I can assure you that this regular reminder of our student blogfolios with its concomitant plea for your visitation is not a function of my from time-to-time challenge in finding a prompt for blogging. (Although that is definitely a challenge some weeks!) It is also not a function of believing that blogging is the primary or most important thing that we do at OJCS – it is not. But because blogs and blogfolios do makeup the spine of which much else is built around; because the pandemic has required us to lean into them more regularly; and because they are outward facing – available for you and the general public to read, respond and engage with – I do want to make sure that I keep them top of mind.
For most of my professional life, I have had two children in (my) schools where they maintained blogfolios. I subscribed to them, of course, but I am not going to pretend that I read each and every posting, and certainly not at the time of publication. So this is not about shaming parents or relatives whose incredibly busy lives makes it difficult to read each and every post. As the head of school where blogfolios are part of the currency, I frequently set aside time to browse through and make comments – knowing that each comment give each student a little dose of recognition and a little boost of motivation. But I am certainly not capable of reading each and every post from each and every student and teacher!
When I am able to scroll through, what I enjoy seeing the most is the range of creativity and personalization that expresses itself through their aesthetic design, the features they choose to include (and leave out), and the voluntary writing. This is what we mean when we talk about “owning our own learning” and having a “floor, but not a ceiling” for each student.
It is also a great example of finding ways to give our students the ability to create meaningful and authentic work. But, it isn’t just about motivation – that we can imagine more easily. When you look more closely, however, it is really about students doing their best work and reflecting about it. Look at how much time they spend editing. Look at how they share peer feedback, revise, collaborate, publish and reflect.
This year, with the building still largely sealed off due to COVID protocols, our classroom blogs and student blogfolios remain important virtual windows into the innovative and exciting work happening at OJCS. In addition to encouraging families, friends and relatives to check it out, I also work hard to inspire other schools and thought-leaders who may visit my blog from time to time to visit our school’s blogosphere so as to forge connections between our work and other fellow-travelers because we really do “learn better together” [North Star Alert!]
So please go visit our landing page for OJCS Student Blogfolios. [Please note that due to privacy controls that some OJCS students opt for avatars instead of utilizing their first names / last initials which is our standard setting. That may explain some of the creative titles.] On our last tour, I pre-selected a few examples, but we have WAY TOO many to do that now, so go…
Seriously go! I’ll wait…
…
…
English, French and Hebrew; Language Arts, Science, Math, Social Studies, Jewish Studies and so much more…our students are doing some pretty fantastic things, eh?
I will continue to encourage you to not only check out all the blogs on The OJCS Blogosphere, but I strongly encourage you to offer a quality comment of your own – especially to our students. Getting feedback and commentary from the universe is highly motivating and will help this snowball (no pun or passive-aggressive take on what is happening outside my window!) grow as it hurtles down the hill of innovative learning.
I can think of no better use of my blog on a snowy April day during a lockdown pivot of distanced learning than shining a light on the newest and fastest growing space on our OJCS Blogosphere, our Student Blogfolios.
For those who don’t like to click through, I’ll remind you that a “blogfolio” is a term of art that (I believe) my former colleague Andrea Hernandez created, and in her words:
Portfolios give students a chance to develop metacognition, set goals and internalize what “good work” looks like. Blogs offer a platform for creativity, communication, connection and the practice of digital citizenship. “Blog-folios”are the best of both worlds- using a blogging platform to develop writing skills, provide opportunities to connect with an authentic audience and increase reflective practices. Instead of using the entire site as a portfolio, students will use the category “portfolio” to designate those selections that represent high-quality work and reflection.
We added “student blogfolios” to our blogfosphere a couple of years ago with a prototype in Grade 5 and now each current student in our school in Grades 3-7 has his or her own blogfolio.
I try to spend a couple of hours each week reading student blogfolios and what I enjoy seeing the most is the range of creativity and personalization that expresses itself through their aesthetic design, the features they choose to include (and leave out), and the voluntary writing.
This is what we mean when we talk about “owning our own learning” and having a “floor, but not a ceiling” for each student. It is also a great example of finding ways to give our students the ability to create meaningful and authentic work. But, it isn’t just about motivation – that we can imagine more easily. When you look more closely, however, it is really about students doing their best work and reflecting about it. Look at how much time they spend editing. Look at how they share peer feedback, revise, collaborate, publish and reflect.
This year, with the building largely sealed off due to COVID protocols, our classroom blogs and student blogfolios become even more important virtual windows into the innovative and exciting work happening at OJCS. Recognizing that it still may be a new routine for families and that most families surely don’t have the bandwidth to visit all the blogs, it is my pleasure to serve as your occasional tour guide of The OJCS Blogosphere. I do this a few times a year to inspire OJCS families to invest a little time, to inspire other schools and thought-leaders who may visit my blog from time to time, and to forge connections between our work and other fellow-travelers because we really do “learn better together” [North Star Alert!]
