A Survivor

     How lucky we were to have Mrs. Esther Lederman with us today!  Our teacher Ms. Finkelstein, whose 10th grade students are studying Elie Wiesel's Night, contacted The Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education of North Carolina to see if a Holocaust survivor could speak to the 10th graders.
     One of the slogans of the Center is, "When you listen to a witness, you become a witness," and I believe the students in attendance understood the truth and weight of that by the end of their time with Mrs. Lederman.  She was incredibly generous in describing her experience of hiding in an attic for two years to evade the Nazis, after they had murdered her mother and younger sister and sent her father to Buchenwald.

     There is a 28-minute documentary on Mrs. Lederman's story available for free on youtube here.

Shuffling with Shamrocks

     I believe our brains and our bodies are more closely and inextricably connected than we can even imagine, and any proper education must teach students the skills, the importance, and the joy of movement!  Our elementary PE teacher, Sherry Penland, could stand on the side of the field and bark at the kids to "Run!" because "It's good for you!" . . .  or she could make an event (the Shamrock Shuffle) that is so fun the kids run laps without even really knowing they're "exercising."

     Thank you Ms. Sherry for the art and creativity you bring to your work with our kids! and for keeping them moving with smiles on their faces!

Primary Source: A Human

     I like to think that one of our unofficial slogans at Woods is "Keepin' it real!"  Well, yesterday Ms. Lalley was keeping it real for her 8th grade history students by inviting a group of Vietnam veterans to speak with them about their various experiences as soldiers in the war in the late 60's.  As one of the veterans said, "So often in school you're learning from someone who learned from someone who learned from someone.  We are here as a real primary source, human beings with direct experience of the war."

     These veterans are part of the Bridge Back Foundation whose mission includes helping students understand the lesson of the Vietnam War.

     Thank you to the veterans for giving their time and for the generosity in sharing their experiences.  Thank you to Ms. Lalley for helping us keep it real at Woods.

Happy New Year Woods!

     We were lucky to have the cousin of two of our students visiting from Taiwan this week, and she spent time in art classes throughout the school to teach lessons in calligraphy and landscape.

Here's Happy New Year
with the symbol for Monkey
on the right.  (February 8th marked
the beginning of the Year of the
Monkey in the Chinese calendar.)

And here's the symbol for Woods!






And the work of our students that our visitor inspired . . .

Getting Particular About Particulates

     Even our relatively small school parking lot offers an array of different vehicles . . . and that's what Ms. Younger and her 7th grade scientists needed for testing the particulates produced by different engine types.  They took exhaust samples from . . .
     one of our school buses,
     a large and old Ford pick up truck,
     a Subaru Crosstrek, and
     a Prius.

Then, it was back to the lab, and under the microscopes, to take a closer look at the different particulate levels produced by the four different engines.

Steering Clear of the Shallows

     Peter A. Coclanis's column in this past weekend's News and Observer reminded me of the compelling argument that Nicholas Carr made a few years back in his book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains.

     No Luddite am I, but I do share Carr's and Coclanis's concerns for the effects of digital communication on our live, in-person, and in-public conversations, particularly when we engage in conversations that are difficult, gray, and gritty.  I hope that Woods is a place where we can be "counter-cultural" by engaging in conversations that have real depth and where we maintain civility and respect even when we, perhaps, disagree passionately.

     Here are a few excerpts from Coclanis's column that have stayed in my mind:

“Not to romanticize pre-digital times, but people today get bored easily, are afraid to be alone and are uncomfortable with the spontaneity and messiness involved in unedited human communications and civil, sober public dialogue and debate. Hence, part of the reason that we do face-to-face increasingly badly.”

"Without regular face-to-face conversations, we increasingly lose the ability to empathize with others, much less to engage their views. Indeed, we seem to be detaching from people even when we’re ostensibly with them."

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article58702328.html#storylink=cpy
"Not to romanticize pre-digital times, but people today get bored easily, are afraid to be alone and are uncomfortable with the spontaneity and messiness involved in unedited human communications and civil, sober public dialogue and debate. Hence, part of the reason that we do face-to-face increasingly badly."

