On The Brink of Learning

from Principal Eric Brinkmann, J.R.Gerritts Middle School, Kimberly, WI

  • Reading, Writing and Thinking

    • 18 Aug 2012
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    Gallagher

    Erin Roberson, Missy Barlow, Holly Bourget, presenter Kelly Gallagher, Shari Griesbach, Allison Skarie and I at lunch during the conference.

     

    A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to take a team of JRG Language Arts teachers to a three-day conference on Informational Reading and Writing, presented by Kelly Gallagher. In education circles, particularly at the middle and high school level, Gallagher (http://kellygallagher.org) is well known as a powerful presenter who also walks the walk - he's a full-time high school English teacher in Anaheim, California. On the first day, we even had the opportunity to have lunch with him, which for an educator is almost like what my nine-year-old daughter would feel if she got to have lunch with Justin Bieber. Almost.

    I've spent some time reflecting on what I've learned, and here are some of my key take-aways:

    • Writing has become an essential skill for today's workforce, and the ability to write quickly and clearly often determines the type of job that will be available to you.
    • Writing is generative, which is a fancy way of saying that when you read something and then write about it, your thinking and your ability to read both get better. You are generating new connections and new knowledge, and thinking more deeply.
    • Our students need to be writing more: more frequently, in more styles, with more support. Gallagher talks a lot about the difference between assigning writing and teaching writing. Anyone reading this blog probably did a lot of assigned writing in school - book reports, research projects, etc. - without a lot of teacher support in how to write better. Teaching writing involves giving kids models to study, both from what we read together and from the teacher demonstrating their own writing.
    • Writing is hard. When kids or adults share their writing, we usually start with an apology: "this isn't very good, I'm not a very good writer..." Why do we do that? Because writing is a hard process, and sharing your thinking with others on paper, laid out for the world to see in black and white, is an uncomfortable proposition.
    • The more you read, the better you'll write. Our kids need to be reading recreationally on their own, and reading a wide variety of challenging material at school. If writing is just your thinking made visible, then Gallagher's quip that "you have to read stuff to know stuff" becomes pretty important to producing better writers.

    Not all of those thoughts are new, obviously. But it was a great opportunity for us to reflect as a team on how we can create students who are deeper readers and writers. The Common Core State Standards place a greater emphasis than ever before on developing students who are able to read, analyze and clearly communicate their thinking in writing. I'm looking forward to collaborating with our teachers and our families to make that happen! 

  • JRG Celebrates Digital Learning Day!

    • 3 Feb 2012
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    Wednesday, February 1 was designated as Wisconsin Digital Learning Day, part of a broader national effort to spotlight the use of technology to enhance student learning (http://www.digitallearningday.org/). JRG was happy to have Times-Villager reporter Brian Roebke join us for a portion of the day to look at some of the everyday uses of technology in our learning environments, including our web page design and Lego Mindstrom robotics offerings as well as students using iPods and VoiceThread to create narrated lab reports in 7th grade science (see the example below, describing the atomic structure of Bromine).

    At JRG, we're continuing to look for opportunities to use technology to increase student learning and engagement. Our Learning Technology Committee spent a few minutes developing a list of ways we are currently incorporating technology. Examples included:

    • Multimedia presentations in Language Arts, Science, Social Studies and elsewhere.
    • Use of iPods to develop fitness plans, as well as using video to critique first aid practices, in our Health classes.
    • Many of our teachers use Edmodo as a tool to commicate with students and to promote discussion and sharing of projects and ideas.
    • Use of Google Apps for Education across the district, including email, calendar, docs, and more. Google docs are used for student collaboration and content creation.
    • Over the past summer, we conducted more than a dozen initial screening interviews with potential teachers using Skype.

    We are excited to see what the future holds for us in education, as we see more and more possibilities to use these tools to prepare our students for their futures.

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  • Using iPods to Develop Excercise Routines

    • 13 Dec 2011
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    Health_ipods
    Student in Mr. Carter's second hour Health 8 class, inlcuding Jakobe Bavinck and Mackenzie Ward,  used iPods to research and view short videos of a wide variety of exercises targetings specific muscles or muscle groups. Students were then able to save the exercises in routines (such as upper body, lower body, abdominal, etc.) which they will then access in the weight room during Phy Ed. The iPod app allowed students to independently explore hundreds of exercises, giving them a much wider choice than in the past when teachers could only demonstrate a limited number of exercises due to time constraints.

  • Student talent on display

    • 8 Dec 2011
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    Play_10
    Click here to download:
    playbill_brothersgrimm.pdf (260 KB)
    Tonight marks our performance of "The Brothers Grimm - Out of Order." I had the chance to see a preview this morning along with our 8th graders. Our students and the staff involved have done a GREAT job with this fast-paced comedy that features a large cast. The talent and dedication involved in putting on this play speaks highly of our students, families and our community. It's a valuable, meaningful experience for the kids - a great opportunity to learn, build confidence and have a blast! Well done, everyone!

    I hope to see you tonight (Thursday, December 8) at the public performance at 6 p.m. Tickets are only $1 for students and $3 for adults.

  • JRG Honored As Exemplary Middle School

    • 4 Oct 2011
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    J.R. Gerritts has been honored by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators as an Exemplary Middle School. The award recognizes our students' math scores on the state WKCE assessment, which rank in the top 10% in the state. Our math teachers are proud of this award and equally proud of their students' math achievement, which is the result of hard work both at JRG and at the elementary and intermediate levels.

