Forest Green School

When I was a kid going to school report card day was either something to be dreaded or looked forward to.  It all depended on what my teacher “did to me”.  Assessment and evaluation in those days was very much like that.  The examiner (teacher) examined student progress on a specific dates using a specific tools.  They then graded that work and from that time forward the student became known as an A, B, C, D or F.  This may be a slight embellishment but it is not that far off of my experience.

Assessment, evaluation and reporting have changed dramatically since then.  Evaluation and Assessment are no longer things done to a student but rather processes that students participate in.  Reporting, by using strategies such as daily communication books, emails, student lead conferencing, blogs, chats in the hallway, portfolio reviews and yes even report cards are very much processes that students, parents and staff can participate in together. 

Today is report card day!  Please look for the report card to come home with your child today.  The report card is intended to serve as a snapshot in time of how your child has responded to the curricular outcomes that are relevant at this point.  Like any photograph, a report card can be quickly outdated.  This report card is meant to serve as a conversation starter (or continuer) for you, your child and his or her teacher as you continue to plan for and engage in learning in school.  This learning is meant to be an individual’s journey and the report card merely a road sign that give insight about the direction we are travelling, rate of travel and if we are experiencing any obstacles.  Make sure as one of the navigators of your child’s learning journey that you are part of the conversation about the end in mind.  Talk to your child and his or her teacher.  Bon Voyage!

M. S. Hubick B.Ed. M.A.

Principal

Forest Green School and Connections for Learning

I heard a story today that inspired me and reminded me how creative the mind can be and given our response how important we may be in encouraging that creativity in students. We as individuals all carry a huge responsibility in moulding the future creativity in our world.
If we look back we can all think of creative thinkers that accomplished amazing things without which our world might look very different. Consider the obvious inventions such as: the wheel, the light bulb, the telephone, the printing press, penicillin and polo vaccine. Consider also the more contemporary inventions like: the cell phone, the internet, the iPad and the 3D television. All of this is really remarkable but let’s not forget the creativity of the artists, musicians and writers that have also put their mark on mankind. Where would we be today without all of that creativity? … the kind of creativity I heard about in the story that was relayed to me today.
The story is of a creative teacher who engaged her creative students in a visualisation exercise aimed at helping them be thoughtful and expressive about the world around them through their writing. It could have been through artistic interpretation, scientific discovery, creative dance or any other form of expression.
This teacher took her students outside to discover the elements of a fall day using all of their senses except sight. As they walked outside with their eyes closed they discussed what they were “seeing” through their other senses. When asked by the teacher where they thought they were the students expressively provided a detailed description of a location that was known to all of them somewhere near their school building. This was the point of the exercise, I gather…
…that is until one student exclaimed; “Teacher, I think I took the wrong path.” Initially puzzled by this, the teacher inquired about what that child saw in his mind’s eye. He proceeded to describe a mountain location that he saw somewhere in his imagination containing many of the elements that each of the children had experienced on their discovery walk (with a few embellishments).
Now let’s consider what the writings of J.K. Rowling, Shel Silverstein or my favourite; Dr. Seuss might be like without a few creative embellishments. I believe that this cooperative learning activity provided an unintended opportunity to take a really good activity to great and for that moment the student became the teacher. I believe that this experience will influence those who experienced it to consider taking one extra step when in a similar situation in the future. Who knows where that might lead to next?
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost 1874-1963

On October 14, some people representing Forest Green were fortunate enough to spend a day with one of Alberta’s First Nations elders.

The day was called “Tipi Teachings”, and it was one of the better cultural experiences I have had in a long time.  This was one of those days where we learned the history of the tipi and its connection with identity in the prairie provinces.

We learned how to build a tipi, and we spend half a day hearing storytelling and talking inside the large structure.  Parkland School Division will now own their own tipi, and student artists will spend time this year painting its surface with meaningful symbols.  Watch for it to visit Forest Green sometime soon!

How many times have we heard that we are living in a world of change?  The changes we are experiencing have challenged all of us at one time or another in the work that we do.  In many ways, it has increased the velocity of information coming at us continually.  This has presented some interesting and exciting challenges for us in education.

Educators are challenged to shift their practice from what most of us experienced as students to the role of facilitator of learning.  This concept of Teacher as Learning Facilitator in and of itself is not really new as it first appeared in a significant way in educational research almost 3 decades ago.  It has however accelerated with the new and ever changing technologies that are in the hands of our students.  Another major influence in this change has been the remarkable brain research of the last decade.

So what does this change look like?

First and foremost, the old paradigm of educators as the imparters of knowledge in control of who learns what and when is gone.  Student’s interests and questions are now driving instruction. (I suspect they have always driven learning.)  No longer are teachers focused on the finite details of content thick curricula.  We spend much more of our time striking a balance between content and process.  The key work of teachers as facilitators of learning lies in extracting the Big Ideas from the provincial curriculum, sorting out the skills that students require to accomplish learning, and creating learning activities based on careful assessment that are responsive to the learning styles and interests of each child.

Classrooms are highly interactive as students construct understanding while interacting with content, resources, each other, their community and their teacher(s).  Much like the ringmaster at the circus, (I know… maybe not the best analogy to instill confidence!), teachers orchestrate a wide variety of student learning activities simultaneously in order to achieve prescribed learning outcomes.  I have personally witnessed this shift as it has gradually occurred over a little more than the 20 years span of my career however,  I am always amazed that the change has accelerated in velocity to near breakneck speed in the last five years.  There is no sign of it slowing down either.

