"Steal from the best, and learn from the rest"

Best advice I was just given...

Let's keep in touch!

Hey again everyone! It has been great to see/meet all the rest of the faculty this week. I know I am not the only one who feels extremely welcome and at home here already--what an exhilarating feeling. It has been good to still have lunch or some discussions with you guys, but I can already imagine that it will be easy for us to go our separate ways once the kids come back. I really hope that we can make an effort to support each other and enjoy each other's experiences and company once the school year really gets going. Let's be good about that! :)

Design Thinking ... The Power of Brainstorming

At the beginning of Algebra II, we are re-connecting with Algebra I skills after students have (probably) spent a year in Geometry. I believe that some of the brainstorming techniues might be useful for my first unit. Some students will barely need to do this and will be ready to move forward; others will benefit from the review and may begin to understand concepts in new ways because they are older and the ideas they grappled with earlier in their lives have had time to marinate.

I am giving a lot of thought to how to use online, adaptive testing and progression (e.g. Khan Academy) for skills development in Algebra II. I am also interested in the "flipped" classroom idea, although I will move cautiously into that territory, starting off with a hybrid approach. The notion of being able to do some of the more routine work outside of class (homework) and focus on the more complex work in class with support and groups intrigues me.

The Design Thinking work was a good brain stretch for me: don't want to fall too comfortably back onto the tried-and-true when so many new things are possible. At the same time, there's no need to abandon tried-and-true just for the sake of change.

Design Thinking

I absolutely loved how design thinking first allows students to brainstorm on their own and THEN within the group.   I also appreciated its emphasis on "quantity" over "quality" as this format allowed me to write down ideas I might have otherwise filtered.  And while I don't think these ideas were brilliant by any stretch, I really appreciated the way design thinking fosters creativity.  One quick thought on implementing this in my classroom might be to ask my students how we could promote poetry in the Upper School.  (National Poetry Month, anyone?) 

Orientation Day 4: Design Thinking

Design Thinking was a very helpful activity and mental exercise. We've probably all been using elements of this exercise in our own disciplines on many occasions, intuitively, without even knowing it. It was cool thinking through the steps to solving our problem of creating the ideal classroom space. It's something all us teachers have been/should have been thinking about/are thinking about now. We were really able to hash out on our ideas and were able to self-evaluate and assess which ideas are revealing, enlightening, something we could possibly implement in our own classrooms. I really enjoyed the day and I look forward to using this exercise in my own lessons.

Quantity over Quality

I was at first shocked to see this phrase listed on our directions and even considered if it were a typo. It seems like teachers are always trying to drive home to students that quality is what truly matters. However, after completing the post-it activity, I realized just how powerful quantity can be. As I mentioned in our session, I can see myself using this technique to help students write essays and learn how to brainstorm. For APUSH essays, I am consistently trying to stress the importance of including specific factual information to back up their thesis statements. It seems to be the hardest skill for students every year. I think by giving them a time frame like 5 minutes, using post-its so they have a visual of how many facts they are listing, and stressing quantity over quality, students will be better enabled to brainstorm. Then, we can transition this skill to the actual essay process.

Don't Forget the Obvious

Design Thinking is a fantastic idea. I was struck during the activity by how often I already do this in my teaching.  When my final assessment projects include things like, "design and build an impenetrable castle," after we have been discussing the evolution of medieval castle architecture and design, I guess my class has already been engaged in design thinking to some extent. A lot of what we discussed today is inherent in what and how we teach as teachers.

I think the best thing I learned today, though, is "desire lines." I love this concept!  Afterall, why work against the needs of the community, or in our case, the needs of the students.  I am going to try to figure out how to recognize, address, and celebrate "desire lines" in my classroom this year. Thanks, team, for introducing this concept!

Design thinking

I enjoyed all of the components of our design thinking activity.  From the interviews, the observations, the questions, the brainstorming and the creating.....they provided many opportunities to look at the design problem from many angles.  I am thinking about how I could use this in Spanish class....I do one activity where student design their "dream house", so it might be possible to complete this as a design thinking activity.  They could possibly work on it in teams.  Also, they might be able to use it to design the perfect vacation to one of the many Spanish speaking countries.  (after doing research as a team, they could decide what would be included, how they would design their trip, etc.)

