EdSuccess

Sam Bartlett’s first slide in the beautiful, warm desert setting in Tucson was of several feet of snow on his back porch in southwest Virginia. Sam, CEO of Family Friendly Schools, mentioned that it was 7° when he left home on Tuesday. I had left home in a pouring rain so I was also enjoying the 85° Tucson weather. Neither of us was outside much since our focus was the 80+ teachers, administrators, support staff, parents, and counselors attending our day long workshops on how to encourage Family Engagement in Schools.

Folks from all over the state were treated to a day of training by the Arizona Department of Education. The underlying focus of most workshops school staff attend is to develop new ways to engage learners and to increase student performance. This workshop was no exception, but our suggestions focused on engaging families in the process.

Participants enjoyed exchanging ideas that worked at their school, hearing a myriad of new ideas, focusing their attention on 101 more ideas from the book 101 Ways to Create Real Family Engagement and finishing up by beginning an action plan to take back to their school.

Some schools are just beginning to realize the power of parent involvement in learning. They are making their school user friendly and welcoming. Others have parents volunteering for fundraisers and bake sales and are seeling they could enjoy more learning from kids if they directed the parents energies to learning activities.

An interesting questions arose as we talked "..looking at the rest of the activities, some of our seem superficial. Perhaps we’re not doing it right." My answer: "Nothing is superficial if the activities result in the goal you want. If your goal is to have parents at school and they come for the school play you got it. If your goal is to have parents help with learning, then you need to include them in what and how you teach. They’ll help. Just ask and show them how."

Thanks for a great time Tucson and ADE for sponsoring the event.

There’s a great story about a nomad coming out of the desert to a town. A wise man met him at the gate.
“What’s the town like?” asked the nomad.
“What was it like where you came from?” answered the wise man.
“It was awful. People were mean and hateful. They stole. It was a horrible place to live.”
“Hm,” said the wise man. “This town is like that too.”
The nomad turned back to the desert and did not enter the town. Soon a second nomad approached the town. Again the wise man met the newcomer.
“What’s the town like?” asked the nomad.
“What was it like where you came from?” answered the wise man.
“It was wonderful. I hated to leave. Everyone was friendly and warm. They helped each other. We enjoyed being together.
“Hm,” said the wise man. “This town is like that too, welcome.”
And the man entered his new town.

Your school is like any town. It is what you see it to be for yourself and your children.

Last week the Murphy School District in Phoenix Arizona relooked at their schools to see if the place their children enter was a warm and friendly one. The leadership asked a group of people from the district-administrators, teachers, and parents-to relook at the Vision and Mission of the school district. If their vision is of a great place to be and their mission is to turn the schools into what the stakeholders want it to be, then they know they can deliver what is best for kids.

If a wise man was at the gate of one of the Murphy Schools, I might ask, “What’s the school like?”

Simply telling me the vision of the folks at Murphy would help me know whether I would want to bring my children here:

Educational success to achieve tomorrow’s dream.

Think I’ll stick around for awhile. Sounds like they’re on target for kids.

As you can imagine, Nana has been spending time with the newest addition. London Paige at 17 days old is making an impact on everyone. She is reminding me of why I went into education and learning in the first place. She is reminding all of us in the Samples clan of the potential for life, love, success, and future. It’s quite a noteworthy piece for a little bit of a person to do. I wonder if she has any idea what kind of an impact her entry into the world brought?

So for those expecting to be parents or grandparents in the near future, or to those of you who already are, here are a few things to ponder:

Do you tell your child you love them-every day?
Are you reminding them of what a wonderful, perfect person they are?
Do you listen when they talk?
Are you interested in what they do (even when you’re not)?

I have four children and I couldn’t have answered yes to all those questions. I worked, shopped, cleaned, drove, did dishes, worked more, and occasionally slept during those growing up years. I could tell you I did all of those things with a great deal of style and panache. My kids grew up with an understanding of the importance of working, shopping, cleaning, driving, doing dishes, and, did I mention, working. I’m grateful they did.

Now, though, I have an opportunity to focus on answers to those other questions. I now believe that if I could answer those questions to my satisfaction that the working, shopping, cleaning, driving, dishes and more working issues would all take care of themselves quite nicely.