I have always believed that teachers learn a lot from their students.  However, who would have thought twenty years ago, as I was the “tech go to guy” in my school (the Master of the Apple IIE’s) that one day I would be spending an hour with some high school outreach students learning new tech skills to help me in my work as their principal?  Now there is a role reversal!  This further reinforces the idea that the role of the teacher has changed and they are not the only “keepers of the knowledge”.  Maybe nobody really is?  Unless your name is Google or Wikipedia!  I think the role of “keeper” has given way to the new roles of “searchers, sifter and sorters” and Google does a lot of that for us anyway.

In order for our administrative team to assist teachers in creating modern learning environments through which every child achieves enduring success we must remember to sharpen the saw professionally.  To that end, Mrs. Jensen, Assistant Principal, Connections for Learning; Mrs. Johnson, Assistant Principal, Forest Green School and I will be taking advantage of an exciting opportunity.  We will be attending the Western Canadian Education Administrators Conference in Edmonton next week.  The theme of this conference focuses on Building a Framework for Change.  A highlight for me will be a key note address by Sir Ken Robinson.  He is masterfully challenging the paradigms of education from structures and content to standardized testing and arts programming.  Sir Ken Robinson has several video clips on YouTube.  Check out this link and tell me what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Mike Hubick, B.Ed., M.A.

Principal, Connections for Learning & Forest Green School

The Alberta Winter Games is coming, and Forest Green is hosting!  For four days in February, Forest Green School will be the athletes’ village for 56 speed skaters.  In order to make this happen, we need as many as 20 community volunteers.  You could sign up for as little as one 6-hour shift, or could be involved on all 4 days…your choice.

Mr. Hubick and Mrs. Johnson are the mayors of the village, and there will also be coaches and chaperones here at the school.  What we need are village supervisors. These are adults (parents, teachers, etc.) that will be at the school for 6 hour shifts throughout the 4 days, staying in contact with the mayors and coaches, being the Forest Green contact for that time.

If you are interested in signing up to be a supervisor or to get involved in the Games in some other way, drop by our school office to pick up a volunteer application form (or go online to Alberta Winter Games  http://www.2012awg.ca/)  There is also a Games office downtown Stony at 5110 50 Street.

The Alberta Winter Games are a big deal!  They are the stepping stones to the Olympics, and we are very proud to host the games in Stony Plain this year.  Get involved!  You will love it!

Every September at Forest Green we are reminded by Miss Hobbins that the Annual Terry Fox Run will be taking place. She dutifully draws up a a plan for our participation and sends it out to all of the staff and on the given day, everyone in the school heads outside to run, jog, or walk the trails near the school for a half an hour.

This year was no different and on Thursday, September 28, our participation in the Terry Fox run occurred. As is usual, our community was asked to send in a small donation (loonie, toonie, or whatever they thought they could afford) and we had set a goal of trying to raise $500.00 as a school. The students were promised a “Crazy Hair Day” if we reached our goal.

The response was terrific. Not only did we hit our financial target, but we far exceeded it – and this ata time of year when families finances are often stretched to their limits. This is typical of our little community here at Forest Green. The response to challenges like these helps remind me of how well we live our school’s motto: Caring, Sharing, and Learning Together.

This is always a special event in the year for me, the reason being that many years ago, before I became a teacher, I played wheelchair basketball locally for fun and one of the teams we played against was the team from Vancouver and Terry Fox was on that team. While I can’t say that Terry and I were ever really friends, I certainly got to compete against him and hang out with him after games. I remember him being a quiet, focused and determined young man. All of this occurred, of course, before he began his Marathon of Hope.

Well done, Forest Green.
Enjoy some photos from the event.

Terry Fox Run Part 1 on PhotoPeach

Terry Fox Part 2 Sept. 28/11 on PhotoPeach

Terry Fox Run Part 3 on PhotoPeach

Fall equinox, the first day of fall, brings warm weather and beautiful colours.  We have had a very smooth start-up to our school year at Forest Green (which seems to be gradually changing to Forest Orange and Yellow).

A big thank you goes out to our parents for their support in so many ways.  A small core of very dedicated parents make up our Parent Council, and they are looking to invite you all to consider attending a meeting to find out what goes on in our school.  Our next meeting is October 11th at 6:30 pm.  Everyone is welcome!

Other dates to put on your calendar are October 12 and 13, when you will get a chance to meet with our teachers to discuss your child’s start to the school year.   You will receive information about booking in early October.

Information and orientation meeting for parent supervisors is on Sept 27, 2:00 pm

Join us on our Terry Fox run on the morning on Sept 28!

Watch for our newsletter coming out on the last day of the month.  Have a wonderful fall!

We are very excited about starting our new 2011-2012 school year!  Do you have your pencils sharpened?  Is your name on your backpack?  We are so glad to have you, whether you’re new to Forest Green, or have been with us since you started Kindergarten.

We will have a First Day assembly at 11:30 a.m. on August 31 where everyone will get to meet our new principal and everyone else.

Consider coming out to our Open House on September 7, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.  This is an informal time to visit the classrooms and meet the staff. 

Thanks to Mr. Schellenberger for taking some great shots of Identity Day and putting them into this Animoto. Check it out below!

Another fantastic Identity Day has come and gone and I want to thank all of the parents that came out to support this fantastic day! I also wanted to really thank the staff and students that did a great job preparing for this day, and truly showing off their passions. Througout the day, I was able to take some pictures from my viewpoint and I wanted to share them with you. Please feel free to check out the slideshow below: