The Pause That Refreshes!

A good friend of mine once said that "it doesn't seem to matter when Spring Break is, it comes at just the right time".  That was certainly true this year.  Prior to the break, our staff had been putting in many extra hours meeting with parents and preparing report cards.  Spring Break is also an important transition point in our school year, it signifies the start of the final term of the year and all of the excitement that brings for year-end activities and grade six transition to middle school.  Hopefully the weather will start to cooperate with us and make it feel a little more like spring, but in the interim staff have already begun working hard with students to complete this school year and prepare for the next.  At David Cameron, we are excited about the many great opportunities both fun and academic that are coming up over the next few months.  We look forward to working with parents and students to make this a great ending to a great year.

Report Cards

Our second term report card will be coming home on Thursday, March 12.  By then, our teaching staff will have been in contact with most families to discuss student progress over this term, through parent-teacher interviews.  As always at this time I like to remind families that report cards represent only a snapshot of student performance.  Each report card "is a picture" of how students have done to this point in the school year (strengths, areas for development, and ways to support their learning).  Letter grades for intermediate students are a symbolic representation of the work students have done in relation to the criteria and prescribed learning outcomes for the term.  Letter grades do not include student behaviour or attitude/effort as a component of the mark.  These areas are reported separately by the teacher.  Primary students are generally given a statement of achievement in relation to the expectations for a child at this point in the year (eg fully meeting expectations).

Please make sure to discuss your child's report card with them so that they are able to see what they are doing well and what they could work on.  Our students are the ones that need to be able to use this information in order to improve on their work.  More focus should be placed on the descriptive information than on the letter grades as you talk with your child(ren).

Professional Development Days

Professional Development days are such an important part of the education profession.  On Friday, many of our staff were engaged in a session on Restitution.  They spent the day examining ways for students to take responsibility for their mistakes and figure out ways to fix them.  At the same time, Dale, myself, and other principals/vice-principals from Sooke were exploring the question "What Matters?" with Chris Kelly, Superintendent of Schools for Vancouver School District.   In this session we were able to take some time to reflect on leadership and learning and what really matters as we work in support of student learning.  Chris spoke of the need for students (and others we work with) to be "genuinely regarded" and to have a sense of hope in order for learning to occur.  As a result, we need to  ensure that strong relationships (respectful and engaged) within our school communities are encouraged and fostered.  

Opportunities to take a pause from our busy day to day work to reflect on what really matters are only possible because of these professional days.  I look forward to the opportunity to discuss with our staff and school community the many learnings and thoughts acquired on our most recent Professional Development Day.

Building Community

As our school year has evolved, I have been giving a lot of thought to the kind of school community that we are collectively building for our children.  We are at the point where staff, students, and parents consider David Cameron Elementary to be there home, but we still have a long way to go to make it the best we can.  Community is about everyone working together to create a great environment to work and learn in.  So far, we have used activities like "Buddy Classes", "Family Grouping Days", "The Virtues Project", and many others to create opportunities for students to feel part of their community.

Where do we go from here?  Have we done enough?  Michael Fullen has said that "Good is the enemy of great", and so we must push on.  Our next areas of focus must be in support of a school tone that allows us to slow down and work/learn in greater detail; with more depth.  We must improve upon the ways in which we support all learners from those with difficulty to those with outstanding capabilities.  We must work on our disciplinary practices so that they have at their core, strengthening the student and allowing them to learn from their mistakes.   These are ambitious undertakings but are critical to students feeling successful and motivated to try and risk and learn.  Together we can, with the help of all, create an incredible place for all to be.  I look forward to our continued work together in support of our children.

A Busy Start to February!

This week is shaping up to be a very busy week at David Cameron.  Of course we are all excited about our two evening concerts with Paul Hann.  It is amazing to see how many details need to be attended to in order to offer something so worthwhile to our students.  From the initial proposal to the final details of performance night, many people have pitched in and made sure that everything has gotten done.  A huge thank-you to the David Cameron staff who have worked hard to get the students ready. 

We will also be conducting a review of our lunch-time changes in order to get feedback from staff, students, and parents.  Look for a short questionnaire to come home on Thursday. I will also be visiting all of the classes to talk with students to hear their opinions.

Monday is our regular School Read Assembly with a focus on our virtue of the month, Respect.  At this time we also get to recognize our students for their efforts in our home reading program and our marathon run.  Both of these recognitions support our school efforts towards our goals of Active Living and Active Learning.  Parents can also expect to see "Crunch and Go" cards coming home with their students.  These cards allow students to track the amount of physical activity and servings of fruits and veggies they are getting over the course of the month.

All of this in addition to our regular weekly routines,  which include boys and girls basketball, field trips, and of course our main focus on student academics.

Assessment Practices

There are lots of educational terms that get thrown around in conversation with teachers and administrators.  Two key ones are "formative" and "summative" in relation to assessment. Formative assessments are those that provide information to the teacher and student to guide changes in instruction or for improvement on the next try.  Formative assessments generally refer to the practice work that students do.  Summative Assessments are those that occur at the end of a unit or course of study that allow the teacher and student to see where they stand in relation to the established criteria.

Why are these important distinctions in assessment practice?  As we work with students we are constantly assessing their work and providing them with feedback in order to improve (formative). When we take this information and use it to determine a letter grade or final mark we change the perception of practice.  Practice can no longer be seen as a way to make mistakes and improve, it must be a finished product because "it counts". 

At David Cameron Elementary we are working as a staff to ensure that we understand the difference between these two forms of assessment and the impact that they have on student learning.  Our staff is constantly looking at our practices to ensure that we are supporting student learning in the best way that we can.

Change

Change is a difficult thing.  We are all confronted with change on a daily basis, it takes us out of our comfort zone, it forces us to examine our values and what is most important to us. Our school this year has certainly had its share of change.  As we navigate our way to becoming a new, blended school community, we continue to face the dissonance of past practice and future directions.  

Michael Fullen speaks often about the change forces that affect us.  In his words, "Change is mandatory, growth is optional".  This is to say that change is continually happening around us, it is our personal decision how we deal with it.  At David Cameron we are continually striving to find the best ways to support our students and to ensure learning for all.   L. Dysart said that "apparent peace should be continually re-examined."  It is not good enough to sit on our past laurels, we must continually strive for better, more efficient ways to support learning. This does not mean that past practice was wrong, only that it was the best we knew of at the time.  As more research is conducted and newer ideas emerge it is our professional responsibility to examine them and find ways to  embed them in our practice.  In this way we are no different than the medical practitioner who must adapt and learn new techniques as medicine advances in its treatments.

Keeping all of this in mind, we must still be cautious in our approach and reasoned in our decisions.  Change for the sake of change is not what we are after, we all want what is best for our children and being open to new ideas and ways of doing business is what's needed.