This week I will focus for the first time on student blogfolios. [Please note that due to privacy controls that some OJCS students opt for avatars instead of utilizing their first names / last initials which is our standard setting. That may explain some of the creative titles below.]
From Audrey’s Blog (Grade 6 / click here for the full blog)
The Best Moment of My Life – Posted March 17
My class is learning all about sensory writing.
Sensory writing is really important to incorporate into your stories, paragraphs, etc. because it helps the reader imagine what you are trying to explain and it helps the reader picture the setting.
If I were to redo this assignment, I would try to make the writing longer and extend the paragraphs.
Here is my picture and my sensory writing
I had no idea where my parents were taking me that day. The suspense was overtaking me and I felt worried for what was to come. Was I walking into a trap or were they leading me to the most wonderful place I will ever go to? My parents refused to tell me where we were going which only fed my anticipation. The car slowed to a stop in a vacant parking lot, all I saw were willow trees around us. As I slowly stepped out of the car and my parents told me to walk through a path nearby. When I reached the other side of the trees I was flabbergasted with the sight.
I found myself standing on the beach, gazing at the outstanding sunset with a mix of yellow, orange and purple. The sun was low in the sky as if it was playing a game of hide and seek. The sun reflected on the waves that were crashing against the shore line, then very slowly creeping its way back to the water, creating a soothing noise. The air smelled like smoke from a hut in the distance. I could just imagine a family roasting marshmallows over a bonfire fire as they told scary stories. The sand was very soft on my feet as if I were standing on a pill of feathers. The sand was molding my feet making it a reasonable thing to decide to stand rather than sit. The taste of sea salt on my lips created the illusion that I was swimming in the water. As i sat down on the sand i could feel the warmth overfilling me. I could tell already that this was hands down, the best moment of my life!
I hope you enjoyed this story
Have you ever been to an outstanding place?
If so where? What happened while you were there? What were your feelings about the sight?
From TE’s Blog (Grade 4 – click here for the full blog)
Innovation Day – Pulley Project – Posted March 18
[Jon’s Note: TE’s teacher nominated this blog post in part because she is new to OJCS this year and is just learning English. Part of the magic of blogfolios is how well it allows you to chart progress over time!]
ELEVATOR
What did I need for the elevator I built: wire, 2 long pieces of cardboard, a box, 2 short pieces of cardboard, and a stick
How I connected all the parts: I took the hot glue and the 2 long parts and the 2 short parts I put 1 of the long parts
And on both sides I glued the short parts
And over the short parts I glued the last long part
How I started the structure of the elevator: I took the box and made 2 holes up the holes and inserted the stick into the holes.
How I build the evaluator pulley: I take the string and fold it. At the end of the fold, I glued it to the dowl (wooden stick). at the other end, I glued the elevator box
How I built the flag pole: take a large wooden pole and glued it to the base. I take more wooden sticks and glue them to the top. I take two small pieces of cardboard and make a square shape to make a pulley. Between the small cardboard, I put the rope through and on one end draw a ‘T’ and two swords on the square flag. I glue the flag to the rope.
From Maytal’s Blog (Grade 7 – click here for the full blog)
Hebrew/Photo – Posted April 20
[Jon’s Note: I never choose my own children to highlight; this came as a recommendation from her Hebrew Teacher. However, as student blogfolios were a big part of my last headship, Maytal’s blogfolio shows what it looks like when you start in Kindergarten. Any OJCS parent who wants to see what it will ultimately look like should take a peek.]
בכיתה שלנו לעברית מורה רותי נתנה לנו 3 תמונות לבחירה. היינו צריכים לבחור אחת ולכתוב עליה. אני בחרתי בתמונה הזאת. אני מתארת את מה שאני חושבת על התמונה.
In our Hebrew class Morah Ruthie gave us three options to write about. I chose this photo down below. I described what was happening in the photo.
בתמונה יש 5 חיילים ויש חייל אחד עם מדים עם דם. החייל הזה נהרג והחיילים מאחור זה הוא עצמו שמבקש לא לבכות לבכות עליו. הוא גם מבקש סליחה על מה שהוא עשה והוא מנסה לדבר אל החיילים שלא נהרגו.
In the photo there are five soldiers and there is one soldier who is a different colour with blood. The soldier was killed and in the background you can see the exact soldier asking not to cry for him. He is asking for forgiveness for things he has done, and trying to communicate to soldiers who are still alive.
From Hermione’s Blog (Grade 3 – click here for the full blog)
French Blog Post – Posted February 5
Quel est le nom du dernier film que tu as vu?
Lightning Mcqueen
Combien de lettres contient ton nom de famille ?
J’ai 6 lettres dans mon nom de famille.
Qu’as-tu mangé pour déjeuner ce matin ?