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article58702328.html#storylink=cpy

High School Gets Loud for BeLoud!

High School Student Council with Lucy and Niklaus Steiner
of BeLoud! Sophie Foundation

     Two things I know about student life at Woods:

     1.  We're better when we're together, and

     2.  Building community within Woods and community service (helping others beyond the walls of Woods) are often "good friends" that get along well naturally (i.e., when we help others we tend to grow closer to each other!).

     In December our high schoolers held a Charity Ball with all proceeds going to the BeLoud! Sophie Foundation whose mission is to support adolescent and young adult cancer patients at UNC Hospitals.  We had a great time at the Ball . . . and we were able to raise $1000 for BeLoud!

…Be loud

And move with grace

Explode with light

Have no fear…

      ~ Sophie Steiner

On your feet!

     At the beginning of each school year I regularly share my major goals for the year with our School Board for their feedback and approval.  This year I attempted to portray each goal graphically (albeit informally . . . I'm an artist more in hope than in actuality) to provide a simple visual as I discussed the goals with them.  One of my depictions looked like this . . . 

    and in case that drawing doesn't make it perfectly clear, I will explain that it represents my hope that our students are always able to apply what they're learning in the classroom (scene depicted on the left) to the world beyond the classroom (student engaging with globe) and that they are able to assert and explain what they know actively "on their feet" with confidence (student with exclamation point).

    A far clearer--and certainly more powerful--"depiction" of what I'm talking about came from one of our students who spoke at a public meeting of the NC Department of Environmental Quality on December 17th in Raleigh.

     I hope we are always able to graduate students who still love the world enough to engage with it.  I hope we are always able to graduate students who are inspired to take on our toughest problems and find creative solutions.  I hope we graduate students who are bold.  Thank you, Caroline, for being bold!

     Here are my other drawings I used to present my goals to the Board.  In case they're not immediately self evident (and I can't imagine that they would be!), you can always look back to my September 21st post.

Take a Book, Return a Book

     I wonder how many of you have a Little Free Library in your neighborhood?  For some, I imagine that phrase Little Free Library is very familiar, while for others it probably comes across as new.  It's a grassroots movement whose mission is . . .

To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide and to build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations.

To find an official Little Free Library near you, you can visit their map.

    Well, at Woods we definitely share the mission of wanting to promote literacy and the love of reading.  We also believe in building a sense of community and in sharing skills, creativity, and wisdom across generations.  That's what inspired us to build and install our own book exchange on the first floor hallway.

     This bookcase was custom built for us by our own Amy Dowden, who, in addition to being a dynamic and dedicated teacher of chemistry, math, computer science, and physics, is also a very skilled and experienced woodworker with her own woodworking business.

Annual Fund 2015

A screenshot from this year's Annual Fund launch video.

     I've always admired the work of RSA Animate and particularly appreciate the white board animation they did for Ken Robinson's famous Ted Talk about changing educational paradigms.  (Robinson's original Ted Talk is here.  It's definitely thought provoking and worth a study -- and it's approaching 10 million views!)  It was the model we used (roughly) for this year's video to launch the annual fund drive.  This white board animation that we created is one of the stories of Woods.  Please take a look if you haven't yet seen it.

Principal Goals 2015-16

My major goals for the year, approved by the Board at the September 18th Board meeting:

1.  Support, retain, and develop our faculty.

·         Provide regular and varied forms of constructive feedback for all faculty.

o   Visit all classrooms at least twice by end of October.

o   Conduct longer observation of all faculty members by March 15^th.

·         Implement Beginning Teacher Support Plan.

·         Steward processes for reflective practice for all faculty.

(e.g., peer-to-peer observations, school visits, teacher book groups, Mini Rounds, Grand Rounds, CONNECT  board, etc.)

2.  Build community among faculty, students, and the whole school.         

3.  Practice Leadership-by-Walking-Around.

·         Be present in classrooms, hallways, and at extracurricular/athletic events.

4.  Communicate regularly with Woods families using multiple forms and forums.

·         Leverage traditional and digital media for articulating and reiterating our philosophy, mission, and values.

