guiding your children to vote their conscience.
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Full of possibilty
Our sweet summer respite has disappeared in a poof! But we shouldn't lament, for going to school is possibly the singular life experience that is gifted with an annually scheduled opportunity to clear out, clean out, refresh, and transform. It's a blessing that facilitates human growth and a renewed spirit.
Because family life revolves around this same calendar, it, too, is presented with an annual opportunity for intentional growth and development. I encourage you to take advantage of this fresh start to reevaluate the rhythms and routines of your daily life and to implement some intentional changes that will help move your family forward in supporting the next horizon of development for each of your children. In the spirit of stimulating family conversation on just what aspects might be due for renewal, consider these:
Because family life revolves around this same calendar, it, too, is presented with an annual opportunity for intentional growth and development. I encourage you to take advantage of this fresh start to reevaluate the rhythms and routines of your daily life and to implement some intentional changes that will help move your family forward in supporting the next horizon of development for each of your children. In the spirit of stimulating family conversation on just what aspects might be due for renewal, consider these:
- Nutrition - check out the wellness resources on our website
- Sleep - see guidelines HERE
- Media consumption - see the AAP guidelines HERE
- Activities - consider that children need time for unscheduled, child-directed play
- Family time - heed what experts say about the importance of the family dinner table
- Faith - a healthy family needs a source of inspiration
Here's wishing you the deep satisfaction of a fresh start and a year full of possibility!
Thursday, June 9, 2016
A Life Smart summer
In a few short hours, the breathless pace of the past few weeks will come to a screeching halt. The children who have brought life to our halls and meaning to our work will go home to you - and life will change for all of us for these eleven weeks between school years. On the surface, we think of these weeks as a vacation from the real work of a child's life. I prefer to think of this time between as a reincarnation of that work. The march of life continues, the learning continues, albeit refreshed.
In truth, play is the most natural work of childhood and the most powerful vehicle for learning. And what better time to play than summer, when sunshine and gentle breezes beckon our children into the natural world and time stretches to allow uninterrupted exploration, experimentation, creation - and thinking? The primacy of play in early brain development has not changed despite that for many of our children, childhood itself has undergone radical transformation marked most profoundly by an infusion of adult-directed activity and media consumption and a detachment from the natural world.
What does a "Life Smart" summer look like and how can we preserve - or recapture - it for our children? The heartbeat of rich summer days is child-directed. It includes physical activity that comes from more than rule-based team games. It includes rolling down a hill, jumping from rock to rock, spinning until you fall, chasing anything, hiking, hauling, climbing, hanging upside down.
A Life Smart summer also includes make-believe, dreaming, and creating something out of nothing; writing plays or poems or newspapers, building forts or fairy-tale worlds in the woods, lying on your back and seeing magical shapes in the clouds.
A Life Smart summer includes some daily structure, too; household chores for even the youngest members; making beds, emptying trash; routines and responsibilities; contribution to the family; pride of accomplishment. It includes weekly trips to the library and daily reading - under a tree, in a tent, even with a flashlight in bed. It includes daily bedtime prayers and daily meals - at a table or on a blanket or on a beach.
A life Smart summer includes conversations and activities and projects with attentive grown-ups; important child-directed, conversations with active listeners who are not rushed or distracted; important, memory-making projects like building a go cart or a garden.
Perhaps most important to a Life Smart summer is immersion in the natural world - regular, extended, full, attentive immersion; skipping stones, jumping in puddles, running in waves, fishing, watching bugs, digging in the mud, growing a bouquet - or a salad; looking, listening, smelling, touching - closely.
A Life Smart summer doesn't have much time for media. Put limits on it and give your children the time and inclination to grow in really important ways. Help them shift into a Life Smart summer and delight in watching their natural instincts take over.
Happy exploring, growing, memory-making. Happy childhood. Happy family time. Happy summer.
In truth, play is the most natural work of childhood and the most powerful vehicle for learning. And what better time to play than summer, when sunshine and gentle breezes beckon our children into the natural world and time stretches to allow uninterrupted exploration, experimentation, creation - and thinking? The primacy of play in early brain development has not changed despite that for many of our children, childhood itself has undergone radical transformation marked most profoundly by an infusion of adult-directed activity and media consumption and a detachment from the natural world.
What does a "Life Smart" summer look like and how can we preserve - or recapture - it for our children? The heartbeat of rich summer days is child-directed. It includes physical activity that comes from more than rule-based team games. It includes rolling down a hill, jumping from rock to rock, spinning until you fall, chasing anything, hiking, hauling, climbing, hanging upside down.
A Life Smart summer also includes make-believe, dreaming, and creating something out of nothing; writing plays or poems or newspapers, building forts or fairy-tale worlds in the woods, lying on your back and seeing magical shapes in the clouds.
A Life Smart summer includes some daily structure, too; household chores for even the youngest members; making beds, emptying trash; routines and responsibilities; contribution to the family; pride of accomplishment. It includes weekly trips to the library and daily reading - under a tree, in a tent, even with a flashlight in bed. It includes daily bedtime prayers and daily meals - at a table or on a blanket or on a beach.
A life Smart summer includes conversations and activities and projects with attentive grown-ups; important child-directed, conversations with active listeners who are not rushed or distracted; important, memory-making projects like building a go cart or a garden.
Perhaps most important to a Life Smart summer is immersion in the natural world - regular, extended, full, attentive immersion; skipping stones, jumping in puddles, running in waves, fishing, watching bugs, digging in the mud, growing a bouquet - or a salad; looking, listening, smelling, touching - closely.
A Life Smart summer doesn't have much time for media. Put limits on it and give your children the time and inclination to grow in really important ways. Help them shift into a Life Smart summer and delight in watching their natural instincts take over.
