Teaching & Learning at Trinity

“Seeing students being aware of a bigger world, bigger than their own backyard, is a first step toward global education.” — Silvia Tolisano

During the month of October, Trinity’s Second Grade students teamed up with the Bert Show to write letters to troops stationed overseas as part of the Bert Show’s Big Thank You Campaign. Members of the Trinity community, inspired by Trinity’s very own Second Grade students and teachers (see second paragraph of linked post), contributed over 500 letters to help the Bert Show meet their goal of 400,000 letters.

When Trinity’s Second Graders return to school next week, they will have quite a surprise waiting for them as one solider, J.C.K., MSgt, USAF, has responded to their letter with a note of his own. He begins his letter with the greeting, “My Dear Friends,” and continues to share a bit about his life and his service.

20 DEC 2011

My Dear Friends:

Thank you so much for the letters you sent me.  I have read many messages and they have brought a huge smile to my face.  The pictures are beautiful and all of you are writing very well.  I appreciate the kind words and hearing all about you.

I will be spending Christmas in Afghanistan, which is on the other side of the world.  Afghanistan is a very poor country and the children have very little toys.  There are no trees and there is no grass where I am staying.  At times, it gets very windy and it blows the dirt all around.  It looks like it is snowing but it is called a dust storm.  It gets very cold at night, but warms up during the day.

I take care of the soldiers who get sick and injured.  Our job is to make them feel better and put them on an airplane so we can get them back home.  I am very happy and honored to be serving in the US military and helping other soldiers.

I have made many new friends in Afghanistan.  I have met and worked with people from all over the world.  Some of my new friends have children too.  We miss our families at home, but we laugh and make each other happy which helps pass time.

It is almost Christmas and I am getting very excited.  For I know it is a time of joyous celebration and being with our friends  and family.  Although I will not be home with my family this Christmas, I will be thinking of them and everyone else.  It is our job in the military to protect the families at home so they can have a safe Christmas.

Finally, a little about myself.   I have three kids in high school and one in kindergarten.  We have a small farm in Ohio with ducks, chickens, cats and dogs.  I like to play in the creek and woods and catch snakes with my little girl.  We are going to build a tree house this summer.

Well, I am glad I had the chance to send you this letter and thank you for thinking of me during Christmas.  I hope to be home soon!

Be good, listen to your parents and teacher.

J.C.K, MSgt, USAF

Proudly Serving/Afghanistan

Pretty powerful stuff, huh? And it’s not going to be on “the test.”

And that’s perfectly okay.

cc licensed  (BY NC SA) flickr photo shared by langwitches

Happy last week of school for 2011 and the start of what will hopefully be a wonderful and restful holiday season! Thanks to all of our music teachers who helped usher in the holiday season with the Nutcracker, the ELD sing-a-long, the Saks’ event, and Friday’s Christmas Concert at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Thanks to all of the faculty and staff who partnered with our music teachers and made these learning experiences for students so powerful.

Here are the Weekly Learning Links for the week of December 11th:

• What If the Story Changed? by David Jakes –How many classrooms provide students with a time trip back to the 20th century? In this K-12 Online Presentation (30 minutes), David Jakes explores the notion of two simple words…What If? Jakes explains, “The presentation will challenge your thinking about traditional perspectives on education, and offer insights on how we might rethink these. I’ll begin with an introduction and then offer a series of vignettes that explore the story of change, all centering on rethinking how we approach the design of new ideas with a very simple approach you can use today.” David Jakes has also written a blog post about the notion of getting away from “Yeah, But…” and moving toward acceptance of “What if…”
• Startup Radically Reinvents the Disposable Cup, Eliminating Plastic Lids by Fast Company Design — A rethinking of the traditional “to go” coffee cup that many of us use every week (day?). How might our students be able to rethink similar things that we use every week or day? Could this project serve as an inspiration for other projects?
• Things I Know 296 of 365: We Have to Stop This by Zac Chase — If you haven’t seen this four minute video created by an eighth grader (and has since gained national media attention since his video went viral on YouTube), it’s hard to watch but important. Make sure you read the update listed in the comments section from the child who made the video.
• TEDxCMU: The Next Chapter in Human Computation by Luis von Ahn — What’s a captcha? Well, it’s something that you probably come across every week…if not every day! Learn about how “Luis von Ahn, the man who brought the world CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA unveiled his newest and most innovative project to date: Duolingo. How can you translate the entire internet and do it for free? Duolingo will be a revolutionary product in which millions of internet users from around the world will work together to translate the internet and learn a new language at the same time. All for free.”
  

