This is an on-line professional learning community to support Hillsboro Elementary educators in exploring the potential of Expeditionary Learning (EL) principles for their school. The first step in learning about EL will be through an on-line book study of Ron Berger's "An Ethic of Excellence" book. Each week, an introductory video for each chapter of the Ron Berger book will be posted to this blog. Part of that video will ask each participant to consider possible implementation at Hillsboro Elementary. Participants will be asked to post comments to the video available on this blog.
The on-line learning community for Expeditionary Learning will be guided by Dr. Stan Maynard of the June Harless Center. Questions to Dr. Maynard about this project can be submitted through a comment to this blog.
After viewing this video, please enter a comment on the blog indicating what your school may have in common with Cuba City High School and how we can work together to make the school more like it.
We also ask that you identify yourself and your teaching position (grade or subject and school) in your first blog entry. In addition to your response to the prompt above, you are asked to comment on the responses of two other participants.
In order to qualify for a stipend, members of this book study project need to submit a reflection on each of the six blog posts and comment on the reflections of at least 2 participants for each of the six chapter posts.
As always, your comments and responses should be professional, positive and polite. While it is certainly acceptable to disagree with the position or opinions of others, we must interact in respectful ways in our professional learning community.
Hello, I'm Laura Pritt. In the fall, I'll be teaching Art and PE to Kindergarten through 5th Graders at Hillsboro Elementary. The demographics of both schools sound similar. I believe Hillsboro Elementary School is like Cuba City High School because both places have high expectations for their students. Most children at Hillsboro Elementary seem to rise to greater expectations in their behavior because our staff creates that within them. It sounds like the Cuba City High School was able to instill that value within their students in all areas of study. Our school knows how to make our students rise to our expectations we just need to incorporate that into all areas of study for our students.
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DeleteGood Morning! I agree that we at HES have high behavioral expectations, however I am not sure that as a staff we all agree on what those expectations should look like. I would like to become more uniformed in this :)
DeleteI agree that we at Hillsboro Elementary have high expectations for our behavior of students- we have some of the best behaved and well mannered students in the county--but I struggle with setting expectations of work. I do not want to have too high of expectations for my 2nd grade (and I am not sure if mine were this year with moving from 5th to 2nd) and I don't want too low of expectations either.
DeleteI constantly worried that my expectations were too high. I see at the end of the year that they were not. My only worry as far as our behavior expectations at HES with incorporating EL standards is...will the negative behaviors increase when students redo the same work 6-8 times, or do we feel that students will accept constructive criticism and be willing to draft and redraft until the project is completed to the highest expectation. Just thinking realistically with the student demographic we have currently and not the one we are creating.
DeleteI agree that Hillsboro Elem. has high expectations for our students. Being the school nurse, I am not as involved with the daily "teaching" of our students but do feel that our staff is willing and capable to bond together to adapt to any change that may better our students.
DeleteGreat replies! The concern you have re multiple drafts is understandable. The key to this process is to show them what excellence in this assignment looks like. they need a target to shoot for. I would suggest watching Ron Berger's " Austin's butterfly" video .It is a great example.
DeleteDon't you love it that students from a small community aspire to excellence and have the leadership at the school to guide them to persist to achieve?
DeleteHillsboro Elementary, like that of CCHS, has a staff that is willing to work together and try new things for the success of our students. We don't always get it right, but the willingness for student success is there! I feel like if we can get our parents (community) to place more value on education it will be reflected through their children.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we have the buy in from our staff. I think that some of our community/parents are not going to be thrilled at first, but I hope that they will start to like it the more we do and the better learners that the kids become.
DeleteI agree!! We have had a change in culture and how people feel about education. Education used to be a privilege. Now education is not valued by some parents and we are seeing this attitude being reflected in their children who are our students.
DeleteIt has taken the Explorer staff 3-4 years to become what you experienced , They did not waver from the model that they observed when they visited other EL schools. You have the potential to be the model school in your area of WV. Just be patient and consistent.
DeleteChange will not happen overnight. As long as we as a staff are all on the same page the students will rise to our expectations. I am very excited by all of your positive comments of working together.
DeleteI'm Shannon Alderman and I teach 3rd grade at Hillsboro Elementary. This will be my 12th year teaching 3rd grade!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Gina Hardesty and I will be teaching 2nd grade for my second year. I have taught in Pocahontas County now for 18 years. Most of my time being spent in the 4th and 5th grade at Hillsboro Elementary.
