Superintendent's Blog

Learning Versus “Doing School” Part Two

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Oct 27, 2017 | Updates

When my children were little, each night before they went to sleep (except for that year I was in Afghanistan – that’s a topic for another blog) they would ask me, “Daddy, tell us a story, please?”  It wasn’t so much of an ask as it was a demand because they knew, at a very early age, that I would faithfully execute my duties as a dad no matter what.  Some nights, it was easy to create a tale that somehow involved an impossible character in an impossible situation that he or she had to confront.  Other nights, my creative juices just didn’t flow.  On those nights where my imagination was flat, my paternalistic instincts would lead me to say, “hmmm…I’ve got a better idea, why don’t you tell ME a story?”  I’d typically encounter a little resistance whenever I decided to switch from storyteller to story consumer (I’d make sure that I always listened actively, even after a tough day at work).  However, the two of my kids would never disappoint and hopefully, I managed to engage a part of their brains that enabled them to be as comfortable creating content as consuming content. 

SO…here is the context in which I am writing this weekly blog post:  It’s 5:00 a.m. on a Friday morning; I’m sitting in the business center of a hotel in Pasadena, California; and I don’t really have a tale to tell (well…I do, but I would much rather tell that to anyone who was willing to listen over a cup of coffee).  What I would like to propose is this:  Why don’t you tell me a story?  After all, this tactic worked with my pre-school aged kids, it should work with the community at-large, right?  I’ll give you some guidelines: 

1. Tell me about a time when you owned your own learning.  In other words, a story about a time when you created your own content or answered your own question without having to rely upon someone to “feed” you information.  For example, some people can have some very powerful learning experiences on Internet sites like Khan Academy, YouTube, and Twitter without ever having stepped foot in a classroom.  According to George Couros, “Technology will never replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational.”  
2. Post your story on Twitter.  Hopefully, you’re all following me on Twitter by now – if not, now’s a great time to start.*  My Twitter handle is @SOCSD_Supt and the hashtag for this conversation is #SOCSD2017 (Which reminds me, your story has to be 120 characters or less).  Brevity is the soul of wit. 
3. Be inspired.  If you need some inspiration as to what to write on this topic, the following chart should provide some food for thought.  It is a side-by-side comparison of what characterizes actual learning versus traditional schooling activities that may (or may not) yield student intellectual growth.  This chart is reprinted from a book entitled, The Innovator’s Mindset, by George Couros (2015).* 

In my blog post, dated April 5, 2017 I wrote about how students who attend our schools can be the most productive in terms of their ability to learn.  I stated that as superintendent, “it is my duty to create a ‘common operating picture’ of what productive learning should (or shouldn’t) look like in our classrooms.”  https://blogs.socsd.org/superintendent/2017/04/05/learning-versus-doing-school/ 

Since this is my duty, I believe that it is my obligation to set an example.  Over the course of the day/weekend, I will post on Twitter examples of when I owned my own learning at #SOCSD2017 because learning can happen anytime, anywhere.  I’m also looking forward to hearing your stories on Twitter – your stories will help me learn how to make our great schools even greater.   

*I spent the morning with George Couros on October 26.  Concerning Twitter, he mentioned that “we need to make the positives so loud, that the negatives are impossible to hear.”  You can learn more about George Couros at his blog https://georgecouros.ca/blog/ or read his book (which is now on audiobooks) The Innovator’s Mindset (Couros, 2015).  I have ordered a copy of this book for our Board of Education in honor of Board of Education Recognition Week.  Many of our staff will be using this book as source of discussion in our professional development activities. 

SOCSD Families Talk About Substance Use

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Oct 20, 2017 | Updates

By now, most families are aware that our nation faces a substance abuse epidemic.  There has been much discussion in the national news media and related forums about how widespread this epidemic is.  By all accounts, it appears that this epidemic is getting worse.  Last week on CBS’s 60-Minutes, there was a segment on how government authorities and elected officials have attempted to address opioid abuse.  This humanitarian crisis goes well-beyond opiate addiction.  There is evidence that many of our children and their family members are abusing controlled and illegal substances at an alarming rate along with the sad fact that underage consumption of alcohol continues to plague our community.

Sadly, we don’t need the news to tell us just how serious this problem is:  Over the past few years, we have lost far too many lives to drugs and alcohol in our own community.  We can no longer wait to act since this problem affects all of us.

It is my hope that we, as a community, will face this problem of substance abuse squarely and with all the resources that we can bring to bear.  Since this problem impacts so many of our children, I am calling upon all of our families in the South Orangetown Central School District to join me for a series of forums designed to help us unite against substance abuse.  Please join me for a focus group discussion on Thursday, November 30, 2017, at 7:30 pm in the Tappan Zee High School Cafeteria.  This will be the first session of an ongoing program to engage families in conversations and develop practical solutions to address substance abuse among kids in our community. Future sessions will be held in January, March and May (dates to be determined).

To assist us in this effort, we have reached out to several expert panelists in the areas of treatment, prevention, and law enforcement.  The activities for the evening will be centered on educating and informing families about this epidemic but also seeking collaborative solutions to help put an end to the crisis that is affecting the lives of our children.

We know that there are no “easy fixes” to this complicated and dangerous problem and that solutions must be comprehensive, collaborative and engage our entire community.  Experts will be on hand to help us answer the tough questions, but the responsibility to address this very difficult problem rests with each of us.  In the spirit of our motto, “Together We Can,” I am asking for as many concerned members of our community as possible to attend this very important series.  This is a problem that I am confident that we can, and must, address.

If you have any questions about this event, please go to our Family Resource Center at:  http://blogs.socsd.org/2016socsd/family-resource-center/ .  Here, you will find information about how the school and families can work together to make sure that each of our students comes to school happy, healthy, and ready to learn.

Believing is Seeing

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Oct 13, 2017 | Updates

Beliefs are powerful things.  Beliefs can become even more powerful when they are supported by scientific research.  Beliefs coupled with research are important aspects of how school districts set goals and attain positive outcomes for students.  On Thursday, October 12, our teacher leaders and administrators met to discuss our expected outcomes for the 2017 – 2018 school year.  We expressly believe that if students have opportunities to engage in critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity while learning 21st-century skills, the students will have the knowledge and skills to succeed as effective citizens, workers, and leaders in the future.

While our conversations about student goals are ongoing, we always begin with expected student outcomes in mind.  The essential question becomes, “what will this future state of student growth look like and how will we know if we have reached that state?”  If we believe that these outcomes are possible, work collaboratively to achieve those outcomes, then our students will realize positive growth – cognitively, behaviorally, and emotionally.  Here are some of the indicators that we are confident that we will see as our students meet academic goals:

1. Providing Students with 21st Century Skills…We will gauge our progress by:

• Enhanced student engagement as evidenced in bi-annual Student Climate Survey (I.e. relevance of learning to real-world problems).
• Evidence of student accountable talk through inter-class and school visits (Instructional Rounds).
• School schedules will reflect opportunities for in-depth problem and project-based learning.
• School and classroom environments will reflect contemporary learning spaces to include up-to-date technology and flexible, comfortable seating, and workspaces.
• Ongoing evaluation of how students and adults are grouped.
• Public curriculum maps will continue to be enhanced in all subject areas across all grades to include more descriptions of each unit of study and project.
• Increase in 4-year graduation rate
• Enhanced student engagement as evidenced in bi-annual Student Engagement Survey
• Develop strategy to monitor the use of digital tools and evaluate effectiveness

2. Enhancing Student Literacy…We will gauge our progress by:

• Students will work on various projects that demonstrate their ability to compare and contrast reliable sources while making an argumentative, informative, or narrative presentation in multiple formats.
• Development of electronic portfolios of student work that demonstrate mastery of 21st-century skills to educators and prospective employers  (K-12).
• Increased evidence of portfolio of measures to assess the educational system’s effectiveness at reaching high levels of student competency.
• We will use formative and summative assessments (I.e. Fountas and Pinnell, Conferencing notes, Running Records, etc) to measure independent reading growth.
• Percentage of students achieving advanced or proficient status on state and national assessments
• State and federal accountability ratings