    JRG's math curriculum, based on the Math Thematics series, builds on the Everyday Math instruction that students receive in the elementary and intermediate schools, and provides a strong base for student success at Kimberly High School. In addition to our regular math offerings, we provide advanced math classes for students in 7th and 8th grade for those ready for additional challenges, and support for students who struggle in math that is designed to help them close the gap with their peers. Our math instruction focuses on creating a challenging learning environment with real world connections, and builds skills in group work and problem-solving. It is a great fit with our foucs on productive group work (see earlier post).  In our philosophy, being "stuck" on a problem is a good thing, since learning occurs by solving difficult problems and facing challenges.

    Congratulations to our teachers, students and their families on this recognition!

     

    In the photos from Ms. Gibbons Core 1 math class (above), Jessica Winkler and Breanna Schneider get ready to move into group problem solving; Nicholas Rink and Ben Fischer work together to solve a problem.

  • Builders Club students recognized for service

    • 19 Sep 2011
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    Members of the 2010-2011 J.R. Gerritts Builder's Club (a student Kiwanis organization) were recognized for their service to Project Eliminate, an initiative of Kiwanis International to wipe out neonatal tetnus in Africa. Our students raised $200 through a fall "trick-or-treating" event in our TLCs which collected change from fellow students and teachers, and a flower gram sale in early February.The fundraising efforts were recognized on the Kiwanis Wisconsin and Upper Michigan district web site. Follow the link below and look for "Builders Club students raise money for Project Eliminate" on the right side.


    Our first JRG Builders Club meeting of the new year will be held tomorrow (Tuesday, September 20) at 7:00 a.m. in the auditorium. All students are welcome to join, so we hope to see you there for a great opportunity to build relationships and leadership skills.

     

    http://www.wiumkiwanis.org/public_district/index.aspx

  • Groups are smart!

    • 30 Aug 2011
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    The beginning of the school year gives us time to work together as a staff on a wide range of topics, with the goal of providing a better learning experience for our students. In the first couple of days back this year, we've worked on areas including our school achievement goals, integrating technology as a tool for learning, and the pilot of a new curriculum for our TLC (homeroom / advisory period) that focuses on developing strong relationships, academic goal-setting and support, improving the flow of information, and building social and emotional decision-making skills.

    We also spent time today thinking about how to make student work in small groups in the classroom more productive, based on resources including the book Productive Group Work by Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher. Research over many years has demonstrated that groups are smart, i.e. that students who spend time learning collaboratively in groups retain more information and have higher achievement than students who work individually. As part of our discussion, we used the Prezi below to provide some background and context. Please let me know your thoughts and questions after you've had a chance to view it.

    Prezi (www.prezi.com) is a free online presentation tool that many teachers and students discovered and began using last year. You can use the "play" and "back" buttons to move through the presentation, or explore the panning and zooming options on your own.

    We're looking forward to a great (and productive) year at JRG!

  • Looking Back and Looking Forward

    • 24 Aug 2011
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    As the new school year approaches, it's a great time to reflect on the successes of the 2010-2011 school year and look forward to new challenges. As part of the district's Plan for Excellence, available on the district web site, administrators and school board members met last month to do just that. I had the opportunity to share the presentation below with board members regarding our 2010-11 achievement goals and results, and our achievement goals for 2011-12. While there might be some areas of the presentation that are difficult to follow (we sure do love our jargon in education), I hope it gives you a glimpse into the types of learning we are doing as adults in order to improve the learning of our students, as well as some insight into how we spend our time during staff meetings and staff development opportunities (such as early dismissal days). Here are a couple of terms that might help you as you review the presentation:

    • MAP referes to Measures of Academic Progress, an adaptive computer-based assessment of reading, language usage and math that students take twice per year (fall and spring). MAP gives us a growth measure for that we can use to make sure what we are doing is helping individual students learn, as well as help us measure the success of JRG students against students nationwide.
    • WKCE refers to the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination, which all students in Wisconsin take in late October or early November.
    • Common Core refers to the Common Core Standards in English/Language Arts and Math that have been adopted by 44 states and the District of Columbia. To learn more about the Common Core Standards, visit http://corestandards.org/

    As you review the presentation, I would welcome your questions or comments.

  • Two JRG Students Place Third In State Competition

    • 3 Jun 2011
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    Two JRG students, Stephanie Rink and Claudia Tourville, took third place in their category at the state National History Day competition on May 7 in Madison. More than 475 students came to the state event to share their historical research with historians, educators and other young scholars as they competed for the opportunity to represent Wisconsin in the nationals.Claudia and Stephanie worked diligently throughout the school year to produce a documentary about Jesse Owens and how his amazing accomplishments during the 1936 Olympics influenced the way people thought about race. They researched numerous books and articles, interviewed Jesse Owens' daughter, and also interviewed Margaret Lambert, one of the top Jewish-German athletes who was not allowed to participate in the Olympics by Hitler's government.

    "I Went To Win" video on K-Tube: http://tinyurl.com/3hohsky

    National History Day is an exciting academic enrichment program that helps students learn about historical issues, ideas, people, and events. This yearlong academic adventure fosters students' enthusiasm for learning and their love for history. The program develops the participants' skills and abilities in research, critical analysis, developing conclusions from multiple sources. They are then challenged to present and defend their historical interpretations in a serious but creative fashion.

    Congratulations to Claudia, Stephanie and Mrs. Balistreri on this amazing achievement!

     

     

  • Research and Design students apply learning during Cardboard Boat Competition

    • 21 May 2011
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    Students in the Research and Design class at J. R. Gerritts had the chance to put their knowledge into practice by building and launching a cardboard boat. The project culminated in a competition on Friday, May 20 at the Heart of the Valley YMCA pool. Thanks to the Y for the use of the pool, and to our teachers Mr. Hagmann and Mr. Vander Velden for bringing the process from start to finish. Check out the video for an entertaining sample of the cardboard boats in action.

     

     

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