April 3, 2017

Our Mission:  “Educate students for lifelong learning and responsible living.”

Our Vision:  “Provide a learning environment that promotes and develops academic and

social growth.

Attaining Learning Outcomes = Higher Achievement

”

• Monday:  State Testing Begins.  It takes everyone working together to make this a successful testing session.  Being on Time and mindful is the responsibility of everyone.
• Tuesday:  Sign your I-Observation Evaluations Online. NO PLC meetings.  Faculty meeting 3:30 in library
• Wednesday:  Brett staffing meeting downtown A.M.  Leadership Meeting in library.
• Thursday:  Honor Choir Field Trip to Sing. 
• Friday:  End of 1st week of testing.  Fire drill a.m. weather permitting.

Hey Coolidge Familia!

   I (and a few others) attended the Behavior Doctor conference presented by Dr. Laura Riffel yesterday (so much awesome information) and with testing season approaching she gave us some research based techniques that will help reduce our students’ anxiety over testing and I couldn’t help but share! Some of the tips may work for you and some may not… it’s all about procedures! These are the top ones that I feel are most accessible and able to adjust last minute.

-          Chewing gum

-          Taking shoes off and wiggling toes

-          Dark chocolate

-          Blues, purple and greens are calming colors

-          Looking at pictures of nature or watching short videos of nature scenery

-          Peppermint oil and water and spray around the room before they come in before the day helps wake them up

-          Grabbing a drink of water (for students’ or a student who seems extra anxious right before the doors close and all that fun stuff starts)

-           

I hope some of these are helpful!

Also, if anyone knows who my testing buddy is I would love to know since I was not at the faculty meeting on Tuesday! J

Thank you,

Alicia M. Strawn

Kindergarten| Coolidge Elementary| UTPA

Rock On! How I Taught Focus to a Class That Wouldn't Sit Still

Natalie Catlett , Practicing Artist & Art Teacher

Posted 02/14/2017 11:00AM |

As a teacher, every now and then we come across a class with an abundance of energy. Sometimes so much energy that teaching seems like an impossible mission. Students fidget with their hands, feet, dance in their stools and engage in constant side conversations with their classmates.

Any time is a good time to tell a secret or share an interesting dinosaur fact. (Don't we all love learning about dinosaurs?) Last year, I inherited a first grade class that fit the description above. They were curious, they were bright, but it was clear from day one that they needed help to channel their excess energy. I didn’t want or expect them to sit statue-still; much to the contrary. I always encourage active learning, collaboration, and ongoing participation in the classroom.

However, I wanted them to understand the importance of balance. When you come across a class that is constantly in a highly agitated state and this begins to interfere with their learning, something needs to be looked at more carefully. My fellow teachers and I were constantly asking ourselves, “How can we help this group?”, “What strategies can we incorporate in our classrooms?”, “What tools do they need to be more at peace with themselves?” The conversations were endless. The strategies were endless. And so was their energy.

Since our school works in a transdisciplinary manner, teachers across subject areas often collaborate. At the time, students were learning about rocks and the rock cycle with their homeroom teacher. In Art, I wanted to explore rock sculptures. I was hesitant to explore this theme at first, anticipating possible conflicts due to the groups agitated temperament, but decided to move forward.

Little did I know the powerful effect rocks and rock-sculpture building would have on them individually and as a group.

Front-loading

We began our rock sculpture inquiries watching videos of Michael Grab creating freestanding rock sculptures in the wilderness. Students were awed with Michael´s each and every move. As he piled one rock onto another in the videos students reacted with “wow" and "ahh." They were amazed, so amazed that one student challenged the group: “This can’t possibly be real, is it?” Once we finished watching the videos students shared some of their many observations. I then asked them, “What traits must an artist like Michael Grab have in order to build the rock sculptures we just saw?”

“Patience.”

“Peace.”

“He needs to know a lot about rocks.”

“Steady hands.”

“A lot of concentration.”

They were fascinated. They were involved. We were onto a good start.

Hands-on

The following class students came to the art room eager to build their own rock sculptures. At first, piling one rock on top of the other was quite an accomplishment, until they discovered they could pile 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 rocks onto each other. Every time a sculpture collapsed they immediately began rebuilding it. Students were open to constant trial-and- error, learning more from their failures than successes. Yet, little frustration was evident.

Weeks went by and their sculpture’s became taller and far more elaborate. In small groups, they shared their discoveries and identified ways of making a stronger base. They realized that looking closely at the characteristics of the rocks allowed them to make predictions and anticipate possible outcomes. The rocks varied in shape and size: some were flat, some were rounded, some were jagged, some were pitted. All of this mattered once they began the rock balancing act.

