Pathways A Weekly Collection of Information, Thoughts, Reflections and Accolades for the

Reading Public School Community May 15, 2016 Volume 2, Number 34

Upcoming Dates May 15 - (2:00 p.m.)

RMHS Drama Spring

Show – “An Evening

with Edgar Allan Poe”

May 16 – (3:00 p.m.)

District PD

Committee Meeting;

(7:00 p.m.) PTO &

REF Event – Guest

Speaker Michael

Thompson in the

Endslow PAC

May 17 – 18; RMHS

MCAS Testing (Math)

May 17 – (6:00 p.m.)

Parker Grade 7

Curriculum Night;

(7:00 p.m.) Parker

Grade 8 Curriculum

Night: (6:30 p.m.)

RMHS AP Art Show

May 18 – (after

school) Secondary

Building Meetings;

(2:45 p.m.) SpEd LC

Teachers, Sec. Curr.

Leaders & Reading

Specialist Meetings;

(6:30 p.m.) Birch

Meadow Open House;

(7:00 p.m.) RMHS

Spring Band Concert

in the Endslow PAC

May 19 – (after

school) Elementary

Building Meetings;

(3:15 p.m.) SpEd LC

Teachers, Elem. Curr.

Leaders & Reading

Specialist Meetings;

(7:00 p.m.) RMHS

Spring Awards Night

May 20 – (6:30 p.m.)

RMHS Senior Prom @

the Omni Parker

House

National Honor Society Inductees Honor RPS Staff

On Thursday evening, Reading Memorial High School held its annual Scholastic Awards Night for National Honor Society and Century Club Inductees. As part of the ceremony, National Honor Society inductees recognize a teacher who have made an impact in their lives. Congratulations to the following teachers and staff who were recognized: Jessica Bailey, Giulio Binaghi, Zachary Brokenrope, Frank Buono, Jennifer Cambra, Susan Cotter, Kate Crosby, Gary Dentremont, Rick Downes, Amanda Doyon, John Fiore, Joanne Fitzpatrick, Keven Gerstner, Kara Gleason, Michele Hopkinson, Danielle Jones, Veronique Latimer, Brian McVety, Stephen MacDonald, Bob Mooney, Leia Richardson, Dr. Jeffrey Ryan, Jane Shea, Audra Williams, Chuck Strout, and Jennifer Thomas. Special thanks to National Honor Society Co-Advisers Heather Lombardo and Jessica Bailey and Director of Guidance Lynna Williams for coordinating this event.

How to End the School Year Right By Justin Minkel for Education Week

When I was getting married, all the wedding books and websites had countdowns to

the big day. They usually went something like this.

6 months before the wedding:

Bride: Review and approve proofs of wedding invitations, notify bridesmaids

about dress fittings, select attire for flower girl and/or ring bearer.

Groom: Try on tuxes.

3 months:

Bride: Address wedding invitations by hand, make honeymoon reservations,

update wedding registry.

Groom: Make a final decision on your tux.

1 week:

Bride: Confirm honeymoon travel arrangements, get traveler’s checks, arrange

for delivery and placement of wedding flowers.

Groom: Pick up tux from tux store.

And so on. I did all my “groom” jobs for the year in an afternoon.

These lists got me wishing I had some kind of wedding-style countdown for the last

stretch of the school year. Given all the end-of-the-year tasks, from filling out report

May 23 – RMHS –

Seniors Last Day,

Class Meeting and

BBQ; (6:00 p.m.)

SEPAC Meeting in the

Superintendent’s

Conference Room;

(7:00 p.m.) School

Committee Meeting

in the Schettini

Library @ RMHS

May 24 – 27 – Senior

Finals

May 24 – (3:00 p.m.)

Barrows Fun Run

May 25 – Grade 6 –

12 Early Release;

(afterschool) District

PLC Meetings

May 26 –

(afterschool)

Elementary Building

Meetings; (7:00

p.m.) RMHS Choral

Spring into Song

cards to tracking down the 17 missing library items I have no memory of checking

out, this checklist would more closely resemble the bride’s compendium of tasks

than the lazy groom’s.

