Monthly Archives: September 2011

Mistakes and Learning

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Making mistakes while learning something new is very common. Making mistakes when doing something you have been doing “forever” is more common than people want to admit.

I make mistakes (and my mother corrects them when they are on this blog). You make mistakes. Children make mistakes. That is expected. The role of mistakes in the learning process is, in my opinion, undervalued.

Children who are afraid of making mistakes struggle more in their learning than those who are willing to try something without a fear of failure. Let’s teach all children to embrace mistakes and use them to help us improve their learning.

This topic has been on my mind for some time, as we seem to spend a lot of time and energy getting things right, and not enough time reviewing our mistakes as a means of learning. I was struggling with how to write a blog on this topic, and then I read The Role of Mistakes in the Classroom by Alina Tugend.

Children should be encouraged to try things that are challenging, and be prepared to make mistakes.

“What is good to know is difficult to learn.” ~ Greek proverb

Take care.

We’re Going On Vacation. Can We Have Homework?

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Recently I was cc’d on an email to a teacher about an exciting opportunity for one of our grade 7 students and her family. They were all very excited about going on a “once-in-a-lifetime” trip, and were asking about homework for their child to take on the vacation.

When I was a classroom teacher, I was reluctant to give a pile of homework for children to work on. I encouraged families to have fun on the vacation and do some journaling or daily reading. I did not expect the child to “catch up” when they returned to class.

A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.  ~George Santayana

I believe that a trip provides a number of creative ways in which children can learn and demonstrate their new-found knowledge and experiences.

Give a child a camera, a sketchbook, pencils and coloured pencils, and let him/her decide how best to demonstrate what he/she learned.

While on the trip, students can…

  • do Language Arts (reading about where they are going, daily writing in a journal)
  • do Math (figuring out tips in restaurants, budgeting for groceries).
  • do Science (identify local flora and/or fauna, review geological formations)
  • do Social Studies (map skills, navigation, understanding of local cultures or indigenous cultures)
  • do Visual Arts (illustrate a sketchbook or journal – bring coloured pencils)

If you are going on a great family vacation, I encourage you to communicate with your child’s teacher early prior to the trip, but don’t necessarily expect a homework package. Discuss how your child might do when on the trip, and how he/she could present what they have learned to your child’s teacher or to the whole class.

The number of ways to present knowledge is only limited by our imagination, but may include:

  • Posters
  • A small classroom talk
  • An iMovie or some other slide show presentation to share with the class

My advice is not to worry so much about missed work, rather focus on learning that this trip will provide.

Life presents us with many wonderful opportunities to learn. Enjoy the experiences.

We look forward to hearing about wonderful trips and students sharing their many stories.

Take care.

What Do You Do Mr B?

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Last year, one of the grade 7 students at my previous school (Seymour Heights) asked me a question? “As a Principal, what do you do?” She knew I was in charge of the school and that I walked around the school a lot visiting classrooms.

I  answered, “I run the school and help to make it a safe place for everyone to learn.”

“I know that,” she said, “but what else do you do?”

What else do I do? As if running the school and helping it be a safe and caring place for everyone was not enough.

Actually, it isn’t enough, but it is a great place to start.

I won’t begin to list all that that I am required to do, as the list is quite dry. I can focus on a couple of things that I see as part of my job.

My first few weeks have been filled with getting to know the students, staff and parents of this wonderful school. Building positive relationships is very important to me, and I believe that students are more successful in a school when they know the adults know who they are.

The goal I set for memorizing every name has not yet been met (I still have until September 30th), but it is coming along nicely. It has been wonderful when children come up to me at recess or lunch and test me. I do make mistakes (don’t we all), but the students are forgiving and then share with me their names.

I am working on getting to know more than just the students’ names. Understanding the learning needs of all students and the needs of our staff is an important part of my role in a school.

I wander around a lot and visit classes regularly. There are so many wonderful teaching and learning moments every day at this school. Students have shown that they can continue their work when I come in the class, so that I am not interrupting the learning. They quietly say “Hi” or “J’aime ton cravate.” and continue on with their work or listening to whomever is speaking.

What do I do?

I work to support a fantastic team of educators in making this a wonderful school for everyone. I work to get to know the needs and strengths of the wonderful students. I work with our parents to support the students and staff.

I love my job.

Take care.

 

They Made Us a Cake

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I came back to my office after a meeting, and what did I find – a cake.

They made us a cake!

There was a note:

To Mr. B and Mrs. Orr

From: Isabella, Natalie, Maxine and Sophia

Welcome to Cleveland

Wow!

To the four girls: “Thank you again for the cake. We love it.”

How do you not love working with children?

Take care


The Case For Being Curious

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Children and story telling. A wonderful combination. It is one of the beautiful things about teaching when students share their stories. Stories may start with “One time I went to…” or “I have a pet dog named…” or “My mom is xx years old.” (Don’t worry, we won’t repeat the last one to anyone).

I believe that when parents hear stories from school, they should become active, curious listeners and engage in dialogue with their child about what he/she is sharing. This will look different for each child, depending on the age of the child and the storied shared.

There are times in a child’s school life when the he/she will come home and share a story about their day that may make you cringe. As a parent you may hear about “bullying” or someone getting hurt, or adults doing nothing to help. In these cases, I encourage you to continue to be active listeners and suspend judgment until you hear the your child’s full story.

When conflict arises on the playground or in the classroom, it is very important that we try to understand the full story (or as close to the full story as possible). Quite often there are more than two sides to any school story, and your child’s story will be from one point of view.

After hearing your child’s story, let him/her know that you will contact his/her teacher (or myself) and to ask about the incident or situation. Once again, suspend judgment, and seek understanding from the school about the incident. The adults in the school may not know about the incident, or we are already involved but the information you share will prove useful. We may need to investigate and talk to adults or other children before we can determine our next answers.

If you find yourself angry about the story your child has shared, take the time to breathe and calm down prior to sending the email or making the phone call. Actions taken in anger do not always move us towards positive solutions. Actions taken in anger may make people defensive and put up barriers to communication that are needed to ensure that our school is a safe and caring place for all student.

Being curious is a great way of supporting you child (or children) as they learn, share and grow.

Listen actively, reactive calmly, and communicate openly with the school. We work together to make this a great school for everyone.

Take care.