January 6, 2016 - (Feast of the Epiphany)  

Dear St. Katharine of Siena School Parents, 
    Blessings on you and your loved ones in 2017.  I want to thank you once more for the goodness you demonstrated in so many generous ways to the faculty/staff and myself. The Christmas bonus and other kind gifts we receive are really incredible acts of generosity on the part of our families. It is truly appreciated by all of us. 

          Here's some communication as we journey into 2017: 

                       What's with this Golden Ticket ?!? 

    Any business, institution, and in our case, a school, that is standing still and not getting better, in reality is going backwards in today's world.  At past faculty meetings, we have discussed ways in which we could do things better as a school.  It's as simple, yet as important, as traffic flow up and down a hallway. It may seem trite, but there are literally dozens of little actions that make up and contribute to the daily climate of our school. All these actions lead us to a positive, successful school culture. Good institutions reflect and take action on how they can improve. Many ideas we had as a faculty were about how we need to communicate better to our students what our "expected behaviors" for them are.  
    In a few previous blogs, I mentioned that a team of faculty members had been working on a PSB (Positive Student Behavior) Program.  Other successful schools have implemented such programs with excellent results. 
    This past Wednesday, at two town meetings (KG-4 and 5 -8) we officially kicked off our new Student Expectations: PSB Program.  Unofficially, in the fall, we started to implement a few of the student expected behaviors.  We have already seen improved results. For example, at dismissal time one can witness how quiet and efficient we are. By changing the traffic flow, setting the expectation of class behavior moving in the hallways, we are more organized and less disruptive of classes in session. That's important. 
    At the town meetings this Wednesday, I spoke to the students  to set the program's wheels in motion. Students were then shown a video of what the right behaviors and the wrong behaviors were in given situations (classroom, bathrooms, cafeteria, church, playground, and hallways. The video featured our own students performing the right behavior, followed by the teachers (and a principal who shall remain nameless) performing the wrong behavior. The students got a real charge out of seeing the teachers in the video. I know you want to see our theatrical skills in action. You can see the video at: 

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMjVsMX_w_Y

   * Between this video and my limited dancing skills at SKS Got Talent, I am putting my Hollywood career on hold.  No one is beating my agent's (Steph Twohig) door down, nor is the phone ringing. 

    The PSB Program is aimed at catching students in the act of being good. That is, exemplifying model behavior in a given situation, and/or behavior that is above and beyond the expected norm.  Teachers and staff are given Golden Tickets weekly. The teachers/staff have been asked to look for students students (preferably not someone in their own class), who have earned a ticket by their actions. The student receives a ticket.  Half the ticket the student keeps, while the other half goes into to the office. Every two weeks on Friday morning, a drawing will be held with two winners: one for KG-4 and one for 5-8.  The two winners, chosen at random, will receive a prize.  Every two weeks, we start over and begin the process again. Two other things the students were told. First, they are not to "beg" for a ticket:"Look at me, I held the door open for a visitor, so can I get a ticket." Also, no politicking for friends: "Mr. T. , Jimmy was being so nice, he should get a ticket."

     My thanks to Steph Szczepkowski, a DCIU educator /coach who had experience putting this program together and led us in these efforts.  Following her lead, our faculty team of Kathy Flanagan, Jayda Orsatti, Bill DiClemente, and Katie Tosti met with Steph several times from last year to now to put this program together. I am grateful.   

    As a support of this program, I have a recent article I sent to the teachers this week. I believe this article can be of benefit at home for parents too. 

Rethinking discipline and classroom management Building a productive learning environment is important, but those two words -- discipline and management -- put educators and learners on opposite sides of the table. Schools need to separate the terms discipline and punishment. We should have discipline in our teaching and policies, guiding and supporting students as they grow. Teacher and administrators should recognize those social and emotional skills students are lacking and work to mediate them through instruction, not punishment. Scores of books have been written about discipline in the classroom and how to design classroom rules to manage students. Building a productive

learning environment is important, but those two words – discipline and management – put educators and learners on opposite sides of the table.

Discipline is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as a noun to mean, “The practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience. As a verb the definition is, “Train (someone) to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience” and “Punish or rebuke (someone) formally for an offense” Looking at the definition of management we find, “the process of dealing with or controlling things or people.”

Schools need to separate the terms discipline and punishment. We should have discipline in our teaching and policies, guiding and supporting students as they grow. Teacher and administrators should recognize those social and emotional skills students are lacking and work to mediate them through instruction, not punishment.

Schools also should be clear and consistent in identifying expected behaviors and what success in those behaviors will look like. It is important to be clear not only on what behaviors should look like, but also in the contextual difference between appropriate behaviors. For example, the behavior of an audience at an orchestra concert and a jazz performance in the same school auditorium are difference and those differences should be clearly articulated and understood in advance. During a symphony it is considered inappropriate to applaud until the final note of the last movement of the piece. In jazz, applause is encouraged any time a soloist has done a good job.

Discipline is not one-size-fits-all. While a school-wide plan is necessary, the exact same consequence for every student regardless of individual context is rarely effective for all students. Make sure the intensity of the interventions matches the intensity of the presenting behavioral challenge; for some students, the general school-wide approach simply doesn’t match the necessary level of intensity.

It is important to treat every incident as a unique set of circumstances. The idea is to look at the individual situation and determine the most appropriate response without comparing it to other similar situations involving different students. Be equitable, not equal. Of course we know that there are students who require more intensive and/or individualized approaches to improving their behaviors.

School plans are best developed with student input. After all, it is their learning space as well as your teaching space. I remember as a middle school principal having a discussion about dress code with my student council. The issue at hand was length of shorts. A contingent of girls was arguing for fingertip length on shorts. I stood up and put my hands down to my sides, stretching my fingers as far as they could go and ask if there was anyone in the room who wanted to see me in shorts that short. Clearly that wasn’t what anyone wanted and a plan quickly evolved regarding shorts length that was the making of the group, not a mandate from the principal.

I am not arguing that classrooms should be organized in a manner resembling “The Lord of the Flies,” but beginning with a shared sense of ownership of the learning environment would be a good start. The goal shouldn’t be to control and punish learners, but rather to build an environment of trust and respect.

Howard Pitler, Ed.D. is an international speaker, coach, and facilitator with a passion for improving education for all learners. He was the Executive Director and Chief Program Office for McREL International from 2003 to 2015. Prior to working at McREL, Dr. Pitler spent 29 years in K-12 education as a teacher, assistant principal, elementary school principal, and middle school principal in Wichita, Kansas.

   

                           Martin Luther King Day of Service 
                           Monday, January 16th - 10 am to 12 pm 

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' " 
                                      Dr. Martin Luther King

    On the school website is information on how you as a family can contribute to the day of service we have each year on MLK Day. This year it is on Monday, January 16th.  Each grade has been asked to donate an item, KG - bar soap , 1st - deodorant etc ...All students are invited to participate that day and make toiletry care packages this year for the Youth Emergency Shelter in the city. These youths are homeless with no place to go. Can you even imagine? For more info go to the school website or  contact Jackie Sevag or Steph Twohig. It's a great morning and an example of service in action - an important component of our school mission. 

   New Art Easels

    Thanks to our Home & School Wish Lists, two generous family grants from two of own SKS Families, and the engineering talents of Mr. Checchia and a team of SKS Families on a Saturday morning, we now have 30 new art easels in the Art Room. Another wish list item fulfilled, and gone are the dilapidated tables from the past. Now each artist has their own easel to draw on. Thank  you again everyone.  

                                      Culture of Life Concert 

Just a reminder that the Culture of Life Concert is tomorrow (Sunday) at 4 pm in church.  It's an inspirational event to attend.   


Take care,

Bud 

Students can receive a Golden Ticket   by meeting or exceeding an expected behavior in the newly introduced SKS Positive Support Behavior Program.   

  

 An (injured) Ninja Warrior and an accomplished artist, 8th grader Matt Bradley likes the the new art easels.