Tuesday, September 24, 2019

No Phones

We live in a society of constant distraction.  With rampant instant messaging and social media use, our ability to communicate face-to-face, to socialize in a positive way, and resolve conflicts has dwindled.  To the end, students are prohibited from using their mobile phones or smartphones while at school in order to encourage face-to-face conversation, socialization, and to practice conflict resolution.  


From the hours of 8.00 AM until 4.35 PM, all mobile phones or smartphones must be turned off and stowed away in the backpack before the student enters the school building.   


If a phone is visible or rings while at school, the student must relinquish the phone at the request of the teacher or the administration.  The school employs a graduated discipline philosophy.  

The first time a phone is confiscated, the student can pick up the phone from the Assistant Principal at the end of the school day following a restorative conversation.  

The second time a phone is confiscated, a parent or guardian must meet with the Assistant Principal to explain the rationale behind why we do not allow mobile phone use at school and to pick up the phone.  The phone will not be released to the student following this second infraction.  

The third time a phone is confiscated, the school will make arrangements with the family to keep the phone at home for the remainder of the year, or if necessary, to hand the phone to school administration at the start of every school day. 

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Academic integrity and right ethical conduct are expectations of all students.  Cheating and plagiarism are violations of academic integrity and right ethical conduct.  Cheating is defined as using unauthorized resources of any type on any exam, quiz, paper, major project, or class assignment.  Plagiarism is copying exact words or paraphrasing ideas without crediting original sources. Providing access to another student to such resources is also considered a violation of academic integrity as is allowing another student to copy from one’s own exam, quiz, paper, major project, or class assignment.  


In keeping with our model of restorative justice, the school treats first violations of academic integrity as a learning event.  In these situations, the student will receive an “I” for the assignment or activity in question. The student then has a conversation with the teacher who debriefs what occurred, next steps to rectify the action, and the teacher coaches the student on how to tell their parents.  Owning up to the action is an important step in understanding the severity of the violation of academic integrity.


The student is then responsible for telling their parents about the incident and to let them know that a face-to-face conference or phone conversation with the teacher will be forthcoming—this gives the students an opportunity to be at the center of the conversation.  


The teacher then has a face-to-face conference or phone conversation with the family and the student.  From there, a letter is sent home that recaps the meeting, and it serves as a record of the entire incident. In this letter, it states that all future offenses will result in more serious consequences. The student writes a letter of reflection which answers the following questions: 


“How have your actions impacted your relationship with others, including your classmates and teacher?  Looking back on this past incident, what would you have done differently? How has your understanding of integrity changed since this incident?” 

This reflection is then sent to the parents, the mentor, and the teacher.  Copies of the teacher’s letter and the student’s reflection are included in the student’s file.  The student is responsible for re-doing the same assignment or an alternative as assigned by the teacher which addresses the same Cognitive Skills or Content Knowledge assessed in the original assignment.  Please, note that any additional violations of academic integrity may include expulsion from the school.  

Learning Modalities

Last year, we had the opportunity to partner with three organizations dedicated to personalized learning.  These include Silicon Schools, Summit Learning, and New Classrooms: Teach to One: Math.  We continue to partner with the first two, and for a multitude of reasons decided to carve our own path with the latter.  And, before we parted ways this year, we decided to retain the learning modalities approach that was an essential component of the New Classrooms approach.  

We know that students can learn in a variety of ways.  They can learn directly from a teacher, they can learn from a colleague, classmate, or small group, and they can also learn independently with a learning management platform.  We leverage the use of these learning modalities to ensure that students get what they need, when they need it, and how they need it.  

Guided Learning is the traditional direct instruction approach where teachers, for a limited time, may engage in a lecture about a topic.  

Collaborative Learning is the learning modality assigned to students who work together in a small group setting to practice, to learn, or to explore a particular topic.

Leveled Learning is where students may work directly with a technology-assisted platform in order to learn about a topic.  

Informed by data, teachers can use these modalities in a myriad of ways.  All three modalities could be happening simultaneously in a classroom setting as necessary depending upon the objective for the day's lesson.  

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Huddles and Meetings

It goes without saying that communication is important.  In addition to our use of the application Slack, which has cut our internal email down dramatically, we like traditional face-to-face meetings in order to connect.  Our Academic Leadership Team has three types of meetings: (1) A Daily Huddle; (2) A Weekly Meeting; and (3) A President's Council Meeting.  

The Daily Huddle is comprised of myself, our Principal, and our Director of Wholeness.  This is a meeting of no more than 10 - 15 minutes in length where we check in and talk through any special events of the day.  We try our best to stand during these morning meetings to keep the blood flowing.  This huddle is operational in nature. 

Our Weekly Meeting is where we look at the week and review events.  We allot about 60 minutes for this meeting which ensures that we have plenty of opportunity to dialogue and reconnect.  These weekly meetings are more tactical in nature.