Happy exploring, growing, memory-making. Happy childhood. Happy family time. Happy summer.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
A productive partnership
I was pleased to welcome a small but engaging group of parents to our final Coffee conversation of the year yesterday. We discussed two related topics that had surfaced in our survey on excellence, namely, high ability students and contemporary instructional resources.
Our Coffees always begin with information, so we started by taking a look at how the school defines and identifies high ability students and how our instructional approaches serve this population of students that seeks intellectual, creative, or leadership challenge.
Our discussion about approaches was a perfect segue into our conversation on instructional resources. Questions about our rationale for using a variety of selected and created learning materials instead of the more familiar textbooks comes up periodically. It's an important question because the reason is germane not only to our mission, but to our responsibility to inspire all of our students - even those at the highest levels of ability. So here it is: the reason we haven't invested in textbooks in recent years is namely because textbooks offer us a publisher-directed scope and sequence that is neither accountable to our course standards or to the unique needs and interests of our students. Additionally, published resources focus on what we call lower order thinking and, in the rapidly exploding world of information, can be practically outdated by the time they're in print.
The demands of our Life Smart brand call for problem-based, project-based, applied thinking that is personalized, relevant, and targeted to preparation for a complex future. Simply stated, it is impossible to achieve this mission with a single packaged textbook series.
With our rationales on the table, we moved to an engaging discussion of how the school can improve its partnership with parents in pursuit of these noble goals. Relative to instructional resources, parents expressed that they are seeking more direction in supporting their children's achievement of these more rigorous outcomes. Two very specific requests toward this end were made: first, that teachers share the curated websites that their children are using for class research in the same way that textbooks would have been sent home in the past; and secondly, that the school assure accountability to consistent and transparent expectations for the information that parents can expect to find on class websites and blogs.
Regarding learner abilities, parents endorse continued movement away from whole-class instruction and formulaic assignments and request more detailed information on our professional appraisal of their children's performance, especially as it relates to reading levels and observations of their children's unique talents.
The parents who participated in our conversation on Wednesday affirmed the effectiveness of our instructional approaches and the direction of school growth. They are anxious for a deeper, richer knowledge of their children as learners and appreciate opportunities to engage with and support their children in this journey we call education.
Here are some resources that were shared at the meeting:
Bright or Gifted?
Taxonomy of Thinking
Our Coffees always begin with information, so we started by taking a look at how the school defines and identifies high ability students and how our instructional approaches serve this population of students that seeks intellectual, creative, or leadership challenge.
Our discussion about approaches was a perfect segue into our conversation on instructional resources. Questions about our rationale for using a variety of selected and created learning materials instead of the more familiar textbooks comes up periodically. It's an important question because the reason is germane not only to our mission, but to our responsibility to inspire all of our students - even those at the highest levels of ability. So here it is: the reason we haven't invested in textbooks in recent years is namely because textbooks offer us a publisher-directed scope and sequence that is neither accountable to our course standards or to the unique needs and interests of our students. Additionally, published resources focus on what we call lower order thinking and, in the rapidly exploding world of information, can be practically outdated by the time they're in print.
The demands of our Life Smart brand call for problem-based, project-based, applied thinking that is personalized, relevant, and targeted to preparation for a complex future. Simply stated, it is impossible to achieve this mission with a single packaged textbook series.
With our rationales on the table, we moved to an engaging discussion of how the school can improve its partnership with parents in pursuit of these noble goals. Relative to instructional resources, parents expressed that they are seeking more direction in supporting their children's achievement of these more rigorous outcomes. Two very specific requests toward this end were made: first, that teachers share the curated websites that their children are using for class research in the same way that textbooks would have been sent home in the past; and secondly, that the school assure accountability to consistent and transparent expectations for the information that parents can expect to find on class websites and blogs.
Regarding learner abilities, parents endorse continued movement away from whole-class instruction and formulaic assignments and request more detailed information on our professional appraisal of their children's performance, especially as it relates to reading levels and observations of their children's unique talents.
The parents who participated in our conversation on Wednesday affirmed the effectiveness of our instructional approaches and the direction of school growth. They are anxious for a deeper, richer knowledge of their children as learners and appreciate opportunities to engage with and support their children in this journey we call education.
Here are some resources that were shared at the meeting:
Bright or Gifted?
Taxonomy of Thinking
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Kids, screens, and parenting
With each passing year, our lives become more entwined with our digital devices. The reality of our time is that technology is not only ubiquitous, but almost indistinguishable from other activity. As vast warehouses of the tools we use for daily living, our devices have become more the way of doing all the things we do, blurring the lines between technology use and all the rest of daily living. We depend on our devices for everything from waking up to navigating; from passive entertainment to interactive communication. We have reached the point in our human evolution where we no longer discuss technology in terms of access, but rather in terms of sophistication of use. And so, too, medical professionals have adjusted their recommendations to align with the realities around us.
Hand-held screens were not even our radar when most pediatric screen-time recommendations were written. Scientifically, we know that near-point exposure to visual media alters brain architecture. In order to assure that young children develop healthy, functional vision and integrated use of the whole brain, we need to acknowledge that screen time for babies is a bad idea. Pediatricians have long held that children should not be exposed to TV before age two, but optometrists are now recommending that we protect young children from the effects of hand-held devices until age five (Dr. Amy Jankowski, Metro Eye, Milwaukee).
As our children grow, however, we do have a responsibility to teach them the nuanced use of digital tools that will allow them to become productive citizens. With this in mind, The American Academy of Pediatrics revised its guidelines for screen time last fall. Hopefully, the new guidelines will empower us to be confident - and united - in applying common-sense parenting to our changing media landscape.
Here are the Academy's simple, but thought-provoking reflections and recommendations:
- Media is just another environment. Children do the same things they have always done, only virtually. Like any environment, media can have positive and negative effects.
