An Arts Week for All!

As I write this blog, I'm anxiously awaiting the Grand Opening of the McCallum Arts Center (MAC for short) this evening.  Long anticipated, this center will provide another venue for the McCallum Fine Arts Academy to expand its wonderful array of arts offerings to students. According to the official website,  "...Austin voters approved bonds to build a new theater and art facility on the McCallum campus. After nearly three years of planning and construction, the state-of-the-art facility is now complete and includes a 500-seat theater, three visual arts classroom studios, gallery space, a scene shop, dressing rooms and costume storage areas."  Can't wait to check it out!

In addtion to the MAC opening, Highland Park has been heavily engaged this week in the arts as well.  Meetings over the past several days connected to the Kennedy Center's Any Given Child initiative included beginning survey work to stakeholders involved in the pilot (look for those this year!), as well as concrete planning tools for the Creative Classroom components.  It's been fascinating to sit and listen to the ideas and yes, dare I say it, the creativity of those connected with mindPOP, AISD and community arts providers, parents, and the Kennedy Center.

In the spirit of all things arts this week, and as a component to the Any Given Child initial action plan this year, 44 HP staff members also travelled to the Long Center last evening to attend the dress rehearsal for Ballet Austin's The Mozart Project.  The evening helped us kick off the year by building staff enthusiasm for the work ahead and truly provided us an avenue to show our support for the arts, as well as to strengthen our connections to each other. Pre-ballet began with a staff social at Threadgills, something we just don't get a chance to do often enough.  This night was for all of us and it was great to see everyone from our teachers to our head custodian to our nurse to our teaching assistants to our front office in attendance.  What a special evening for our staff and hopefully, the beginning of many more activities we can come together around the arts.  Check out the pics of this staff event on the HP website.

Finally, just have to say a big thank you to the fourth grade team and our very own art teachers for letting me tag along on today's field trip to the Blanton Museum.  One of four planned this year, this Art Central program helps students learn the role of a museum, gives opportunities for students to engage in higher critical thinking skills, as well as provides a forum for students to connect works of art and ideas.  I, along with my small student group headed by Mrs. Finkle, were able to compare and contrast the varied mediums used in the Teresita Fernandez Stacked Waters tiles located near the museum entrance to the Cildo Meireles installation How to Build Cathedrals.  Kids - and me too - were able to actually dip our fingers into the Meireles installation, feeling the pennies (representing wealth) that lay below the hanging cattle bones (representing death).  If you haven't seen this last piece in recent years, you really should check it out as it's quite a show stopper and provides an interesting way for the artist to provide social commentary.  Thanks to the Blanton for providing our students a hands on way to connect to the arts and to build those all important college, career, and life skills they need.

What a wonderful week of connections to the arts in the city we call home.  Gotta love it!

Scottie Connections and more

Do you know what's happening at Lamar these days?  Have you seen the changes, heard about the changes, all the good things going on over there?  Last night, the new Lamar principal George Llewellyn presented to HP parents at our school.  Those of us in attendance were impressed by the message delivered.  Mr. Llewellyn spoke of Japanese and French classes,  an alignment with McCallum in various art specialties (dance, theater, possibly musical theater), rigorous pre-AP math classes designed to have students ready for high school offerings, and more.  He shared with us his plans to beef up all content areas, spoke of a new assistant principal coming on board who is known for her work in the area of science, and he talked about the work his team is now doing with McCallum, UTeach, and mindPOP in all areas.  Truly, so many good things that I simply cannot mention them all here. Former Scottie parent reps, Blake Stanford, Sandy Muir, and Jodi Leach were on hand as well to provide input on their experiences and to share how much their kids love the school.  Mr. Llewellyn is personable, engaging, and, most importantly, knows the ins and outs of scheduling, school behavioral management systems, and the types of curricular changes it takes to make Lamar a school aligned to high school and a school that truly gets our kids on the path to college, career, and life.  He stated more than once he has a 90% open door policy (the man must get some work done in his office I'm sure:), and that yes, he is a parent principal but really a kid principal above all.  I have the impression he really gets the parent-school connection and the importance of us all working together.
My admin team was so impressed that this morning we drove over to Lamar to check it out first hand.  Mrs. Land, Ms. McDaniel, and I were greeted by a fresh coat of purple paint, new plantings, and a clean and orderly building.  We saw James in band, Skylar coming from orchestra, and Hannah, Addie, Makenzie and many other lovely former Scotties (how time flies!) headed outside with their teacher for a Socratic questioning activity.  Seriously, check it out if you haven't lately. Mr. Lewellyn and his AP Mr. Bennett also graciously invited all HP parents to attend a special arts showcase with their current students on October 6, 9:30 am, at McCallum HS. This opportunity is open to their feeder elementary school parents, so you won't want to miss it.   Go Dawgs!