The Calming Effect

Students were quick to notice how inner focus was important while building their rock sculpture. Bothered, one student shared with the class, “I can’t concentrate with noise!” Another student claimed that someone spoke so loud in class that it destabilized his sculpture, making it collapse. Some even sought out hidden places and transformed it into their rock-sculpture-making oasis. They realized that in order build a sculpture they had to align their physical and mental energy. They needed to focus on their intent and act upon it carefully. A quick unplanned move could jeopardize the stability of their entire sculpture making it collapse.

Their willingness to challenge themselves was extraordinary. They took risks however great they were and the open-ended nature of the activity allowed them to engage in constant problem solving. They also became more aware of their bodies in the art room. Students moved carefully within the class. Some began working on the ground because sharing a table was too much of a risk. If the person beside them dropped a rock it could initiate a domino effect of sculpture’s collapsing. The class with endless energy became, to my surprise, the class with endless focus.

Collaborative Sculptures

Once students became more confident of their sculpture-making abilities they began working collaboratively. There were situations where the entire class was engaged in building one large sculpture together. Can you imagine one sculpture being built by 24 students? Their disposition to accept responsibility, cooperate, resolve conflicts and make group decisions in an egalitarian manner was visible during these moments.

There was an incident where students were building a rock sculpture collaboratively and one student ran to the sink. She found a sponge, soaked it with water and ran back to the sculpture. “I am going to press water from this sponge onto our sculpture. If it’s strong it will stand still.” They approached this moment of uncertainty with excitement, gathered in a circle. Water dripped from the sponge onto the sculpture. The sculpture stood tall. They looked at each other and celebrated their success.

Rock Teachings

Elements of nature can become powerful teachers. Rocks, unlike twigs, leaves and dirt, cannot be modeled or reshaped with our bare hands. Rocks are hard, sometimes heavy and often resistant. In order to work with rocks students had to accept its traits and challenge themselves. When students were asked to reflect on their rock sculpture-making experiences, most of them highlighted the importance of balance, patience and persistence. One student noted that, “I can only create a balanced sculpture if I am balanced.” Once our inquiry cycle finally came to an end, they asked, “Can we have a rock corner in the art room for the rest of the year?” “Of course!” I responded.

An entire year has gone by since we first began exploring rock sculptures and students continue seeking the “Rock Corner”. The class still has an abundance of energy, but every time they interact with the rocks, the world around them slows down. They tune inwards and focus permeates the room.

STUDENT VOICE

Disagree With a Student’s Opinion?

Our job is to teach students the art of argument and to give feedback on how they express themselves—not what they express.

By Heather Wolpert-Gawron

March 20, 2017

Every teacher knows that kids love to give their opinions. Opinions end up getting shared whether 

you’re asking for them or not. Sometimes they’re yelled out in class, and other times they’re shared 

through assignments. If you’re lucky, they’re on topic, but sometimes they come out of left field.

Hearing what’s in a student’s head is one of the joys of the job. I love rich discussions. I love them in classroom discourse and online discussion groups. I’ve learned from my students arguably more so than they’ve learned from me.

But what happens if the opinion that a student shares is one that you totally disagree with? The answer, of course—and it’s hard sometimes—is to keep that to yourself.

That isn’t to say that we do nothing, but as role models in academic discourse, it means we have to honor opinions and focus on learning and sharing diverse viewpoints, even if that means a student settles on a viewpoint we do not share.

I do share my opinions on my own Facebook page, but the school is a sacred place for kids to learn different academic viewpoints: scientific ones, historical ones, ones from literature, ones from current events, and ones from the world around us. Then they can disseminate their own opinions based on facts. That is what maturing is all about, and we’re lucky enough to get to see it firsthand.

So what I’ve been working to do lately whenever a student brings up opinions based on current politics, religion, or values (whether I agree or disagree) is to focus on the academic level of the argument being made—not on the opinion itself. It’s what we’re tasked to do: help students communicate content better.

Staying Focused on Form

I’ve been a writing teacher for the past 15 years and a speech and debate coach (recently retired) for nearly the same number. As such, I see and hear a lot of arguments. Some arguments are structured essays or speeches while others simply come from building a community of learners in my classroom who feel at ease in sharing their opinions. It’s what you want from a classroom—a place where kids take risks in what they voice and write. Brief note here: Of course you could have a silent classroom or one that never asks students for their opinions on anything. However, I think we all know that isn’t an option. We can’t keep the door closed because we don’t want to tackle what’s behind it.

Anyway, as a teacher who encourages the sharing-out of opinions whether in the form of a quickwrite in a journal, an Ignite-style speech, or a Four Corners debate, I find that it helps to keep a few things in mind.

