Updates: Week of 3-30-20

Weekly Update: Week of March 30, 2020

Dear Staff-

I just want to check in and let you know how proud I am of your work and dedication to keeping things running as smooth as possible for your students.  We are really creating a plan as we go, and I have been so impressed with what you have been creating. I know that we are PLANNERS, so it's hard not to have a solid plan in place right now.  Please know that everything that you are doing is great! And your compassion, understanding and commitment are beyond great!

Please go forward this week with what you have already planned for students and follow the time allotments for subjects sent out by Dave. This coming week we will get more guidance and support regarding instruction beyond that. 

What I can tell you is this:

(more information will come after next week's meetings with Teaching and Learning- this is simply a head's up)

• Plan to deliver whole group instruction as close to in-school curricular expectations as possible- (meaning moving forward with curriculum currently in place)
• Whole group lessons via google hangout are fine but not expected at this time
• District grade level meetings are being planned for the week of April 6, you will see meeting invites soon.
• Social Studies/Science or IUI - not required at this point - more info coming.

Our main priority at this time is to remain connected to our students and families. Be sure to encourage parents/guardians as many are feeling a little overwhelmed and/or inadequate - make sure that they know that we are here for them, and please share any concerns with me.  

The communication log (Houlton Communication Log) is what we will use to track communication to families starting this week. (Note: Starting the week of April 6 we can ask families for their preference for the weekly check in - phone call or email).  This log will be used to track who we are able to connect with, and alert us if there are any kids we are missing.

Instruction for the week of March 30th and going forward:

• Please send an email Sunday night or Monday morning to families laying out the plan for the week (example). This should be a one-stop-shop (Seesaw, Google Classroom, the Google Docs with links, etc.) for parents to access at any time throughout the week. We will continue daily emails regarding assignments for this week - but we may discontinue this daily contact after April 6th.  More to come!
• Please add your weekly assignments to this Doc HO Online Plans.  If you have any questions, would like examples or need support with this- please connect Lori B. or me. Thank you!

A few nuts and bolts:

• Specialist should continue to push out assignments and activities through classroom teachers and also link those to the  HO Online Plans.  Do try and connect with your specialist teams from other buildings- you can get a lot of good ideas from each other!
• As badly as we want to connect with our kids in person, we are discouraging dropping items off at student's houses at this time. US Mail and virtual connections are great!
• Option: Continue to have PLC/planning meetings with your teammates weekly via Google hangout. Invite Lori and me if you wish!
• Please be cognizant of the emails that you are receiving. Unfortunately, cybercriminals are taking advantage of our current situation and spamming educators. This article may be especially helpful to you. You can continue to report malicious emails using the fish hook in their email box. Thanks for your help.

Hang on!

Houlton Staff;

As we approach a time of extreme unknown, I want to thank you for your calm and focused response.  It seems as though information changes before we can even deliver it, so I appreciate your flexibility and ability to go with the flow.  Additional information will be coming soon from the district regarding what the online learning will look like - for now, there are some links below to help explain what you'll need to do.  We will be having a staff meeting tomorrow morning to review what we know so far.

Important links for staff:
Presentation from Friday's end of day meeting
Teacher Checklist
On Demand Emergency Education Plan
HO Staff Online Learning Office Hours - 4 hours a day

Questions we are looking into:

• community support for families (food, child care) - I've had a lot of families reach out and ask what they can do - warms my heart!
• device and internet access at home
• staff responsibilities
• building access
• online learning expectations, delivery of materials

Notes:

• Teachers may want to remind families today/tonight to send back materials that the students brought home on Friday that you may need for Monday-Wednesday.
• We are anticipated higher levels of students absent on the days we have school this week.

Thank you, again, for maintaining your focus on kids, and continuing your Houlton "can do" attitude.  I appreciate all that everyone is doing!
Sue

Houlton Highlights

I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the amazing things that are happening at Houlton, and to recognize the work that our staff does, that often goes above and beyond.

Circus, Circus
An amazing performance this week! Lori worked her magic and had 100% of the kids' attention and engagement.  Students, staff and families loved it!

Minute to Win It
Thank you to Julia for organizing the Family, Fun and Fitness calendars, and for providing the motivation to complete the calendars for the chance to participate in the MInute to Win It competitions each month!

Day of Learning
Classes explored all kinds of things - space and STEM to name a few.  Thank you, classroom teachers, for providing a remarkable combination of learning and fun on Friday.

Reading Around the World
Classes celebrated their reading destinations with all kinds of fun events - Imax movies/Google Satellite, coconuts, masks, Mona Lisa art, and a trip to Disney!

Sewing Club
The Houlton Sewing Club was on the front page of the Hudson paper - a great story on a great group of kids.

 

Joyful Education

As the Houlton staff has been working through the process of creating an action plan from the staff survey results, there have been several conversations about having the freedom to respond to students as needed, even though this might cause one to veer from the district"guarantees".  The article below contains the scientific evidence supporting the importance of a "joyful learning environment", supporting the decision to take time to give students what they need.  I'm sharing this information this week as we finalize our action plan, and as we plan for our "Day of Learning" on Friday.  I hope staff feel supported to make decisions that they feel are in the best interest of our students, to give them what they need to learn and grow to their full potential. This isn't the end of the conversation by any means, but certainly a beginning, as we expand the permission to make decisions for students, and expand our toolbox of strategies from which to draw.  

Thank you for your focus on what's best for our students!

The Neuroscience of Joyful Education

Judy Willis, Educational Leadership, 2007

Brain research tells us that when the fun stops, learning often stops, too. Neuroimaging and neurochemical research support an education model in which stress and anxiety are not pervasive (chugani, 1998 Pawlak, Magarinos, Melchor, McEwan, & Strickland, 2003).  This research suggests that superior learning takes place when classroom experiences are enjoyable and relevant to students' lives, interest, and experiences.

Many education theorists (Dulay & Burt, 1977; Krashen, 1982) have proposed that students retain what they learn when the learning is associated with strong positive emotion.  Cognitive psychology studies provide clinical evidence that stress, boredom, confusion, low motivation, and anxiety can individually, and more profoundly in combination, interfere with learning (Christianson, 1992).

Classrooms can be the safe haven where academic practices and classroom strategies provide students with emotional comfort and pleasure as well as knowledge.  When teachers use strategies to reduce stress and build a positive emotional environment, students gain emotional resilience and learn more efficiently and at higher levels of cognition.