Des céréales avec du lait
As-tu des animaux à ta maison ? Si oui, lesquels ?
J’ai un chien.
Quel est ton sport préféré ?
Natation
Quelle est ta nourriture préférée ?
Pain dore
Quelle est ta couleur préférée ?
bleu
Nomme ton livre préféré.
Harry Potter
Quel mois est ton anniversaire ?
decembre
Quel est ton animal préféré ?
Lou arctic
Quel est ton sujet préféré à l’école ?
Les sciences
Do you want more? Here is a curated playlist from our Teaching & Learning Coordinator Melissa Thompson:
English, French and Hebrew; Language Arts, Science, Math, Social Studies, Jewish Studies and so much more…our students are doing some pretty fantastic things, eh?
I will continue to encourage you to not only check out all the blogs on The OJCS Blogosphere, but I strongly encourage you to offer a quality comment of your own – especially to our students. Getting feedback and commentary from the universe is highly motivating and will help this snowball (no pun or passive-aggressive take on what is happening outside my window!) grow as it hurtles down the hill of innovative learning.
The future of education fell into my lap in 2010 when I became the Head of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School in Jacksonville, Florida and inherited Silvia Tolisano on my staff. For the many (so many) in the educational world who knew, followed, admired, and otherwise stood in amazement at the force of nature that was – and it is heartbreakingly sad to type “was” – Silvia, you are probably as surprised as I am that in a small Jewish day school in Jacksonville, a living, breathing prophetess of teaching and learning was a teacher on my staff. [And if you are a casual reader of my blog and don’t travel in education circles, do yourself a favor and visit the most impactful blog that a teacher ever dared to dream into existence.]
Silvia Tolisano knew all the languages and traveled to all the places. She weaved all the networks and knew all the people. How did our little-school-that-could host international conferences and get featured on influential podcasts? How on earth did we wind up in the orbits of so many significant movers and shakers? How did we – for a glorious, fleeting moment – become the center of the educational universe?
Silvia.
Silvia Tolisano knew all the platforms and mastered all the literacies. Each day with Silvia was a call to arms. Each moment teachable and certainly worthy of documentation. The Hebrew word for “awe” is yirah and it comes with subtle connotations of fear. It is fair to say that our faculty was equal parts terrified and inspired during those early days. How could you not be? I could spend 10,000 words naming and hyperlinking each platform and pedagogy and idea that she introduced to us during those years and I would still be unable to adequately describe how much it all was. (No fewer than 40 of my blog posts directly refer to her work.) How did a small school with few resources blog and tweet and document and share before it became cool (and accepted best practice)?
Silvia.
Silvia was the truth. I’d like to think that I had the smallest impact on her and her trajectory. Our richest conversations were about faculty culture and how to move/inspire/cajole/require/utz teachers to embrace the future and I would look forward to learning new German words that better captured the spirit of our struggle. My job was essentially to figure out how to harness the overwhelming multitudes of Silvia and make it feel achievable to the rest of us, the non-Silvias. But whatever impact I might have had on her, she made my career. The things that I am known for are the things that Silvia showed me first. I simply am not who I am without her. Did it seem weird that I brought Silvia with me from MJGDS to Schechter and then to Prizmah and then here to Ottawa (as a consultant)? How couldn’t I? Who are you going to bring in when you want to paint a picture of what can and should be true about teaching and learning?
Silvia.
Her first/last book (w/Janet Hale) is called A Guide to Documenting Learning and is a fitting testament to everything that she believed about education. No one knew more and pushed harder for teachers and schools – Jewish schools – to adopt and adjust to a changing world. What we are all living with during these times of COVID is proof positive that Silvia had it right and had it way earlier than most. She fancied herself a witch, but she was a prophet – she didn’t dabble in magic; she knew the future.
I have spent the last few days reconnecting with colleagues and talking with my current staff about the miracle of Silvia Tolisano. She was always a WhatsApp or Tweet away whenever you had a question or needed a resource or just wanted to know what was next. In the sporting world of coaching, they measure influence by one’s “coaching tree.” That is to say, one measures one’s impact on the game by how many future coaches learned with and from you and, thus carry your influence, your message, your words, and your ideas forward.
How do you measure the impact of an educational guru, coach, mentor, blogger, tweeter, sketchnoter, author, lecturer, tutorial-creator, infographic-designer, life-grabber, world-traveler, marathon runner, wife, mother, grandmother, colleague, consultant and friend?
Silvia Tolisano died way too early and with way too many years left to live. I have never known a person who better embodied the notion that one ought not count down the days of one’s life, but should make each day count. None of us – certainly not most of us, and definitely not me – can be Silvia. She was an original, sui generis, never-to-be-duplicated. But we can aspire towards the things she wanted for us. To never fear the future. To try and to fail and to try again. To live a globally connected life. To keep growing and then grow some more. Like so many educators and lives she touched, for me, whenever I think I can’t – the job is too hard, I’m too old to learn new things, I don’t have enough time, etc. – Silvia’s voice is there to tell me that I can and I must. That’s the work. No excuses.