1. A student’s opinions most likely come from the home: Students build opinions based on those around them. They overhear, they are actively taught, and they acquire their opinions by listening to and interacting with the adults in their life. It can be difficult, but our task is to be someone they want to listen to because they trust our objectivity. It’s our job to inspire, not convince.

2. Give feedback on the quality of communication, not the content of the opinion: Recently, a very sweet middle school student gave me her speech on how we should all come together as a country. She presented a perfectly solid argument. Her hook, however, began by slamming those who are struggling with our new leadership. She had focused her attention-getter on a made-up piece of dialogue that was hyperbolic and over-the-top and had a whiny tone. I realized that what we were talking about wasn’t a difference of opinion so much as a lack of empathy, and I focused on how much more sophisticated her argument could be if she would take a more compassionate approach (and tone).

I kept the criticism to the choices she made as a writer: her voice and the strategy of attention-getter she used as well as the examples and evidence to support her point. Her second draft, therefore, didn’t stray from her initial topic, but was a more convincing speech because it more sensitively handled how we could be more unified. Her call to action, at the end, wasn’t so much a demand (as it was in the first draft) but an encouragement.

3. Teach about bias, not just false information: We’ve all been warned about helping students recognize fake news, but it’s also vital to continue teaching about biased reporting. This kind of news isn’t necessarily fake, but I tell students that in an argument, any argument, if we want to be respected for sophistication, we must find ways to gather evidence through true data, not biased opinions.

Help students learn to identify the publisher of websites so that they can cite from more objective sources. Help students be more critical of those who counter with opinion, not fact. Help students learn to tell an emotional argument from a logical one, a manipulative strategy from one that is straightforward in its persuasiveness.

4. Teach the art of the counterargument: Help students recognize that the other side—no matter what side that is—has a point. Those who disagree with you aren’t crazy. That also means pushing back when kids are aligned with what you believe. Make sure that any student who gives an opinion must not only back it up with fact-based evidence, but also must acknowledge the other side and be able to cite at least one fact-based resource that supports that opposing side.

It is not only challenges students to argue at a higher level but also encourages empathy. Try the following outline to help kids begin to acknowledge the other side of any argument:

• It’s true the other side disagrees with me when they say that _____________.
• In fact, according to ___________ (source), “________________” (quote evidence that proves that argument exists).

From there, a student can push back as to why that’s not enough to convince them, but at least they’ve had to do the legwork of entering the opposition’s resources and seeing what they’re all about.

Student’s Ideas Are Works in Progress

A child brought up one way may go through their life collecting facts and opinions from others and, as a result, may come to an entirely different decision by the time they reach adulthood. A child raised as a Democrat may grow up to be a Republican. The president of the Young Republicans might be marching for a more liberal agenda one day. No child’s opinion is set in stone. And that’s as it should be.

We want kids to come to class to learn something new, ready to consider changing their minds (or not). We want diverse, but educated, viewpoints.

But we must celebrate diverse views without being a voice of bias. Students are getting enough of that already. May our schools be safe places to learn facts and take risks, places where students can try out their own opinions. We want to help our students gather the strategies they need to one day make any argument they wish.

FILED UNDER

• Student Voice
• Media Literacy
• Teacher Development
• 6-8 Middle School
• 9-12 High School
• English Language Arts

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Heather Wolpert-GawronELA Teacher, Middle School, Curriculum Coordinator TOSA@tweenteacher

Please write your response in the comment section:
What has been the most successful in getting your students ready to Prove What They Know?  (Remember proving what they know will be different for non-testing students).

To Develop Every Child Into a Reader:

• Everyday a child reads something they choose to read.
• Every child reads accurately
• Every child reads something they understand.
• Every child writes something that is personal and meaningful daily.
• Every child talks with peers about reading and writing.
• Every child hears an adult reader read fluently.

Coolidge Elementary Academic Goals for 2016-2017

• All Students WILL achieve academically.
• Reading:  Increase reading proficiency by at least one grade level.
• Math:  Increase math achievement by 10% with 80% mastery of math facts on grade level.  
• Writing:  Increase writing proficiency by 15%
• Student Attendance:  Increase student attendance to 98%.
• Increase Faculty Attendance to 98%

OKCPS Literacy Standards

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          3^rd Grade

          4^th Grade

          5^th Grade

          6^th Grade

OKCPS Math Standards

          Pre-K

          Kindergarten

          1^st Grade

          2^nd Grade

          3^rd Grade

          4^th Grade

          5^th Grade

          6^th Grade

Melissa Brett | Principal

Coolidge Elementary School | Oklahoma City Public Schools

5212 S. Villa, Oklahoma City, OK 73119

(405) 587-2800

(405) 208-1581 (cell)