I do hope to try this with my classes.  Often times, many of these intensive "discussion" group activities do not work with lower level language students, but I know they can be refined to work in these situations and provide a more authentic language experience.

I thought design thinking definitely allowed me to think more about my classroom arrangement. I know that I need to allow for not too much distraction and good traffic flow. It was fun to design a sample class.

Time to go shopping!!!

I'm going to channel my inner "interior-designer" skills sometime very soon and go shopping, every girl's most hated thing to do :) We talked a lot of about building your classroom and we examined the many different aspects that should be thought about when designing your classroom. My thoughts and perspective on the topic have been very revealing. They have shown me how much I value collaboration, mobility, comfort, and a relaxed learning environment. Without feeling good in our classroom, how can we all put our best learning foot forward and be in a position to help us be successful. So I've got some shopping to do and trying to think about all the details that will make up Ms. Marrion's classroom!!

Thursday Prompt

What were your impressions of design thinking? What was fun? What was hard? Have you used it in your classroom before and/or do you think you could use it in your class room this year?

Design Thinking!!!!

Design thinking was a very interesting activity.  Without realizing it I feel as though we use it almost daily.  I cannot wait to use this in my physics classes, because it is so applicable.  If an experiment does not work, why not?  How do we make this experiment better?  This is an extremely valuable set of skills in the sciences because it is so very often an experiment or an example does not work and we have to redesign in order to trouble shoot.  Very exciting to be approaching the first day of class!!!

Design Thinking

Today's activity on design thinking was a great lesson in group work in addition to helping me think about classroom space.  My favorite part, and the piece I am most likely to implement as a teacher, is the idea of a dot-mocracy.  Typically, group activities can reflect Darwinism - leaving those with the most powerful personalities in charge.  However, with a dot-mocracy, each group member is able to share their opinion and let the silent idea choosing reflect the honest group opinion.  This allows each group member equal power within the group.  It is something I will definitely use with students!

The Future

Although I have been teaching for some time, it's still a bit unnerving to begin in a new school.  At this point, though, I'm mostly excited to begin! I want to jump ahead to cool, fall weather, football games, and the mundane routine of already being in school for a few months. I will definitely feel more comfortable when everything is no longer so new.

For now, one of my most immediate concerns is learning how to work as a member of a department.  Until now, I have been THE History department, only consulting with myself.  Lucky for me, I have fantastic colleagues who have already been helping out, so my learning curve should be quite sharp.  Now, let's get started!

Reflections

I expect to challenge myself professionally this year more so than I ever have before. To a fault, I have always had high expectations for myself and those around me. I am the type of person that is always looking for something else to do, or something else to do differently. I am so excited to get the school year going and meet all these "crazy" 11 year olds that I already love, without having ever met them. I am so looking forward to all the upcoming conversations to be had, whether it be the push and pull of a dialogue or the warm conversations between teacher and learner. Mostly, I want to embrace all those moments where I will be the learner, and those around me--either adult or child--will have the opportunity to help me grow and learn. 

PS Lunch on our own was great. I have two more new friends #fhsnewfaculty 

Looking Forward To ... Innovation As A Goal

I really love the spirit of innovation here at Flint Hill. It appears that there is a HUGE support system in place for both students and instructional staff. The first and most important aspect of this suport is an underlying structural system including human beings who are passionate and caring about their job responsibilities, appropriate technology and IT systems, an amazing counseling staff and program, a vibrant and successful arts curriculum including special events, a faculty support system of instructional coaches, and a highly successful athletic program. With all of this support in place, I feel the freedom to focus on innovative and successful pedagogy and the responsibility to do it in a GREAT way. I am looking forward to doing that.

The opportunity and the challenge is exhilarating, and I am so happy to be here. Having support over the next week from The Landmark School is awesome. It is a truly incredible opportunity.

The planning for this week is obvious. Thank you.

Looking forward/wonder

Looking forward...
I am most looking forward to meeting my students.  While there is still a lot to accomplish before they arrive, I cannot wait to get back into the swing of things.  (And, I am also looking forward to decorating my classroom, completing my Beowulf unit, and finalizing my plans for the first day of class!)