Silvia Tolisano would have hated this blog post. She was in many ways as personally private as she was professionally public. But this is what she taught me – and all of us – to do. To learn and to reflect and, most importantly, to share. For me, my professional north star is no longer. But a star’s light continues to shine for years after its time is over and Silvia’s light – her life’s work – will continue to illuminate the path for years and years to come. May we each be both lucky and brave enough to walk it…
Today is our second “PD” (Professional Development, although in our internal language we prefer “Professional Growth”) Day of the school year. Like the prior one, most of the time is being given over to our teachers in light of the high bandwidth that hylex teaching and learning requires. A lot of the day will be spent catching up and working on second trimester report cards. We, will, however be spending a little time in both horizontal (grade-level) and vertical (subject matter) conversations around what I am calling “Curriculum Mapping – Year Zero”.
If you read this blog – or know me – then you already know that I tend to think in terms of stories and narrative arcs. And in living and telling the story of OJCS, I have tried to make explicit what chapters we are in and how those chapter come together. For example the financial story of the school has been moving from “Crisis” to “Fragile Stability” on our way towards “Sustainability”. When it comes to the educational product – what matters most to students, parents and teachers – we have documented in my blog and lots of other places the story of our journey. Without revisiting all that territory, with the extraordinary contributions of three different consultancies, we have…
…2019-2020: Was supposed to be a year to PAUSE and let everyone catch up with all the changes, with the exception of launching our TACLEF Consultancy to impact French outcomes and a task force to help align our teacher evaluation process with our North Stars. And then COVID…
The story of those three years (my first ones at OJCS) was largely about the HOWS and WHYS of teaching – what does OJCS uniquely believe to be true about teaching and learning and, then, what does “excellence” look like?
This year was supposed to begin a transition to an equally important topic – the WHATS of teaching. As a private school we have freedom (and I would argue an obligation) to only use the provincial standards and benchmarks as the “floor” not the “ceiling”. To make that true, we have a responsibility to be very clear about what our benchmarks and standards are for each subject in each grade. The shorthand for that process is often called “curriculum mapping”. In a non-COVID year, 2020-2021 would have been the first in a two-year curriculum mapping consultancy, the end result being a clear and detailed description of the “whats”. And because I like round numbers, it would have meant that after five years, this chapter of the school would be complete and we’d be ready to start writing the next exciting one. But still COVID…
In order not to lose momentum, however, we did this year ask our teachers to commit to putting on paper their long range plans for the year. Before you can have a conversation about what should be, it is helpful to all be on the same page with what is. That brings us back to today. Today, our teachers are sharing with their grade-level teams and their subject matter teams the results of their long range planning. Their discussions will focus on the following questions:
What have you noticed in your own plans now that you have had a few months to reflect on the gap between what you planned and what actually happened? How is your pacing with regard to meeting all of your learning expectations over the span of the whole school year? Does anything need to be adjusted to meet those outcomes?
Do you notice any gaps in your own plans? What do you think needs to be added? Are there opportunities to offer more detail?
Do you notice any overemphasis or overlapping in your own plans? What do you think needs to be trimmed, cut or adjusted?
Do you notice any gaps in the collective plans? Is there content or learning skills that are critical for your students that don’t live in anyone’s (JS/FS/GS) plans? Is there content that is critical for your students that doesn’t live in any grade’s plans below yours? Are there learning skills that are critical for your students that don’t live in any grade’s plans below yours?
Do you notice any redundancies in the collective plans? Is there content or learning skills that are duplicated across your plans? How might you better collaborate and/or assign those goals/skills/experiences across the team? Is there content or learning skills that are duplicated across your plans? How might you better collaborate and/or assign those goals/skills/experiences across the grades?
We are grateful to have a day of conversation and collaboration. We are excited that the work our teachers will be doing today will have real impact on teaching and learning at OJCS in the years ahead – COVID or no COVID!
One more dot to connect!
About 600 words or so ago, I mentioned a task force to align what we now believe to be true about teaching and learning with our evaluation process of teachers. I also mentioned that we now had a clearer picture of what “excellence” in teaching and learning truly is. Those things are connected. The first deliverable from the task force was the creation of a new “Learning Target” for OJCS. This “Learning Target” is the instrument of alignment – meaning we can now make big and small decisions based on whether they bring our school closer to the target or not. If our “North Stars” represent unchanging aspirational endpoints of our educational journey, our “Learning Target” functions as a map and a compass. I am very pleased to share it with you here for the first time:
We have a separate document providing detailing each cog in greater detail, which I will be happy to share upon request.