Each May at Trinity Graduation, Stephen Kennedy celebrates every Sixth Grade student with a short couplet honoring who they are as young people. In some, he offers a glimpse into the future…maybe predicting how their twirling as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Fifth Grade Nutcracker or their love of community service will play an important role as they grow and mature. It’s never about their exams scores, the secondary schools they will attend, or their academic record at Trinity. It’s a gift that he gives each student but also a way for him to honor the countless faculty and staff members of the School who have challenged, shaped, loved, and grown these young people into who they are in their Sixth Grade suits and white graduation dresses.

The most recent reflection on  Stephen’s blog (“What the Head Thinks”) is a similar reflection and celebration of three former Trinity School students, all of whom hold the last name of Kennedy. Many faculty and staff at Trinity helped challenge, shape, love, and grow these three during their time at the School. Stephen’s most recent post entitled “A Father’s Personal Accounting” is a beautiful letter to his three children outlining what he wants for each of them as they journey into the future.

Here are the Weekly Learning Links for the week of December 5th:

• The Hardest Things I’ve Learned (Intro) by Peyten Dobbs — This first post (of many) is an attempt to share a number of very important items that author (Trinity alum and Atlanta teacher) Dobbs wishes she had learned earlier than adulthood. The blog post begins with this sentence: “From age 18-22 I wrestled with a spiritual, psychological, emotional and social break down that I now believe, with the benefit of hindsight, stemmed largely out of a realization that everything I had been working so hard for had nothing to do with living life well.” What follows is an honest, provocative, and enlightening commentary on schools today and the “Race to Nowhere” that students often find themselves engaged in through their middle and high school years.
• What Does a Transformational 21st Century School Look Like? by GOOD Education — This short article and its accompanying visual lists 22 interesting indicators which help classify traditional, transitional, and transformational schools. Sam Chaltain has nominated two schools which possess a fair amount of the indicators listed by the Q.E.R. organization – one in Philadelphia (Science Leadership Academy) and another in India (Riverside School).
• 11.30.11 edu180atl post by Sabrina Manns — This 250 word post by Decatur City Schools elementary school teacher reflects on”the importance of truly practicing what I tell my students to do.” Whether it’s writing, observing, _______________. this post serves as a reminder to put ourselves in the child’s shoes every once and a while.

Dawn’s “Giving Thanks” Basket and Bulletin Board in the ELD, the 481 letters to troops serving overseas that arrived in time for Thanksgiving from Trinity students, parents, and faculty/staff, and the many displays and celebrations of Thanksgiving in ELD and ULD classrooms serve as such wonderful reminders of the power of expressing gratitude…in small and large ways. During the Thanksgiving Program, Julia S. shared her reflections about her nine years at the School and how “I can’t tell who I will be ten years from now, but I know that what I have learned at Trinity will always be an important part of who I turn out to be.”  She is certainly grateful for Trinity School.

An additional testament to the gratefulness of our community came from a  blog post I read last week. The fact that Sarah Grace B., a Fifth Grade student, took time to write a blog post about her gratitude to the teachers at Trinity during her vacation is worth sharing:

Does anyone besides me know how amazing trinity school is? Imagine you getting up at about 5:45 every morning and driving to school to work! The teachers even stay after we get out! Then, they go home and do more work! Don’t you think that 8 hours is a lot? Well, imagine like 9 and a half! These teachers work so hard to make a fun and educational day for us! Campbell was about as good as Mrs. Carter at making one subject, that took up a lot of her recesses. It turns out the teacher have to do at least triple that work every day! The teachers are so nice, and everyone should be thankful for them! However, I think if I had all that work, I would need my students to be perfect. I wouldn’t need more of a mess to clean up! So, I thought that over the next part of the year, us students should really work hard on making our awesome teachers life more easy by cleaning up the room perfectly before we leave, have great manners,( like saying yes ma’am or no sir), listening without having to hold up our heads in our hands, and thinking about how these magnificent teachers feel! Thank you so much to the amazing teachers of  Trinity School!