- Parenting has not changed. The same parenting rules apply to your children’s real and virtual environments. Play with them. Set limits; kids need and expect them. Teach kindness. Be involved. Know their friends and where they are going with them.
- Role modeling is critical. Limit your own media use, and model online etiquette. Attentive parenting requires face time away from screens.
- We learn from each other. Neuroscience research shows that very young children learn best via two-way communication. “Talk time” between caregiver and child remains critical for language development. Passive video presentations do not lead to language learning in infants and young toddlers. The more media engender live interactions, the more educational value they may hold (e.g., a toddler chatting by video with a parent who is traveling). Optimal educational media opportunities begin after age 2, when media may play a role in bridging the learning achievement gap.
- Content matters. The quality of content is more important than the platform or time spent with media. Prioritize how your child spends his time rather than just setting a timer.
- Curation helps. More than 80,000 apps are labeled as educational, but little research validates their quality (Hirsh-Pasek KPsych Science2015;16:3-34 Google Scholar). An interactive product requires more than “pushing and swiping” to teach. Look to organizations like Common Sense Media (www.commonsensemedia.org) that review age-appropriate apps, games and programs.
- Co-engagement counts. Family participation with media facilitates social interactions and learning. Play a video game with your kids. Your perspective influences how your children understand their media experience. For infants and toddlers, co-viewing is essential.
- Playtime is important. Unstructured playtime stimulates creativity. Prioritize daily unplugged playtime, especially for the very young.
- Set limits. Tech use, like all other activities, should have reasonable limits. Does your child’s technology use help or hinder participation in other activities?
- It’s OK for your teen to be online. Online relationships are integral to adolescent development. Social media can support identity formation. Teach your teen appropriate behaviors that apply in both the real and online worlds. Ask teens to demonstrate what they are doing online to help you understand both content and context.
- Create tech-free zones. Preserve family mealtime. Recharge devices overnight outside your child’s bedroom. These actions encourage family time, healthier eating habits and healthier sleep.
- Kids will be kids. Kids will make mistakes using media. These can be teachable moments if handled with empathy. Certain aberrations, however, such as sexting or posting self-harm images, signal a need to assess youths for other risk-taking behaviors.
AAP (2015)
Friday, April 8, 2016
A pleasant surprise, a sustainable future
This week, one of our school parents brought her new neighbor to St. Robert for a prospective family visit (Thanks, Eileen!). Because the visitor had not chosen to visit us on her own as part of a more typical school shopping process, we got a unique window into how our school may be viewed by outsiders. Her reaction was total, utter surprise. "I had no idea something like this would be going on here!" she exclaimed in disbelief.
Why would an outsider be surprised? Because we're small? Because we're parochial? Because we don't spend at the level of the public schools?
We are frugal, yes, and relatively small, too, but still, school operations come in at over $2 million a year. Maintaining an excellent school in the face of changing expectations and mounting funding challenges demands vision, planning, and hard work. It also demands collaboration. Simply put, the more students we have, the less financial pressure we experience. And the simple reality is that it will never occur to some families to take a look at St. Robert - unless you encourage and invite them.
Bringing in more students is not just icing on a lovely cake. It's what enables us to maintain the staffing, programs, and resources that define the St. Robert brand: innovative instructional practices delivered by mission-driven teachers; personalized learning, contemporary resources, integrated technology and arts; world languages; music electives; small class sizes; inclusion of special needs learners.
This is a critical time of year in terms of organizational planning. Please join us in working toward a sustainable future. Reach out to your friends, neighbors, co-workers - even folks you meet at the grocery store. Tell them the St. Robert story. Invite them for a visit. I can assure you they will be pleasantly surprised - and every new family that joins our community helps us build a strong vision for the future.
Why would an outsider be surprised? Because we're small? Because we're parochial? Because we don't spend at the level of the public schools?
We are frugal, yes, and relatively small, too, but still, school operations come in at over $2 million a year. Maintaining an excellent school in the face of changing expectations and mounting funding challenges demands vision, planning, and hard work. It also demands collaboration. Simply put, the more students we have, the less financial pressure we experience. And the simple reality is that it will never occur to some families to take a look at St. Robert - unless you encourage and invite them.
Bringing in more students is not just icing on a lovely cake. It's what enables us to maintain the staffing, programs, and resources that define the St. Robert brand: innovative instructional practices delivered by mission-driven teachers; personalized learning, contemporary resources, integrated technology and arts; world languages; music electives; small class sizes; inclusion of special needs learners.
This is a critical time of year in terms of organizational planning. Please join us in working toward a sustainable future. Reach out to your friends, neighbors, co-workers - even folks you meet at the grocery store. Tell them the St. Robert story. Invite them for a visit. I can assure you they will be pleasantly surprised - and every new family that joins our community helps us build a strong vision for the future.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
These holy days
On Sunday we began the silent walk with Jesus to his cross. Regardless of how we're feeling about the fruition of our Lenten observances, this is the week for our full attention. This is the week to push aside competing noise and keep vigil with our God - because this week marks the culmination of everything that we believe. These are the holy days that give meaning to our very existence.
But this is also a time for family trips and Easter celebrations. These realities, too, require our planning, preparation, and attention. How can we accomplish both the temporal and the spiritual? We are limited. We are weak. We are human. This is precisely the point! It is only in surrendering our frail humanity to God that we can be healed and share in the blinding light of the Resurrection.
We proclaim in our creed that our faith is "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic." Perhaps it is in this oneness and universality that we can find the way. This week, every Catholic church in the entire world will celebrate the ritual of Three Days known as the Easter Triduum The Days begin on Holy Thursday evening with the celebration of the Last Supper. This liturgy continues on Good Friday as we remember Jesus' torture and death, and culminates on Holy Saturday with the blessing of fire and water, the retelling of salvation history, and the resurrection of our buried alleluias. The three days include our Easter Sunday liturgies and close with Easter's Evening Prayer. No matter where we are in the world; no matter what else calls for our attention, on these three days we need to make our way to church for at least part of this pilgrimage. We need to face the God who dwells within; to remember and give thanks; to acknowledge our weaknesses and change our hearts; to be healed.