With the building largely sealed off due to COVID protocols, our classroom blogs and student blogfolios become even more important virtual windows into the innovative and exciting work happening at OJCS. Recognizing that it still may be a new routine for families and that most families surely don’t have the bandwidth to visit all the blogs, it is my pleasure to serve as your occasional tour guide of The OJCS Blogosphere. I do this a few times a year to inspire OJCS families to invest a little time, to inspire other schools and thought-leaders who may visit my blog from time to time, and to forge connections between our work and other fellow-travelers because we really do “learn better together” [North Star Alert!] This week I will focus on classroom blogs…
From the OJCS (Middle School) Jewish Studies Blog (click here for the full blog)
Grade 8: Virtual Discussion with Tibor Egervari – Posted on November 23rd
Last week the students had the opportunity to engage in a discussion with a Holocaust survivor on Zoom. Our guest speaker, Tibor Egervari, shared his story and explain how he ended up in Canada. Tibor answered a variety of questions and provided the students with his unique insight. Tibor shared his own life lessons and encouraged our students to take a stand when they witness injustice occurring in our world. We are incredibly grateful that Tibor was able to share his perspective with us.
From the Grade Four – Kitah Dalet Blog (click here for the full blog)
It has been a busy few weeks… – Posted on November 11
From starting our new Science unit of ‘Sound’ to the new financial literacy math unit and looking at how maths is used in ‘real-life’, we are keeping ourselves busy and positive!
Check out our (physical distance, of course!) experiment of how sound moves in waves and causes vibrations by making our own Kazoo! I am sure Morah Ana-Lynn and Morah Andrea enjoyed the afternoon music…
Our new Grade 4 Student LOVED the playing in the first snowfall (Dare I tell her just how cold it gets!?)
Here the Grade 4s pose after a game of soccer
From the Kindergarten – Gan Blog (click here for the full blog)
Les voyelles – Posted on October 28
We are learning our French vowels! Throughout the last few weeks, we have read stories about each vowel, created booklets, used Play-Doh to make letters and played a variety of games!
French vowels are difficult because they do not sound the same in French as they do in English. Nonetheless, these kiddos are learning quickly and we have many almost-readers!
From the Grade 1 – Kitah Alef Blog (click here for the full blog)
In Honour of Our Veterans – Posted on November 19
Last week, our Grade 1 students wrote to our veterans to honour them. Please see the email below that Ellie received from the Canadian Legion in Westboro. As always, we couldn’t be prouder of our students.
Good morning Ellie,
Thank you so much for giving Daphne the artwork your students did in honour of our veterans. I put a few of them up on our branch bulletin board, with credit to your school, and Daphne took the rest to give to the veterans, mostly elderly, she visits in her capacity as leader of our Hospital/Home visiting team. We think they will be both pleased and touched.
I was especially moved by this sentence in the message: I love that you saved us.
Remarkable.
I will do a Facebook post in the next couple of days to salute your young students.
Thanks again,
Claudine Wilson
Public Relations Officer
Westboro Legion
Our teachers and students are doing some pretty fantastic things, eh?
I will continue to encourage you to not only check out the blogs on The OJCS Blogosphere, but I strongly encourage you to offer a quality comment of your own. Getting feedback and commentary from the universe is highly motivating and will help this snowball grow as it hurtles down the hill of innovative learning.
For our next tour, I’m going to give you a taste of what is happening with our Grades 4 – 7 student blogfolios. Stay tuned!
With all the workshops and meetings and slides and conversations about our blogs, it is sometimes easy to forget (at least for me) that the best way of showing the power, the impact, and the learning on the blogs is to actually show it! Recognizing that it still may be a new routine for families and that most families surely don’t have the bandwidth to visit all the blogs, let me serve as your occasional tour guide of The OJCS Blogosphere. I hope to do this a few times a year to inspire OJCS families to invest a little time, to inspire other schools and thought-leaders who may visit my blog from time-to-time, and to forge connections between our work and other fellow-travelers because we really do “learn better together” [North Star Alert!]
From the OJCS (Middle School) Mathematics Blog (click here for the full blog)
Math Escape: Grade 8 Dinner Party! – Posted on October 28th
Grade 8 participated in their first Math Escape Room of the year on Friday.
They got a taste last year, and loved it so much, that I had to put together another one and bring it back to life this year!
October’s theme: a Dinner Party! How much food? When to start each recipe? How to set the tables? ….and picky eaters!
Students were “Trapped in Math Class” for 60 minutes in small groups. They had to beat the clock to correctly answer four tough and tricky questions that pushed them to squirm and struggle. Topics included logic problems, algebra, and area of circles.(had to figure this out from notes and clever resources-since we haven’t learned it formally yet!)
So with the room set, and the students eager with positive attitudes they took on the challenge…and as the struggled through, they came out on the other side all escapees from this month’s escape room!.