Here are the Weekly Learning Links for the week of November 28th:

• Teaching Creativity: The Answers Aren’t in the Back of the Book by Brian Cohen — This short Huff Post article begins with the following, “When a student asks me, an art teacher, how to do something, I often don’t answer. It’s not that I’m especially possessive of my acquired knowledge; to the contrary, I don’t think knowledge belongs to anyone; it should be shared, or better yet, discovered.” A well-written commentary on developing creativity and how much we all can learn from searching for answers.
• Throwaway Lessons by Tony Baldasaro — An honest reflection on assigned projects and the power of student-generated learning experiences. How can we infuse more problem-based learning experiences at Trinity…and problems and projects that our students truly care about?
• Learning about Blogs for Students (Part II) Writing by Silvia Tolisano — This second post about blogging (the first one is here) provides some helpful advice and resources for teachers who are blogging, have students blogging, or are interested in exploring this new way of writing.
• Most Kids Way Ahead of Us as Digital Learners, for Better and Worse by Julia Steiny — “Adults need to encourage kids to use the promise of technology to tackle tough problems — just like an adult would” argues Julia Steiny in this blog post.

During Tuesday’s Thanksgiving Program at Trinity, Sixth Grader and Student Council President Julia S. shared the following reflections about her nine years at Trinity.

I have been a student at Trinity School for almost nine years—I started at Trinity in the five day Threes.  My Threes class had two sixth grade buddies, Jonathan and Jordan. I would sometimes mix up with their names and call them “Jordathan.”  Each time I saw them walk into our classroom, I would light up with joy. I had so much fun spending time with them and playing with them outside.  They would always watch me push my friends on the tire swing, or play in the sand box. Our whole class thought the world of them.

Now that I am in Sixth Grade I have a Pre-K buddy class, and I have a blast playing with them. Emma and I have PE with our buddies so we get to play games with hula hoops, scarves, bean bags, and spots. When we are doing “The Trinity Run Around” the Pre-Kers chase us around the gym and try to grab on to our hands. I wonder what my buddies think of me. Do they think of me in the same way I thought of my buddies?

As I have moved up from Threes to Sixth Grade, my thoughts towards Jonathan and Jordan have changed. I now realize they were Sixth Graders just like me. Just because I no longer think of them in the same way I used to, doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate having had them as my buddies.  In fact, I know that how they treated me has helped me be a better buddy to my Pre-K buddy class.

There are other things in addition to the “buddies” that I think about differently now than when I was in the threes. For example, I think about teachers differently. They aren’t nearly as scary as I first thought they were. I think about public speaking differently. At first it was hard, but now it’s actually kind of fun. I think about team sports differently. Now, I can’t imagine not playing lacrosse.

There are things that I have done at Trinity, like the Greek Olympics, the Pre-K Olympics, Colonial Times, the Living Museum, Camp Will-a-Way, Highlands, the Wagon Train, and Jekyll, which I think were really fun and great learning experiences. In another nine years, will I look on them in a totally different way? Knowing that how I look at things now changed over the last nine years, I know that I will think about Trinity differently in another nine years. Right now, I can’t tell how that will be, but from already seeing my appreciation towards some things change, I know that my view on many things will change.

