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Super Citizens:  Behind the Cowl

11/30/2013

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A superhero sometimes wears a cowl or a mask.  Batman, Spider Man, and others sport these disguises as a way to hide their true identities.  In our class, I can point to students who wear a disguise, as well.  Though they do not cover their eyes of their faces, they hide behind false personalities.  They don't show who they truly want to be.  Try to follow this:  what they show is what they think others think they are.  The truth is, these students, and probably most people, see themselves differently than others see them.  We would like to change, but we don't know how.

I suppose we all wear disguises in some form.  It may be that we have embarrassing secrets or secret embarrassments that we don't want others to see.  On the other hand, what others see may not be what we want them to see.  It is difficult to change what others see.  To simplify it, we want to show people the goodness that makes us who we are, and we want to suppress our mistakes - and that's not necessarily how things work in the superhero world.
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Infographic:  Read Aloud 15 Minutes

11/29/2013

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A little goes a long way, but imagine what our nightly assignment of 30 minutes will do.  This infographic mentions reading aloud; by doing this, readers develop a conversational fluency in their reading, which improves comprehension and a whole lot more.
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A New Thanksgiving Meal

11/28/2013

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If you really are what you eat,
might I suggest a menu for this and every day?

Mercy
Peace
Goodness
Kindness
Cooperation
Responsibility
Joy
Patience
Laughter
Gentleness
Self-Control
Health
Wisdom
Empathy
Reverence
Understanding
Love
Respect
Freedom
Happiness
Satisfaction
Appreciation
In this restaurant, you aren't limited to one appetizer, one entree, and one dessert!  Take liberally from every column, and leave feeling better than when you came in.  In fact, eat everything in sight.  You'll thank me for it.  And your bill will reflect payment in full, because the only things you are required to pay are those parts of yourself that oppose what's on your plate.

From our house to yours, happy Thanksgiving!
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Out of the Wind

11/27/2013

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The publishing phase of writing is quite rewarding.  I have made it to the publishing faze many times:

  • When I was in elementary school, publishing took the form of rewriting stories in my neatest handwriting for the teacher to hang on the bulletin board.
  • In middle school, publishing was done with a typewriter.
  • When I was in high school, I published my own weekly newspaper for my hometown.
  • More recently, I have had articles published in one statewide teacher publication and two national Christian magazines.
  • And most recently, I have just released my fourth novel for young people.

I understand the feeling an author gets when holding a published work in his hands.  To see my name in print, from elementary school to today, has always been rewarding.  I hope my students can experience the same feeling.


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Outside the Window

11/26/2013

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The men continue to work hard to get our new structure into shape.  The combination gymnasium and safe room is making progress.  In the last couple of weeks, amidst weather changes, the foundation for the hallway extension has been prepared, and we expect cement to be poured soon.

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Truly Thankful

11/25/2013

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I am thankful for the opportunity to address 22 nine- and ten-year-olds in my classroom.  Few other jobs would allow me to affect the future in quite the same way as a teacher's.  I take it very seriously, with the understanding that the children in my classroom, today, will be in the world, tomorrow.

They will not only be the doctors and politicians, they will be manufacturers, inventors, food producers, business owners, and service providers.  They will be tax payers, voters, and worshipers.  And in all of this, they will need the skills of responsible decision making, respectful citizenship, and honest leadership that I am providing for them in the fourth grade.

While you may see me teaching reading comprehension or algebraic reasoning, my job extends well beyond that - and, again, I am thankful for the opportunity.
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Hoggatt Cave:  Tours

11/24/2013

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The cave is open for business.  We had our "soft opening" on Friday, taking nine tours with fourth graders through the cave, and students had their first experience with real live tourists.  On Monday and Tuesday, we will take the four third grades through our property (12 more tours), and I suspect the principals will want to participate, as well.
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Math League Preliminary Round

11/23/2013

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Congratulations to FATE, HANNAH, and CORALEE.  Former Hoggatteers are also on the list: SOPHIA, SHAHLA, KADEN, and TAYLOR.  After preliminary testing for the 2014 Math League, these three are invited to participate in a final round sometime after Thanksgiving.  From the final round, Mr. Culbertson and I will choose our team.