Here’s a peak into their “struggle,” and now thanks to my over using my “dontstealthestruggle”phrase, students are often heard saying back to me, “Mrs Cleveland, no, don’t help, don’t steal my struggle, I can figure it out.”
Could I be more proud?! Let’s see what they got what it takes to escape in November’s room, I’m already preparing it! Bring it, grade 8! Show me what you’ve got!
…stay tuned….grade 7 takes on their first escape room tomorrow! They’re ready for the challenge!
Take a look…
From the Grade One – Kitah Alef Blog (click here for the full blog)
Proud Teacher Moment – Posted on November 1
What an amazing feeling it is to walk in on my students during recess and find a few of them playing (IN HEBREW) a game I used with them yesterday to practice hebrew vocabulary.
They truly exemplify OJCS’s star – “We own our own learning. We own our own stories.”
And to make matters BETTER. As I was writing about this, I heard my students using the Hebrew song I taught them for lining up during transition time in another class.
My heart feels so fulfilled at this moment! My dream (having OJCS students using Hebrew NOT ONLY in Hebrew class) is coming true…
I am truely soooo proud!
TODA YELADIM!
From the Grade Five – Kitah Hay Blog (click here for the full blog)
Student Vote 2019 – Posted on October 18
We had a great turnout for our Student Vote yesterday! The grade 5 students prepared and delivered! It was a long morning, where lots of patience was needed, but they stepped up to the challenge and were true model students and citizens.
We started the morning learning how to fold and initial the ballots to ensure they were all “kosher” and hadn’t been tampered with. They also witnessed and confirmed that the ballot boxes were empty before they were sealed.
And then the fun began! We welcomed all the classes from grades 3 to 8 into our room, presented important information on the main party platforms, and then worked as Poll Clerks and Deputy Returning Officers to guide voters through the voting process.
We can’t wait to share the results with you, after the polls close for the rest of the country, on Monday evening. We will be counting the votes on Wednesday so stay tuned!
From the OJCS (Middle School) Francais Blog (click here for the full blog)
Nos futurs politiciens? – Posted on September 20th
Nos étudiants et étudiantes de la classe de la 8e année de Mme Bertrend et de Mr. Cinanni ont eu l’honneur de participer à deux tables rondes, avec le Parti Conservateur et le Parti Vert, respectivement. Les élèves ont pu vivre une expérience unique, en écoutant des politiciens répondent des questions auxquelles font face la communauté juive, à Ottawa et à travers le Canada.
Ils ont aussi la chance de poser une question aux deux partis, en trois langues ! Vive le trilinguisme à OJCS !
Our teachers and students are doing some pretty fantastic things, eh?
I will continue to encourage you to not only check out the blogs on The OJCS Blogosphere, but I strongly encourage you to offer a quality comment of your own. Getting feedback and commentary from the universe is highly motivating and will help this snowball grow as it hurtles down the hill of innovative learning.
For our next tour, I’m going to give you a taste of what is happening with our Grades 5 & 6 student blogfolios. Stay tuned!
Nope! We teased it two weeks ago when we said that,
For our next tour, I’m going to give you a taste of what the cohort of teachers working with Silvia Tolisano (our OJCS DocuMentors) have been working on. Stay tuned!
Well, as we head into our February Break with a Friday PD Day facilitated by our friends from NoTosh, this seems like a good opportunity to share out the amazing work our DocuMentors are doing. Which teachers are part of this cohort again?
Glad you asked!
Ann-Lynn, Melissa, Shira, Bethany, Josh, Keren, Chelsea, Jon & Silvia.
We are so pleased to have a diverse (grade level, subject & experience) group of new teachers (folk who were not part of the NoTosh Design Team; excepting Melissa, Keren & me) who are learning new paradigms, NOW literacies and innovative skills and practices which are not only impacting their work, but the larger work of the school.
Don’t believe me? Well…let the tour begin!
“Cohort 2018” has a home page where you can see summaries and insights from Silvia herself. “Cohort 2018” has a landing page where you can get links to each teacher’s professional blog. That’s where the magic lies.
From Ann-Lynn’s Blog (click here for the full blog)
Who Own’s the Learning? Daily 5 Chronicles – Posted on January 27th
Daily 5 is a literacy framework that instills behaviors of independence, creates a classroom of highly engaged readers, writers, and learners, and provides teachers with the time and structure to meet diverse student needs. Because it holds no curricular content, it can be used to meet any school, district, state, or national standards. ~ The Daily Cafe
This week I asked myself, “Is the Daily 5 literacy framework allowing my students to achieve the ultimate goal?” Are they a classroom of highly engaged readers, writers and learners? Do they truly own their learning? As my Grade 2s completed their literacy block this past Wednesday morning and headed off to their next class, I remained in the empty classroom long enough to browse through my phone and look at some photos I had recently added. Were they just photos of compliant students doing what was asked of them, or did I have a classroom of students who now own their learning? Let’s examine four components of the Daily 5 and the photos which I believe captured my students owning their learning.