·         Compose four blog posts per month.

5.  Build a stronger, more cohesive EC team.

6.  Continue to focus, energize, and expand our fundraising capacity.

·         Raise $225,000 through the annual fund and auction.  Increase participation by Woods families beyond 85%.

·         Secure 2-3 significant corporate donations/sponsorships.

7.  Improve the precision of our financial modeling and forecasting to maximize money going to faculty salaries.

·         Conduct full salary scale analysis and find ways to make Woods competitive with state and local salary scales.

·         Complete a facilities maintenance plan by March 2015.

           

8.  Diversify our student body by increasing the diversity of our lottery pool and attracting more job applicants from teachers of color.

9.  Work creatively with faculty to integrate our outdoor campus into our curriculum and teaching.

10.  Lead Directors and Faculty in ongoing review of our curriculum to assess whether it is in service to our School mission and philosophy.

Native Plants and Pollinators at Woods

A visitor to our new pollinator garden.

     Until this past year we've done very little in regard to the landscaping in front of the school.  Mostly we've weeded and put down new mulch from time to time as needed to give a semblance of order and basic tidiness.
     Yet, I've always hoped that we could bring life and color to the front entrance in the form of a large pollinator garden that would attract butterflies, hummingbirds, beetles, moths, etc.  I've also thought it would be particularly interesting if we could get away with using only plants that are native to our North Carolina piedmont.
     Two of our teachers attended a summer institute at the NC Botanical Garden called Earth Partnership for Schools,  the goal of which is to help educators create rain gardens, native plants gardens, and/or restored natural habitats on schools grounds.  With their newly gained knowledge and with the help of students and landscape designer Matthew Arnsberger, we began design and installation of phase #1 of our pollinator garden this past spring.  It was great fun to have students, parents, and teachers all out front digging and planting, and our efforts have been rewarded with many blooms and butterflies to greet us at the front as we arrive and depart from school.

     Here are some glimpses of the installation:

And some of the fruits of our labors . . .

Rainbow over Cole Park

     Though I am quite fond of the days we spent at Cole Park Plaza (the school's original "campus"), I try to be careful not to over-glorify the strip mall days.  That was hard to do on this double rainbow afternoon, when Cole Park did appear to be the gold at the end of the rainbow!
     The chief lesson, for me, of our ten years of strip mall existence is that a great building does not a great school make . . . it's the people--and what they're committed to--that make the school.

Grand Rounds at Woods

If I say the phrase, "Grand Rounds" to you, I wonder what image comes to mind?  No doubt, some of you might conjure a tasty thought of this . . .

Indeed, I have family members who refer to those Pillsbury biscuits as Grand Rounds.

More sophisticated readers (perhaps?) might have in their mind the famous medical school tradition whereby doctors circulate together in groups to interview and discuss patients as part of the doctors' training and education, on the lines of this . .  . 

This year at Woods, when we say, "Grand Rounds," we mean something more like this . . .

Returning from Grand Rounds debrief.

One of our new initiatives for this year (which we're calling Grand Rounds, taking a cue from the med school tradition) involves teachers from each of the divisions spending their day rotating as a group to other classrooms around school to observe other colleagues and students in action.

Our purposes: 

1) to learn from each other’s practices,

2) to connect with teachers from other divisions,

3) to increase awareness of what other colleagues are doing in their day-to-day instruction, and

4) to gain perspective on student experience across division.

M.W. Helping Us Honor M.L.K.

     I'm grateful for our ongoing partnership with the bright creative lights of Mr. Mike Wiley!  He's an incredibly talented playwright and actor, and if you haven't encountered him, it's worth your while to visit his website to see the work he's up to.  For the past several years, he has come to Woods to be part of our observance of the life and work of Dr. King.  This year he performed his play One Noble Journey, which brings to life the story of Henry "Box" Brown, an African American born into slavery in Virginia in 1816 who later mailed himself to family--and freedom--in Philadelphia.

Alums in the House!