For those of you who read my columns in the Enterprise Record and the Willows Journal, you know my children. You watched them grow-up through the stories I shared. Having four of them around has always provided a new adventure from raising rats for a science fair project to losing my keys in the house gutter because one of the kids decided I need to go out for a long pass.

Every once in a while I give you an update on the one or more of the four now adult children who have all left the nest and are flying on their own. I’ve told you about the Air Force for my two boys one of who is now out of the Air Force and headed towards a law degree. I shared a wedding for one of my girls and the other is now a senior at Sonoma State.

Today’s update, however, may be the most amazing event so far. Yesterday London Paige arrived as the newest member of the family. Jennifer and Jordan are the proud parents of this 6 lb 5 oz wonder. I’m usually pretty good with words, but this one left me without much to say. Well, at least for a while.

What an incredible miracle. As I held this little one only a few minutes after she was born, it was like looking at life in this moment now, yet also seeing life stretch out into the years ahead. It was no coincidence that only a couple of hours before her birth, we were watching the inauguration of our first African-American President and feeling the hope, excitement and expectation of a whole country. What a time to be born. What amazing possibilities await this child.

As I looked at her I realized how much I believe all babies, all children are miraces and all have such amazing possiblities awaiting them. Those possibilities become possibles because we, the parents and adults in their lives, believe in who our children are. We can't make a child into someone not matching with who he or she is, but we can provide them the love, support, and the freedom to think, to learn, and to choose to be who they are. Whoever baby London is will come directly from her and will be guided and supported by those around her. Your children are who they are through and because of you. Make the best of every loving and learning moment.

Visiting schools is a hobby of mine, but today’s visit tops the list for this year at least. Wandering down a narrow road east of Chico, I took a road less traveled. The road to Centerville led me to the Colman Centerville Museum. I didn’t know until I got on top of it that the museum was actually the old school house and, of course, I couldn’t resist. Taking my camera with me I went up the front steps. The dog barking next door must have made the noise that attracted the docent for the museum to her front porch. She offered to show me around.

I apologize for not giving you her name, but I have misplaced her card temporarily. When it shows up I will happily provide the information. At first I didn’t want to bother her, but school curiosity got the best of me. She graciously let me in.

Built in 1894, yes a different turn of the century, the Centerville School has the real feel and charm of the old one room school house. I was given a quick history of the schools built before this one, but they couldn’t top the story of how this one came to be.

It seems the area around Centerville was growing a bit in the early 1890s. A small school existed, but more room was needed. One of the families contained a young woman who could do the teaching, but there wasn’t room enough for her so she decided to go to San Francisco where the schools were larger. A gentleman from the community had become quite smitten with the lady but had not even asked her for a date.

Realizing that she was going somewhere else to teach, Charles Hintz did the only wise thing he could do. He hauled lumber from his mill above Magalia and built a school on property he owned in Centerville. Then he went to San Francisco to ask Miss Ada Woods to go out with him, come be the teacher, and to marry him. I’m not sure in which order. It seems Miss Ada agreed and became the school’s first teacher.

Miss Ada, however, was definitely not following the 1915 Rules for Teachers my guide gave me as I was leaving. I’ll mention just a few of the rules for the women teachers and let you go visit the Colman Centerville Museum on some Saturday or Sunday afternoon to get the rest:

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.
2. You are not to keep company with men.
4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.
9. You many under no circumstances dye your hair.
12. To keep the school room neat and clean you must: sweep the floor at least once daily, scrub the floor at least once a week with hot, soapy water, clean the blackboards at least once a day, and start the fire at 7 AM so the room will be warm by 8 AM.

The toughest one for me might well be the not being able to loiter downtown in ice cream stores. Sigh…

Charter Schools have a different message to send than a regular public school. The ones I visited in the last two weeks definitely have their own flavor.

Even the name of the Lake Tahoe Environmental Science Magnet School http://www.ltusd.org/subpage_schools/schools/ltesms.php tells you what to expect from this preppy K through fifth grade school. It’s science throughout the curriculum. All subjects are studied. The children don’t miss reading or math, but they learn to read and do math for the purpose of doing scientific activities and experiments. It starts as early as that preppy kindergarten where four year olds come to class with their kindergarten friends so they’ll know how to be in kindergarten the next year. Cutting, pasting, recognizing letters and writing their names all means they’ll be ready.