Wonder...
I am wondering about the degree of communication with Upper School parents as both a teacher and advisor.  How involved is the advisor in terms of a student's grades?  (For example, does the teacher CC the advisor if a student receives a failing grade?  Is there a list of advisor responsibilities somewhere?)  I just don't want to miss something!

Day 3 Reflections

Halfway through the week, we are deep into the orientation process, getting to know the school better. In the morning, we had a very informative/interactive presentation from the fine arts department and in the afternoon we were had a presentation about the counseling services of the school. Having always taught abroad, it's good to have access to counselors now that I'm back in the States because they are a good resource as to what's really going on with your student emotionally. As a teacher, I'm sure glad that I don't have to look after the student's emotional well being alone. Although today was more information packed compared to earlier this week, we still had opportunities to interact with each other, especially in the team building activity we did in the fine arts presentation. All in all, it's been another very productive day.

I am very much looking forward to meeting the students and helping them enjoy and discover physics.  As the week has progressed I am realizing how lucky I am to be a part of this faculty.  Everyone here has so much wisdom and advice to share, I cannot wait to see how much I learn.  I had no idea everyone would be so welcoming and accommodating when I arrived on Monday.  If my interactions with the new cohort is any reflection on the interactions I will have with the returning faculty, I am in for a very productive and exciting first year!!!

Excited about getting started

I really enjoyed working with fellow new teachers in our Fine Arts session.  We learned about all of the fabulous fine art opportunities here at Flint Hill, and we got to actively participate in the lesson.  It was very informative and active, and provided yet another opportunity to get to know our fellow new teachers.

I look forward to getting into the nuts and bolts of planning my first few weeks as a teacher.  I have the curriculum map, but need to get a feel for what fits into a day of class here.  I've always planned the old fashioned way in one of those teacher plan books, but I look forward to learning some tricks about planning on the computer using the calendar tool.  Also, the curriculum map shows what I will be teaching, but I haven't seen the texts to know if the cultural reading material is provided in the books, or if I need to find outside sources for this material.  Looking forward to putting it all together!  Onward...

Day 3

I want to meet my students!  Seeing class lists and listening about available resources got me really excited to meet the students and start the school year.  While I clearly need more time and to review some more things I'm really looking forward to this year.  I think a lot of things that I'm wondering about will be answered next week with the division and department meetings but most of them are with regard to more specific logistics as I look forward to the first few weeks of the school year.

As a side note, something that has amazed me about this week is that all of this information hasn't stressed me out.  Usually at the beginning of the school year, all the information about things and changes (in addition to feeling like there is a ton to do to set up my classroom) really stresses me out and overwhelms me.  While I would like to think this is because of me, I really think its due to the structure of this week (including the length) so a HUGE "thank you" to all of you who planned it and helped make it happen :)

Contemplating Counseling

After today's counseling conformation session, I am gaining a much better sense of my role as counselor at FHS.  I'm excited to get to know staff, students, and parents - and to build the relationships that will allow all of us to have a successful and fun school year.  I look forward to supporting the FHS community in my new role!

A successful PowerPoint presentation

PowerPoints often get bad raps, especially those associated with orientation-type activities. While I am very excited that this week has been very interactive and non-traditional, I did want to give credit to a very well-done presentation today -- a presentation that included a PowerPoint.

I loved that the counseling presentation consisted of a series of scenarios. They really led to meaningful discussion and allowed everyone to ask important questions. Personally, I've sat through many presentations about confidentiality and the mandate to report suspected abuse. When faced with actual situations, however, like overhearing students discussing a party or a student being too familiar with a teacher, I felt completely unprepared and directionless for how to deal with them. It was so beneficial to get to consider those real-life scenarios, bounce ideas off of one another, and get the perspective of a counselor.

I am really looking forward to start getting to know my students. I guess all I am wondering is how the school year will actually be and how my students will be. Won't find that out until getting started.

Looking Forward...

The first three days of orientation have been an amazing experience! It's hard to believe we still have two more days. I am definitely looking forward to tomorrow morning's 'Design Challenge'. I'm not sure exactly what it entails, but if it's anything life the rest of the week, it'll fun, educational, and memorable.

It's hard to believe we have only been here for two days. We've learned a lot and met a lot of new people.

The format of these workshops, using flipping, discovery learning, and activity oriented sessions has inspired me to do more of that myself. I am thinking seriously about my first unit. There are certain things I always want to accomplish - establishing a learning community, encouraging mutual respect, encouraging students to consider the broader realm of mathematics - not just computation and symbol manipulation, and implementing classroom routines. The resources at Flint Hill from 1:1 laptop opportunities to intelligent use of IT systems to incredible support from learning specialists to an open, friendly community are truly inspiring me to do the best teaching of my life.

I am psyched !!!

Systems.  I enjoyed beginning to understand the systems of Flint Hill.  Security, Modern Language department, Computer Assistance....  Having all of this information gives me a sense of security that I will know how things work on that first day, and to be able to direct students.  When I am set with this info, I feel more comfortable diving in with my students.

I am excited to have smaller classes in Spanish.  This unfortunately has not been my experience in the past, so I have been thinking about ways to really take advantage of this tremendous opportunity.  I will be interested to see how the pacing is impacted with the small classes and the total access to technology.    I am excited to get started!

The People I've Met

What amazed me most about Day 2 is that it was only day 2! By that, I mean that I went home feeling like I knew so many people so well and was shocked at how much I had come to know this group of people in just 2 days. If the people I have met so far are a glimpse of what is to come, then I am so excited to work with the people at Flint Hill.

Welcome to Wellness!

On day 2 I was able to spend some quality time getting to know the Middle School Wellness Curriculum.  I cannot wait to dive into discussions and role plays about topics ranging from relational aggression and healthy relationships, affect regulation and self-concept, puberty and healthy choices.  I'm excited to begin!

On a separate note, the tennis activity was a blast!

Now, on to day 3!

I'm going to teach math!

If only it were that easy...  The biggest thing I want to teach and promote this year is how to think and how to work in groups.  To do this well, I'm going to start from day 1 and model how students should work with others and that there are often many different ways to think or solve a problem.  I also really want to promote a curiosity for math.  So often it just becomes a topic that students HAVE to teach rather than one that they want to learn.  I want my students to not only want to come to class because it is a safe (and fun) space/time but also because they are curious and excited to expand their understanding of math.  I <3 Math!

The "What" and "How"

Ah, the "what" and "how" of teaching.  I'm teaching the new sophomore English curriculum and a film elective.  One class is (obviously) a new venture for the English department, and film is quite new to me.  Yet, the uncertainty feels more exciting than daunting.  It's quite energizing to have more autonomy in constructing my classes than I've ever experienced before, and I just loved how comfortable I felt asking questions about everything from exam formats (The answer is projects!) to grammar teaching practices.

In other words, I'm still figuring out both the "what" and "how" of my teaching, but I'm off to a great start with my new classes.

The Nats/Giants rain delay has led me here to you tonight!

This morning's time to think about the first couple of weeks of school was invaluable. Just as I was getting into a good groove, it was time to move on. I will definitely need more time to just sit down and get focused! Making lunch was awesome. I hate to say it to the gentlemen in the group, you didn't really help defend your gender's cooking skills in the kitchen....but hey, we're all learning new things every day!! Highlight of the day though was on the tennis courts with Tom. Even though we were all warned, I'm not sure any of us actually believed that we were going to play tennis. I imagined that that's what happens to kids sometimes. You can tell them and warn them about things: aka, wear tennis shoes and comfortable clothes, but for some reason, we all totally missed the memo about an actual tennis game, and sometimes kids just cant connect all the dots either! But it was still great to get our competitive juices going and have some fun with each other outside the classroom. What a novel idea right??? Also, ice cream rules.

Another successful day.

oh, and go giants!! :)

Still Going Paperless

Today's challenge: Create a beautiful dessert with the mystery ingredients.  Looks delicious!

   
Cooking, Tennis, Security. These are some of the activities and training we participated in today, the second day of new teacher PD.  Of course, before doing all of that, we first worked on beginning of the year unit lesson plans and activities. I was so happy to learn a new tech tool-Camtesia-to help make my flipped and paperless classroom even more exciting and interesting for my students. I have used similar tools in the past but this one is like the Rolls Royce of record and capture tools.

