The Day of Silence

​Some of our grade 7 students have taken a pledge to be silent today. Mone, Avin, Kristjana, Fanny and Iiona shared the following information with me this morning.

“Please understand my reason for not speaking today. I am participating in The Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence is caused by the prejudice, harassment​, and discrimination that LGBT teens have to suffer from on a daily basis. I believe that ending silence is the first step towards fighting these inequities.”

For more information on this day, please visit the Day of Silence web site.

Thank you students to bringing this important idea to our school. We need to be a school where everyone feels that they belong.

Take care

Self Regulation

On Friday, January 18th, the North Vancouver School District has scheduled a Curriculum Implementation Day. The staff at Cleveland will be joining a number of other schools at Carson Graham Secondary School to listen to a key note talk by Stuart Shanker, author of Calm, Alert and Learning. In the afternoon, we will be joining up with other local schools at Highlands to discuss a number of different topics in education.

I am just getting into the book Calm, Alert and Learning, and it is an interesting read. There are some strong statements about self-regulation and its importance in school.

“”Some theorists believe that self-regulation should now be considered a more important indicator of educational performance than IQ” ~ page xi

“Children acquire the ability to self-regulate by first being regulated” ~ page 9

“Adults around children need to be optimally regulated themselves.” ~ page 9

“it involves a straightforward understanding of the importance of children’s emotions in their ability to learn, and emphasizes what educators can realistically do to help students optimally regulate those emotions.” ~ page 25

I look forward to learning more about self-regulation. For parents who are interested, this Self-Regulation may be site may be a good place to start.

Take care.

Playground Changes

Change is Hard – It doesn’t have to be.

This school year presented us with a unique challenge for our playground. Our old way of being had the playground divided between the intermediate and primary students. The west side was for the intermediate students, and the east side was the primary side.

Our challenge this year came from having two classes that were made up of primary and intermediate students (grade 3/4). If we followed the old rules, then we would have two classes where children were not allowed to play with one another at recess or lunch.

Not good and not acceptable.

So we have changed. You may have heard.

Students in grades 2 to 7 have more choices about where they play. We are keeping the old rules for the Kindergarten and grade 1 students in place, as they may not be ready (or we may not be ready) for them to be all over the playgrounds.

Confession – I erased the imaginary divide line (big eraser) a few weeks ago, but not everyone noticed. When grade 4 students asked if they could play with the Kindergarten students, I said yes. When grade 3’s asked if they could go on the intermediate side, I said yes. Students gradually started to notice, and yesterday, it became known to all.

It is fascinating to watch a school go through a shift in rules or expectations. Some students handled it very well – grade 7’s teaching grade 2’s to play Poison (like the Horse basketball game – each child gets a letter when then get out, then the last one to spell Poison wins). Some handled it poorly (I won’t write how as they handled it – no negative stories here). Some made up new rules (“Grade 2’s can only go so far into the forest.” – I love this one, but it is not a rule.).

When thinking about our playground, we no longer have an intermediate side or primary side. We now have the East playground, the West playground, the East lowers and the West Lowers.

Yesterday afternoon I visited 8 classes to review the changes and what it means for students. Today I visited 7 more. I clarified some new “myths” that started yesterday at recess, and I spoke about expectations for everyone.

Some key points:

  • All students need to be mindful that there are younger and older children around
  • All students follow the school’s Code of Conduct
  • Students in grade 2 to 7 will be able to play in more locations
  • Inner courtyard is still for quiet activities for grades 4 to 7
  • Students are expected to show kindness to everyone (include others, watch out for each other, be patient and take turns, no put downs & no name calling)
  • Students who are having difficulty will be directed to play in another location or get a walking time-out
  • Student with continued difficulty may need greater supports to be successful on the playground

I spoke to the grade 7’s about the importance of their role on the playground. They are positive about the change, and understand the responsibilities that come with being older students. They are doing an excellent job. Thanks grade 7’s.

As part of my discussions with students, I asked students to name the staff members who are outside supervisors. To help our students, please review the names at home:

  • Mrs. Galpin
  • Mrs. Beveridge
  • Mrs. Sanjari
  • Mrs. Wilson
  • Mrs. Anstett (Mrs. A)
  • Mrs. Hillier
  • Mme Demarais (Mme D)

Mrs. Orr and myself are often outside, and sometimes Mrs. Devlin checks in on the inner courtyard.

It has been a very positive change. Please thank your children for helping our playground be a great place for everyone.

Take care.

Stand By Me for the Older Crowd

The Stand By Me program is coming to a close today, but I hope that this does not mark the end. After today’s last class session, all students and adults alike will have a common language for how we deal with social difficulties, and this will mesh well with our school’s work on creative a postie behaviour support system (PBIS).