In the 15 years since I started teaching, I’ve had some magnificent last months, days,

and hours of school. I’ve also had some botched and dismal ones.

So as the days get warmer, the kids get crazier, and we are overcome with that

impending sense of nostalgia, panic, contentment, and bone-deep relief that the

end of the year brings, here is my countdown checklist for a good home stretch.

Teachers, I’d love to hear your additions to the list.

One Month Out: Re-Creating Community

My students always start to lose their little 8-year-old minds around now. At the

same time, the thrill is gone. Guided reading, 100 charts, and place-value blocks can

all start to seem so 2015-16.

Because of that odd combination of mania and boredom, it’s a good time to do

some of the class-community things we did at the start of the year. Revisit what

good listening looks like, how to resolve conflicts without complaining to the

teacher, how we promise to treat each other and why.

Set goals for that last little leap the kids want to make in their reading, math, or

writing abilities. Have the students work in groups to propose a new seating

arrangement, then either pick the one you like best or let them vote.

Once standardized tests are over, bringing a merciful end to the many miseries they

bring, it’s a great time to plan some multi-week projects that have nothing to do

with filling in little bubbles with a #2 pencil.

Have the kids write and perform plays. Do an engineering design challenge. In one

of my favorites, kids get a box of 100 straws, some tape, string, and a few index

cards. Then they design and build a skyscraper to be judged by its height, symmetry,

and stability. (We blast it with a blow dryer to test whether it stays still, wobbles, or

topples over.)

Inject everything that school should contain all year—time outside, creativity, color,

noisy raucous fun—into these last four weeks.

This is your chance: Teach like no one is watching.

One Week Out: Mementoes and Reflections

The last week of school can feel overwhelming, with all the books and blocks to

pack, charts to take down, and library books to return. But if I get too overzealous

with the de-cluttering and wall-clearing, the room can start to feel sterile.

My solution is to have the kids do colorful drawings or paintings of their favorite

memories from the year, or what they’re looking forward to doing this summer. I

put their works of art up on the wall where the anchor charts used to be, and the

students take them home on the last day.

Kudos and Accolades Congratulations to

Superintendent John Doherty for being named the 2016 recipient of the Massachusetts School Psychologist Association Friend of Children Award. This award goes to someone who has made a difference in the lives of children.

Congratulations to Boys & Girls Lacrosse, Boys & Girls Tennis, Boys & Girls Track, Baseball and Softball for posting wins last week.

Congratulations to this week’s RMHS High 5 - Catherine Halley and Parker Webb

Congratulations to RMHS English Department Chair Brian McVety on being chosen to deliver the National Honor Society Address this year.

I always have some kind of end-of-year gift to give the kids this week—their own

copy of a favorite class read-aloud, a plastic chess set, or a jumbo box of crayons or

colored pencils. This year I bought them their own art kits like the one the class

pillaged for our economics project a few months back.

Another great end-of-the-year take-home gift is a class literary magazine. Starting a

few weeks before the end of the school year, I have the students choose an original

story, nonfiction piece, or poem to revise and illustrate. (Given the tendency for 2nd

graders to type in all caps, tap the spacebar five or 10 times to separate sentences,

and select 72-point font, I type up their final drafts myself.) Then I run off and staple

enough copies of the magazine, which includes a piece of writing from each student,

for every child to take one home.

The kids are proud of their work, they see themselves as authors, and it puts some

print in their homes for the summer. It also provides a way to reflect on how much

progress they have made as writers.

I also always write the kids an end-of-the-year letter. I tell each child a few things I

noticed she or he improved upon this year, like describing the setting in her stories,

or taking deep breaths to calm down when he’s angry. I remind them about funny

memories and inside jokes from the school year. I tell them how happy I was to be

their teacher this year, and I wish them a great summer.

Last Day of School: Celebrate

I’m always amazed how many interruptions hit on the last day of school. Teachers

across the hall pop in to ask for that book they claim I borrowed back in October.