This year I am going to tweak my student centered classroom, continue to be as green as possible (that would be 'environmentally friendly'), and try to empower my students even more.  Recently I have heard from several different sources that even the small things, like having students choose their own seats, go a long way to empowering students.  I have never thought of allowing students to choose their own seats.  It just seemed counter-intuitive to a well-run classroom.  Now that I think about it, there really is no reason not to.  I can always change my mind later, or just keep tweaking. Now, on to day 3!

Class with Profe Merchant

Knowing that I will be teaching level 1 Spanish students  I will try to be as communicative as possible with my students, trying to put the most emphasis on speaking. I feel that in some Spanish classes some students can't even say basic words in the 2nd language, so I hope that I can teach my students a lot more than just basics and they can say words pretty well.

Tuesdays Prompt

Tuesday: 
(for teachers)  You've started talking about what you'll teach today.  Try to organize your thoughts about the "what" and "how" of your teaching.  
(for non-teachers)  There's been a lot of emphasis on team-building so far.  How will you work to build the teams you are a part of?

After a few weeks here getting my feet wet, it was nice to finally jump in yesterday and get to know new colleagues and see new aspects of the East and West Campus that I had not discovered yet.
I also took the plunge into tweeting which was exciting and I am thankful for the push into that new social sphere. The more that I see and the more people I meet, the more excited I am about showcasing this wonderful place to prospective families.

Scavenger Hunt v. Treasure Hunt

I am new, too, to New Faculty-Staff Orientation week. This is my first year as Dean of Faculty and first year working with a very talented team of instructional and digital coaches to create a meaningful orientation week.  This morning was really the culmination of a 7 month scavenger hunt for Flint Hill. We looked high and low for you guys. We had leads, clues, contacts to help us find you. But somehow scavenger hunt doesn't quite express it for me. It was really a treasure hunt - finding educators who are engaged in learning, willing to jump in, working in groups to achieve a goal. Here's to a new school year and a great week and beyond learning about Flint Hill.

Day 1 of Orientation

First day of orientation. So much of it is exciting, learning the ropes and getting acclimated into the Flint Hill community. Having a flipped instruction for orientation is really helpful. Everything is very intuitive. From the scavenger hunt with other new faculty to having downtime to discuss and reflect on what we'll be teaching and our teaching innovation, the day has just been flying by. Looking forward to the rest of this week!

And it begins!

I'm quite excited to see how much support Flint Hill offers for integrating technology into the curriculum.  While I'm slightly nervous about transitioning from Windows to Mac, I think it's going to be a fantastic experience, and I cannot wait to try new things in my classroom.

Change always involves both excitement and fear, but I feel that I'm where I'm supposed to be.  Thanks so much for the warm welcome!

Monday Reflections from the Newby

Day 1 of Flint Hill PD was fantastic.  I came to work, excited to get started, and excited to meet new people, but also nervous about sitting around for hours in meetings-meetings, although, necessary to learn the ins and outs of a new school-but sitting too long is not good.  First PD: a QR Code/Twitter scavenger hunt!  That has to be the best introduction to New Teacher training, ever. Kudos to the PD team for that!

I am already fairly adept at using Twitter, so for me it was not a big deal.  There were some new teachers who did not have Twitter accounts yet, so this was a trial by fire for them.  There is definitely something to be said about learning by doing.  I think all new teachers are pretty expert with this technology now. At least I did not have that experience, trying to complete a scavenger hunt while learning how to master the ins and outs of twitter at the same time.

The purpose of the scavenger hunt, though, was to become familiar with the community, the facilities, and to meet and talk to people on campus.  We definitely did that this morning, as well as having the opportunity to begin to bond with our new cohort.  All in all a great PD!

I actually felt right at home when I arrived today.  Thanks Flint Hill huskies!

A Day of Firsts

First day on the Hill:

Scavenger hunt with a twitter twist, compost rooms, getting to know new people, introductions to new technology, learning new school traditions - I can't to see what the rest of this week has in store!

Good Day Today!

Meeting so much of the staff today was a lot of fun and everyone was very helpful during the scavenger hunt. Looking forward to the rest of the week!