3. Meeting The Needs Of Diverse Learners…We will gauge our progress by:

• Increased student attendance
• Decreased discipline referrals, student tardiness, suspensions, expulsions, and dropouts
• Increased development of portfolios of student work that demonstrate mastery of 21st-century skills to educators and prospective employers
• Increased evidence of portfolio of measures to assess the educational system’s effectiveness at reaching high levels of student competency in 21st-century skills
• Monitor RTI intervention strategies

4. Fostering a Respectful Learning Environment…We will gauge our progress by:

• Increased student attendance
• Evidence of school Quality through School Quality Survey
• Increased graduation rate
• Improved VADIR metrics
• Percentage of students who feel safe when they are at school
• Increase number of clubs and organizations for students
• Survey data, etc…
• Monitor RTI intervention strategies
• School Climate Survey
• Decreased discipline referrals, student tardiness, suspensions, expulsions, and dropouts
• Evidence of school Quality through School Quality Survey

Restoring Negative Balances

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Oct 3, 2017 | Updates

All people are capable of doing good.  Sometimes, when we’ve done something wrong, there’s an opportunity to repair the damages – sometimes.  We all make mistakes…it’s what we do in response to our errors that defines who we are as human beings.

I received a letter in the mail today.  Enclosed in the envelope, along with the letter, was a crisp $100 bill.  The letter read:

“Dear Sirs – Many years ago, I was something of a strange kid.  One issue I had was taking lunch money from my friends’ desks in elementary school.  I can’t pay them back but I’m hoping you can apply this donation to your milk budget.  It’s the best I can do to give back to the community I grew up in. Sincerely, Anonymous”

To the person who wrote this letter and sent the $100: I would like to officially thank you. I cannot know what is in your heart, but I am hopeful that you can now rest easy knowing that your debt has been forgiven. The money was immediately deposited into the SOCSD School Lunch Fund – specifically the account that is designated to restore end-of-year negative balances that may accrue when students don’t have money for lunch.

The author of this letter was probably not, in his/her words, “a strange kid.” In fact, it is not uncommon for young children to lack “empathy.” As humans move from infancy to adulthood, it is normal for them to transition from a purely individual sense-of-self to a more collective sense-of-self. This is the Piagetian developmental psychology that considers basic human survival. Most of us adults are less self-absorbed than we were when we were pre-adolescents.

I had a conversation about this with our South Orangetown Middle School Assistant Principal, Dr. Chad Corey, this morning. He remarked that the person who sent this letter was taking the perspective of the people whom he or she may have hurt a long time ago. This developed perspective reflects a state of being more “others-oriented” in contrast to being purely “self-oriented.” Dr. Corey mentioned that sometimes people become more empathetic as they grow older. As a school district, we make every effort to help our students have a healthy sense of self, in both individual and collective terms. Without empathy, there can be no justice and justice is a fundamental element of a free society.

Society suffers, however, when the damage associated with a lack of basic human empathy is beyond repair and justice can’t be served – reparations can’t offset the negative balance. It is because of this, that we have a responsibility to prevent hurtful (sometimes tragic) acts from happening in the first place.  October is National Bullying Prevention Month and schools and organizations across the country are encouraged to come together in an effort to educate on the impact of bullying and raise awareness for bullying prevention. Here are some great resources for parents, educators and students at: Resources to Fight Bullying and Harassment at School.

