I always approach this time of year with mixed feelings. On one hand I am excited to see our grade six students taking the next step in their academic careers, with the possibility of their futures open to them. On the other hand, I can't help but feel a bit selfish and wish that they would stay around for awhile longer. It seems that we are just getting to the point where their contributions to our school are mature, community-based, and supportive of a great environment, and then they leave.
This year, our grade sixes have taken on incredible leadership roles and have set a standard for years to come. They have taken on the responsibility of our morning announcements for the first time, they continue to act as our student announcers for assemblies, and they have created many opportunities for student involvement in things like floor and road hockey tournaments, to name a few things.
Beyond the contributions that they make to school in tangible ways, their influence within the school is positive and calming (most of the time ;)). They demonstrate the ability to contribute to our school environment (who can ignore the guitar playing on the school grounds), solve problems in peaceful ways (too many times this year, problems have already been resolved prior to any adult intervention). They also have a great sense of the impact of their contributions and they thrive on this as a part of who they are.
We are fortunate to have such a great group of students as our leaders and role models. Their positive influence can only help to continue the tradition of excellence at David Cameron that our new grade six students will aspire to. While I am sad to see them go, I can't wait to hear the stories of their successes in years to come. Best of luck to all of them in the future.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Leadership and Belonging
We were fortunate recently to have Chris Kelly, retired superintendent of Vancouver School District, visit our school for a day. The purpose of Chris' visit was to help guide us in our continued work on school culture. Chris' insights and thoughts have been helpful in guiding our directions for next year.
Two key ideas have emerged in relation to our on-going efforts for developing our school culture. One is the notion of belonging. This is the act of ensuring that students (and other members of our school community) are genuinely and caringly included in our school, and those who promote this should be recognized for their contributions. The work we have been doing over the past few years has focused on the centrality of the learner and ensuring a sense of belonging really allows us to fine tune this. Secondly, Chris has given us a new insight into the notion of leadership that moves away from formal or defined leadership. He defines leadership as "the act of taking personal responsibility for the quality of others' experience". These intentional acts to foster belonging and care for others are foundational to the kind of culture we continue to strive for in our school.
With these ideas in mind it becomes an exciting prospect to move forward into the next school year with some lofty ideals to work towards. We have always supported the notion of internal control and decision making for our students. If we can now get them to think about the relationship of their actions on another individual as well as the broader community we will have achieved something amazing.
Stay tuned as we further develop our thinking on these ideas.
Two key ideas have emerged in relation to our on-going efforts for developing our school culture. One is the notion of belonging. This is the act of ensuring that students (and other members of our school community) are genuinely and caringly included in our school, and those who promote this should be recognized for their contributions. The work we have been doing over the past few years has focused on the centrality of the learner and ensuring a sense of belonging really allows us to fine tune this. Secondly, Chris has given us a new insight into the notion of leadership that moves away from formal or defined leadership. He defines leadership as "the act of taking personal responsibility for the quality of others' experience". These intentional acts to foster belonging and care for others are foundational to the kind of culture we continue to strive for in our school.
With these ideas in mind it becomes an exciting prospect to move forward into the next school year with some lofty ideals to work towards. We have always supported the notion of internal control and decision making for our students. If we can now get them to think about the relationship of their actions on another individual as well as the broader community we will have achieved something amazing.
Stay tuned as we further develop our thinking on these ideas.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Is it really June?
The weather notwithstanding, it is hard to believe that June has descended upon us already. It seems that we were just welcoming new families to our school and introducing our staff, and yet, with the hurry that is the school year, we find ourselves getting set to end another year. June is a busy time and does not seem to "wind down", instead it seems to hurry up and then just end.
Along with our commitment to academic work for our students and wrapping up the instructional/ assessment part of our year we have a number of other activities that press our time. These include, year-end field trips, our school fun day, Grade Six Farewell, and our year-end assembly (to mention only a few). For some it appears that June is a "write-off" for academic work and that the majority of time is spent on fun activities. While it is true that June sees its fair share of field trips and special events it is also a critical time do year-end assessments, complete instruction in units, and ensure our students are ready for their transition to the next grade. In the midst of all of this our teachers are actively gathering evidence of student learning in order to provide parents with the final report card of the year. This final report is not only an indication of the students' learning in the third term but also overall for the school year.
So, June is here and with it the hustle and bustle of completing the year. The final push for our students to complete their work and to have a little fun with their classmates prior to the transition to the next phase of their education.
Along with our commitment to academic work for our students and wrapping up the instructional/ assessment part of our year we have a number of other activities that press our time. These include, year-end field trips, our school fun day, Grade Six Farewell, and our year-end assembly (to mention only a few). For some it appears that June is a "write-off" for academic work and that the majority of time is spent on fun activities. While it is true that June sees its fair share of field trips and special events it is also a critical time do year-end assessments, complete instruction in units, and ensure our students are ready for their transition to the next grade. In the midst of all of this our teachers are actively gathering evidence of student learning in order to provide parents with the final report card of the year. This final report is not only an indication of the students' learning in the third term but also overall for the school year.
So, June is here and with it the hustle and bustle of completing the year. The final push for our students to complete their work and to have a little fun with their classmates prior to the transition to the next phase of their education.
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