The Phone Call

Saturday, February 27, 2016

My phone rang this morning from an unknown number. For those of you who know me, know that I don’t typically answer my phone unless I know who is calling.  As it rang, something said to me, “answer it”.  On the other end of the call was Tom Child.  Mr. Child , age 97, is a World War II veteran who served  at Pearl Harbor.  In my efforts to organize local WWII veterans for interviews at the Hancock HIstorical Museum over the last month, he was a gentleman I really hoped to include in our program.  I knew however, from speaking with his daughter previously, that he might be hesitant, due to some recent health issues.  

As our phone call began, we were both struggling to find our voices, as it is likely that we were both speaking aloud for the first time this morning.  I chuckled and said that “we were both fighting frogs in our throats this morning”.  

I took the opportunity to explain the project and extended the opportunity to participate.  He shared how he has lost his ability to be conversational after being hospitalized a year or so ago.  He shared that he felt he would be a “negative” on what I was trying to accomplish. I told him that I respected his decision, that I only wanted to offer the opportunity.  

He was thankful for what I had set out to do, but that he just didn’t think he could remember much to share.  He shared that he had started to write things down and I offered to help him put together those writings and even type them so they could be preserved.  He talked about his five children and how he often refers to them by child 1,2, 3, 4 or 5.  I told him I understood those struggles; because, even at 44 I often mix up my 3 kids names.  He was surprised to hear that at “such a young age”, I would struggle with that.  

He talked about how time moves so quickly and I acknowledged “so much faster than I would like sometimes”.  He again told me what a wonderful thing I was doing and I urged him to hold onto my phone number and call me if  I could ever help him with his writing.  I told him how much I enjoyed the opportunity to speak with him this morning.  

His last word to me as he hung up the phone was “Aloha”

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The phone call lasted seven minutes, it ended at 9:29 am. It is currently 10:09 and I have not stopped crying since then. I am not sure exactly what has caused this in me.  

Perhaps, it is the stark reminder once again of how fragile life and our minds are.  

Perhaps, it is such a crashing realization how important it is document things as we experience them.  Perhaps, it is the hurt in my heart that I never took the time to have these conversations with both of my Grandfathers who were part of this generation.  

Whatever the cause, I am thankful for my time with Mr. Child this morning.  Our talk this morning has been one of the most moving conversations I’ve ever experienced.  

Thank you, Mr. Child for our talk and your service to our country. I am forever grateful for both!

What are your verbs?

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to be part of a group of educators who were encouraged by Jim Mahoney, the Executive Director of Batelle for Kids. 

In the time that we spent with him, he challenged us to identify our strengths in the Four Dimensions of Teacher Effectiveness. As I completed my inventory, it was clear my greatest strength was in the area of Relationships: Cultivating a supportive community, closely followed by Continuous Improvement: Adapting and Embracing Change.  Really, these results came as no surprise to me.  I think most of us that have spent more than 5 or so years in education would be able to identify within which quadrant their strengths lie. 

What I found so valuable to remember, when he was speaking about strengths and weaknesses is that he reminded all of us that once we know what are strengths are, we must partner or seek collaboration with colleagues who have strengths that we do not.  We must not be afraid to seek out the input and assistance of others; for, they may have gifts that we do not. 

Mahoney, also challenged us to spend sometime thinking about how we would want to define our upcoming school year.  What words, specifically verbs, would we use to guide and measure what was accomplished in this new school year. He mentioned that he spoke with almost 18 different educators before any of them mentioned two of the same verbs.  

I spent some time really thinking about what I want my classroom to be about, and the verbs I will use to measure what happened.   The final result was this: Cultivate, Collaborate, & Create. 

These verbs encapsulate what I want my classroom to be about this year. They explain the sense of community and caring that is important to me to give to my students and the challenges I have ahead for them to become thoughtful creators rather than idle consumers. 

So as the time edges closer to the start of school, I challenge those educators reading this to define the verbs for your classroom this year and share them with me.  

Laura <3

Think for yourself, ALWAYS!

The end of school seemed to come spiraling towards me so quickly that I barely had time to wrap my head around the fact that it was ending.  There was so much more I wanted to give my students a chance to create, so much more content for them to interact with. 

One of the things I've learned this school year is asking students to create products that are authentic and have meaning, require a great deal more time than "traditional assignments".  My mind has shifted this year that I am much more concerned about my students creating rather than consuming.  But in encouraging and supporting creation, it requires greater classroom time, especially to accommodate students who do not have access to technology at home. 

