Pass it on

It seems like just days ago that we were outside without jackets in a gentle breeze that hardly even hinted at the dramatic seasonal changes about to unfold.  The transformation in front of us right now is not only about the weather, however.  We're about to flip a switch that will move us from fall to the generic season called "holiday"  - with barely a passing glance at Thanksgiving along the way.

As merchants gear up to make the most of their year-end sales, it's hard not to get swept up in the red-and-green holly-jolly excitement that has gradually rebranded Thanksgiving more as as a gateway to Christmas than a deep ritual celebration in its own right.  Personally, I like to take things a little bit more slowly, savoring the autumn hues until they completely fade away and allowing some dedicated calendar space for a deeper kind of gratitude than we tend to live in our workaday lives.

Whether an everyday habit or a special ritual, gratitude is good for us.  Harvard Medical School reports an impressive body of research that draws a strong and consistent parallel between gratitude and measures of health and happiness. "Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships."  I would posit, that by extension, gratitude makes the world a better place, too, because grateful people who humbly recognize their gifts instinctively share them with others.

Further, when we acknowledge the goodness in our lives, we usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies outside ourselves. As a result, gratitude also helps us connect to our own identity as spiritual beings.  

It takes a certain maturity to understand this, even to feel authentic gratitude, and, therefore, to benefit from it.  This is why we need to be especially intentional about forming our children for this healthy - and holy - lifestyle.  Beginning in the season of Advent, we will have a rich opportunity to do just that as we expand our Share-a-Meal (SAM) program from a monthly to a weekly collection. 

New third grade teacher Jan Ebel has challenged us to prioritize this child-to-child connection to families in need.  We agree with her that having sharing on our minds continually will help us to better form disciples that instinctively pass their gratitude forward.

Please help your children to select a food pantry item for your weekly grocery list as a matter of habit.  Choosing it themselves will help form a conscious gratitude.  Paying for it themselves will help begin a lifetime of responsible stewardship.

Gratitude is good for us and good for those around us.  Savor it...and pass it on! 

Never done

One of the comments we received in our State of the School follow-up survey was related to a lack of clarity around why we change curriculum that was described as cutting edge just a few years ago. The answer depends, first of all, on our understanding of the term "curriculum."   As used in a professional context, curriculum refers to a locally-designed plan for alignment of instruction, learning experiences, and assessment to achieve articulated outcomes.  It's essentially a plan for where we're going and how we'll get there.  Many people - even teachers - sometimes use the word curriculum to refer more narrowly to the resources used to support that plan.

Math is a great example.  In 2009 we adopted Pearson's Investigations resources to teach elementary math.  The lab-model approach these resources enabled facilitated the development of number sense and quantitative thinking, the ability to defend that thinking with language, and the ability to solve authentic problems in a collaborative process in which knowledge is constructed by testing hypotheses and building shared understanding.  This approach gradually transformed the math culture of our school from one where "When will I ever use this?"  and "I'm not good at math" were common mantras to one where math class is engaging, understanding is deep, and consecutive years have brought us top placement in the prestigious Thomas More Math Competition.

Then, along came a revised set of national standards, which the Archdiocese embraced for their rigor and relevance.  By design, they address math practices and scaffold deep understanding through applied thinking; in other words, precisely what we had already been doing.  We were thrilled!  Our teachers were ahead of the curve in their proficiency to design instruction for these outcomes.  On the down side, however, we also found ourselves with a set of fabulous resources that were, unfortunately, quite misaligned with the new instructional sequence, which essentially covers fewer topics each year, but studies them more deeply.  (For example, where we used to teach a little bit about fractions in each grade level, we now teach fractions deeply and completely by the end of grade five.)

For the first two years after the new standards were launched in the Archdiocese, we used our Investigations resources as a component of teacher-designed curriculum.  This was labor-intensive work that led us on a search for published resources that would allow our teachers to redirect their energies toward the art of teaching.  Along the way, we learned about the work that had been done by the Center for Teaching and Learning in the State of New Jersey.  Part of a broader Progressive Teaching Initiative that reimagines education, their Progressive Math Initiative has designed contemporary curriculum complete with resources fully aligned to the new Standards.  Moreover, because the Project is designed to utilize technology to foster continuous improvement by capturing the collective wisdom of practitioners in the field, they published the entire curriculum online for anyone to use - at no cost.  This represents a savings of over $4,000 annually in consumable Investigations Student Activity Books.