When I was a child, my grandmother taught us that God invites a wish from anyone visiting a church for the first time. This little bit of folklore is a sweet reminder that God is always waiting for us. It created in my family the happy anticipation of finding a new (to us) church for our Sunday obligation whenever we were away from home. If you're traveling for Easter or the Triduum, be sure to include your children in planning the church part of your itinerary. When and where will you attend Mass? What will you ask of God as a first-time visitor in this house? My wish for you will be that your faith will "rise like a blazing fire" during this holiest of weeks.
Happy Easter.
But this is also a time for family trips and Easter celebrations. These realities, too, require our planning, preparation, and attention. How can we accomplish both the temporal and the spiritual? We are limited. We are weak. We are human. This is precisely the point! It is only in surrendering our frail humanity to God that we can be healed and share in the blinding light of the Resurrection.
We proclaim in our creed that our faith is "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic." Perhaps it is in this oneness and universality that we can find the way. This week, every Catholic church in the entire world will celebrate the ritual of Three Days known as the Easter Triduum The Days begin on Holy Thursday evening with the celebration of the Last Supper. This liturgy continues on Good Friday as we remember Jesus' torture and death, and culminates on Holy Saturday with the blessing of fire and water, the retelling of salvation history, and the resurrection of our buried alleluias. The three days include our Easter Sunday liturgies and close with Easter's Evening Prayer. No matter where we are in the world; no matter what else calls for our attention, on these three days we need to make our way to church for at least part of this pilgrimage. We need to face the God who dwells within; to remember and give thanks; to acknowledge our weaknesses and change our hearts; to be healed.
When I was a child, my grandmother taught us that God invites a wish from anyone visiting a church for the first time. This little bit of folklore is a sweet reminder that God is always waiting for us. It created in my family the happy anticipation of finding a new (to us) church for our Sunday obligation whenever we were away from home. If you're traveling for Easter or the Triduum, be sure to include your children in planning the church part of your itinerary. When and where will you attend Mass? What will you ask of God as a first-time visitor in this house? My wish for you will be that your faith will "rise like a blazing fire" during this holiest of weeks.
Happy Easter.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Magic, miracles, and might
Leaving work last night, I ran headlong into a virtual army of minivans parked just outside the Reilly Hall doors. They were positioned for exit in two orderly rows, cargo doors ajar. Their drivers -mostly school dads - were making silent runs to and from the Parish Center with bins full of merchandise from the Auction storage area. They were silent figures, focused intently on their loads, illuminated only by the moonlight and headlights. It was an impressive sight. The caravan would soon be leaving for the ICC, to hand off their baton to the display team who is performing their own version of magic today.
Well, it seems like magic, anyway - until the structure of this machine we call "The Auction" comes into clearer focus. I wish you could all have a peek into the office during these weeks from January until this last day before the event. Activity rises slowly at first until reaching fever pitch in the last weeks. Donations come in via mail or are lovingly packaged and carried by donors. Volunteers come and go on a daily basis - some twice a day - to pick up, check off, carry away. Meanwhile, off-site, others are working relentlessly on acquisitions, raffles, data-entry, catalog, invitations, reservations and promotions. Then there's the event itself - dinner, music, decorations, display, video, check-in, check-out, and, finally, collecting, packing, and hauling away the last remnants of our presence. This massive project requires over one hundred well-coordinated hands and hearts.
When we back up to the planning stages, well, you get the picture. This isn't really magic after all. It's a combination of creativity and commitment; brains and brawn; and hours and hours of loving effort. Why do we do it? We do it because we value Catholic education, generally and this school, specifically. We do it because we really enjoy working and and playing together. We do it because, as our Life Smart brand reminds us, "we believe in something greater than ourselves."
Maybe it's not magic, but I do believe it's miraculous; a tangible reminder that the the Holy Spirit is at work through us, supporting our mission and helping us discern a way forward in uncertain times. When we come together in community, invite him into our collective being, and open ourselves to his will, there's really no limit to what we can accomplish.
With special and humble appreciation to the Killorans, the Kloehns, and the McGartlands for their amazing leadership of this phenomenal undertaking, I wish for all of you who have contributed your time, talent, or treasure to the success of this critical effort to know of my deepest gratitude for your passionate partnership. May God continue to bless each of you - and all of us.
Well, it seems like magic, anyway - until the structure of this machine we call "The Auction" comes into clearer focus. I wish you could all have a peek into the office during these weeks from January until this last day before the event. Activity rises slowly at first until reaching fever pitch in the last weeks. Donations come in via mail or are lovingly packaged and carried by donors. Volunteers come and go on a daily basis - some twice a day - to pick up, check off, carry away. Meanwhile, off-site, others are working relentlessly on acquisitions, raffles, data-entry, catalog, invitations, reservations and promotions. Then there's the event itself - dinner, music, decorations, display, video, check-in, check-out, and, finally, collecting, packing, and hauling away the last remnants of our presence. This massive project requires over one hundred well-coordinated hands and hearts.
When we back up to the planning stages, well, you get the picture. This isn't really magic after all. It's a combination of creativity and commitment; brains and brawn; and hours and hours of loving effort. Why do we do it? We do it because we value Catholic education, generally and this school, specifically. We do it because we really enjoy working and and playing together. We do it because, as our Life Smart brand reminds us, "we believe in something greater than ourselves."