Some people think that the things that stand out to them now as being fun or important will be the things that they remember most about Trinity.  I’m not so sure. I think all of those fun things have helped to make us who we are.  But it won’t be all the little details we remember many years from now—we won’t remember that Margaret won the marathon in the Greek Olympics, or that Jack busted his lip doing the high jump, or that Peyton broke both arms running into the wall, or that Henry and Ellie collided playing basketball, or that I beat Mrs. Berry arm-wrestling at Jekyll (although I might remember that), it will be how those things changed us and contributed to whoever it is that we will be in the future. I can’t tell who I will be ten years from now, but I know that what I have learned at Trinity will always be an important part of who I turn out to be.

With Trinity’s celebration of Veteran’s Day on Friday, the most recent TTT Assembly which focused on the faculty trip to Zimbabwe last summer, and the many conversations about Thanksgiving and “Giving Thanks” happening in ELD and ULD classrooms, I am reminded of how so many members of our community devote an incredible amount of time to making Trinity’s Mission Statement a reality:

The Mission of Trinity School is to create a community of learners in which each child can acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to achieve his or her unique potential and become a responsible, productive, and compassionate member of the expanding global community.

That last bit, the part about helping each child “become a responsible, productive, and compassionate member of the expanding global community” struck me this week as I peeked into a Threes classroom while they were talking about their community service project (Pajama Project) and then read the Threes website updates this weekend which clearly focus on how much service matters in their classrooms.

The Butterflies loved welcoming Miss Kristin into their classroom to read a book and talk about their favorite kind of PJs (warm and fuzzy!). They also talked about the importance of giving to others and that they would have a chance to give warm, fuzzy pajamas to children in need as a part of their service project.

The Teddy Bears update focused on service to the country and the importance of valuing all of the gifts we have (freedom being one). Mary writes,

“I emphasized how much we in the United States of America and in our Teddy Bear classroom need to be thankful for our freedom and the men and women who have and continue to defend those freedoms. I approached the subject by telling them they could only go to one center and they had to stay there for the entire time. They could not choose which center they could go to or where to sit. Then we talked about how that felt and wondered what it would be like if every day was structured like that. I got replies such as, “I would not like that!” “I would be bored.” “I would not want to come to school.” “That would make me mad.” Even in their small world, the freedom to make their own choices at school is very important to them. We then talked about the flag, they painted their own and we thanked Mr. Val and Mr. Johnny for their service in the Navy and Army.”

And finally, students in the Frogs Class are thinking creatively about how they will replace the “pirate” bulletin board with an idea based on The Giving Tree and the PJ community service project:

“When Ms. Samantha brought back a small group of children after reading them the book The Giving Tree one child asked what was going to be on the board next. Samantha asked them what THEY thought it should be and they answered that it should be a Christmas tree and the presents underneath could be pajamas and Pillow Pets. So…..stay tuned and be sure to look at the board in progress the next time you visit us in the classroom.”

What a wonderful testament to how students in our youngest class are being encouraged in real, tangible ways to “become a responsible, productive, and compassionate member of the expanding global community.”

Here are the Weekly Learning Links for November 14th:

• Should We Be Writing…For Our Own Wellness? by Jen Bilik (shared by Linda Nichols) — A thoughtful post about finding balance in the ways we create words…on screens and on paper. Bilik writes, “All too infrequently I remember to break myself away and turn back to pen and paper. The touch of paper and the scratch of the pen make me feel like I’m working with my hands, crafting.”
• Global Education Conference (About) and Global Education Conference (Schedule) — Last year, this online conference drew over 15,000 participants from 62 countries. Alan November is a great speaker and is keynoting at 11:00am on Monday. Ewan McIntosh is also interesting and he is keynoting on Tuesday at 2:00pm. There are a plethora of sessions that would be of interest to many of you; each session is one hour and may be counted as a TLC.
• Murmuration Video by Sophie Windsor Clive (shared by Meredith Burris). Take two minutes to watch this video (with the volume turned on so you can hear the music). You will be inspired by our natural world

Kristin Watts, Trinity’s Director of Admissions, always crafts wonderful experiences for prospective parents to learn about Trinity School. At our first Open House on Friday, Billie served as the faculty representative while Andrew P. and Matt H. shared their own perspectives about Trinity. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to listen to Andrew and Matt share their personal reflections…it’s a wonderful testament to the work that Trinity faculty and staff do every day, in every role, and at every grade level.