We piloted the New Jersey PMI curriculum in grades one to five last year strictly as designed (much as you follow a recipe as written the first time you make a new dish).  This year, we are reintegrating the rich resources from Investigations where they fit to further enhance what the New Jersey teachers have designed.

We are not teaching differently as much as we are teaching in a different sequence with pacing calendars and resources designed and published by different authors.  We made this shift to align with the requirements of the new standards, of course, but also to improve; because the interactive Web launched an unstoppable collective intelligence and we are not only paying attention, but contributing to the conversation.

Knowledge evolves and you should expect nothing less than continuous improvement from your children's school.  A good school is never done.

For those interested in a more academic treatment of this topic, see this article on the paradigm shift  in education brought about by the Progressive Teaching Initiative.

The whole is greater

I've had a couple of opportunities in recent weeks to reflect on the both the joys and challenges of forging a cohesive school community.  First, I found myself immersed in another school community that was uniquely, powerfully cohesive.  In analyzing the reasons for this identity, I drew some conclusions about the sameness of their members.  Then yesterday, a colleague from a small school shared another perspective I had not previously considered; namely, that the size of a school is directly related to the complexity of this accomplishment.  In smaller school communities, he proffered, the members are more likely to take on a single group identity, whereas a larger school is more likely to divide into smaller sub-groups.  Anecdotally, I would say these factors seem to work in tandem.  In reflecting on possible reasons, I have surmised that it is likely because human beings are naturally oriented to forming "tribes."  They are also naturally attracted to others like themselves, so will comfortably sub-divide according to identifiers ranging from proximity to values, interests, or backgrounds when the numbers reach a critical mass.  If these are theories are valid, they would suggest that the thing we strive for -  bigger enrollment - may just also be the thing that we will have to keep strategically on our radar if we value a cohesive sense of identity.

And I do think it's an outcome worth the effort.  Just as a painting is enriched by many colors or an orchestra by many instruments, the richness of our school comes not just from the many of us working in one place or even traveling on one journey, but from all of us working in harmony to form one holistic community greater than the simple sum of its individual members.

When we have opportunities like tonight's Annual Fund Kick-off Party to come together around those essentials that unite us, I think deeply about whether everyone feels welcome.  I hope you know that each of you is uniquely important to our efforts.  And I wonder what kind of leadership will facilitate the oneness that gives us momentum and makes us whole.

From a place deep in my spirit, please know that each of you is valued, loved, and truly welcome.  I look forward to any opportunity to come to know each of you more intimately and hope that every single one of us - young, old, rich, poor, black, white, Catholic, agnostic, introvert, extrovert, East-sider, South-sider, of every background and profession - will also make a conscious effort to step beyond the comfortableness of our familiar tribes to enrich ourselves and our community by cross-pollinating a bit.  I can almost hear the powerful, beautiful music we will create by "learning, praying, loving, serving, working and playing - as one."

All saints great and small

Sunday marks the Church's Feast of All Saints, but when this holy day falls on a weekend, the St. Robert School community will always celebrate at school as well.  This is not to replace our obligation to attend Mass on the weekend, but because it is a long-held tradition for our second graders to teach us what they've studied and learned about the holy men and women who are the heroes and role models for our community of Saints-in-training.

But, wait a minute, aren't we all saints?  This morning, we learned the meaning behind our creedal belief in "the communion of saints,"  beginning with the reminder that, indeed, everyone who believes in God is a member of His kingdom, and all members of the Kingdom are called saints - with a lower case s.  We also learned the remarkable mystery of the communion itself, namely, that every time we celebrate the sacrifice of the Holy Mass, our prayer is united with every saint in heaven and on earth. Finally, we learned that the holy men and women known to the entire Church - those Saints with a capital S - are not the only saints in heaven.  Those known and loved only by their own families and friends are no lesser citizens of heaven. Rather, the Church has given us the canonization process to verify heavenly citizenship. The lives and works of these saints have been subjected to a rigorous investigative process, including the documentation of miracles attributed to them after their deaths.  So, we can look to the canonized saints not only as inspirational models, but can pray with confidence to to them as intercessors who we know to be close to God.

The most remarkable thing about the capital S Saints, though, is that they were ordinary sinners like us. They achieved their greatness by knowing, loving, and serving God above all else - in ways from the simple to the heroic.  It is precisely their ordinariness that inspires us to the right-ordering of our faith and to know for certain that we, too, can achieve sainthood, whether great or small; recognized or not.