Parents arrive to check their children out four hours early. Rowdy packs of older

students roam the halls on vague missions they swear their teachers gave them.

Given this chaos, I plan for plenty of down time—art projects, partner reading, long

blocks when the kids write and draw whatever they want. This gives me time to just

talk to these little people, whose company I will greatly miss, about their summer

plans, favorite memories from the year, or hopes and fears about going up to 3rd

grade.

Still, the last day seems to go better when there’s at least a loose structure to it.

(Watching a two-hour movie rarely ends up being as much fun as the kids and I

think it will.) These are a couple of my favorite Last Day activities.

Class mural: Unroll a giant swath of butcher paper from one wall to the other, pass

out markers, and have the kids draw their favorite memories from the year. It’s a

bonding experience to all be working away at the same piece of art. Everybody’s

looking in the same direction for an hour or so, working in companionable silence or

laughing and joking about the memories they’re drawing: field trips to plays,

museums, or botanical gardens; explosive science experiments; funny things that

happened like the fundraiser where our principal had to pucker up and smooch a

real live pig.

Memory wheel: Half the kids form an inner circle on the rug, with the other half

making an outer circle so they’re each facing a student on the inside. I give a prompt

like, “What have you gotten better at this year?”, “What was your favorite class

Read Aloud and why?” or “Talk about something funny that happened this

year.” Each child talks to the student in front of them, then the outer wheel rotates

so everyone has a new partner.

There are thousands of good Last Day options. One of my favorites when I taught

1st grade was a Water Day, which featured water balloon tosses, wet sponge relays,

and a squirting game with ketchup and mustard bottles filled with water.

During the other 180+ days of the school year, the kids don’t make enough choices,

get enough time to play outside, or make enough art. The last day can be a

celebration of all those things school could and should be.

We may end up teaching 2nd grade (or whatever grade you teach) 30 times in our

career. But our students only get one 2nd grade year, and they only get one last day

of 2nd grade. Might as well make it spectacular.

Justin Minkel teaches 2nd and 3rd grade at Jones Elementary in Springdale, Ark., a

high-performing, high-poverty school where 85 percent of the students are English-

language learners. A former Teach For America corps member, Minkel was the 2007

Arkansas Teacher of the Year. In his instruction, he is focused on bringing advanced

learning opportunities to immigrant and at-risk students. Follow him

at @JustinMinkel.

Richard DuFour on PLCs and Teacher Evaluation In this Educational Leadership interview with Naomi Thiers, veteran educator Richard DuFour takes note of the embattled status of U.S. teachers and contrasts it to the way educators are viewed in countries like Finland and Singapore. “They’re viewed as nation-builders,” he says. “They’re viewed as one of the most important professions. Teaching is the profession that creates all other professions.”

Nevertheless, DuFour continues, “A lot of things are within [U.S.] teachers’ sphere of influence… I haven’t seen anything in any law that prevents teachers from coming together and working as a team that takes collective responsibility for achieving goals… The fundamental message to get out to educators is, don’t wait for somebody else to do it. Superintendent, don’t wait for a more-enlightened state policy. Principals, don’t wait until the central office decides it’s a good thing to do. And teachers, influence up – go to your principal and say, could we do this?”

The most effective thing schools can do, DuFour believes, is getting high-quality professional learning communities working. He lists the key factors in real PLCs (as opposed to the unfortunate “PLC lite” he sees in too many schools):

Teacher teams organized to meet by grade level and course (for example, all the third-grade teachers, all the biology teachers);

Absolute clarity about the nature of their work;

Supports so teachers can succeed at what they’re being asked to do;

Agreement on what exactly students are supposed to learn, and at what pace;

Techniques for assessing student learning minute by minute and day by day;

Common interim assessments crafted by the team;

Team analysis of the results and follow-up with struggling students;

Looking at the teaching practices that produced good results and emulating them;

Supporting colleagues who are less effective teaching particular skills;