Here are the Weekly Learning Links for November 7th:

• 7 Billion: How Did We Get So Big So Fast? — This three minute video provides an interesting (and accessible to elementary students) overview of population growth and how the world’s population grew from 1 billion to 7 billion in just 200 years. Did you know that the UN expects that the world’s population will level off at 10 billion by the end of the century?
• Parenting, Fear, and the Crook of Our Arms by Chris Lehmann — A beautiful blog post by Principal of SLA (Science Leadership Academy) reflecting on conversations, specifically difficult ones, that educators must have with parents of children (“who used to fit in the crook of our arms”).
• My Kids are Illiterate. Most Likely, Yours Are Too by Will Richardson — A thought-provoking piece about what schools should teach. Are the 3Rs enough? Or, as Richardson poses in one of many questions in this short Huffington Post article, “How do we provide my kids with the experiences they need to fully understand what it means to be a self-directed, participatory learner in this century?”

Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

On Friday, every Trinity Sixth Grader will be a tour guide for a group of prospective parents…and with over 225 registered guests, they’ll probably have large groups. After each Open House, a prospective parent always says, “I want one of those!” Translation: I want my child to  grow up and be as ______________ (confident, polite, engaging, you fill in the blank) as my Sixth Grade tour guide.

Of course, these students in our Leadership Class, some of our strongest public speakers, had a solid foundation in their early years. This week, Miss Connie, Miss Lucy, and Miss Katie’s Pre-K class presented their four Halloween poems with confidence and pride. Five Little Pumpkins, Five Little Witches, Five Little Ghosts, and Five Little Bats were the poems and each child prepared by making puppets and practicing reciting his or her line. It’s important to remember that Trinity’s 21st Century Competencies (“strong written and oral communication” is one of these) starts very early in students’ educational careers. Our Very Early Learning Department (VELD) plays a very (!) important role in building solid foundations so Trinity students in ELD and ULD can be confident, powerful speakers who, as Emerson reminds us in the quote at the top of this post, can persuade, convert, and compel.

Here are the Weekly Learning Links for October 31st:

• Learn — Unlearn — Relearn by Stephen Kennedy — If you missed this Trinity This Week post, it’s a good read. In the comments of this post, Pat Bassett (President of NAIS) writes that this is “an astute observation about the change agenda for schools and the professionals within them, and for the inherent anxiety of parents regarding the changes that are necessary. I think we should remind parents that schools must change because we are preparing students for their futures, not for the parents’ past.”
• Calling an Audible on the Play: Problem-Based Learning by Anna Moore (Trinity Parent) — A reflection on a high school science class that did not go as planned. The description of the children’s reaction to the dead (or almost dead) plants and their problem-based, experiential, and inquired-inspired learning is a reminder of how well-thought out lesson plans don’t always lead to the kinds of learning experience which matter most.
• Learning about Blogs FOR your Students (Part I: Reading) by Silvia Tolisano — Since more and more Trinity students and teachers are blogging, this is a great post about a key piece of preparation for blogging that is often overlooked (reading quality blogs). Tolisano also shares a number of quality blogs (in various subject areas) for teachers to explore. If you want to access the active Trinity School blogs, please visit: www.trinityweblog.org.
• Make it Stop. Please. by Will Richardson — A reflection on traditional testing (not standardized testing but classroom tests) in schools. Good food for thought for us at Trinity as we continue to think about personalized learning and personalized, formative assessment.