I left my students with a small piece of something I created as they left my classroom on the last day of school.  I wanted them to leave me encouraged and knowing exactly how much they meant to me.  Below is the letter I gave to each one of them. 

DREAM BIG

Laura <3

What do you mean I can only use 1 page?

Over the past few weeks between snow days and practice OGT's, my students worked diligently to create infographics to help others understand the Russian Revolutions.  They looked at causes, effects, key figures and events.  I challenged them to create something that would help others who knew nothing about this revolution to be able to look at their 1 page creation and quickly learn about this topic.

What they created challenged them to summarize, synthesize and create pictorial representations, all things that often required periods of thinking and processing.  I am incredibly proud of what they created and am excited to share them with you.  

<3 Laura 

The Great War in Movies

Over the past month, my students have been learning about World War I. With all of the snow days and delays it felt like we might never get done with this unit.  But I am proud to say that my students have finished this unit and have great things to show for it.  After their assessment I challenged them to create a movie about a chosen topic connected to WWI. They were given the freedom to chose from a variety of apps or software to complete this project. They assignment and choices were clearly laid out for them on my Blendspace.

It was fun and exciting to watch them read and try out different software and apps until they determined which would work best for them.  Upon completion of their movies I asked them to collaboratively write reviews about their chosen app or software. What you will find below are those reviews and their corresponding projects.  

Powtoon- This was the most utilized software by all of my students.

Cause of World War I by Nick & Corrina


The United States Enters the War by Hailey & Alexia


The Treaty that Ended the War by Mikayla &  Hannah 


The End of the War by Ashlynn & Wyatt


Causes of the War by Paige 


The US enters the War by Olivia & Sophie

The War Breaks Out by Aryana & Jordyn

Go Animate

Causes of WWI - by Zach and
 Christian

Voki

Causes of the War 

by Kyle & Adam 

















I will feature several other films in my next blog post
Keep creating 
<3 Laura 

Mentoring Matters . .

About five years ago, I was approached by one of our school’s administrator to begin exploring the feasibility of implementing a freshmen mentorship program in our high school.  Several other local high schools had similar programs, which reaped great benefits.

Thus, I set out on a journey to determine what a mentorship program might look like in our building and how all the logistics would be executed.  My principal, the Freshmen Principal, was incredibly supportive and knew the benefits it would bring to our students.  Research shows that freshmen students, who develop a connection to a person and/or an activity in their first year of high school, have increased academic success and higher rates of graduation.

We established a plan and garnered funds from our community foundation via grant and headed on our way.  The first year was a bit of a whirlwind. We ran on a skeleton crew of mentors (about 9 student mentors for 450 freshmen) and adjusted and created things as we went.  I am incredibly proud of that first year.  My mentors worked hard to create activities and develop connections with their students. Those mentors were great leaders and I see that still now in them, as some of them are finishing college and are heavily involved in Greek organizations or have had success in the military.  Those young people set high expectations, which I still measure my current mentors against today.  

We are currently, in our 5^th year of the program. We have served almost 2000 students, while growing about 100 student leaders.  Our program has been recognized nationally by America’s Promise Alliance as being a key reason why our community was given the status of “100 Best Communities for Young People”.  Each year the program becomes a little stronger and looks a little different. We have added great depth to our curriculum by using pieces of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits for Highly Effective Teens, The Search Institute’s 40 Assets and an in-depth curriculum developed by Freshmen Focus.

One of the biggest obstacles we have faced this year is losing our Freshmen Teachers as Lead Mentors in our mentorship classrooms. Due to a new contract and schedule changes, our freshmen teachers were no longer able to serve in these roles and we have utilized classroom aides this year.  This has introduced some challenges, as the freshmen students had no real connection to these aides and thus little respect; furthermore, the aides did not know the students or the program and it has taken a longer time to acclimate them to the purpose and functions of the program. I will say that at this point in the school year things are running great. 

I am proud to share that my mentors are working diligently on two service projects right now in conjunction with Do Something.  We are wrapping up a jean drive, in which all collected jeans will be dropped at our local Aeropostle, cleaned and then donated to teens that are homeless.  And, they have been working hard to hand create 400 Valentine’s Day Cards.  These valentines will be given to a local Agency on Aging and delivered to their 400 meals on wheels clients on Valentine’s Day. 

My role as Mentorship Coordinator/Teacher is two-fold; to create curriculum that grows and connects freshmen to our school community and to nurture upper-class students to be leaders in our school and our community.

Mentoring matters on many levels and I appreciate the value that my school district places in our program, because I know from the stories that my mentors share that what they are doing makes a difference.