Maybe it's not magic, but I do believe it's miraculous; a tangible reminder that the the Holy Spirit is at work through us, supporting our mission and helping us discern a way forward in uncertain times. When we come together in community, invite him into our collective being, and open ourselves to his will, there's really no limit to what we can accomplish.
With special and humble appreciation to the Killorans, the Kloehns, and the McGartlands for their amazing leadership of this phenomenal undertaking, I wish for all of you who have contributed your time, talent, or treasure to the success of this critical effort to know of my deepest gratitude for your passionate partnership. May God continue to bless each of you - and all of us.
Friday, March 4, 2016
Habits of Mind
Today marks the close of our second trimester. The report cards you will receive next Thursday are meant to give you a point-in-time snapshot of your children's skills relative to grade level course expectations. The rubric scores for each course topic provide valuable information on your child's pattern of proficiencies relative to the specific targets they have been working toward over the past twelve weeks. Easily lost in the clinical sequence of defining, instructing, and assessing these learning targets, however, is a reality we must keep ever before us; namely, that children are not assembly line products. They develop at different rates and with distinct patterns of strength and challenge at each stage of development. This means that although the target goal for each student in each topic of each course is to achieve mastery (a rubric score of 3), the reality is that few students will follow the same trajectory of skill development in all topics of all courses at the same time. And that's OK - when we remember that our goal is not the grade, but the learning.
Pay attention to the overall picture of your child's academic progress so you will know what to celebrate and where your child will need some strategic support - but pay closer attention to the learner behaviors that will scaffold ongoing progress, and, therefore, the highest possible long term outcomes for your own uniquely beautiful child.
Our elementary report cards list a number of these behaviors - intermingled with personal and social growth skills. In middle school, however, you're left to decipher these from the teacher comments. Behaviors to support fall largely into three areas:
Pay attention to the overall picture of your child's academic progress so you will know what to celebrate and where your child will need some strategic support - but pay closer attention to the learner behaviors that will scaffold ongoing progress, and, therefore, the highest possible long term outcomes for your own uniquely beautiful child.
Our elementary report cards list a number of these behaviors - intermingled with personal and social growth skills. In middle school, however, you're left to decipher these from the teacher comments. Behaviors to support fall largely into three areas:
- Personal responsibility - This includes completing assignments, being on time, and bringing necessary materials home and to class
- Learner engagement - Refers to focused participation in class and in learning experiences; listening actively, thinking deeply, answering and asking learning questions, and producing best effort/best work
- Productive group process skills - Include listening to, respecting, and building on the contributions of peers in discussion and work production, maintaining an outcome-based focus in partner work and small group work settings, and contributing meaningfully to a collaboratively-defined work product.
A well-respected pathway to these productive behaviors are the sixteen Habits of Mind defined by Arthur Costa and Bena Kallick. The development of these personal habits is where success or failure fundamentally begins. Refer to the habits to help strategize some ways to support your child in starting or continuing on a road to developing the behaviors that undergird academic progress - and intellectual development.
Additionally, a very specific practice correlated with academic achievement is reading. Much. Regularly. Deeply. If daily reading and listening to reading are not already part of your family culture, consider adding this routine that may well be the single most important factor in academic success across disciplines.
Finally, it's good to periodically stop and remember that skills don't simply emerge with maturation. Just as in athletics or music or any other area of skill development, academic accomplishment will come through a process we call a "gradual release of responsibility." In the early years, adults must necessarily own the responsibility for shaping the development of the foundational habits and behaviors upon which academic learning rests. It's only with incremental practice that we can expect to successfully release the responsibility for these behaviors to our children.
Toward that end, consider structuring next week's report card review around the habits and learner behaviors. Then, support your child in a strategic plan to develop just one or two of them. These directed efforts, together with an active daily reading plan, will most certainly scaffold a new level of success in the months ahead!
Friday, February 26, 2016
Art and Innovation
As the 21st century unfolds, we have come to embrace the reality that workers of the future will need fluency in four domains that cross disciplinary boundaries. These are the oft-cited "Four Cs" of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. It's not a stretch for the average layperson to understand the first three as desirable outcomes of a good education, but creativity is often viewed as little more than enrichment; a nice bonus. The reality, however, is that the ability to create - new solutions to complex new problems, even new content itself - has become an essential outcome of a sound education.
Arts classes and arts experiences certainly contribute to the development of creativity. But art and music class are not sufficient. In order to fully actualize the development of creativity as a thinking skill, the strategies we implement in our arts programs cannot be limited to the visual arts studio or the music classroom. Full immersion in the arts and a broad integration of arts education across disciplines is necessary.
At its most basic level, art is about creating something out of nothing. We most readily associate this with the creation of an image on a blank canvas or an opera on an empty stage, but the same creativity that artists call upon is required to design an engineering solution or start a business. Math is not enough. Science is not enough. This is the reason that we place a co-equal value on our arts programs at St. Robert. In other words, when we integrate arts and content, the art is not there to merely to support the attainment of something else. It has stand-alone goals of equal importance.
Arts education is not only essential for those who will "become" artists in the sense of adding aesthetic value to the world on a professional level. Today's reality is that in order to have unlimited access to doors of opportunity, the future workplace demands that our graduates are able to engage fluently in ideation, innovation, and creation.
Keen observation. Focused critique. Composition - of words or music or a painting. These skills transcend the boundaries of the art studio and have become the currency of a contemporary education. This is why we invest over $125,000 a year in arts education and why we enhance those courses with integration of the arts into core academic content. It's also why we provide rich immersion experiences like today's Opera for the Young, enjoyed by our kindergarten and elementary students, and the fifth grade Junior Docent Project, which launched this week.
Second trimester report cards will be coming home in just two weeks. Be sure to help your children analyze their developing skills in art and music classes along with the academic core. Be intentional about guiding them to value - and to grow - the eye and mind and heart of an artist. A successful future depends on it.
