Good schools make an area? or Does the area make the schools?

All across Missouri and this week at Winfield Middle School, we are beginning our annual rite of spring, the MAP tests.  Teachers are nervous.  Administrators are jumpy. Students are excited to have a messed up routine.  Our testing coordinator is extra busy.  Some might even loose a bit of sleep.

This QR Code holds a message for the students to consider?  What does it mean?

We asked students today in preparation for their MAP tests to consider a simple request:  

TO DO THEIR VERY BEST!  

We understand the stakes involved, we know the motives may or may not be true yet we made a request for them to try hard.

WHY? 

What would it matter if anyone ever did well on these exams?  What would the motivation be behind giving the best effort?  Why would it even be important?

Pride in accomplishment

Of course we all pay lip service to doing our best, claiming we are trying to improve and we are working towards a better tomorrow.  That sounds nice but here is a wonderful opportunity to verify those intentions. 

Property Values

Whenever anyone moves, one of the first questions the potential buyers seem to ask is, "Tell me about the Schools?" This also verifies the perceived or actual value in good schools.  Marketing principles support the ideas that good school may actually raise property values faster than the general market, making some areas highly desirable but other areas flat or declining.   Are good schools in the area because the area is good, or is the area good because the schools are good? 

Selfish

We value the students effort but only ask them to do their best one time.  We believe that doing our jobs, building relationships with all of them and forming an environment of learning for all with a high bar for behavior as well as academics does far more than bribing, begging, pleading or even bargaining!  Students don't care how much we know until they know how much we care!  Students know if we care, or if it is just an act!  Good schools produce good scores and good scores reflect on the leadership!  We want our students to look good, and we might be the only ones that care!

De-Coding Skills  
When I was in school... 

Our students will enter a world that we cant even begin to describe.  The class of 2020 will face obstacles and issues that arent even developed yet, so we work to equip them with processing tools, thinking skills, infering practices, taking from something concrete and working towards the abstract.  We are asking them to solve problems that don't even exist yet!

ANSWER:

The QR Code above, easily made at many online sites takes information and processes it into smaller bites, linking back to the internet of sharing data directly.  Just as a long web address reduces into a tiny address, there are many shortcuts, abbreviation and quicker ways to communicate.  What other new things will our students face as they mature into leadership positions in the communities?

We are preparing students for their future!  Not our past!    Winfield Middle School is #onthemap.

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What would you do with an extra 25 minutes every day?

After the initial shock and surprises surrounding the initial release of Missouri MAP score results in August, we must decide what comes next.  Winfield Middle School had growth in all three tested categories: MATH, ELA and SCIENCE  So where do we go from here?







 

A great take-away from PD training in Scottsdale Arizona (see picture above) at the effective schools (@effectiveschool) conference was______?

WHAT DO WE DO WITH OUR RESULTS?
More of the same or follow through with deliberate intentional adjustments based on research applying methods proven to effect students positively?

At Winfield Middle School, we have changed many things; room assignments, courses taught, lunch order.  All of these are designed to allow content teachers the ability to visit, collaborate and compare notes on a frequent and regular basis inside the school day, without extra time added to their schedules.  In fact, its like we found extra time!

What would you do with an extra 25 minutes every day?  With our extra time, we collaborate.

Pick your local Missouri school.  What role does collaboration play in their efforts?  Is there cooperation between the teachers or competition?

A great take-away from Professional Development training in Scottsdale Arizona (see picture above) at the effective schools conference was teacher collaboration.

Q: What are the most important things to do in a classroom?

This sunset pic was taken at Tan-Tara, Lake Ozark Missouri.

 A:  Ask John Hattie

What were we doing at Lake Ozark?  Training, of course!

 

All these meetings and training?  Do they really impact student learning?*  Do our efforts as educators actually impact student learning?  If so, can we determine how effective or measure the impact of what we do?  What about the effect of teaching activities on the students in our classes?  What about home life, poverty or even summer vacation?  Do these impact learning? (It sure seems like a lot of questions but hopefully, they are worth asking.)

 

IS ONE PRACTICE BETTER THAN ANOTHER?

Can we isolate the most effective things to do in the classroom as well as the least effective things?  John Hattie says we can!  He measures and quantifies many school functions, rating and assigning a score to each. This 15 year study was completed a published in 2009

 

For instance, how does cooperative learning compare to inquiry based teaching?  He scores cooperative learning a 0.41 yet inquiry based teaching at 0.31.  Many parameters (138 total) of our favorites are scored and sorted and the results are surprising!  Especially the summary impact to describe what and how we should make adjustments.

THE SCALE:

Ranking above a 0.4  Better than average

Ranking below a 0.4  Mediocre at best

Rankings below a 0.2  Little to negative effect on students achievement

 

Consider what this means.  A few minor adjustments and a teacher's influence can climb from a mediocre 0.17 to an influential 0.60.  Jump to here for a good review an application for teachers.  Don't take their word for it and run a google search and see all the results.

 

Any thoughts or feedback?  Does it align?  Does it make sense?  How close are we to being effective or just coasting or getting by?  What adjustments can we make directly?  How do these things effect our students?  Is it worth the investment to consider the data?

 

 

 

*Professional Development for Teachers  (Hattie Score: PD = 0.62, putting it in the top 20 of 138)

 

John Hattie http://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/

Visible Learning Laboratories

University of Auckland 

Visible Learning  on Twitter @VisibleLearning

 

 

 

 



Motivation is...?

Motivation is Intrinsic or Extrinsic?

Some students and Chad Varga, the day before we climbed #onthemap.

In Missouri, we have our MAP/EOC tests in the spring .  We prepare for this time in so many ways.  We talk about it.  We develop relationships with students.  We encourage our students to take extra effort.  We feed them.  We engage them in the planning.  We brainstorm.  We even bring in guest speakers.
Yesterday at WMS, we brought in Chad Varga (@chadvarga) to talk with students about effort, success, choices and changes.  He shared stories from his past and painted a picture of their future filled with accomplishments, benchmarks and deliberate decisions, regardless of their backgrounds.
Mr Varga reminded us of how persistence and effort determine our future, no matter what background we bring to the situation.  His life is so focused on overcoming obstacles, he devoted a book to the issue.  Bounce addresses returning to a positive attitude after a setback.  Since we all have setbacks, the important part is doing well after that! Chad encouraged us to continue and persist!
Another topic of discussion surrounded a true interpretation or definition of success.  Is true success making yourself happy or serving others?  Chad shares a story about Spain, pro-ball, commitments and distractions and true happiness.  He took us all on an imaginary adventure in our minds eye to a deck overlooking the sea, quiet and peaceful with the world as our oyster, ready to have for any purpose at all.  How many points on the court are necessary for success?  Where does it stop and where does it start?
As an adult, Chad has no problem overcoming any barriers in communication.  He connected with our students with honor and respect and expected that in return from them, winning the crowd early and keeping them engaged the entire time.  He addressed consequences and choices through a moving story about his choices and the outcome of a single positive choice made all the way back in high school!  Even our middle school students could connect with the stress of overcoming peer pressure and doing the right thing.
Finally, he addressed the thing that puts fear in everyone: change.  Ask one student who was willing to risk everything, step out of his comfort zone and take a chance!  They will both remember that day forever.  Fear of failure handcuffs many of us but facing those fears and changes is the only way to reach new goals, find unrecognized success and make authentic changes.  Regardless of history, background, what has happened in the past and how the past influences our future, Chad suggested we can break these chains, interrupt the cycle and get out of the spiral.  But we can’t do it alone!  We need caring folks to surround us and help us build those bridges.
Staff and students alike enjoyed the powerful message from Mr Varga.  His entertaining and engaging visit with our students left the entire building energized and ready to conquer.  We are all excited about the impact of this single day and what it means to the future here at WMS.  We can’t wait to be #onthemap with Chad Varga.