Math League entails one after school session (1 1/2 hours), every week, until competition season ends in March.  There are two contests, both on Saturdays, the first of which is at the end of January.
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Watch Like a Reader:  Honeycomb

11/22/2013

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When we break apart the skills involved in reading comprehension, we are constantly amazed at how many skills there really are.  We use the same skills when we watch TV shows, listen to music, and view advertisements.

They are everywhere:  in magazines, in newspapers, on the radio, at the movie theater, and on television.  It is important that we protect ourselves from marketing "tricks", which are intended to "hook" the viewers/readers/
listeners.  Perhaps the product is cheaply made.  Maybe it isn't as it appears.  Is it worth the price?  Is it something you need?  Let's dive right in to a commercial and hone our reading skills along the way.

The commercial below is for a popular breakfast cereal - Honeycomb.
QUESTION
What must be added to this product to make it a "nutritious breakfast"?
Does a "big bite" mean "big taste"?
Why does this cereal need to be hidden in a secret clubhouse?

PREDICT
The man in the overcoat will take this cereal back to his bosses who will use it in a secret plot to defend his country.


INFER
The man in the overcoat is a secret government spy.
The children in the hideout are a secret gang who have discovered a "secret" cereal.
I wonder if big pieces of cereal means there will be less servings in the box.
CONNECT
I have not tried this cereal, but I have tried other cereals.
I have read about cereal not being the best breakfast for people to eat.


FEEL
It would be awesome to be a part of a secret club, with our own clubhouse that no one knew about.
I would be scared if a strange man in an overcoat knocked on my door.

EVALUATE
The song seems memorable and catchy.  Kids will remember this song when they see the cereal on the store shelf.

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One Busy Friday

11/21/2013

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This Friday should be a big day for all:
  • We're looking forward to the Positive Behavior celebration during our Art time (for students with no office referrals).
  • Friday is picture retake day (must bring the old picture packets back if you want to replace them)
  • In the afternoon, we will testing top students for the 2014 Math League.
  • Official Hoggatt Cave tours begin (Students may still bring flashlights to use.)
  • Friday is also set-up day for the craft show.  If you can help, please contact the secretaries for information (625-5320) about how you may assist!
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The Ron Clark Academy

11/20/2013

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During the spring of 2012, I had the privilege to visit a very special middle school in inner city Atlanta, Georgia.  This school, headed, managed, and taught by award winning educators Ron Clark, Kim Bearden, and their staff, takes an innovative approach to tackling the challenges of education in the 21st Century.

Since my visit, my own teaching has been revitalized.  It's apparent in the way that I wake up in the morning, the way I create lessons, and even in the way I respond to my peers.  My students are receiving the best of who I am as a teacher.  They are learning the hard lessons of how to deal with people respectfully, with appropriate handshakes (not too hard or soft) and direct eye contact, actively listening to a speaker, and appropriately responding to other people.

It it obvious to anyone who visits the Ron Clark Academy (RCA) that this school exudes a different kind of energy.  If one did not know better, one would believe it is magical.  Teachers there regularly challenge the students (who reflect the average public school in Atlanta even though it is a private school) at advanced levels, with the highest of expectations, and students succeed because of it.

The video below provides only a taste of this school's amazing spark.  If you are interested in seeing more, the RCA YouTube channel has a number of interesting videos.

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24th Annual Craft Show

11/19/2013

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It is time for the Annual Cecil Floyd Craft Show!  This year, the craft show will be on Saturday, November 23, from 9am to 4pm.  Please note the change in location for this year only!  Due to our safe room construction, this year's craft show will be held at South Middle School, located at 900 E. 50th Street.
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We Are Family

11/18/2013

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A few years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Erin Gruwell, former teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California.  Ms. Gruwell told the captivating story of how she became a teacher at the inner city high school.  She kept her audience captivated, telling the entire story of her career.
One idea that came through loud and clear was one that was repeated in the movie about her experience, Freedom Writers.  It was the idea that her 150 students became a family (and with that kind of support, coming from each other, all 150 graduated from high school).