     Here's a tradition that goes back to Cole Park days.  We pick a day in early January, a day when we at Woods have returned to classes but our alums in college have not.  We bring in some simple food.  Then, we let the alums answer questions from the seniors about how to survive and thrive in college.  Today, we heard some sound hygienic advice: "bring proper rain gear," "don't neglect your sleep," "avoid eating only stupid carbs and salt your first year."  We also heard about how to make the most of learning in college: "get over your shyness and get yourself to office hours," "definitely consider a living learning community," and "when in doubt, talk to your professors."

After the seniors had their turn, we invited the juniors in for their own time with the alums.  The main prompt (to which the alums responded) was, "When I was a junior in high school, I wish someone had told me . . . "

Colloquium for Teachers of Writing

     We regularly send our Woods teachers to workshops and conferences around the state and around the country, reflecting our belief that Woods must be a place where learning is alive for both children and adults. Rarely, however, have we hosted professional development workshops at Woods for outsiders.  That changes this Saturday when we host teachers from around the Triangle for a colloquium for teachers of writing.  (I've copied our poster below, so please take a look -- and share with friends if you think they might be interested.)  It's a small step, but it's in the direction that I hope Woods will continue to march -- in the direction of sharing what we know with others and inviting other teachers to Woods to help us expand the art of teaching here at Woods and beyond!

Druckerman's Cures for Hyper-Parenting

I loved Pamela Druckerman's book Bringing up Bébé even though I came to it after my own kids were no longer bébés.  Her recent article in the New York Times contains echoes from the book and was also enjoyable.
I suspect she's right (unfortunately) when she humorously warns,

Don't bother obsessing about what you think you're doing wrong.  You won't screw up your kids in the ways you expect; you'll do it in ways you hadn't even considered.

You can find her October 12th article here.

Principal's Goals 2014-15

Approved at last month's Board meeting . . . 

Woods Charter School

2014-2015 Goals for the Principal

1.  Support, retain, and develop our faculty.

·         Provide regular and varied forms of constructive feedback for all faculty.

o   Visit all classrooms at least twice by end of September.

o   Conduct full observation of all faculty members by March 15^th.

·         Implement Beginning Teacher Support Plan.

·         Steward processes for reflective practice for all faculty.

(e.g., peer-to-peer observations, school visits, teacher book groups, Grand Rounds, CONNECT  board, etc.)

2.  Build community . . .

            among faculty.

            among students.

            among the whole school, One Woods.

3.  Practice Leadership-by-Walking-Around

·         Be present in classrooms, hallways, and at extracurricular/athletic events.

4.  Communicate regularly with parents using multiple forms and forums.

·         Leverage traditional and digital media for articulating and reiterating our philosophy, mission, and values.

o   Compose monthly blog posts to whole Woods community.

5.  Build a stronger, more cohesive admin/leadership team.

·         Engage outside coach/consultant to help challenge and develop the team.

·         Create and implement a new model for how we conduct meetings.

·         Conduct comprehensive review process for admin team.

6.  Continue to focus, energize, and expand our fundraising capacity.

·         Raise $200,000 through the annual fund and auction.  Increase participation by Woods families beyond 85%.

·         Secure 2-3 significant corporate donations/sponsorships.

7.  Improve the precision of our financial modeling and forecasting to maximize money going to faculty salaries.

·         Complete a facilities maintenance plan by April 2015.

           

8.  Create outdoor spaces on our campus that are friendly and inspiring to teachers, students, and learning.  Add beauty and vibrancy to the front of the school.

·         Build two outdoor classrooms (council houses) this school year.

·         Complete design for huge pollinator garden in front of the school and install phase #1 by Dec. 1^st.

Raindrops and Rain Puddles

There's a good reason why rain jackets and rain boots are required items on Mrs. Kaman's student supply list!  Yesterday's rain made venturing outdoors a little wet, but certainly not dangerous, so out they went!

The students enjoyed the time to discover the wonder of raindrops and rain puddles.  The one rule (before jumping into a puddle) is to announce loudly to your classmates, "Watch out.  Here comes a big one!"

Teacher-Leader, and child-at-heart, that she is, Mrs. Kaman led the way with a demonstration of proper puddle jumping.