By the time the children are in fifth grade they are into serious science. According to the Tahoe Daily Tribune, “In 2006, teacher Bob Comlossy's fifth-grade class won Jiminy Cricket's Environmentality Challenge for their project "Build it and they will come: Bat houses for the Cookhouse Meadow restoration.’" I looked at a project they built for determining the best solar products and this year they are into raising seedlings for forest restoration after a fire devoured the area. The kids are interested and motivated to be there. A comment from a parent following the Tribune article tell sit all, “This school is the main reason we are moving back to Tahoe. I know we have to get on the list, but I am sooooo excited!!

Charter schools have the ability to pick their area of focus. A school visit just yesterday has another version of focus.

Terry Tozier met me at the door of the Four Winds Charter School http://www.bcoe.butte.k12.ca.us/sps/schools/lccs.htm on the Butte County Fairgrounds. We laughed about the ability to use facilities wherever we could find them. The school’s charter is to serve the Native American population of the area. Their student make-up appears to have expanded a bit, but the idea of recognizing and respecting culture is still very evident throughout the school. Their stated purpose is to recognize the culture of the students as fundamental to education.

Like Lake Tahoe this charter begins the learning process early. There's a preschool program on the site. Children then continue into the school years and add an afterschool component which allows them to extend their learning day. On a Friday at 1:45 PM kids tumble out of classrooms surrounding the gym floor to begin their afterschool session. There’s a bit of chaos until everyone settles in, but once order is restored, learning proceeds.

The teaching staff also then settles in for their afterschool sessions, some days to learn new techniques for teaching and working with their community and other days to prepare for the days ahead.

Charter schools are unique and their uniqueness is what allows children to be that much more of who they are.

“Kids are starting to buzz. Wow!” says vice principal Jack Stafford of South Lake Tahoe High School http://www.southtahoehigh.net/. The community has just passed a $45 million bond and Wow is right. Between bond money and state school construction funds, the school will build two new building for Career/Tech programs. Ground breaking for both buildings will be after the snow thaws so they are looking at May.

Here’s a high school to go to if you’re looking for training in Media Arts, Culinary, Auto, Wood, Computer Assisted Drafting or an interest in Dental Hygiene or a plan to be a dentist. These days since less than 35% of California students completing a four-year college program, these kinds of programs are a leg up on a career kids can choose, enjoy, and plan a lifetime in.

But Career/Tech is only part of the program at the high school. They have nine advanced placement classes and a very large AVID population. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination and is a system that helps fourth-twelfth graders get ready for a four-year college program. Many times students in an AVID program are the first in their families to go to college.

Stafford credits their superintendent, Jim Tarwater, and principal, Ivone Larson, for the vision to get their school headed in this direction. He also says the teachers know they need more training to keep up with all of these new plans and they’re asking for it. “We’re ambitious,” Stafford say, “but if you’re not ambitious you’re not going to get anywhere at all.”

Sounds like a place to be and the lake added to making this a worthwhile visit.

Friday
A somewhat subdued group of administrators arrived at 1:45 on Friday afternoon following one more Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) workshop session on the $11.5 billion state budget deficit and proposed mid-year cuts. The EdSuccess breakout session on parent involvement took on more meaning when we talked about focusing on parents means raising test scores and improving behavior without costing a great deal of money, money that right now just doesn’t exist.

Administrators shared ideas about ways to engage parents. One group in particular were asking how to engsge parents who are currently coming to schools to enjoy their second and third cups of coffee with friends in the neighborhood. How could schools get these wonderful folks into classrooms and learning related activities. Everyone could use the extra sets of hands to help the kids learn, and money issues or not the goal is to help children learn.

But money was still on everyone’s mind so the EdSuccess website (www.edsuccess.com) will shortly begin providing grant funding sources for folks who are looking for ways to jumpstart and/or support their parent involvement program. Let us know how we can help you begin to utilize parents to help children be more successful in school.

Saturday
Saturday saw a small but exuberant group of parents and professionals at the California Association for Compensatory Education conference. Although money may have been an issue, the major issue here was, regardless of money, how do we help the kids? Sounds like the same song different day and a different city and a different group, but it’s a very familiar melody.

Folks shared their vision for their children and discussed how learning was the key to bringing about those visions. One mom clearly declared that education was freedom. Education meant that her children could choose what they wanted to do with their lives and how they wanted to live. Another mom whose grown daughter was with her at the conference, stated with tears in her eyes, that education meant that her daughter and grandchildren could have a good life, perhaps a better one than she had had.

So…
Two very different groups with very different daily lives, but both have a major theme in common-helping children learn. I described my two days to someone by saying it was like going to a Methodist prayer session and a Southern Baptist tent revival meeting. Both were looking to the same Source and desiring a similar outcome. They just did it in a different way and I've had the good fortune to participate in both.

I’ve known in for years, since the time when I realized I was both an educator and a parent, educators and parents want the same thing. They both want children to be successful, happy, and have a wonderful life both now and in the future. We really are all for one when that one is the children we care so much about.

(To both groups: My apoligies for not using the pictures. I couldn't get them out of my phone onto the blog so I guess those of you with wanted posters out are safe for now. Whew. Thanks for being the people you are and keep up the great work. Joni)

Meet Wilfred, Quinton, Karla, Fernando, and a host of others who attended a recent EdSuccess workshop at Live Oak School with their parents. Wilfred was the smallest of a group of boys who were showing parents how they could measure who was the tallest, middle and shortest in a group. Although he reached his arms over his head as high as he could get them, his little head still didn’t reach the chins of the other two boys. I gave him a hug and promised he grow up as tall as they were in another couple of years.

Wilfred was also in the brown-eyed children’s group when we were doing statistics. The statistics included how many brown eyed children there were in comparison to blue and green-eyed children. Children gathered in their groups of other children with their same eye color then looked around to see how many of them were there. Seven brown-eyed children looked at each other, while one blue-eyed child looked into the eyes of one green-eyed child. One brown-eyed little boy tried hard to squeeze in next to his blue-eyed brother, but the facts remained. He couldn’t change his eye color so he stayed with his brown-eyed group to be counted.

The kids played games while their parents listened and shared activities they could do at home with their children. Checkers, crazy eights, dominoes, and chutes and ladders kept everyone’s interest. Once everyone enjoyed the play, we moved on to other fun games-ones that could help with school activities. Reading and math games took on as much importance as the game of checkers.

Teachers play too. Two teachers joined the parents and children in their games. Afterward they were excited about the possibilities of what kind of difference playing reading and math games could do for the children in their classroom.

Parent involvement makes a difference. Every book and workshop I write or give has the same message. Your child does well at what you pay attention to. So what will you pay attention to this week?

Have I mentioned I’m going to be a grandma soon? February 3 to be exact, or somewhere around that date, London is planning to make an appearance. Yes, she has a name and we know she will be a girl. I’m paying attention these days to what Grandmas do. How can I not? Everyone I know tells me how special it is.

So.. this week when I met Kara and her Grandma, I got some tips. I was visiting in Ashland, Oregon and couldn’t resist Lithia Park. Brilliant reds, yellows, and orange leaves swirled on sidewalks in town and over the creek in the park. My camera longed to be used, but the first thing that caught my eye was not the park colors. 15-month-old Kara, dark-haired and dark-eyed, and her red-haired grandma, who drew me in. They were standing at the foot of a bridge watching the water drizzle over the rocks.

Kara, acorn in hand, watched grandma toss a similar acorn in the water. Kara, though, was reluctant to let go of the nut in her hand. What would happen? Would it come back or was it go forever away from her? You could almost watch the wheels turning in her mind. Not enough words there yet to express her thoughts, but she was watching everything closely and making a decision based strictly on emotion.

Finally, her decision made, she followed suit and threw an acorn in the water. It was then I noticed the one in her other hand. Smart young lady at 15 months. One in the hand would be worth two in the water.

Grandma extolled the virtues of not only her first grandchild, but Grandmahood in general. I can see the joy already and am looking forward to its reality. Poor London child doesn’t know what she’s in for. Her mom, aunt and uncles have been mentioned in articles, books, and blogs for years. She’s not even born yet and she’s already in print. I, of course, love it.

It was nice meeting you Kara and Grandma. Thank you for making my visit to Ashland such a memorable one.