Finally, our Academic Leadership Team combines with other heads-of-departments to form our President's Council.  This is where we talk about larger school issues and where we test out ideas.  Most importantly, we have an opportunity to support and align with one another once collective decisions are made.  These meetings are also an hour long and are strategic in nature.  

We take a copious amount of notes and keep a running agenda.  This ensures that the meetings do not become cumbersome.  An agenda-less meeting is a recipe for unnecessarily lengthy meetings!  

Friday, July 26, 2019

Huddle Break

At the end of every huddle or meeting, we "break" in the same way that sports teams do.  The last member of the team to place their hand in the middle has to give "the word" that everyone will repeat with enthusiasm after the count off.  Also, each team member has to hold their weight.  This fun little ritual ensures some levity and positivity is always a part of our gatherings.


Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Words and Phrases: A Lexicon of Sayings at School

Here's an ongoing lexicon of words and phrases we use at Cristo Rey De La Salle High School that we use with intentionality.

Glows: Appropriated from the Summit Learning Network to identify positive attributes that we wish to highlight and reinforce.

Grows: Also appropriated from the Summit Learning Network to identify the challenges that we need to overcome in order to get to the next level.


Little by little / paso a paso: A phrase used by our Enrollment Manager to remind ourselves that we'll achieve our goals, little by little.  

We'll Make It Happen: Another catchphrase by our Enrollment Manager.

Huddle:  A quick 5 - 10 minute meeting to go over essential details of an event, to discuss items of concern, or to talk about recurring issues which need special attention.

Run of Show: A cue-to-cue sequence or detail of an event. 

Feedback is Gold: We are working on becoming a community that can analyze and synthesize data through surveys about our processes and programs.

We Hear You: Words often spoken in a circle, a communal, or a prayerful context by those present to affirm the speaker.

Assume Positive Intent: Consider that a person's actions or words are well-meaning.  That said, there are times in which unintentional actions or words, or bias needs to be addressed.

Correct: Interestingly, my coworkers remarked that I tend to use this term quite frequently in place of a simple yes.

I Appreciate You: Most people seem to say "I appreciate it" where "it" refers to the action that somebody may have undertaken for another.  Replacing "it" with "you" wonderfully acknowledges who is undertaking the action.  Our former Director of School Culture introduced this to us.

EOD / EOB: Stands for "End-of-day" and "End-of-business" to cue folks to respond to an ask before same.  

RBO: A locally developed term which stands for "Relationship Building Opportunities" a way of reframing supervision to make it a positive opportunity for adults to build relationships and community with the students entrusted to their care.







Wednesday, May 22, 2019

New Language

Part of our new "way of doing school" involves retiring old language.  Old language handcuffs us to old ways of doing things.  This is not to say that traditional approaches to education aren't without merit.  We are simply committing to approaching schooling in a new way.  New language allows us to unlock new possibilities.  

For instance, we've reframed "proctoring" and "prefecting" assignments.  Rather than thinking of them as mere supervision of certain spaces, we've rechristened them "RBO" or "Relationship Building Opportunities."  Truly, they are opportunities for our faculty, administration, and staff to bond with our students during those time periods between classes.

New language also permeates our curriculum and instruction practices.  For instance, we've retired our "Religion" and "Theology" classes and we now call them "Catholic Studies" as a way of attending to our unique Lasallian Catholic identity within the Cristo Rey Network.  

Our classroom spaces are reflective of the instructional modality that happens most frequently.  So, traditional direct instruction is called "Guided Learning," while group work is called "Collaborative Learning."  Finally, "Leveled Learning" is where students can work independently with our personalized learning platforms to "level up" in the same way that video game players "level up" their characters in their games.  


Thursday, February 7, 2019

In Praise of Dance

In Praise of Dancing by Saint Augustine

I praise the dance, for it frees people
From the heaviness of matter
And binds the isolated to community.

I praise the dance, which demands everything:
Health and a clear spirit and a buoyant soul.

Dance is the transformation of space, of time, of people,
Who are in constant danger of becoming all brain, will or feeling.

Dancing demands the whole person,
One who is firmly anchored in the center of his life,
Who is not obsessed by lust for people and things
And the demon of isolation in his own ego.

Dancing demands a freed person,
One who vibrates
With the balance of all his powers.

I praise the dance.

O People, learn to dance,
or else the angels in heaven
Will not know what to do with you.

Friday, January 18, 2019

Academic Explorations: Media Literacy: Toxic Masculinity

Original Gillette Short Film

Today Show Response

Jesse Dollemore Response

Fox Business Response

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Academic Explorations: Media Literacy: Social Media

Marshall Davis Jones - Touchscreen

Pressures of Social Media on Teen Girls