Education Fair at WHS Features 21st Century Learning

When our district public relations committee created the architecture for this year's Laconia School District Education Fair, finding a theme to suggest for Woodland Heights School was no difficult affair. It was determined in short order that our theme would be '21st Century Learning, Each and Every Day'.

Since the announcement was made, our students and staff have been excitedly making arrangements for their opportuunity to showcase the products of our technology in education initiative this year. Every WHS classroom, department and program will have information to share, student work to show and demonstrations to make in order to share with our guests some of what we have been working on this year. We are proud to share our accomplishments, and we hope that you will be pleased and impressed.

One interesting example of how this project has unfolded, and right in step with 21st Century Learning, our 5th Graders formed a cooperative work group and have been brainstorming, organizing, and preparing their pod's EdFair displays and demonstrations. Other examples of 21st Century Learning in Pod 5 were also readily observed last week; students could be seen around the school mapping out video 'shoots', and in the Commons uploading and editing their work. They were recording audio commentary on their netbooks to accompany a recent Social Studies civics project. Providing a global education aspect, our 5th Graders conducted online research on the recent tragedies in Japan and then organized and publicized a school-based relief effort. Some of this experiential learning has been recorded by the students on their class blog, which is linked from their class wiki. All of this is representative of just one grade level, and just some of the projects and examples of 21st Century Learning that I noticed in Pod 5 over the past week.

Elsewhere around the building, students are alerting their teachers at every turn that "We can show this to our parents at EdFair!" Their enthusiasm for learning beyond the textbook, workbook and basal is unbridled, and has been hugely satisfying to watch take root and grow here at Woodland. Our growth process has been 'organic' and student-centered, unfolding at a natural pace in response to increasing student capabilities in all the diverse ways that learning can take form in a modern, technology-infused, opportunity-enriched, and student-centered elementary school.

Technology and learning go hand in hand here at Woodland Heights School, and as the teachers and students will tell you at EdFair, there is no turning back now. Once students and teachers have experienced 21st Century Learning with 21st Century Learning Tools, they can't imagine living and learning any other way. Our learning process is absolutely an appropriate and natural result of 'moving with the times' to best prepare our students for success in the world in which they currently live, and to prepare them for success in the world that they will soon inherit. Any other approach would be unethical, and a breach of our professional responsibility to provide a meaningful education for our students.

Laconia 'EdFair - 2011' should be a great night at Woodland Heights School. Please join us at 5:30pm. on Thursday, March 31st, for an hour of wonder and marvel as our students show you what is special about their school and how they learn. WHS is a very special school community, and we are not afraid to tell you about it. As we have grown accustomed to saying: "We are Woodland Heights, ... and this is what we do."

Professional Development Opportunities Abound at WHS!

Due to a number of skillfully written grants, Woodland Heights is pleased and proud to offer its staff a number of 'powerful' learning opportunities this spring to further their professional growth and promote their effectiveness with students. The opportunities fall under the following categories:

A.] Book Study Groups > Over the course of the spring, our staff will read, study, and discuss the following important works in our field: Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition (reading comprehension and thinking), Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom (accounting for student differences in ability and interest), and Enhancing RtI: How to Ensure Success with Effective Classroom Instruction and Intervention (refining school processes for addressing the needs of struggling learners).

B.] Professional Learning Community (PLC) Meetings > Our school's Literacy Coach (Joanna Bergman) is meeting weekly with our grade level teacher teams to study the book, Strategies that Work. Mrs. Bergman and WHS teachers are discussing the book and planning for direct application of its 'strategies' into our school's evolving literacy program.

C.] Work with Consultants > We will soon begin work at WHS with Mahesh Sharma, a nationally-renowned consultant in the area of mthematics instruction. Also, we anticipate doing work with professors from our partner school, Plymouth State University, in the area of literacy model development (reading, comprhending, and writing) a little later in the spring and upcoming summer.

D.] College Coursework > Through the Plymouth State University Writing Project, a number of our teachers will have the opportunity to take a writing course designed to meet their specific needs in the strengthening of writing instruction strategies and techniques at Woodland Heights.

E.] Workshops > There have been, and will continue to be, opportunities for our teachers and staff to participate in day-long workshops to promote their growth in key, discrete areas. The most notable upcoming opportunity will be in mid-April when Dr. Richard Allington (a nationally acclaimed and prolific writer, thinker, and trainer in the area of improving student literacy) will be featured in a New Hampshire Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (NHASCD) conference relating to methods for assisting struggling readers ("RtI and What Really Matters for Struggling Readers").