First Day at FHS (it's official!)

Today was a great day! Having only been a teacher at one other school, I was anxious about the change and unknown.  Not about anything specifically, but about the fact that I was coming into a new place and wouldn't know the basics of being a Flint Hill teacher...  However based on the scavenger hunt I think I'm in good hands.  Everyone that we ran into (whether they knew about the scavenger hunt or not) was overly helpful.  People didn't just point us in the right direction but instead escorted us to our next location.  It is clear that with all of the help that returning faculty and staff are eager to supply that the "unknown" will become the "known" in a very short time.

First Thoughts

It is exciting to be back among educators!  There is so much to learn in every new school, but what a fun way to discover the physical plant via a scavenger hunt.  Grouped with two teachers 20 years younger, I was excited to use my twitter account.  (my children would be mortified!) We learned to send a tweet from my iPhone, and we even learned how to send photos.  Like most of technology, it seemed a little overwhelming at first, but after a few tweets, we were all experienced pros.  We discussed ways we could use this in a class, and also how to keep us with other folks in our discipline who could share their great ideas.

We were not inundated with too much information this first day, and we have been able to touch on technology, courses, staff without feeling overwhelmed.  It is fun to start again at a new school, and I especially love being among new teachers who are equally excited about the start of a new school year.

Luckily, not too worried yet, let's see how we feel at the end of the week.

So many firsts

Even though I've experienced many teacher prep weeks, today brought many firsts. Here is a sampling:
- Using twitter
- Scanning a QRcode
- Having a relaxed, small group lunch with an administrator
- Feeling like the majority of an orientation day was focused on answering questions, inviting new ideas, and having the opportunity to obtain useful information. My usual orientation experiences have centered more around being talked to and watching PowerPoint presentations.
- Having access to a class schedule and roster weeks before classes begin

All of these "firsts" have reinforced my enthusiasm for working at Flint Hill and my belief that teaching at Flint Hill will be very different than ones I've previously had. While all of this is very exciting and I've enjoyed spending time with everyone today, I also now have this urge to make some coffee, crawl into a personal space, and spend time independently exploring all of the new things to which I've been exposed. I foresee my evening being one full of reading through the Flint Hill faculty portal, personalizing my new email, and setting up my new computer.

#fhsnewfaculty

Welcome to my world of writing. Imagine me talking to you as you are reading this and then you might be able to understand my fragmented sentences, poor sense of #hastag use, as well my understated sense of humor. Loved the scavenger hunt today. Will be sure to use it in class with the kids at some point. It was a great use of time, exploration, fun, and "coolness." Second best part of the day was chitchatting under the sunlight with new friends. #lookingforwardtotherestoftheweek

Exploring the World of the Huskies

Reflecting on the 1st day at my new home as a husky I am excited about getting started. There was a lot to explore, walking around East and West Campus. I am glad to have met my fellow huskies and feel more comfortable after seeing a glimpse of what the school year holds for me. 

Success!

I sent my husband and kids away to the beach so I could come to work.  My mom called yesterday to tell me she was sorry summer was over.  Sad, right?

Nope.  I'm feeling good.  I'm feeling excited about this new crop of faculty and staff.  I'm anxious to get  to know them and find out how we intersect.

I'm also excited that we are finishing early today!

(posted by Joey Starnes)

The Race

Thought today's scavenger hunt was tremendous fun and a great way to navigate the school!

Justin

Manic Monday

First day at Flint Hill and there is a lot going on.  It is very exciting to be working with such a qualified group of individuals so excited to educate and mold young minds.  So much different technology used to help enhance the learning experience.  As the "rookie" of the bunch with no experience I am excited to learn all I can from my veteran colleagues.

Rentz FHS New Faculty First Day - a lot is going on!

I am always excited by new adventures. This has been a new and exciting day! I haven't used a Macintosh computer in quite a while, so my impulses from the Windows world lead me astray from time to time. However, my experience with an iPhone makes it not entirely strange. It's fun.

I became active with Twitter which was very useful. Having had a Twitter account, I was ready to go. Not having used it much, I wasn't sure where I was going.

All of a sudden, my name and picture are popping up here and there. I'm not so thrilled about that, but I'll go with it.

Cheers!