If you’d like to learn more about how you or your child can prevent or stop a hurtful or injurious situation in school, please contact the administrator or student support staff (guidance counselor, psychologist, social worker) at your child’s school. Additionally, here is the contact information in the event that your child is struggling emotionally with an issue that is related to school:

WOS
Kaitlin McSwiggan (kmcswiggan@socsd.org) (845) 680-1368
Brian Galvin (bgalvin@socsd.org) (845) 680-1324

CLE
Linda King (lking@socsd.org) | (845) 680-1554
Sean Jones (sjones@socsd.org) | (845) 680-1545

SOMS
Courtney Malka (cmalka@socsd.org) | (845) 680-1112
Stephen Sawitsky (ssawitsky@socsd.org) | (845) 680-1023

TZHS
Katelin Burns (kburns@socsd.org) | (845) 680-1613
Beth Jaret (bjaret@socsd.org) | (845) 680-1610

Every child has a right to be happy in school – let’s eliminate the emotional “negative balances” that can result from bullying and harassment, and develop a sense of empathy and justice in our schools. Let’s fix this together: Don’t believe the lie that it only gets worse when you stand up to a bully. The lie that the bully wants you to believe is that it will get worse if you stand up for yourself…that there will be retaliation.  This is how a bully maintains power over a victim. The truth is that it ALWAYS gets better when you stand up for justice – even though it may get a little worse in the short term. Working together is the best way to put an end to bullying and harassment. Together We Can.

Popular Symbols and Civic Agency

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Sep 28, 2017 | Updates

On Tuesday, September 26, many of our students – ranging from those in kindergarten to twelfth grade – participated in the “Pinwheels for Peace” art installations around the District.  At several of our schools, students created pinwheels made from paper that expressed their reflections concerning such topics as peace, tolerance, social justice, unity, and friendship. I visited the schools and observed these art installations. At William O. Schaefer Elementary and Tappan Zee High Schools, the students arranged their pinwheels into colossal peace symbols. In the picture below, you can see an example of this symbol. Mrs. Piteo (WOS art teacher, pictured) did a great job explaining to our kindergarten students the role that symbols play as an expression of meaning. Our kindergarten students knew instantly that a heart symbol represented love and that the smiley-face symbol represented happiness.

From my perspective, this display seemed remarkable in its beauty and simplicity. The students had great clarity in terms of what these symbols represent. Historically, the symbolism of different images can mean different things to different cultures depending on the context of the time and place. A study of history can help students better contextualize the meaning of symbols and how those symbols can influence social behaviors. For example, “Pinwheels for Peace” reminded me of some not-so-ancient history: I was an elementary school student in the 1960’s during the period of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. People reacted to the “peace symbol” differently depending upon how each was connected to the war in Southeast Asia. The year was probably 1967 (I was in kindergarten) and I remember a day when my father took me to the barbershop. While I was waiting my turn to get my hair cut, I was looking at photographs in a magazine article about college protests of the war. Images of war, violence, and conflict are frightening to a child and I remember being disturbed by the photographs. There was a man (unknown to me) sitting nearby who muttered, “damned hippies” in response to the protest photos that I was looking at. It was clear to my 5-year old brain that the protests and symbols displayed in these photos were upsetting this man. He mentioned that he had a nephew serving in Vietnam. I remember that the symbols for peace in the 1960’s – long hair, hand gestures, tie-dyed apparel – drew different responses from different people and I remember the difficult and awkward conversations that these symbols elicited from the adults in my life (teachers, relatives, neighbors, etc). In contrast to the societal response from fifty years earlier, our “Pinwheels for Peace” art installations (and the tie-dyed curators involved in this project) prompt a singularly positive and hopeful response from onlookers.

In the present day, our young learners will see symbols that represent love, peace, and happiness. Additionally, they will witness symbols that may be intellectually or emotionally confusing to them. Youngsters interpret some symbols, like the peace sign, the heart, and the smiley-face with clarity. Other symbols – like my “peace sign circa 1967” (e.g., armbands, taking a knee during the National Anthem, gestures of solidarity) will require a more thoughtful discussion with our kids to help them understand how we got here and where we are headed as a society. I had the good fortune to discuss this in detail with Mr. Daniel Braunfeld, a 1999 Tappan Zee High School graduate. He provided me with some excellent insight regarding the role that a study of history plays in shaping our students’ civic participation through intellectual rigor, ethical reflection, and emotional engagement.

