Now You're Thinking

Growing up my Dad would always challenge me to come up with the answers to the questions that I asked rather than just giving it to me the easy way. Kids ask their Fathers and Mothers questions because at the time we think they are the smartest people around. My Dad is the player you hate to play against in Trivia Pursuit. He is a Jeopardy Snob, no one can answer any of the questions because he doesn't let Alex finish the answer.

When my father and I would go on short or long trips together, I would inevitably ask him questions, I was a curios and nosy child, rather than give me a one word response he would lead me to the answer by challenging me with another question. At the time, I figured he was just giving me a hard time or teasing me. Inevitably what should have been a two minute conversation in the car always wound up taking 10 or 15. Like clockwork when I did come up with the right answer he would always use the line "Now You're Thinking." I think this was from one of his favorite T.V. shows at the time, but right now I can't remember which one. (I would love to learn which show this comes from so I can reference the show in a more appropriate way.)

What I've come to realize is that my Dad has helped me become a problem solver, he has forced me to be a critical thinker so that I can challenge the status qua of what ever career I chose. For 12 years now I have found myself challenging the status qua of an Elementary Title One School, and cutting my hair more often to hide my Grey. Thanks Pop!

I think about my son Nicholas and how quickly he can get information. Google, Wikipedia, Cha Cha etc. etc. What did we do B.G. (Before Google) and who did we ask before Jeeves came along? There is even a new service you can call on your cell phone that you can ask a question and the response will be sent to you via text message in minutes (Cha Cha). All of this is great, and a great resource to our students as learners, but what about problem solving and critical thinking. Are we crippling our minds by the instant access we have to all types of information?

This is why I love our new math program. As I walk from room to room during your math block I feel like I'm in a disco lounge with strobe lights. I see the light bulbs of your students brains going off at such a rapid pace I feel like. I feel as if I need to go get my disco shoes, butterfly collar and gold chains. We are starting to make them critical thinkers, problem solvers, connoisseurs of questions and I love it. Our students need these skills so they can take their technology skills to new heights. If we continue to provide them with the structure of a program that challenges them to think critically and find more than one way to solve a problem, we will undoubtedly experience higher growth results than we have ever seen before.

Why is this important? We are training our students for jobs, that don't even exist. Check out this video which is also on our moodle site right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q75KhAeqJg


Stayin Alive!

Mike

Lily's Big Day

Please allow me to take a break from wearing my principal hat and allow me to wear my Daddy hat for a while. This was a big week for us at the Harvey house. My daughter Olivia, A.K.A. Lily, has decided to put three exciting events into one week.

Tuesday, August 18th, my daughter turned 5 years old. I rushed home from work to be a parent and not a principal, and I do demand the same from you on these precious occasions that we can only witness once. We celebrated with her friends and our family, and while I was happy for her, and in awe of her energy, it was saddening to realize that her days of calling me Daddy and sitting in my lap are going by way to fast.

On Thursday when I got home, she had decided to show me how she had learned to ride her two wheel bike all by herself. Allow me to share a proud Dad moment, it only took her a day. Check out this video of her riding for the first time on two wheels.



On Monday, Lily starts her first day of school as a Kindergarten student at Rea View Elementary. It will be an emotional morning for me when I watch her go off to school, but I know she will be under the care of some of the most special people who walk the face of this earth, TEACHERS!

Remember:

Treat your students as you would want your own child to be treated.

Treat others as you want to be treated.

And Treat Yourself every once and a while to some special time with the ones you love.

Ready Set Know

We had a great response from our first PTA function of the year. Ready Set Know! This approach was different than how we have traditionally done things for our open house event. If you're a parent, I hope you found this meeting beneficial, if you're a teacher I hope you found this easier to manage the communication with so many people. As an administrator, I can say that this was a positive experience for us as well. We were able to share information in a way that met the needs of our entire population in an effective and efficient way, and at the end.....we ate!

The word feedback comes to mind when I reflect on the process we used to organize this event. We have used the feedback we have received over the past few months from our staff and from our parents. We took the feedback put our heads together and came up with a solution to meet the needs of our customers. Are you taking the same approach in your classroom?

We sometimes forget to take the instructional feedback we get from our students and utilize them to the fullest potential. I encourage you to think about this. As you are getting to know your students and realize their strengths and needs who is the first person you share them with. What tone do you share weaknesses in? A teacher told me today that she was always up for a challenge, but needed help to climb the mountain. We decided that we would come up with a plan that will help not just her up the mountain but the other people and our students up the mountain as well.

Other grade levels are doing the same thing. I have noticed in our weekly meetings with you that you are starting to have the important conversations. I have enjoyed your data meetings, your working on the work meetings, and now your model classroom meetings. I have enjoyed the conversations about students more so than I have ever enjoyed the conversations about jean days, fish passes, discipline or duty free lunch.

I encourage you to focus on our legitimate educational needs or our students. To continue to climb the mountain, to get in the game, don't just be a spectator at your meetings, to seek the feedback, accept the feedback, then act upon it. When you get to the top of the mountain, enjoy the view. The journey will be a challenge, but the view at the top will be worth it.

Just Ask

Have you ever wanted something so bad, but were to afraid to ask for it? We're often too afraid to ask for things because of our fear of being told no. Funny thing is, most times when we work up the nerve to actually ask for it, in more cases than not we've received what it was we ask for.

Working at a title one school I've heard over and over that we need parents to get more involved. We have special budget codes, because across this nation we have assumed that parents from low income families don't want to be involved. This is not the case, we have assumed they don't want to be involved. Rarely, have I asked a parent for help and been told no. We are finding out this year that this is still holding true.

At the first fourth grade parent meeting this year we had 90% of our parents in attendance. Some may say it was because of the doughnuts, but I disagree. Our fourth grade teachers took the time to call the parents of the students they serve and they responded amazingly.

100% of the parents you don't ask to show up will never show up. We were challenged at Church the other week to invite someone to attend one of our Sunday services. The pastor said the same thing, 100% of the people you don't ask wont show up, but at least ask.

Our PTA executive board met tonight and one of our parent volunteer coordinators reported that she had every class covered with a room mom. Her biggest fear was that some of the teachers were uncomfortable with having a room mom. I want to share one of the greatest lessons I know to be true; When parents are in the school, children know that all adults, not just the teachers, want them to be academically successful, whether its their parent or not.

I've tried really hard not to use any cliches, but here goes, "it takes a village to raise a child." Sorry, I could not resist. I encourage you to actively enlist the parents of your class to join our PTA, to be at the functions our school sponsors, to be part of their nightly reading, to help out with the little things that need to get done, but you just don't have time for. Who knows, you might just get what you ask for........