Continuously improving teaching and learning. “When those things are in place for teacher teams,” says DuFour, “and the school has a systematic way of intervening when kids don’t learn, then the school is going to see gains in student achievement… Teachers in these schools virtually all report the highest levels of satisfaction in their careers, the greatest self-efficacy… Building shared knowledge, learning together, is essential to every step of the PLC journey… If you just put teachers together in a room and tell them to collaborate, there’s no evidence that that’s going to improve student achievement at all.” On the subject of teacher evaluation, DuFour is blunt: How helpful was it when he, an Illinois high-school principal who had taught social studies, evaluated a calculus teacher? “The way we’re going to improve schools is not by supervising and evaluating individual teachers into better performance,” he says; “it’s by creating a culture in which teams of teachers are helping one another get better.” DuFour advises principals to do the absolute minimum of teacher evaluation required by law and use the time and energy saved to orchestrate effective PLC work.

But will teachers really push one another when performance is less than effective? asks Thiers. Three things are essential to overcome “the gentlemen’s agreement that we won’t be critical of one another,” says DuFour. First, teams have to be looking together at the results of well-crafted common assessments. Second, conversations must be based on evidence – for example, “If we’ve given a test and I have 40 percent of my kids unable to demonstrate proficiency on a particular skill and you had 100 percent of your kids demonstrate proficiency, and these are heterogeneously grouped classes, the evidence speaks for itself.” Finally, team leaders need to be trained in leading discussions and presenting feedback in ways that aren’t hurtful.

This requires that principals constantly develop leadership at all levels, says DuFour. “I don’t think everybody needs to be a leader. But everybody needs to have an opportunity to lead. Some will choose not to, and that’s fine. But I don’t think the ability to lead is reserved for an elite few – it’s available to anybody who’s got passion and purpose.” And the best PD won’t come from off-site leadership workshops, he believes, but from doing the work in teacher teams and getting feedback. “Educators Deserve Better: A Conversation with Richard DuFour” by Naomi Thiers in Educational Leadership, May 2016 (Vol. 73, #8, p. 10-16), http://bit.ly/1TuOrJD; Reprinted from Marshall Memo 636.

Reading Public School Happenings 8th Grade Chorus Learns About Holocaust

Ms. Mary Kiley, a Legacy Partner, came in and spoke to the Parker 8th grade chorus about Holocaust survivor Sonia Weitz and life in 5 concentration camps. The 8th grade chorus is singing a beautiful piece entitled “Birdsong”, whose lyrics were penned by a child in the Terezin concentration camp during WWII. Parker students learned so much from Ms. Kiley, and the information and sentiments expressed will give new depth to their choral performance during the June 9 Parker concert.

Quote of the Week….

“Mistakes are proof that you are trying.”

- Unknown

RMHS Student To Attend Art All State Massachusetts Congratulations to Junior Aimee Casavant who was chosen to attend the 2016 Art All State Massachusetts. A picture of Aimee with her art work, Fried Egg, is below. Art All-State Massachusetts is an intense two-day program that brings together 145 high school juniors of exceptional artistic potential and commitment to work with practicing artists to create collaborative installations. Art All-State is designed by prominent art teachers to provide students with an understanding of art related careers and direct knowledge of contemporary art forms. During the program, students will work in groups to explore contemporary art and use their newfound knowledge to inspire their collaborative work. Congratulations to Aimee and for the work that her art teacher, Veronique Latimer has done with her.

Disney Tweet of the Week

“We might find something that we weren't looking for, which might be just

what we were looking for, really.”

–Pooh

Future Band Students

On Monday, May 9 and Tuesday, May 10, fifth grade students from all the elementary schools participated in this year’s instrument/music nights. Students had the opportunity to try the various instruments to see which one is the best fit for them next year. Music teachers from elementary, middle and high school levels in Reading, as well as other area musicians and middle/high students, collaborated to coach and guide the mini-lessons. On Tuesday evening, 5th grade families could also stop in at the middle schools’ select chorus rehearsal. It was great to meet approximately 200 students and their families.

Elementary music teacher Brittany Bauman and Music and Arts rep Neil Howell

assist fifth graders as they try out the flute.