That is also the underlying idea behind another teacher's success.  Ron Clark, founder of the Ron Clark Academy (RCA) in Atlanta, Georgia, works super hard to get his students to become a family away from home.  They become almost inseparable in their quest for success while at RCA.  I witnessed that, last year, when I met Mr. Clark and spoke personally with his students.
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That's also something I have tried to build amongst my own students - the feeling that we are a family, a special group of unrelated people who have discovered support and encouragement from each other.  I have been told that our class has one of the best family atmospheres in the district.  I hope we keep growing throughout the rest of the school year and avoid becoming a dysfunctional family.
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Guest Commentary:  Blueberries (Video)

11/17/2013

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The following video includes Jamie Vollmer's speech about "blueberries".  The video does a nice job of setting up this portion of his speech, but the speech itself begins at 2:04.  Give it a listen.
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Guest Commentary:  Blueberries

11/16/2013

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On Friday, I had the privilege of being in an audience, listening to Jamie Vollmer, former business executive and attorney who now works to increase public support for America’s public schools.  Mr. Vollmer uses common sense, humor, and stark reality in his presentation.  The following is a partial transcript from his keynote address.
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“If I ran my business the way you people operate your schools, I wouldn’t be in business very long!”

I stood before an auditorium filled with outraged teachers who were becoming angrier by the minute. My speech had entirely consumed their precious 90 minutes of inservice. Their initial icy glares had turned to restless agitation. You could cut the hostility with a knife.

I represented a group of business people dedicated to improving public schools. I was an executive at an ice cream company that had become famous in the middle1980s when People magazine chose our blueberry as the “Best Ice Cream in America.”

I was convinced of two things. First, public schools needed to change; they were archaic selecting and sorting mechanisms designed for the industrial age and out of step with the needs of our emerging “knowledge society.” Second, educators were a major part of the problem: they resisted change, hunkered down in their feathered nests, protected by tenure, and shielded by a bureaucratic monopoly. They needed to look to business. We knew how to produce quality. Zero defects! TQM! Continuous improvement!

In retrospect, the speech was perfectly balanced — equal parts ignorance and arrogance.

As soon as I finished, a woman’s hand shot up. She appeared polite, pleasant. She was, in fact, a razor-edged, veteran, high school English teacher who had been waiting to unload.

She began quietly, “We are told, sir, that you manage a company that makes good ice cream.”

I smugly replied, “Best ice cream in America, Ma’am.”

“How nice,” she said. “Is it rich and smooth?”

“Sixteen percent butterfat,” I crowed.

“Premium ingredients?” she inquired.

“Super-premium! Nothing but triple A.” I was on a roll. I never saw the next line coming.

“Mr. Vollmer,” she said, leaning forward with a wicked eyebrow raised to the sky, “when you are standing on your receiving dock and you see an inferior shipment of blueberries arrive, what do you do?”

In the silence of that room, I could hear the trap snap…. I was dead meat, but I wasn’t going to lie.

“I send them back.”

She jumped to her feet. “That’s right!” she barked, “and we can never send back our blueberries. We take them big, small, rich, poor, gifted, exceptional, abused, frightened, confident, homeless, rude, and brilliant. We take them with ADHD, junior rheumatoid arthritis, and English as their second language. We take them all! Every one! And that, Mr. Vollmer, is why it’s not a business. It’s school!”

In an explosion, all 290 teachers, principals, bus drivers, aides, custodians, and secretaries jumped to their feet and yelled, “Yeah! Blueberries! Blueberries!”

And so began my long transformation.

Since then, I have visited hundreds of schools. I have learned that a school is not a business. Schools are unable to control the quality of their raw material, they are dependent upon the vagaries of politics for a reliable revenue stream, and they are constantly mauled by a howling horde of disparate, competing customer groups that would send the best CEO screaming into the night.

None of this negates the need for change. We must change what, when, and how we teach to give all children maximum opportunity to thrive in a post-industrial society. But educators cannot do this alone; these changes can occur only with the understanding, trust, permission, and active support of the surrounding community. For the most important thing I have learned is that schools reflect the attitudes, beliefs and health of the communities they serve, and therefore, to improve public education means more than changing our schools, it means changing America.

© 2011 Jamie Vollmer is a former business executive and attorney who now works to increase public support for America’s public schools. His new book, Schools Cannot Do It Alone is available at www.jamievollmer.com.
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