Work on Writing
I will confess, if I did not take a few minutes to quickly walk around the room and ask questions, I might have deleted these photos, not truly understanding the evidence I possessed in my photo album. In the photos below, both students were working on their writing, yet neither student was getting their inspiration from a class list of topics. One was very eager to complete a biography on a famous basketball player, Kawhi Leonard and another student was busy completing a narrative on a special family event. Yet a third student, who sadly will be leaving us in a few weeks, took this opportunity to write an account of her experience here in Canada for the past two years. Who owns the learning?They do!
Word Work
My students understand the importance of expanding their vocabulary. The photo below captures a student wanting to learn more and being self-motivated to do so. The student chose to spend our literacy block reading chapter 2 of our novel study “My Father’s Dragon”, stopping to jot down words she is unfamiliar with. I know I am hoping to see these vocabulary words added to our live dictionary on Flipgrid. The group photo below is evidence of two things; an example of Win Win, and a group of students who chose to play the competitive level of Osmo words. Before the Osmo spelling game could begin, however, the students had to resolve a conflict, brainstorming a solution where everyone wins.
Who owns the learning? They do!
Read to Self/Read to Someone
Finally, as all these wonderful things were taking place in my classroom, I had the opportunity to do some one-on-one conferencing with some students. Where were the others you ask? They took this opportunity to make a quick trip to the library to add to their book bins. They were using the Star Reading program to help them choose a “Just Right” book. This last photo in my post needs no words to describe what is taking place. But three words come to mind, highlyengaged readers.
From Chelsea’s Blog, “The Chrysalis Chronicles” (click here for the full blog)
Is it making my thoughts visible with symbols, pictures, arrows, ideas?
Could this be a way I have my students take notes to enhance their thoughts and learning about how math concepts are related?
Can I video/record the sketchnoting process (stop motion) to show my doodles and thoughts over time?
How will sketchnoting change my learning?
How will it change it and throw me to do something different?
How am I going to take my examples and practices of sketchnoting and use it to sketchnote for learning?
These questions are running through my head as we gear up to begin this new learning process.
Opening up and getting ready to begin my first Sketchnote using the Paper app.
Doodling has a profound effect on creative problem-solving and deep information processing. ~ Suni Brown
And I’m off…
On my third sketchnote…getting the hang of this..as we learn and “live” sketch…it’s hard…very hard… listening and sketching at the same time…
challenging my multi-tasking skills….
Let’s keep going….
so…here I am…
…look at everyone else… They are doing so well! We are learning so much!
…but…how am I feeling…this is going on too long…I’m feeling very uninterested…not by my lack of artistic skills (Tip #1 You don’t need to be an artist)…but I’m starting to tune out and not enjoy this process..but I’m hanging in there.
What does this tell or say about me?
First, that drawing may not be for me…but I’m open to try new things and work through it…
Second, that as much as I am a visual learner…I’d much rather express my own thoughts through words to communicate my output. This makes me think to a colleague sharing their learning DNA. I can have more than one learning competency, and this means; so can our students!
Back to more questions…now with some answers!
would some of my students really enjoy this…YES!
is it a skill that may be helpful and beneficial for some students to grow…YES!
is this another avenue, tool, and skill to learn, and create from and with… YES!
So…back at it…and let’s try some more sketching…
I’m in this to learn…not just for me, but for my students…
Tip 8! WHY!?
Sketchnoting For…. This is it! This is why I’m continuing to do this…through my personal frustration and disengagement: for the students!
…to contribute, to give skills, to make meaning, to enhance memory, to tell a story, make connections, to reflect, to display content….to CREATE!
Here is my final sketchnote from…the big reveal…
10 Tips for Sketchnoting from a Sketch”novice”
I’ll continue to try sketching more…and provide an update of my progress.
If you want to try to sketchnote yourself, I encourage you to try it out! If you’re looking for inspiration and ideas.. check out the following places and links.
You may surprise yourself, learn something about yourself, and perhaps a new skill to surprise and encourage others!
From Shira’s Blog, “Finding the Light” (click here for the full blog)
Capturing Resilience – Posted on January 16th
Today the Documentors were invited into a Grade 3 math class with the goal of making learning visible. The students were assigned open-ended multiplication problems, and demonstrated their knowledge of 1 or 2 digit multiplication, using pictures, words, and numbers to demonstrate their thinking.
During the pre-documentation phase, I decided to focus on capturing the students resilience. How do they continue when they hit a barrier? What tools do they use? Do they persevere or do they give up? Resilience has been proven to be a strong measure of students success.
This trait is also attached to one of our school’s North Stars…We Own Our Own Learning.