Of course, our week right over here on our own campus has been super busy as always.  Classroom observations and walkthroughs are going well, Mrs. Hunter hosted some UT theater students who wanted to see creative strategies in action, Mrs. Read and Ms. Kilgore hosted a math parent night surrounding all things Making Math Real, and we're just now gearing up for the installation of the Aquarena Springs shade structure for the front of our school.  This long standing project (those of us involved have been talking/working on this for a few years now) is finally around the corner, with Phase I (the structures) coming any day now.  We'll keep you posted on specifics as it may relate to some minor traffic flow adjustments, but the team is super excited to see the dream come alive.  Thanks to Therese Baer, Sean Compton, Wes Amberboy, all PTA boards and members past and present, as well as the many others who have given time, energy, talents, and funding to make this happen for our school and community.

Connections to our feeder school, connections to former Scotties, and connections to each other right now.  Yep, a good week at HP!

Face Time and more

Ms. McDaniel and I spent the first part of our work week meeting with each teacher on campus.  This is typical for beginning of the year; in September, we meet with teachers to discuss upcoming observations, class goals, and campus initiatives.  It's an invaluable opportunity for us to have a one on one conversation with staff members, as time to connect on a campus is very hard when the days get so busy.  There are only so many hours...

Real conversation and connections with students happen to be one of our Campus Improvement Plan initiatives this year.  Spearheaded by counselor Cari Land, Face Time is now a part of our weekly master schedule.  This under 30 minute per week slot in classrooms, gives students and teacher a chance to connect over a variety of topics, either recommended by our counselor ("What does being bored mean?") or one that comes from a real-time sceanario ("At lunch, someone wanted my spot and I didn't think I should move, so what should I have done?").  In Face Time, everyone gets a voice and an opportunity to express an opinion on the topic or question of the week; students also find a place where sharing is safe (no name calling), the teacher can guide, and where connections can be made. During our teacher one on ones this week, when asked, the initial feedback for Face Time has been very positive.  In fact, teachers have said they and the students "Love It!". As Mrs. Land has stressed to me before, sometimes it seems that we get so caught up with the gadgets of the day (yes, our smart phones are a bit addictive), that we often lose those valuable face time moments with others.  I hope you get to experience some quality Face Time with your family this weekend!  You couldn't spend your time in a better way.

Your fourth or fifth grade child may come home today with a letter asking him/her to take an online survey as part of my National Boards.  Read through the letter with your child (randomly selected by show of hands expressing willingness to participate), follow the survey directions for online access, and thanks so much for helping me grow as a leader!  I hope to receive honest student feedback on how I'm doing as HP's principal.  Voluntary participation is appreciated as always.

All Roads Lead to Texas...

If you're a parent of a fourth grader you are more than familiar with the online assignment students are to complete with their families.  If not, I encourage you to check out the fourth grade WIKI/assignments section on the HP website (or through the HPPTA website).  I was sucked in last weekend reading the many student responses about how they came to be in Texas.  We have many, many families who can trace their Texas roots back several generations, and truly, everyone comes from everywhere.  In the handful of questions posed by our fabulous fourth grade teachers, I have now learned that Alex's great, great, great, great grandfather is believed to have fired the first shot (from his wagon no less!) in the Texas Revolution.  I've learned Kaden's great grandfather came from Sicily for a better life, that Ruby's great grandfather worked at NASA and helped cool the "original first 7 astronauts' space suits", that Bennett's great, great, great grandfather, by way of Tennessee, came to Texas because his crops and livestock were burned in the Civil War.  I now know Avalon's great grandmother walked to Texas from Piedras Negras, Mexico and that Ashleigh's ancestor preached the first Protestant sermon in English the year of 1844.  And I now know that many of our fourth graders have parents or grandparents who made their way to Texas more recently (such as I, five years and counting!) due to a job transfer, in search of an advanced degree, or simply a way to beat the cold and move somewhere warm.  We all have a story and we're all connected around the common theme of that quest for the better life for ourselves and for our families, as well as the indomitable human spirit that manages to keep us going in the face of incredible odds.  Hats off to fourth grade teachers for giving students a chance to connect over their Texas roots, regardless of how grand or humble, old or new.  A great way to jumpstart your Texas SS TEKS!

In my continued goal of being a life-long learner (and model for staff and students), I am now involved in the pilot program of the National Board Certification for Principals, an initiative supported by AISD.  This 18 month program, which I will complete with three other AISD elementary principals and two AISD high school principals (along with a couple of hundred other principals across the country), has many components to guide my growth as a school leader; one component requires a series of surveys for our communities at large.  This initial PARENT ONLY survey, followed next year by an exit survey, comprises questions around parent engagement in our school; I will also be administering surveys to staff, a core group of students, my peers, and the community at large.  Your answers will become a part of Highland Park's continued school improvement. Your responses will be anonymous and the system will ask for some personal information (i.e., name, e-mail address, phone) for the purposes of auditing and quality of data.  However, this information will not be used to identify you and you may submit your responses free of this concern.  Technical support is available if needed once you log-in to take the survey.  Thanks in advance!
Your link is personal to your feedback group (CURRENT HP PARENTS) and must not be shared or forwarded. Please access the survey from the following address: http://login.chpd.com/login/pc4ut/56139
Please complete this survey by September 30, 2011. You must complete this survey in one sitting. You will not be able to close the survey and resume later. As your feedback is important to this initiative, please ensure you access the survey at a time and in an environment conducive to completing it.    

Dibels Is Done

All things beginning of year Dibels (Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is wrapped up except for a few make-up assessments.  Our very energetic team of "dibelers", consisting of special education teachers, reading specialist, the assistant principal, and myself, hit the ground running with our Dibels boxes in hands the very first day of school and haven't looked back since.  All K-5 students receive this assessment at the beginning of the year (BOY), as one measure to tell us who may need extra support in fluency practice (grades 2-5), or who may need small group instruction on early reading skills, such as phonemic awareness, phoneme segmentation or letter naming (K-1).  Having done Dibels for several years now, I can see the intervention with our upper classes coming to fruition. Those students who were Dibeled as kinders in 2007 (now fourth graders), are showing huge gains in fluency; great longitudinal data!  We're also thrilled with what the standardized test data is showing us; if you look at last year's third grade reading commended scores at 82%, increased student fluency (rate, accuracy, prosody) seems to be impacting reading comprehension positively - along with other interventions/strategies, of course.  Though there are many things that need attention in a school the first few weeks we're back, I can't tell you how much fun it is to sit with the kids one on one (and Kinders are a hoot 'cause they're just trying to figure out who the heck you are) or how important this time with them is in the scope of all things reading.  There are many assessments our kids will take as they move through the grade levels, but Dibels will always be near and dear to my heart.  Be sure to give a big thank you to Kathy Sederholm if you see her for gettting us going so early, to Leah Read for her extra support with the data spreadsheets, and to our fluency center volunteer coordinators Maria Raper and Jeannine Ripp for their data plan meeting this week.

Be on the lookout this weekend for an Eagle Scout Project around our school.  ES candidate Pierce Fuller is set to work on the former SKIP play area and transform it for the benefit of our school.  This area will consist of some really nice raised garden beds, with a long term goal of letting the A-Team and after school child care students plant, tend, and harvest over the next few months.

Try not to "labor" too intensely this weekend and enjoy the 3 days with your family and friends.  We'll see you back at HP bright and early on Tuesday.