ReplyDeleteI think that like CCHS, we do have a staff that is willing to try just about anything for the success of our students. But I do believe our county wants to give up too soon and do not give things a chance to work. I love when the author compared this to a fad diet...we have got to give it a chance before we give up. My favorite part was when he said just weighing yourself everyday is not going to give you results-like testing our kids all of the time will not give you results--something has to change.
Agreed! I believe the county nor the state ever stick with any one thing long enough to see the actual outcome. It is also hard to compare year to year with so many changes.
DeleteI agree !! It seems like we just get started on the program, we begin to see a little bit of success and then something new comes along. We’re asked to switch gears and start over with something totally different.
DeleteI agree too. It feels like we jump on every new thing that comes our way but never stick with it long enough to see results. The changes I see with this EL movement are good but they will need time to produce results and improvements within our students
DeleteI agree with Gina. It seems like everything in education is cyclic. I think what I have seen in the EL classrooms I observed was not exactly what I was prepared to see. Some things, I feel, were a little more overlooked than what a traditional classroom expectation should include but the student work samples were exemplary. Is it a tradeoff? And how many years did it take to groom students' exemplary work samples? I'm all about trying new things, but I don't want to completely reinvent the wheel either.
DeleteI have to agree with you Gina that different procedures or ideas are presented by administration. They are not implemented long enough to see if they will work. Also, some ideas or things are working well should not be tossed out either. There needs to be time to collect data to see if there is improvement.
DeleteYou are so right!! You need to stay with this concept long enough for everyone to become comfortable with the process.Our team visited approx. 8 schools across the country to make certain this model was not another "shiny" object to run after! WE determined that this model is truly the real deal. Stay together and everyone "sing out of the same hymnal"
DeleteThumbs up to Laura, Nicole and Jenny. You are so right that we educators look for silver bullets that will magically improve the deficiencies in our education system. We know that jumping on the latest bandwagon will not be successful unless we are willing to focus on a plan and devote sufficient resources to see it through.
DeleteI think that you will find that EL isn't a fad and is actually nothing new. It is, however, systematic way of implementing many of the best practices that we have been using for years.
If you haven't seen the Austin's Butterfly video it would be worth a few minutes of your time to see Burger in action with a group of students. The video is linked in the right column of this webpage. If you are unable to view it please let me know and we can place it in another location where you will have it available to you.
My name is Diane Delfino. I am the special educator for HES. I work with students in grades kindergarten through fifth. My students have varying disabilities. I have worked in several school systems but have spent the last 18 years working in Pocahontas County.
ReplyDeleteHES is similar to CCHH. Like CCHS, HES is located in a rural low income area. HES is also a small school with a population of less than 100 students. The staff at HES has worked to create a culture of family where everyone tries to help each other be successful learners. But like all families, we have our problems like not enough money to get the support staff needed to be successful. Even though this is true, we continue to create new ways to help our students become successful learners with the resources we have available.
When trying to compare Hillsboro Elementary to Cuba City High School, I wondered what kind of drug epidemic their state was in. Every year it seems more and more students are coming in with deficits due to the drug epidemic occurring in our county. I guess creating this strive for excellence within our students gives them a way out. It shows them there is a different way of life. A life where they can be proud and happy when they work hard to succeed. Surely Cuba City High School is dealing with these same issues.
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DeleteReposted because I didn't have name. I have to agree with you Diane as a staff we strive to help students become successful with what resources we have available. However, we do struggle with a lot of social issues that we have no control over it. Our positive as a staff is that we are willing to learn and discuss new ideas for a better way.
DeleteDiane, I agree that like families we do try to create solutions to our problems at HES. I think you are too often challenged with the hard task of meeting minutes but with no support staff. I think we have to continue to get creative with schedules and be willing to be extra flexible for the good of all of our students and those with special needs in particular. I think this past fall was a testament to the flexibility and creativity our staff has with a crazy, busy, schedule! It was hard but we pulled it off.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you all. We need to change the parents' perception of education and have them place a value on it before students will really commit. When students see that their parents support what is going on in the classroom, then I believe there can be change.
ReplyDeleteVery good point Nicole. We need to change parent perception. This is one aspect I feel we need to put more thought into our plan.
DeleteYes! This! How are we going to involve our families in this mindset? At HES, some students come from very supportive families but many do not.
DeleteMy name is Nicole Dilley and I will be starting my second year teaching fifth grade at Hillsboro Elementary. This is also my second year of teaching. I have been in education as a special education aide for fifteen years prior to teaching. In comparison to CCHS, we have a very low population in a rural setting with limited resources. The staff at HES relies on one another and works together to give our students the best education possible.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicole that the staff at HES relies on one another and truly works together. Nicole and I often talk about how lucky we feel to work at HES, this was our first year there. I know that my job this past year would have been very difficult had I not had the support of my fellow teachers. I feel that all staff members take ownership of all the students. If I am experiencing a problem with a student, it is just not my problem! Other teachers will brainstorm and suggest ideas to implement with my student, I know I'm not in it alone.
DeleteI think this in itself sits HES apart from other schools I have worked in. The staff members (from bus drivers to custodians) take ownership of the school and students. With such wonderful staff members I think anything is possible at HES, I know that sounds cheesy but it is true!
Hello, I am Jenny Calhoun I am starting my third year as a fourth grade teacher at Hillsboro Elementary. I am responsible for teaching multi-subjects to my fourth graders. This will be my fourteenth year at HES and I have taught for twenty-one years.Cuba City High School reminds me of our rural schools in Pocahontas County. All of our schools have a low enrollment and mainly working class people in the community.
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Nicole Rose-Taylor and I am a first grade teacher at Hillsboro Elementary School. This fall will be my 11th year teaching, but my second year at HES. I have taught kindergarten, first grade and one year of high school as an Option Pathway teacher. I think HES has a few similarities to Cuba City High School. We teach in a rural community just like the community where Cuba City is located, the majority of our students are identified as low-income. I think HES is similar in that we do have high expectations for our students. An example of this is the number of our students who participate in the fairs in our county. We are the smallest school in our district but a larger number of our students choose to participate in the Social Studies, Science and Literature Fairs and The Battle of the Books. Our students have great success at these events and advance and often times take home the gold.
ReplyDeleteI think our first step towards becoming more like Cuba City is to look at different action plans and see what we need to add to or change in order to make it suit our school's individual needs.
I agree with all who have sited Cuba City as a good comparison with HES. Please understand that Cuba City did not become the location of champions overnight. Excellence takes time, but once achieved we are never the same again.
DeleteCuba City School also reminds me of the schools in our county because of the rural setting. Percentage per school of fair participants we have shows that we have very creative students with guidance and a community buy in we could have a program such as Mr. Berger describes.
DeleteI agree that a good first step is looking at different action plans. One thing that I underlined in the introduction was that "each school is different and there are many models of excellence." I think it is important to remember that while we are similar to Cuba City as a small, rural school, there is no "one size fits all" solution in education. Our school does have individual needs, as you pointed out, and Mr. Berger described in the introduction.
DeleteI am Steve Beckelhimer, a STEM coordinator with the June Harless Center at Marshall University. I am looking forward to working with the HES team in exploring implementing EL principles and practices. In reading Ron Berger's books over the years I continue to be moved by the potential for moving students to do their very best work.
ReplyDeletePlease let me know if there is any way that I can assist you in your journey.
I am Sue Hollandsworth a member of the Board of Education and past teacher and principal at Hillsboro School. Hillsboro has historically been the school that is willing to go out on a limb and try new ideas that will improve learning. The school feels welcoming to all who enter and has a very good start on creating the culture and standard of excellence necessary to incorporate Ron Berger's ideas. The faculty and staff of the school try to create a family for the students and the community so I know they will be successful in this endeavor.
ReplyDeleteSue I also feel that Hillsboro has also always been known as the school with an open mind and willing to try new things.
DeleteI am Tina Sharp a Kindergarten Aid. I have been having trouble getting my posts to save. lol
ReplyDeleteHello, I am Sarah Brown. This will be my ninth year of teaching, my fourth year at Hillsboro Elementary, and my first year as a kindergarten teacher. I am signing into the online discussion a little late, but hopefully will be able to catch up quickly and participate in the active discussion on the other chapters!
ReplyDeleteI see several similarities between Hillsboro Elementary and Cuba City. In addition to being small, rural public schools with students from working-class families, I feel that HES, like Cuba City, already has a strong sense of culture in comparison to other schools I have taught at. HES truly does have a sense of community and family that is not always present at bigger schools.
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