Arts classes and arts experiences certainly contribute to the development of creativity. But art and music class are not sufficient. In order to fully actualize the development of creativity as a thinking skill, the strategies we implement in our arts programs cannot be limited to the visual arts studio or the music classroom. Full immersion in the arts and a broad integration of arts education across disciplines is necessary.
At its most basic level, art is about creating something out of nothing. We most readily associate this with the creation of an image on a blank canvas or an opera on an empty stage, but the same creativity that artists call upon is required to design an engineering solution or start a business. Math is not enough. Science is not enough. This is the reason that we place a co-equal value on our arts programs at St. Robert. In other words, when we integrate arts and content, the art is not there to merely to support the attainment of something else. It has stand-alone goals of equal importance.
Arts education is not only essential for those who will "become" artists in the sense of adding aesthetic value to the world on a professional level. Today's reality is that in order to have unlimited access to doors of opportunity, the future workplace demands that our graduates are able to engage fluently in ideation, innovation, and creation.
Keen observation. Focused critique. Composition - of words or music or a painting. These skills transcend the boundaries of the art studio and have become the currency of a contemporary education. This is why we invest over $125,000 a year in arts education and why we enhance those courses with integration of the arts into core academic content. It's also why we provide rich immersion experiences like today's Opera for the Young, enjoyed by our kindergarten and elementary students, and the fifth grade Junior Docent Project, which launched this week.
Second trimester report cards will be coming home in just two weeks. Be sure to help your children analyze their developing skills in art and music classes along with the academic core. Be intentional about guiding them to value - and to grow - the eye and mind and heart of an artist. A successful future depends on it.
Friday, February 19, 2016
Your servant is listening
With the approach of a "red day" on our school calendar, the attention of our students and families invariably aims toward how to maximize the gift and blessing of a day off. When two days off are scheduled, we often see a virtual frenzy of anticipation. It's a thrill I still remember from my own days parenting school age children. Breaking routine for a day or two in the middle of a bleak winter can do wonders to restore and energize the spirit - or maybe it's just the indulgent pleasure of stepping away from our routines and work for what seems to be an unexplained reason. It's not a holiday or a holy day. It's just, well, a day off - or so it seems.
Sometimes, students or parents inquire as to the reason for this unexpected pleasure. Though no curiosity surfaced this week, I nonetheless want you know that the faculty and I have spent the past two days immersed in some rich experiences that will make us better teachers and better people. On Thursday, our entire staff participated in our first ever faculty service day. Especially in this Year of Mercy, we felt it was important to "walk the talk," modeling the gift - and riches - of service to others. We divided into four groups, offering corporal and spiritual works of mercy to the poor, to intellectually and/or physically disabled disabled clients, and to the elderly. We worked at the clothing distribution site at St. Hyacinth's Parish; at St. Anne's Intergenerational Care Center; and at Independence First. We even offered a return of service to the Urban Ecology Center that enriches us so much. Though our goal was to give without seeking anything in return, we took away renewed spirits of gratitude and hearts formed a little more in the likeness of Christ.
Today, we joined together with the faculties of all the schools in our "deanery" (the nine Catholic elementary schools in the North Shore and Ozaukee County) for our third annual peer-to-peer learning day designed to break open the seismic shifts in our literacy standards. We focused on the reading shifts in 2014; on writing in 2015; and, this year, took on the speaking and listening standards. It was an energizing day of both theoretical and practical learning. As I sit here at my desk at 5:00 on a Friday afternoon, there are at least two teachers in the building with me, working with enthusiasm to incorporate some of today's take-aways into next week's lessons. We worked hard today, but also forged a bigger professional learning community and gained renewed enthusiasm for our work and a deeper appreciation for the quality of our school. Something invested, something gained.
I feel a certain confidence that when teachers and students reunite on Monday, we will bring together a sense of renewal, whether born of respite or a different kind of work. With gratitude and enthusiasm for our mission, our minds and hearts will be ready to take on the challenges just around the bend. To what will we be called? Speak Lord, your servant is listening (1 Samuel, 3:10).
Sometimes, students or parents inquire as to the reason for this unexpected pleasure. Though no curiosity surfaced this week, I nonetheless want you know that the faculty and I have spent the past two days immersed in some rich experiences that will make us better teachers and better people. On Thursday, our entire staff participated in our first ever faculty service day. Especially in this Year of Mercy, we felt it was important to "walk the talk," modeling the gift - and riches - of service to others. We divided into four groups, offering corporal and spiritual works of mercy to the poor, to intellectually and/or physically disabled disabled clients, and to the elderly. We worked at the clothing distribution site at St. Hyacinth's Parish; at St. Anne's Intergenerational Care Center; and at Independence First. We even offered a return of service to the Urban Ecology Center that enriches us so much. Though our goal was to give without seeking anything in return, we took away renewed spirits of gratitude and hearts formed a little more in the likeness of Christ.
Today, we joined together with the faculties of all the schools in our "deanery" (the nine Catholic elementary schools in the North Shore and Ozaukee County) for our third annual peer-to-peer learning day designed to break open the seismic shifts in our literacy standards. We focused on the reading shifts in 2014; on writing in 2015; and, this year, took on the speaking and listening standards. It was an energizing day of both theoretical and practical learning. As I sit here at my desk at 5:00 on a Friday afternoon, there are at least two teachers in the building with me, working with enthusiasm to incorporate some of today's take-aways into next week's lessons. We worked hard today, but also forged a bigger professional learning community and gained renewed enthusiasm for our work and a deeper appreciation for the quality of our school. Something invested, something gained.
I feel a certain confidence that when teachers and students reunite on Monday, we will bring together a sense of renewal, whether born of respite or a different kind of work. With gratitude and enthusiasm for our mission, our minds and hearts will be ready to take on the challenges just around the bend. To what will we be called? Speak Lord, your servant is listening (1 Samuel, 3:10).