Thank you to all of our students and teachers of arts/humanities who are treating popular symbols as an opportunity to promote civic participation.  A thorough, interdisciplinary study of these symbols is a starting point towards a more learned citizenry and is supportive of our Constitutional rights and responsibilities as People of the United States.

Puzzles and Games as Learning Technologies

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Sep 21, 2017 | Updates

It is easy to be inspired to learn at the South Orangetown Central School District.  For instance, I was recently inspired to learn more about puzzles and games as a means to encourage student learning after reading a blog post written by our very own Ms. Patricia Eyer, Library Media Specialist at William O. Schaefer Elementary School.  She recently wrote about Ms. Zatarga’s second-grade students solving “KenKen” Math Puzzles.  Teachers have used puzzles, and more broadly games, as an instructional “technology” for many years to empower learners and to accelerate and personalize learning (I put quotation marks around the word “technology” since many folks think that in order to qualify as such, there should be evidence of a device with a power cable sticking out of the back end).  It is important to note that these technologies can be either electronic or non-electronic.

Educator and thought-leader, George Couros writes in his book, The Innovator’s Mindset (2015), that learning comes before technology.  He adds, “technology invites us to move from engaged to empowered.  It provides opportunities to go deeper into our learning by giving us the ability to consume, and, more importantly, to create (Couros, 2015).”  Students are empowered through math puzzle activities since they can generate a variety of solutions thereby fostering creativity.  When students combine this with digital technology, by adding light, color, and sound, this can be a form of artistic expression (this is what turns STEM into STEAM and possibly a job at Pixar).  Games and puzzles are instructional technologies that permit students to control learning outcomes and to become empowered to learn more.

Educational games (used as an instructional technology) gives students “the power to accelerate, amplify, and even recreate learning (Couros, 2015).”  Here’s a great example from the world of biomedical research:  To better understand the genetic coding of breast tumor samples, cancer researchers in the U.K. developed a computer game called “Play to Cure: Genes in Space.” In this computer game, players attempt to decode genetic material from tumor samples (here, the genetic material is disguised in the form of space asteroids hurtling towards Earth).  The object of the game, for the players, is to zap asteroids by decoding massive strands of information.  The human brain and eyes are better suited to the task of sorting this type of data than a computer.  The gamers are emulating what a scientist would do to understand how cancer cells grow – except that computer gamers (flying a simulated, video-game spacecraft) can analyze cancer genomes approximately 15% more accurately than scientists using traditional lab techniques (Passary, 2014).  Do I think that the person who will someday cure cancer (or any other deadly disease) is sitting in one of our classrooms at SOCSD?  I absolutely do – with every fiber of my being.

Lastly, George Couros states that “technology should personalize, not standardize (2015).”  For the past few years, I have been observing teachers (particularly, middle school math teachers) using the online computer game, Minecraft, as a means to personalize learning for students.  Once, I observed a very powerful lesson where students used Minecraft to express the Quadratic Equation using a graphing calculator that was programmed into the gameplay – wow!  I was blown away.  This type of game personalizes the experience for each learner since each activity is a unique expression of human logic.

Classroom games where students set up a program or a series of processes (think of the old Rube Goldberg-style board game “Mousetrap”) develop a stochastic understanding of how decisions yield expected (or unexpected) outcomes.  Students test theories using games of “what happens next?”  The ability to develop a working hypothesis and construct a model to test a theory becomes an integral component of scientific research (p.s. You knew that the 3-D printed rocket launches at Cottage Lane Elementary School, weren’t just for fun, right?).

I wish to thank Ms. Eyer and Ms. Zatarga for inspiring me to learn more about learning and for the continued amazing work that they – and others like them – do for our kids in SOCSD every day!

To learn more about “Play to Cure: Genes in Space” and to download the app, go to: Play to Cure: Genes in Space

References

Couros, G. (2015). The Innovator’s Mindset.  San Diego, CA. Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.

Passary, A. (2014). “Can video game find cure for cancer? Doctors say yes.”  Tech Times. 2/7/2014.