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focus on what we call lower order thinking and, in the rapidly exploding world of information, can be practically outdated by the time they're in print.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

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)

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.