F.] Conferences > There will be two major conferences held after the close of the school year that we will have the opportunity to attend in order to further advance key schoolwide initiatives. We will continue our work in these areas into the coming (next) school year, and beyond. WHS will be sending a team of staff to the annual convention of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to participate in a series of rigorous trainings in technology integration and 21st Century Learning. We will also send a team to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) regional conference where teachers will participate in an institute relating to the commonality and shared goals of Response to Intervention (RtI) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) -- "Differentiated Instruction and Response to Intervention: Shared Goals for Student Success".

We are delighted for the opportunity to share these learning experiences with our staff. Our Woodland Heights teachers and paraprofessionals have embraced these opportunities with energy and enthusiasm. As members of the WHS learning community, we continually strive to become more proficient and more effective in our work with children, building the best school and providing the best learning opportunities possible for all of our students.

Stay tuned for more information available over the course of upcoming months about how our program may evolve as a result of these tremendous professional development and school improvement opportunities.

'ARTS ALIVE!': A Celebration of the Arts Laconia

During the week of March 14-18 a special celebration of the arts is being held at the historic Belknap Mill Museum in downtown Laconia. Visual art exhibits from each of the Laconia district schools will on display for visitors to enjoy and appreciate. Art students and teachers from each of our elementary schools, as well as Laconia Middle and High Schools, have been working hard to create and display amazing works of art that have students beaming and parents proud as punch. Additionally, the event featured musical performances (both vocal and instrumental) on Monday evening as part of the show's 'Grand Opening'.

As a school community we are especially pleased to highlight the arts in this fashion, and to participate in a collaborative project with our counterparts in other local school districts and with the arts community here in Laconia. After all, many people consider our capacity to create and appreciate art to be the part of us that is most uniquely human. The arts and the effort to create them appeal to the higher part of ourselves, the highest part of our intellect. The creative/artistic process is important in our overall school program, and complements all that we do. We strive to teach and cultivate the arts at Woodland Heights: discretely in our related arts classes, in an integrated fashion through our regular classroom coursework, and through various enrichment opportunities available in our school.

The arts are alive and well in the City of Laconia. I hope that you will have an opportunity to stop by the show and see the creative works that our students and teachers have been producing.

WHS Proud of Its State University Partnership

All of us here at Woodland Heights School are extremely proud of our ongoing partnership with the Education Department at Plymouth State University. WHS has quickly become a 'destination school' for students enrolled in the teacher preparation program at PSU. Many come to Woodland for their first classroom observations in regular or special education, their 'practicum' which involves their first real teaching experiences under the close and supportive eye of their experienced and talented WHS mentor teacher, and/or the culminating and final experience of their preservice teacher training: 'student teaching'.

We are honored to have the opportunity to work with fledgling teachers and contribute to their growing professional competence. In this effort, we also have the opportunity to contribute positively to the continued excellence and bright future of our profession. Woodland Heights School is, after all, a true learning community. We offer an education, as well as personal and professional growth for all students, staff, families, and 'teachers in training' who elect to become part of our Woodland Heights School community.

How do PSU and it's students benefit from our partnership? The PSU students who come to our school enjoy a carefully structured learning experience during which they can discover new talents and refine their teaching skills as they prepare for a career in Education. Under the care of exceptional professional models in a unique facility design, we offer a technology-enriched and progressive academic program, as well as opportunities to work with a diverse student population.

How do WHS and it's students benefit from our partnership? You 'know you know it' when you can teach it. Our cooperating teachers have risen to the top of their profession, performing at exceptionally high levels and are ready to teach future educators what it is, and what it means, to be an outstanding teacher. Through this 'teach the teachers' process, we become more mindful of our practice and achieve further refinement of our program and its delivery. Having the college students 'in the house' tends to make us all stand a little taller, perform a little better, and causes us to reflect on all that we do at WHS and how we do it. In essence, the process offers both a test and a validation for us -- one that continuously contributes to our overall school improvement effort.

We are extremely pleased and proud to have the opportunity to welcome 16 Plymouth State University students through our doors every Friday morning over the balance of the school year. Our school is a brighter, stronger, and even more caring community with them in the fold. With PSU on our team, everyone wins; especially our students!

Take a Screencast Tour of Our New School Website!