Friday, February 5, 2016
The breath of life
Our celebration of Catholic Schools Week included moments of reflection, gratitude, prayer, and inspiration. We took a walk back in history, had an opportunity to be generous and several chances to express creativity. We enjoyed some friendly competition and a healthy dose of silliness and celebration. We will follow all of this on Monday with a little extra celebration as we mark the 100th school day in our 100th birthday year. Many will celebrate Mardi Gras on Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday, we will radically shift our focus as we begin the 40 days journey of Lent.
Some quiet ritual will be surely be a welcome shift and provide restorative balance. These contrasts also highlight the challenges our children face in living their faith amidst the noisy realities of contemporary life. It can be difficult even for adults to right-order our days when there is so much on the agenda; when Lent calls us to a rich interior life and the Padre Serra basketball tournament calls us to a pep rally; when our Holy Father calls us to corporal and spiritual works of mercy and we can scarcely find the time to eat dinner with our own families. This would be a great weekend to carve out a little time to think about how we can teach our children to live their faith in the busy, gritty, noisy, messy real world. It's the only way we can hope to feed their souls and keep the faith secure for another generation.
Some years ago, I participated in a workshop in which the presenter demonstrated the challenge and the solution to fitting God into our impossibly-busy lives. Using natural elements like sand and stone and water, she gradually filled a jar with items representing our everyday responsibilities. The jar was filled to the top before she came to the last item - a smooth white stone intended to represent God. There was no room. This did, indeed, look a lot like real life. Then she emptied the jar and started again. This time, the God-stone went in first. Remarkably, all the other items fit easily around it. I will never forget this powerful reminder that when we right-order our days, God will always fit. It doesn't work when he waits in line as an after-thought, a leftover, a wish. He has to be first. Always. And first takes planning. It takes intentionality. It takes commitment.
Can you commit to five minutes of prayer or scripture reading in the morning or before bed? How about a simple prayer that reconnects you to God throughout the day? We'll be learning some of these short "connector prayers" during our school Lenten journey. Using these consciously during moments of work and play can be a powerful way to shift your orientation back into proper balance. The Jesus prayer is a good place to start. Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Inhale the Spirit of God. Exhale your sins and failings. Jesus. Mercy. Let it become part of your breathing and it can weave God into your day in a way that becomes an easy fit and a powerful force.
May this Lenten season bring you a healthy rhythm, a peaceful contentment, a solid connection to your life source.
Some quiet ritual will be surely be a welcome shift and provide restorative balance. These contrasts also highlight the challenges our children face in living their faith amidst the noisy realities of contemporary life. It can be difficult even for adults to right-order our days when there is so much on the agenda; when Lent calls us to a rich interior life and the Padre Serra basketball tournament calls us to a pep rally; when our Holy Father calls us to corporal and spiritual works of mercy and we can scarcely find the time to eat dinner with our own families. This would be a great weekend to carve out a little time to think about how we can teach our children to live their faith in the busy, gritty, noisy, messy real world. It's the only way we can hope to feed their souls and keep the faith secure for another generation.
Some years ago, I participated in a workshop in which the presenter demonstrated the challenge and the solution to fitting God into our impossibly-busy lives. Using natural elements like sand and stone and water, she gradually filled a jar with items representing our everyday responsibilities. The jar was filled to the top before she came to the last item - a smooth white stone intended to represent God. There was no room. This did, indeed, look a lot like real life. Then she emptied the jar and started again. This time, the God-stone went in first. Remarkably, all the other items fit easily around it. I will never forget this powerful reminder that when we right-order our days, God will always fit. It doesn't work when he waits in line as an after-thought, a leftover, a wish. He has to be first. Always. And first takes planning. It takes intentionality. It takes commitment.
Can you commit to five minutes of prayer or scripture reading in the morning or before bed? How about a simple prayer that reconnects you to God throughout the day? We'll be learning some of these short "connector prayers" during our school Lenten journey. Using these consciously during moments of work and play can be a powerful way to shift your orientation back into proper balance. The Jesus prayer is a good place to start. Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Inhale the Spirit of God. Exhale your sins and failings. Jesus. Mercy. Let it become part of your breathing and it can weave God into your day in a way that becomes an easy fit and a powerful force.
May this Lenten season bring you a healthy rhythm, a peaceful contentment, a solid connection to your life source.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Prayer, pancakes, and St. Robert pride!
If you've been anywhere near a St. Robert School student or teacher in the past few days, you know that we are at fever pitch preparing for our big celebration of Catholic Schools Week. The building is an explosion of color and creativity. The halls are shiny and bright and filled with evidence of rigorous, relevant learning. And, this year, more than ever before, the reason for the celebration seems more acutely understood. One hundred years of Catholic education in these very rooms is a pretty powerful idea even for a first grader.
Please set aside a couple of hours on Sunday to celebrate this great gift. Our Catholic Schools Week Kick-off Mass is at 8:30 a.m. in the church, followed by our annual Pancake Breakfast and school Open House until 12:30. We've invited company and hope that you have, too.
See our product. Visit with teachers and friends. Feel the energy. Spread the enthusiasm. St. Robert School. One hundred years and going strong!
Message from the Archbishop
Please set aside a couple of hours on Sunday to celebrate this great gift. Our Catholic Schools Week Kick-off Mass is at 8:30 a.m. in the church, followed by our annual Pancake Breakfast and school Open House until 12:30. We've invited company and hope that you have, too.
See our product. Visit with teachers and friends. Feel the energy. Spread the enthusiasm. St. Robert School. One hundred years and going strong!