Some of the key messages I have heard shared with the students and staff this week include:

STAND

  • Stay calm
  • Think out what to say first
  • Alone – if possible, try and sort out the problem alone
  • Need – let the person know what you need
  • Distance – respect people’s personal space

These strategies are meant when children are having trouble with friend. There are other strategies for when dealing with someone who is not a friend and who is making you feel unsafe.

Teresa Trigiano (founder of Stand By Me) has been welcomed in all classes, and I was able to sit in on a few sessions. It was wonderful to see how well she interacted with children, fostered an environment of respect, and honoured the feelings of children when they decided that they did not want to share anything (the right to pass).

Teresa shared some stories with children while she was here. The stories related to personal interactions at schools, and the weight some people still carry into their adult years based on what went on in school. These were powerful, emotional stories, and were good lessons for us all.

We all need to help our students know that they are incredibly valuable, and we need to be able to listen and support them when they need help. Sometimes our students do not know how to ask, or feel that if they do ask for help, the situation will get worse. Sometimes it has.

Many students offered suggestions for getting help. Someone brought up leaving an anonymous note to their teacher or principal. Someone shared the idea of children should report what they see and ask the adults to handle it in such a way that the other children do not know that they told.

There are many ways to get help. We need to make sure children feel safe sharing their troubles, and we need to help them with how they handle themselves with each other.

Ask your children about strategies that two other strategies that they have worked with: The Sandwich & How To Be The Most Boring Person to Bug.

3 steps to fixing a mistake

  • Take responsibility – tell the truth
  • Apologize – be brave enough to mean it
  • Learn from your mistake – think about why

In the end, she asked students to commit to being “only be part of the solution” and to help make every classroom and the school a safe and caring space for everyone. Choose to be positive, and to include others. Choose to handle problems politely, responsibly, and respectfully.

One class brainstormed the top 10 negative behaviours that they see at school:

  • Exclusion
  • Being sworn at
  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • Blamed
  • Talked about (rumors)
  • Making fun of people / tease
  • Being judged
  • Physical assault (pushing, hitting)
  • Threatening
  • Pressure
  • Blackmail

The class worked with this list by looking at how many people have experienced something from the list this year. Interesting results, but as we were working confidentially on this list, I will not share their discussion. I will only say that I was very pleased with how open and willing the children were to sharing what their experiences have been, and how respectful they were of each other in the process.

Some classes took part in an apology circle, but I left when those started. Who wants to apologize in front of the principal?

Our Cleveland community has some work ahead of us. We have language issues we need to talk to children about (swearing at each other – Kindergarten through grade 7), put downs, mean play and exclusion. This should not be a surprise to anyone. Look at all the role models we show our children: they swear in the House of Commons, we promote violence in hockey, we watch television shows where people are laughed at, and our use of current technology is not always positive.

No more preaching. Sorry.

This past weekend I asked myself – “What difference am I making in respect to teaching and learning?” I should also be asking myself, what difference am I making in how we treat one another?

I have some plans. One is to educate – so parents, here is a homework assignment for you. Please review the following link with your children, and discuss how we can make showing kindness one of the coolest things that we can do in our world. 5 Myths We Must Combat to Foster Kindness in Kids…

My other plans will be shared with students and staff. Keep asking your children about how the school feels. They should be able to share with you what I am doing to help out.

I will wrap up with a reminder from Teresa – “It matters how we treat people and it matters how we feel.”

Take care

Stand By Me Assembly

The Stand By Me program is back at Cleveland. Teresa Triggiano has worked with most of our classes these past two weeks, and will get to the remaining classes on Wednesday and Thursday.

Today, all our Kindergarten, grade 1 and grade 2 students (and their teachers) joined Teresa and some senior students for a Stand By Me assembly. The assembly focused on teaching children how to handle some of the difficulties that arise in situations that they find themselves in while at school. They looked at: lining up, personal space bubbles and keeping hands to yourself, playing tag, taking something from a friend to bug them, and “You’re Not My Friend Anymore – by Bossy Pants.”

Some key messages from Stand By Me today were:

  • Be as Cool as a Cucumber
  • Don’t Shout – Talk it Out
  • Be Brave and Fix it

The students also contributed some good ideas when dealing with problems:

  • “Take turns”
  • “Play with someone else.”
  • “Tell a monitor.”
  • “Take a deep breath and count to 3. That’s what my Mom does.”

Thanks to Nick, Melissa, Rosie and Sebastian for their excellent work in helping our youngest students learn how they can use soft words and good behaviours to help the playgrounds and classrooms be kinder places.

Talk to your children about the assembly. We hope that we are all learning the Stand By Me lessons.

I will be posting more information about the work Teresa has done with our grades 3 to 7 students soon. Or better yet, I will ask our student bloggers to put something together for the Cleveland blog.

Take care.