Mr. Joe Mulligan, RMHS director of bands, teaches several 5th graders

the basics of the trombone.

Barrows STEM Night Last week, Barrows held its first annual STEM night for families to learn more about science. Students and parents were engaged in a series of hands on science activities in a variety of areas. Special thanks to the Barrows staff for organizing this event.

Contact Us The Pathways newsletter is published weekly for the Reading Public School Community. If you have anything that you would like to share, please email your information to John Doherty at john.doherty@reading.k12.ma.us

RMHS Drama Club Presents An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe This past weekend, the RMHS Drama Club presented An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe. Congratulations to the cast and crew, under the direction of Natalie Cunha, on a job well done!

Stepping Stones… We welcome the following new hires to our school district:

Dorothy Casolaro, Daily Substitute, District

Rachel Emmons, Daily Substitute, District

Lauren Johnson, Daily Substitute, District

We have posted a new position. If interested, please visit https://reading.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx to view the job details.

School Adjustment Counselor Therapeutic Program, Killam, 2016-2017 https://reading.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=38

PTO Community Event on May 16th-New York Times best selling author Michael G. Thompson, Ph.D. will speak to our community of parents on Monday evening, May 16th from 7-9 pm at RMHS Performing Arts Center. Dr. Thompson's presentation, entitled "Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Community, Friendship, Social Power and Bullying in Childhood and Adolescence" will address media attention on bullying, relationships with friends, social power, teasing, exclusion, and stratification of classes into very popular, accepted, ambiguous, neglected, controversial and rejected children. In this talk, Dr. Thompson will distinguish between the normal

social pain of childhood from which all children learn and actual bullying, which is traumatizing. He will discuss ways in which communities can make children safer. So please mark your calendar and join us to hear international speaker, clinical psychologist, school consultant and author of 9 books, including "Raising Cain." Please visit Michael Thompson online at michaelthompson-phd.com for more information.

Blazing Trails….

Guidance on Civil Rights of Transgender Students:

The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice today released joint guidance to

help schools ensure the civil rights of transgender students, and it is in keeping

with the guidance that Massachusetts already developed. In fact, the U.S.

Department of Education cites Massachusetts as an example in a second document

they released today, "Examples of Policies and Emerging Practices for Supporting

Transgender Students

"ASCD Partners with U.S. Department of Education and National Board for Professional

Teaching Standards to Provide Grants Supporting Teacher Leadership Projects." On

Tuesday, ASCD announced its Teacher Impact Grants program, which will provide direct

grants to teacher leaders to fund initiatives that drive transformation and improve student

outcomes. The program is part of ASCD's commitment to Teach to Lead, an initiative jointly

convened by the US Department of Education, National Board for Professional Teaching

Standards and ASCD. News of the grants was introduced Tuesday afternoon at a White

House celebration honoring the National and State Teachers of the Year. Read More

"Angela Duckworth: To Grow Students' Grit, Balance Challenges With

Support." University of Pennsylvania psychology Professor Angela Duckworth released a

new book on grit Monday, exploring the depths and misconceptions about her research on

persistence and passion. Read More

"Join Now: Why Teachers Need Professional Organizations." "The professional

organizations and networks that I belong to keep me in the loop about the issues that I'm

passionate about. By providing me with the latest news and research, I stay on the cutting

edge of education which means that my students benefit from all the research out there

that I would never have time to find on my own. I also love having a place to turn to when I

have a question." Read More

"Exploring the Potential of Digital Portfolios." Sixth-grade teacher Kevin Hodgson rolled

out digital writing portfolios for his students this school year. In this blog post, he shares

insights about transitioning from a three-ring binder model to one using Google Apps. Read

More

"Canadian Schools Install Stationary Bikes to Support Learning." Some schools in Canada

are installing stationary bikes in classrooms to help calm and focus students. In this

commentary, Paul Bennett, the director of the Schoolhouse Institute in Halifax, Nova Scotia,

shares research about the trend. Read More

Have a Great Week!