Greetings,
GreenMount Community,
At today’s Monday Morning Meeting,
Ms. Elaine demonstrated how our Pillars work to guide each of us as we work to
create a culture of excellence in our school.
We also spoke to the students about some of the expectations that we
have as we work on this initiative for the third year.
We had a long conversation about this idea at our
staff meeting on Friday, and it was good to acknowledge all that we currently
do to celebrate excellent work and behavior.
Indeed, The GreenMount School is one that for twenty years now has been
growing this kind of culture.
But there is always more to do. So, as a staff we will be continuing our
efforts to refine our approach to establishing this culture. For example, at the end of last year we
watched a powerful YouTube video about the power of words. The blind man was getting very little help
from passersby, who read his sign that said, “Blind, please help.” At one point, a woman stopped and took the
sign and wrote something on it.
Subsequently, people began dropping money in the man’s hat one after
another. The man did not know what the
woman wrote, but the audience then saw the words, “It’s a beautiful day, but I
can’t see it.” The power of words…As a
staff we are exploring how we speak to children and how our words are powerful
– for better or worse. We must realize
that our words and body language send strong messages to children and that in
order to cultivate excellence, we must carefully choose words that encourage
students and give them meaningful feedback.
This week, we are reading an article from Educational Leadership about feedback
that is given to students. The author is
Grant Wiggins, who is best known for his work with Baltimorean Jay McTighe and Understanding by Design. This interesting article reveals to us, as
teachers, some of the discrepancies that exist in what we think is feedback. For
example, have you ever heard feedback that sounds like this?
-
You need more examples in your report.
-
You should have included some essential questions in
your unit plan.
-
Good work!
-
I’m so pleased with your poster!
None of this is meaningful feedback. The first two examples are actually advice while
the second two are value judgments.
Instead of “Good work,” we
should offer feedback such as, “Do you remember when you couldn’t do this
exercise?” or “You cited 18 authors in your
report. What strategies did you use to
find so many authors?”
It is sometimes scary to think of the power adults
have over children, and words often express that power. The staff at GMS is working to make sure that
words convey positive growth for every child, even when the conversation is a
result of a bad choice that a student has made.
Students who come to me with a behavior reflection get a chance to do
just that – reflect – to use their own words to understand the choices they
have made and how they may hinder them from demonstrating excellence.
Parents and teachers are charged
with an awesome responsibility. Together,
we must continually strive to give our children the right message so that they
become confident, capable and contributing learners.
“Adults are always asking little kids what
they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas”
– Paula Poundstone
Cheers,
Steve