Message from the Archbishop
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Coffee and curriculum
Thanks to everyone who braved the brutal cold on Tuesday morning to participate in a conversation on our science curriculum. Together with science teachers Chris Stefaniak and Jeff Kierzek, we looked at the overall structure of the Next Generation Science Standards and examined the shifts they have brought to science education generally, and to your children's classroom experiences specifically.
Included below are the high points of our discussion - minus the contributions of parents, which were these:
- Your kids love the hands-on, investigative nature of science
- Parents appreciate the new emphasis on engineering practices
- Computer coding is an essential language of the future and merits our serious exploration
- Statistics is an important mathematical skill required for deep investigations in science
- We should explore the possibility of offering an after-school science enrichment club (e.g., FIRST Lego League, Future Cities, Science Olympiad).
NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS
____________________________________________________________
THE FRAMEWORK
Science and engineering Practices
- Science involves formulation of a question that can be answered through investigation
- Engineering involves formulation of a problem that can be solved through design
Crosscutting Concepts
- Apply across all domains of science (e.g., cause and effect, patterns, stability and change, structure and function)
- Explicitly taught
Disciplinary Core Ideas
- Less content (the most important/enduring aspects of science such as life science or earth science)
- Studied deeply
THE SHIFTS
1. K-12 science education should reflect the interconnected nature of science as it is practiced and experienced in the real world
2. The Next Generation Science Standards are student performance expectations – NOT curriculum
3. The science concepts in the NGSS build coherently from K–12
4. The NGSS focus on deeper understanding of content as well as application of content
5. Science and engineering are integrated in the NGSS from K–12
6. The NGSS are designed to prepare students for college, career, and citizenship
7. The NGSS and Common Core State Standards (English Language Arts and Mathematics) are aligned
Look here for more information on the standards that drive our science curriculum.
Friday, January 15, 2016
An intellectual diet
As a closet student of the neurosciences, I've always devoured information on brain development, in general, and the intellect, specifically. The field has long understood that activity and experiences are drivers of neural development, but I don't think the development of intelligence is as widely understood. We could write a dissertation on just what intelligence even is, in fact. But if we think about it very simply as the purposeful application of thinking skills, we can begin to see that it is something distinct from academic knowledge, and, moreover, that it is not an automatic byproduct of that knowledge. In other words, knowledge is power only when it is actually applied - and learning to do that is a skill in and of itself.
Intelligence is manifested differently in different domains, but it is essentially an active brain function that involves the construction of knowledge, the manipulation of information to solve problems, and the creation of new ideas and solutions. Intelligence is dynamic and ever-evolving, but the foundation for its capacity is laid very early in life. Despite that it is always a work in progress, science is showing us that we have critical opportunities and windows of time to most powerfully influence its development. Some important take-aways are these:
Intelligence is manifested differently in different domains, but it is essentially an active brain function that involves the construction of knowledge, the manipulation of information to solve problems, and the creation of new ideas and solutions. Intelligence is dynamic and ever-evolving, but the foundation for its capacity is laid very early in life. Despite that it is always a work in progress, science is showing us that we have critical opportunities and windows of time to most powerfully influence its development. Some important take-aways are these:
- Genes provide the blueprint for brain development, but it is the outside world that influences both its physical structure and the way it functions
- Early experiences and environmental influences determine how genes are expressed and even whether some are ever expressed at all (i.e, the brain is uniquely organized in response to experiences)
- The brain is "plastic" and will continue to organize and develop throughout the lifespan (albeit more slowly with advancing years)
- The three most powerful sources of stimulation to a growing brain are movement, nutrition, and relational interactions
So, how can we take advantage of this knowledge to maximize our children's intellectual potential? Scientific evidence across disciplines leads us to some broad conclusions about how a child's diet of activity and experiences shapes the physical brain and contributes - or interferes - with developing intelligence. As you organize family life in 2016, consider these opportunities to positively impact your child's developing intellect.
Provide a diet rich in:
- Natural whole foods
- Language shared in conversation with adults and literature read aloud and discussed
- Daily unstructured time for child-directed play
- Daily time for processing and relaxing
- Purposeful movement
- Sensory experiences
- Opportunities to explore the natural world - deeply
- Love, Hope and encouragement
- Ritual and routine
- Faith and prayer
Limit "calories" from:
- Sugary treats and processed foods
- Adult-directed play and activities
- Schedule-packed days
- Car seat time
- Virtual experiences
- Screen time (TV, video games, computers, mobile devices)
DNA isn't destiny. The choices we make can change our genes and those of our kids. Let's be intentional about filling their childhoods with healthful offerings and limiting developmental toxins. It's the best shot we can give them at intellectual power - and mental and emotional health.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Begin again
With the turn of the page to a new calendar year, we all seem to turn our attention - at least momentarily - to ways to achieve better versions of ourselves. Most often, we think in terms of lifestyle changes that will improve our physical or financial health. Sometimes intellectual or emotional wellness are the goal. And once in awhile we might even resolve to improve our spiritual lives.
Wisdom culled from Pope Francis's words throughout the past year suggests simple changes of habit that have the power to shape us into better people. Why not push this goal to the front of the line? You might be surprised at how all the other areas of wellness will fall into place! As one of our teachers remarked: "many times the most significant changes are those that are small, sincere, intentional and practiced daily."
See this unconventional list of New Year's resolutions for some ideas. Why not adopt just one and see the power that a little change can make - when it's the right change.
Happy New Year!
Wisdom culled from Pope Francis's words throughout the past year suggests simple changes of habit that have the power to shape us into better people. Why not push this goal to the front of the line? You might be surprised at how all the other areas of wellness will fall into place! As one of our teachers remarked: "many times the most significant changes are those that are small, sincere, intentional and practiced daily."
See this unconventional list of New Year's resolutions for some ideas. Why not adopt just one and see the power that a little change can make - when it's the right change.
Happy New Year!
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