Kindergarten Totally Rocks

So I don’t get in on the action in the high school any more. When a student refused to comply with a reasonable request to go to Internal Suspension, I didn’t hear about it until hours later. Where was I? In a kindergarten classroom, on chairs too small for my 6′ frame, getting hugs and having a blast.

We are piloting three reading series in our K-6 classrooms right now. In addition, we have all teachers trained in Orton Gillingham and teachers who aren’t piloting are using Orton Gillingham. We are right in the middle of evaluation and heading toward decision making. I entered this pilot year completely opposed to Orton Gillingham as a component in our developed reading program (I saw it as only an intervention). I can tell you that there is certain success happening in those K-2 classrooms, with OG, that cannot be denied.

Like today. With five year old students who were EXCITED about reading paragraphs and writing six word sentences. Five year olds who know rules like “C or K and sometimes both”. Students who entered our classroom in September recognizing only 9 letters of the alphabet and now are reading multiple sentences with ease. And I stopped the students who read to me at the end of every line, asking comprehension questions that they nailed. Had they seen the passage before today? Nope, they just read it through independently once before reading it to me.

I know there’s doubt about it out there. That some wonder if it kills any joy of reading we could possibly foster. And I have to say I’ve not liked it at the 3-4 grades, it seems painful. But that’s because those kids are old enough to know they should be reading already. They are already a bit embarassed when they can’t. Five year olds are rocking the house with the knowledge that they are READING and tackling new passages with ease. I’m loving what I see because it’s building confidence and that’s what fosters a love of reading.

Tomorrow we’ll work all day to evaluate all of the teacher feedback, the Dibels results, the interviews with teachers and start to come to a decision. We’ll realize that a reading program, consistently taught by all K-6 teachers, including a planned writing program and great children’s literature will take our students to greater success.

I don’t know what the committee will determine as its final recommendation. There are teachers who have fallen in love with their pilots and who advocate strongly for adoption. But I have to say, those kindergarten and first grade students will be in my mind all day long.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There’s nothing better that we can do for our students than teach them to read, write, speak and listen well–to see the written word as their personal ticket to the world. To discover reading and writing and all that it can do for them.

Let’s Give This Another Go

Found myself writing for our school website this morning and thought, “This sounds like, looks like, and feels like a blog post” and figured I’d better get back to it here at G-Town Talks. The transition I underwent from high school principal to assistant superintendent was downright painful. Readers saw it here. My friends heard about it and those already in similar positions kept offering encouragement that I forcefully shot down. And thank goodness my boss learned to let everything I said go in one ear and out the other. (Unfortunately one of the ways I work out what’s in my head is by letting it come out of my mouth–seems to be how I think it through–I’m lucky I didn’t drive the guy nuts in the last seven months.)

And so here we are today. A graduate asked me last night at the local pizza shop, “so how do you like your new job?” and I found myself answering differently than I had over the past few months. Instead of saying, “I really want my school, my teachers, my kids back”, I heard myself answering, “It’s good; I really believe that the work I’m doing now is what’s going to make our school one of the best in Western New York.”

I do. Think that. Just didn’t realize until I said it to Kristin that I am over the “looking back, what’s happening with my high school kids, need to know everything that’s going on, let me make the decisions” part of the transition. And you know what? I’m pretty sure I went through a similar transition when I went from teacher at Pine Valley to administrator at Frontier. Maybe that’s what happens when you are fortunate enough to work in a profession where you truly love every job you have?

But think about that statement I made. What an incredibly powerful opportunity I have here to do important work. Who could ask for more than that? Of course, many of the G-Town readers said exactly that in the encouraging comments that I received when signing off in October. So I’m a bit slower than all of you. 🙂

I’ve had some incredible experiences in the past seven months and I’ve learned a lot. Most important, I’ve gone from a building perspective to a district one. I honestly see things differently, on more of a continuum, and that’s where every one of us working in a district should be. A child’s experience as she travels through our K-12 system shouldn’t be random. It should be specifically designed to give him the best possible learning experience. We have incredible teachers and administrators, including a superintendent and board of education that have taken our district and put us in an excellent financial position; so that we can do all of the things we need to do, to improve learning.

Some may say, “Well, it’s about time” but I’ve learned that things generally happen when we’re ready for them. Four years ago this district wasn’t ready, culturally or financially, to go where we’re going now. The best part is now we have a plan to get there, we know what we need to do, and every bit of research I read confirms the plan at hand. How much better can it be than that? And when I’m ready to make the next transition to retirement, I’ll know that I never took the easy way and that I made a difference for our kids in Gowanda Central Schools.

And by the way, I still have my kids, they just include every student K-12, not just 9-12, and I’m responsible in some way for every one of them.