WELCOME TO 2012-2013

1. WELCOME TO 2012-2013

2. OPENING INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO SOMEONE  YOU DON'T KNOW. WHAT'S YOUR NAME? WHO IS YOUR CHILD? WHAT TOWN DO YOU LIVE IN?

3. AGENDA 1.  LEARNING TARGETS  2.  THE YEAR AHEAD 3.  COMMUNICATION 4.  ASSESSMENT, GRADING, AND FOCUS 5.  GROWTH MINDSET 6.  KUDOS AND CONCERNS

4. LEARNING TARGETS 1.  I can explain how the school communicates with families.   2.  I can can explain the school's approach to grading. 3.  I can explain the idea of "Growth Mindset" and how it applies to my child's education at Four Rivers. 4.  I know what to do when I have any questions about any aspect of the school.

5. THE SCHOOL MISSION PREPARATION FOR  LIVES OF  LEARNING AND SERVICE

6. THE YEAR AHEAD OUR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN • INSPIRE A CULTURE OF ACHIEVEMENT • BUILD COMMUNITY • PROVIDE CLARITY, CONSISTENCY, SUPPORT 4.  CHARTER RENEWAL

7. 16,500 $1,145

8. NO (FEW) SURPRISES PLEDGE STAFF PLEDGE: IF WE KNOW SOMETHING IMPORTANT ABOUT YOUR STUDENT OR SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO YOUR ROLE AS A PARENT IN OUR SCHOOL, WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO GIVE YOU TIMELY, CLEAR INFORMATION. STUDENT AND FAMILY PLEDGE: WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO READ COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE SCHOOL -- IN THE FLASH, THE CURRENTS, OR THE HANDBOOK -- SO WE KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON AND HOW THINGS WORK AT THE SCHOOL.

9. PUBLICATIONS • WEEKLY FLASH • CURRENTS • TEACHER WEB PAGES • FOCUS • THE WEBSITE

10. FOCUS QUICK TOUR UPDATED ON THE 1ST AND 15TH OF THE MONTH FINAL GRADES FOR EACH STANDARD NOT DETERMINED UNTIL THE END OF THE TERM  ACADEMIC STATUS FLAG ALWAYS SET -- YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CHECK DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS IN HANDBOOK OR ON WEBSITE UNDER "LINKS AND DOCUMENTS" 

11. ASSESSMENT • STANDARDS-BASED GRADING -- teachers identify what students need to know and be able to do through their learning. • Provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their skills and knowledge • Hold students accountable for on time, good faith effort. • ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING/ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING • COURSE STANDARDS -- Grades to reflect what a student knows and is able to do. • REVISION -- Students learn from revising.   • HOWLs -- We value and assess students’ habits of work and learning.

12. assessment FOR learning CLEAR TARGETS: Provide students with a clear and understandable vision of the learning target. Use examples and models of strong and weak work.EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK: Offer regular descriptive feedback. Teach students to self-assess and set goals.FOCUSED TEACHING AND REVISION: Design lessons to focus on one learning target or aspect of quality at a time. Teach students focused revision.

13. GRADING Beginning (Bg)  The student’s performance is rudimentary and just beginning to meet the standards of grade-level work at Four Rivers. Improvement is needed if the student expects to pass to the next grade. Approaching (Ap)  The student’s performance is approaching the standards of grade-level work at Four Rivers. It shows an improving level of quality but is not yet consistently satisfactory work. Meeting (Mt)  The student’s performance is meeting the standards of grade-level work at Four Rivers. It shows good quality and is fully satisfactory. Exceeding (Ex)  The student’s performance is exceeding the standards of grade-level work at Four Rivers. It shows effort and accomplishment well beyond what was required for meeting the standard.

14. EXAMPLE -- PAPER AIRPLANES

15. CRITERIA FOR A GOOD PAPER AIRPLANE: • It flies • solid craftsmanship • good lift • survives landing • balanced -- (paper clip on front) • quality paper • aesthetically pleasing • fun -- it works in fun ways • elegance • creative • distance

16. DEBRIEF -- WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS APPROACH?

17. THE GROWTH MINDSET WHAT IS ONE THING THAT YOU ARE GOOD AT? WHAT IS ONE THING YOU ARE NOT GOOD AT?

18. FIXED MINDSET HUMAN QUALITIES ARE FIXED IN STONE. GROWTH MINDSET HUMAN QUALITIES CAN BE CULTIVATED THROUGH EFFORT.

19. Carol Dweck, MINDSET Through research over years and with hundreds of kids: • Praising children's intelligence harms motivation and performance.  (If success means they're smart, then failure means they're dumb.) • Praise for what a students accomplished through practice, study, persistence, and good strategies builds deep confidence. • The best thing teachers and parents can do is to teach children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.

20. from a workshop designed to teach students a growth mindset: "Many people believe that a person is born either smart, average, or dumb -- and stays that way for life.  But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle -- it changes and gets stronger when you use it." "When you learn new things, these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger.  The more that you challenge your mind to learn, the more your brain cells grow.  Then, things that you once found very hard or even impossible -- like speaking a foreign language or doing algebra -- seem to become easy.  The result is a stronger, smarter brain."

21. NO ONE SAYS THAT BABIES ARE DUMB BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPEAK. THEY JUST HAVEN'T LEARNED YET.

22. KUDOS WHAT'S GOING WELL FOR YOU SO FAR? AND  CONCERNS WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE?

23. WHEN IN DOUBT . . .  CHECK THE HANDBOOK CALL CAROLYN:  413-775-4577 EMAIL CAROLYN:  cwood@fourriverscharter.org EMAIL PETER:  pgarbus@fourriverscharter.org

24. QUESTIONS  cwood@fourriverscharter.org pgarbus@fourriverscharter.org