At Woodland Heights School we continue to explore new and exciting technologies that we can use to further improve our school program, communications, and student experiences. One new tool involves 'screencasting'. A screencast allows the author to record the content on a computer screen and provide narration as well. This allows us to record and share tours and tutorials for various learning tools and resources that we use in our school with students. Soon you are likely to see a number of screencasts on class wikis to promote student learning at home or to help you to assist your child in his or her learning. Stay tuned for more exciting news about tools and technologies that we will employ to further improve your child's educational experience at Woodland Heights School!

To learn more about our school website and about what screencasts can do, check out our new school website screencast tours: one and two. [You can view a full-screen HD version of the screencast by clicking the icon next to the speaker icon in the lower right-hand corner of the viewing box.]

Enjoy, and hope to see you soon at Woodland Heights School!

For WHS Teachers, the Learning NEVER Stops!

Unfortunately, due to a winter storm on Friday, January 21st, a much anticipated 'staff inservice training day' at WHS was cancelled. Like any school closure, this cancellation was a huge disappointment for our staff. We had been planning our staff training program for many weeks and the prospect of losing the day was a tough one for all of us. Nonetheless, we will have other opportunities to learn and grow together and get better and better at what we do. The reality is, as a teacher you can never stop learning.

In the field of education, there are always new methods, strategies, programs and systems to learn. Furthermore, with the advent of computer and other information technologies all over the world and in its in schools, there has been a resulting exponential increase in the breadth of human knowledge and a corresponding increase in a teacher's required skill base. For our teachers, it can sometimes feel as if they are running endlessly on a hamster wheel (without ever quite reaching the cheese!). Add to all of that the ever-increasing demands, challenges, and expecations for our public school system, and you see that it is more complicated and more difficult to become(or remain)a successful teacher with each passing year.

What does this mean for teachers? Continuous learning and continuous improvement. WHS teachers are afforded four 'inservice training days' (i.e., you are 'on the clock' learning and working for the school district on those days). Beyond those inservice days, our teachers spend countless hours reading books, journals and magazines, and taking graduate level college courses. The attend weekly committee and team meetings expanding their depth of understanding, and sharing that professional growth with fellow staff members. In addition, they are continuously researching promising new opportunities for learning on the internet, and spend large blocks of time over the summer immersed in curriculum or program development work with their colleagues. It is also over the summer months that teachers receive the bulk of of their training on new district or school-based initiaitives.

LEARNING is the name of our game, and as career educators, we've grown pretty good at working either side of the desk. It's just part of what we do as 21st Century teachers at Woodland Heights School. Lifelong learning is definitely in the future for our students as well, and we love to model the workplace of the future for them at WHS!

Snow Days, Early Dismissals, and Delayed Openings, Oh My!!

Living in New Hampshire offers so many rewards and so many charms. As those of us who have called the 'Granite State' our home for any length of time know well, there is much truth in the old addage: "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute."

This truism creates real headaches for school superintendents during the wintertime. Our long, difficult winters and their associated storms can be very hard to forecast accurately. If the storm appears severe enough, superintendents need to make very important decisions regarding school closures, delays or early dismissals. Oftentimes, those decision must be made with limited or unreliable weather information. When the possibility of inclement weather presents itself, they often need to make their 'call' well in advance of achieving any real certainty about what the weather will actually hold. This is because the school district needs to give significant notice to families and school staff about school closure plans when when poor weather is imminent. Our superintendents need to make certain that families have ample time to make necessary arrangements for the care of their children when school is closed.

The uncertainties of the weather and the consequences of making the 'wrong call' make the superintendents uneasy, and the rest of us,too. What we need to remember when these decisions are made is that the underlying reason for the closure decision is to assure the safety of the students; first, last, and always. If a superintendent cannot be certain that the buses will be able to safely make their routes and that students walking are sufficiently visable to motorists (over high snowbanks, etc.), then s/he needs to make the school closure call. Although content in his or her heart that the call was made in the best safety interests of children, they also know how 'the call' can inconvenience families who need to make arrangements to miss work or have a trusted party care for their children so that they can go to work (sometimes incurring a considerable babysitting expense).

Living in New Hampshire is not easy, and long, uncertain winters are the norm. There is excitement in that uncertainty, and prospect of a 'snow day' for the children always seems like a gift -- at least to them!

As the coming weeks of winter unfold and new storms head our way, please remember that school delay, cancellation, or early dismissal decisions are not made lightly, but always with the right thing as the first priority: the safety and well-being of your children.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!