Marsha Harris recently shared a blog post she wrote about her Fifth Grade Tech Lab classes…she writes honestly about the changes she is making to ensure that these classes are more appropriate for Fifth Grade students and the kind of student-directed learning they must experience at this age…especially related to their use of technology. In the post (entitled “Giving Up Control”), Marsha writes:

As I think about Teaching and Learning, 21st Century Skills, Child at the Center and Student Directed Learning, it all encompasses around one key factor…ME, Giving Up Control…Letting Go! I would consider myself a type A personality. I like things to be orderly, I tend to be a list-maker and a time-keeper, a planner and I definitely do things with a vision of an end result or product. I guess I get that from my father, who is the master of organization, habit and list-making. While planning for my 5th grade lessons over the next several rotations, I’m making it my goal to give up control and allow the students to hone in on those 21st Century skills that we always talk about. Creativity, problem solving, collaboration and initiative are just a few of the capacities that the students display while in tech lab. So, here’s the plan…and “generally” I tend to teach step-by-step…but for 5th grade, I’m letting go!

Here are the Weekly Learning Links for October 24th:

• Why I Do What I Do by John Burk — shared by Dawn Pile. This short blog post (with a poignant self-assessment and reflection from one of his students) is a great piece about the role and value of teachers in personalized, 21st century teaching environments. The comments section of this post is thought-provoking as well and highlights that not everyone agrees with this new approach to teaching.
• My Dream by Melissa (Fifth Grader) — This Trinity student has a dream to be an “adventurest.” And she’s gaining confidence to share this dream (and other feelings and reflections) with her classmates, teachers, and with the world through her Trinity blog.
• Global Conversations in Literacy Research Webinars — shared by Mary Jacob Rankin. These free, one hour webinars, aim to promote conversations about literacy in the 21st century. You will hear from “leading scholars in the field of literacy whose focus includes early childhood literacy, critical literacy, assessment, discourse analysis, and family literacy.”
• The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Adicehe — This 18 minute TED Talk is truly breathtaking. “Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.” For classes studying prejudice, stereotypes, and issues of race and identity, this talk is accessible for students in our older grades.

(Anyone interested in posting next week’s Weekly Learning Links? If so, please shoot me an email!)

The majority of the Fifth Grade team attended Trinity’s Teaching the iGeneration Workshop with George Couros in June. One product of their experience is that they committed to the idea of promoting online writing in their classrooms. And as a result of their collective brainstorming and planning, there’s a certain momentum that’s building in their classrooms with this new kind of writing. As an outsider, it’s been powerful to watch two things. First, each teacher (lead and assistant) has their own blog in order to model what to do with this powerful medium. Second, various Trinity teachers are engaging students in their writing by leaving comments on posts. What a powerful message this sends to the students: I am engaging in the work that I am asking you to do. Other teachers, not just those in Fifth Grade, are also engaging with you by reading and commenting on your writing. If you’d like to see a specific example of what this looks like, check out Ashley Johnston’s “Welcome to the Blogosphere” post.

Did you know that all students in the Second Grade have written letters of thanks to our troops serving overseas? After listening to the radio on the way to school one morning, Mary Riddick Stallworth and Kathy Bruyn realized that the students could write letters to troops and meet the needs of the writing and social studies curriculum simultaneously. Now, they want to take it a step further! By sharing what they did (on this wiki called Teachers for Troops) and by hopefully getting time “On Air” with The Bert Show to show what they did to help The Bert Show’s BIG Thank You, they want to inspire other classrooms and schools to help meet the goal of 400,000 letters by October 28, 2011. Check out the PhotoStory that Mary Riddick and Kathy’s students created last week:

Here are the Weekly Learning Links for the week of October 17th:

• edu180atl 10.14.11 by Suzanne Edwards — In this 250 word post, our very own Science teachers reflects on the power of our own habits and the need to travel a new path…in our daily routines and also in the classroom.
• “…and this is why teachers should have blogs” by George Couros — With more and more Trinity teachers thinking about blogging, this posts (and the links within it), provide a few good examples of how blogs could positively affect teachers, students, classrooms, and ultimately schools.
• Doodling: An Essential Skills to Develop and Support in Our Students? by Silvia Tolisano — How do you define the act of doodling? How can doodling promote greater comprehension, creativity, and engagement? This post (with a link to an excellent five minute TED Talk) provides good ideas about engaging some of our aesthetically-minded learners.

cc licensed flickr photo shared by dkuropatwa