The students were amazing! They were eager to get to work and tackled their problems with enthusiasm. Even with 9 extra adults in the room snapping photos, taking videos, and writing notes, they weren’t deterred. Even the first demonstration began with a student detailing how she began again as her first trial wasn’t working.
Then they broke into groups of two and the work began. It was beautiful to see the students working together, listening to each others ideas, and using trial and error multiple times to figure things out.
When some groups got stuck, they raised their hand for help or patiently waited for their teacher to come and support them. She reminded them to break the question down and use trial and error. They immediately got back to work.
I observed students continuing to work to figure out what was missing. They kept trying even though it was hard, and when one group felt down, with a little encouragement they continued to work with enthusiasm.
During the gallery walk we had a chance to ask the student leading questions. The resilience shone through in each and every group I spoke to.
When explaining her work, one student told me that there were lots of possibilities for the answers. I asked if she was finished and she said:
“There are still more possibilities. I am working on the math.”
Another pair explained that they tackled the problem by just starting to experiment different ways to solve the problem. When they got stuck their strategy was:
“We kept experimenting stuff.”
When there were problems one group said:
“We each did half.” When they got stuck, “We talked to each other, we erased it and did it another way.”
Was resilience evident?
ABSOLUTELY!
I want to share examples of Bethany, Josh, Melissa & Keren’s blogs as well – which I will do on our next tour – but you can view all their blogs by starting at the landing page and diving in.
Do you see how excited our teachers are about learning? Can you imagine how exciting it is for our students to have teachers like this?
We can! Because that is what life is (now) like at the Ottawa Jewish Community School.
How about this week, we take a trip through The OJCS Blogosphere and kvell about some of the excellent projects our students and teachers are engaged in. Perhaps it is too much to expect folk to check all the blogs all the time – especially if they are not parents in a particular class. So allow me to serve as your tour guide this week and visit some highlights…
From the Grade Three – Kitah Gimmel Blog (click here for the full blog)
Grade 3 Introduces Blogging to Grade 1 – Posted on January 23rd
After all their hard work and preparation, Grade 3 presented their blog posts to Grade 1 and taught them about how to comment in an effective and meaningful way. The grade 3 blogging group prepared a ‘stations’ layout and the grade 1 students were split into groups and visited each station. Upon arrival at each station, the grade 3 blogging group had prepared a speech, introducing their blog and how one may go about commenting. They shared rules and a model example, alongside comment sentence starters and comment boxes.
Grade 3 even took the time to reflect and reply to the comments, responding to questions and developing answers.
They were mini teachers in action, with their lesson plans, resources and differentiation. Well done Grade 3! And thank you Grade 1 for being such good commentators, we really appreciate your kind and encouraging words!
From the Grade Five – Kitah Hay Blog (click here for the full blog)
Une tempête de neige! – Posted on January 17th
Il fait tellement froid dehors qu’il a commencé à neiger à l’intérieur! Aujourd’hui en 5T, nous avons eu une bataille de “boules de neige» pour mettre en pratique notre nouveau vocabulaire!
From the Grade Seven – Kitah Zayin Science Blog (click here for the full blog)
Grade 7 Virtual Reality Presentations – Posted on January 14th
Grade 7 students building their communication, collaboration, digital media, researching, and coding skills as part of their CoSpaces Ecosystems presentations for judges.
From the Grade Four – Kitah Dalet Blog (click here for the full blog)
Guest Blogger of the Week – Shylee – Posted on January 18th
I hope you have fun looking at what Grade 4 did this week. Our class is doing the school reading challenge, and so far we have read 396 books. Our goal is to read 600 books. We might even have to make our goal higher.
In English class we have been practicing our interviewing skills. This week we interviewed our reading buddies from Ganon on what they liked to do, their hobbies, etc…. We are going to be interviewing the residents of Hillel Lodge for an upcoming project.
We also took part in a Research Workshop about using key words instead of typing long questions into Google. We have also been practicing our research skills in class too.
In French, we have been working on a new unit. The new unit that we are working on is sports. We have been doing a little project at home about an athlete.
In Art, we have been doing a project about a fox. We will be putting the artwork in the hall of the school.
In Hebrew we have been practicing for the Tu B’Shevat Seder that we will be having at Hillel Lodge. We have been practicing a play to perform for the residents. Liam and Inbar have been helping us get ready. We will be performing a song as well. This is a video of some of my classmates singing (notice Dr. Mitzmacher listening in the background)
Today we did a special activity with Morah Ada. For ‘Ivrit Be’Kef (fun in Hebrew) Devorah (Joey) and Ma’ayan (Mia) translated a recipe to Hebrew and gave us the instructions of how to make the cookies.
This is Mrs. Bertrand who helps us organize with all the Knesset meetings. I am the class rep for Grade Four, and I love going to all the meetings and helping organize activities at the school.
Being a blogger was an awesome experience. It was hard taking the pictures during the classes because people were moving a lot. