Gretz’s Blog

I had the extreme pleasure of attending the presentation ceremony to recognize the winner of this year’s regional Crime Stopper’s Poster Contest, our very own Jake King. Jake is a junior at Goochland High School, equally as agile in the Art studio as he is on the baseball field.

Each spring, high school Art Students in Charles City County, Goochland County, Hanover County Henrico County, New Kent County, and the City of Richmond participate in the Crime Stoppers Poster Contest. Posters are to depict the work of solving crimes in the community.

Goochland has again taken first place in this prestigious competition. We’re very proud of Jake, not only for his excellent artwork and commitment to helping fight crime in our community, but also for his outstanding representation of our county to the commonwealth.

Walking down the hall of Goochland Elementary this morning, I heard the thrilling sounds of the 5th graders, singing that familiar tune from The Jeffersons. They were engaged and excited to be learning – what a wonderful way to start the day!

Click the link to see the singers!!

GES Grade 5 Singers

We welcome the AdvancED QAR Team who is currently visiting our school division. As part of a six-year accreditation process, this team will spend the next three days conducting interviews and reviewing documents relevant to the school division’s adherence to the AdvancED Standards.

GCPS is committed to continual improvement. The AdvancED accreditation process and, specifically, the extensive Quality Assurance Review, is an integral part of that improvement.

Again, we welcome the team and anticipate a successful outcome. the final report will be delivered to the School Board in a public meeting, this Wednesday, April 25 at 2:00 PM at Goochland High School.

I just finished a fantastic article in the new Educational Leadership magazine. The February 2012 edition, “For Each to Excel,” addresses everything from differentiation and gifted education to self-selection and project-based learning – all in the context of individualizing education.

This specific article, “Preparing Students to Learn Without Us,” explores the use of instructional technology in personalizing learning. I’m especially struck by this statement:

“We live in a moment where personalizing the learning experience is not just a possibility – it’s almost an expectation.”

True. Think of the ways we – all of us, not just students – are able to personalize the world in which we live. We create playlists, stream live radio into our cars with the specific songs and artists we want to hear, create reading lists and custom RSS feeds – we can even create our own photo and editorial “magazines” using Flipboard.

Where we once let the radio play in the background, sometimes as “whitenoise,” in wait of our favorite songs – we are now able to only include our favorites. No whitenoise.

So what about the classroom? Is the same evolution true? Has there ever been a time that students had to allow instruction to take its course, ignoring the redundant and repetitive, waiting for the new & exciting stuff? Is there such a thing as instructional “whitenoise?”

Research tells us, yes. The reason(s) why is the subject of another blog entry or five, but suffice it to say that educators have learned over the years that students need a variety of instructional methodologies, geared to them specifically, in order to stay engaged.

So how – in this culture where everything around us is personalized – does education keep step? Or should it? How do we keep the whitenoise out of the classroom?

Here is a suggestion, but before I expand I would love to hear your thoughts.

This short article provides some great insight for leaders.

We spend a lot of time talking about vision – in our graduate courses, in strategic planning meetings. We spend less time talking about visibility, especially as it relates to vision. Let me explain.

During the initial weeks of my first principalship I learned  quickly the value of being visible – that is, being there, being literally in a position to be seen by people. A leader who is present is able to hold an authentic perspective, because he’s been there in the rooms witnessing first-hand what’s happening with teachers and students. A visible leader brings comfort; the sailors have confidence knowing that the captain not only has hands on the wheel but is right there to address any problems that might surprise the ship. That translates very well with students. Students who come to learn that the principal is around every corner on any given day are safe.

But there’s another, maybe even more important aspect of visibility that involves the leader’s vision. What is it that people see in the leader’s vision – the leader’s beliefs, values, convictions? How visible is the direction the leader is heading? To what degree can we see what is important to the leader, regardless of what we’re told, in what the leader does?

It is here that visibility and vision meet. Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “I can’t hear what you’re saying because your actions speak so loudly.” That’s especially true of leaders. The things we communicate about our vision and what we value through the interactions we have and the decisions we make are what will stick – not necessarily what we say.

If you’re a leader of any kind – in your office, church, scout troop, wherever – I encourage you to answer the short but not-so-simple questions presented in the article. Look at the vision your answers reflect, and compare that to your desired vision.

Are they the same?

As we begin the development of the 2012-13 School Calendar, it’s important to revisit a potentially confusing issue. There are inevitably questions that arise from our use of built in “snow days” and make-up days.

Our calendar includes the number of instructional hours that we believe are necessary to support the best instructional environment for students. Because our calendar’s instructional hours are above the minimum required by the VA state law, we have said that we will “use” the overage to absorb days we miss instead of tacking them onto the end or making them up another way.

We aren’t actually adjusting the calendar at all for the first 5 missed days – we are simply saying that because we have extra instructional hours in our calendar, we can afford to miss 5 days without adding anything additional (extra days on the end, extra minutes to the day, etc.) or compromising our instruction for students.

So we really aren’t “banking” or “storing” extra time to use for missed days.We are building a calendar with the instructional hours we want, regardless of missed days. Then if we need to account for missed days, we say we can absorb 5 of them without adjusting the calendar.

What if we don’t miss 5 days due to weather? We won’t shorten the instructional year. We build our calendar with the number of hours we believe are necessary to provide students with the best education. We don’t build in extra hours in case snow comes – we simply understand that we have the extra hours to absorb 5 days. If we don’t need to absorb the 5 days, we will use them as originally planned – for instruction.

Third grade students at GES have been learning about what it means to volunteer. They recently hosted a “Turkey Trot” to raise awareness of hunger in the Goochland community. Students in all grades sought pledges of canned goods for each lap they completed around the track. Third grade students made posters and morning announcements before the event to boost participation among their peers.

Third graders were very excited when the canned goods came in earlier this week. This was part of the school’s G21 project of making connections with community. Congratulations to the GES Third Grade. Well done, folks! Pictures of the event can be seen on Mrs. Parker’s Blog.

A few weeks ago I wrote about an exciting project in Jillian Edwards’ class (original post here). As part of a Goochland Middle School-wide G21 theme, “energy conservation,” Ms. Edwards’ students constructed solar ovens.

The finished product is in – check them out here. Learning never tasted so good!

Pretty engaging article here. Folks are questioning the degree to which technology in the classroom improves education. That’s no longer a new consideration; people have been looking at that for the past few years.

Of course the overlooked obvious point is that technology itself – simply by being placed into the physical space of the classroom – does nothing to impact learning. Without a change in pedagogy, the technology is a lifeless addition.

Here, Bretag reminds us to be wary of simply replacing teacher-centered instruction with teacher-centered technology. He examines the perspective of teachers & students in a typical classroom. Students see the teacher surrounded by a tech rich environment, with computer(s), projector device, hand-helds, etc. The teacher looks out at students seated at desks, in rows, with paper & pencil in hand, reading traditional, static text books.

So when we apply that same examination to our own classrooms, what’s the verdict? GCPS has been regarded as a progressive leader in the employment of instructional technologies. Are our students given the same tech rich experience?

My answer is yes. But we can do better. As we propel our use of the G21 learning model, we take great steps toward engaging our kids in the kind of tech rich learning environments that actually make a difference. G21 is not about using technology. It’s about using good instruction. And good instruction in the 21st century usually involves using 21st century tools.

It’s encouraging to me as I encounter national perspectives on the integration of instructional technology to affirm that the GCPS technology team has us right on target. Each G21 project is another step toward student-cenetered instruction. I’m looking forward to seeing more & more GCPS classrooms take those important steps this year.

I thoroughly enjoyed spending some time this morning with some wonderful artists in Mrs. Edmond’s class at Randolph Elementary. These first graders had been working specifically on spacial representations and were painting pictures of flowers sitting on top of a table. It was remarkable to see how such young children were able to consider advanced topics – perspective, angles, the way the vase “jumped out” from the background of the table top. Beautiful work!

They also had been purposeful about how to use color – and blocks of color – in the background in connection with patterns, so as not to overwhelm the subject of the picture.

Flower Painting in Mrs. Edmonds' First Grade Art Class