This would be a great weekend to teach your children about the origins of our Halloween traditions and to help them identify a patron saint as a personal friend and intercessor.  The comfort and blessings that will follow will be nothing short of miraculous.

Happy Feast Day!

So Proud!

In the fast pace of our daily work, we don't often take time to reflect on what we've accomplished. This week was different, though.  In preparation for our new format for the State of the School meeting, the faculty and board paused to identify recent accomplishments, and then to capture brief, bite-sized snapshots of each of them in order to give our stakeholders a more comprehensive view of the structures, processes, and resources that come together to create your children's educational experience.

Those of us who created those snapshots gained a gratifying perspective on our work. It was a particularly proud moment for me to listen to a diverse group of teachers and board members collaborating on presentations in the areas of personalized learning, technology integration, curriculum innovations, measuring success, and leadership and service. And, judging by the energy and enthusiasm of the follow-up conversations, I think it was also exciting for our audience of parents to to hear about some of the contemporary best practices in play at our little school and to have the opportunity to participate in the conversation through an online back-channel chat.

We acknowledged the operational challenges ahead of us, but I am hopeful that a well-informed base of parent ambassadors armed with relevant details about the St. Robert School brand will enable us to work together to not only make a great school, but to promote it - because a strong enrollment base is our best assurance of a sustainable future.

To those who joined us last night, thanks for your time.  To those who couldn't be with us, watch for a link to presentation notes, handouts and FAQs sometime next week.   We look forward to continuing the conversation!

Reaping the harvest

Having raised my children in Catholic education, this particular October weekend has always been associated with teacher in-service.  As a family, we often planned a small get-away or special activities to take advantage of the extra days off.  Though the experience of these days is very different from the perspective of faculty, this point in the calendar still conjures up warm and happy memories of walks in the woods, visits to the pumpkin farm, and glorious immersion in the vibrant colors, scents, and sounds of the harvest season.

And so it is that I think of you and your families in a a bit of a wistful way on this uniquely beautiful fall weekend.  I hope you will find some time to slow down and savor these fleeting moments of seasonal bounty - and of childhood itself.  Enjoy the sunshine.  Enjoy the harvest.  Enjoy making memories with your children.

The Pause

In preparation for impending motherhood, my daughter, who is a sophisticated consumer of text, has been reading deeply on the subject across a diverse body of print information.  One not particularly intellectual book that has nonetheless provided fodder for stimulating conversations is the New York Times Bestseller Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting.  I'm only halfway through it, but I can say with assurance that whether you read it as a cultural anthropology or as a parenting guide, it will make for interesting conversation and reflection.

The author, Pamela Druckerman, is an American journalist who finds herself raising a family in France.  In very short order, she notices a dramatic difference between American children and the native French on almost every measure of behavior and temperament.  She calls on her journalism skills to undertake an expansive investigation.  Her observation and research reveals fundamental parenting differences so pervasively embedded into French culture that French parents are not even aware that their national manner of interaction with their children is what makes their children so characteristically different from Americans.

Some notable differences the author explores are that French children are apparently largely content and patient.  Babies sleep through the night by four months. Toddlers patiently eat four course meals at fancy restaurants while their parents sip coffee or wine.  The children are almost uniformly inquisitive, creative, resilient, and wise ("sage").  The author discovers through interviews with French professionals and peers and by studying the key authors who have influenced their parenting culture (think the French equivalent of Dr. Spock), that the French are quite consistent about what they value and so, quite intentional about what - and how - they teach their children.  They are also remarkably calm and consistent with their children.  They provide a frame of firm immovable boundaries, a cadre, within which children experience a great deal of freedom to explore and make decisions.  And they help children understand why they are doing these things.  This makes sense to me because as educators we know that children will be more successful in reaching the learning target if they know what it is - and what success looks like.

Aside from French eating habits, which I will have to save for another column, the most fascinating idea I've read so far is the use of a small response delay that Druckerman dubs "The Pause."   French parents watch their children intently to understand their needs, waiting a few seconds before responding to a baby's cry or a child's request. They remind their children to wait, rather than to be good or quiet. And they tell their children why they must wait because they believe that babies are rational beings who can learn things, and that their children will be much happier if they learn patience and frustration tolerance.

By modeling, slowing down our response times, and giving kids opportunities to practice delayed gratification, perhaps the French have discovered a formula for giving their children a life skill that will lead to success and contentment in many future endeavors. Pausing.  A simple idea with potentially life-changing results.  'Might be worth a try.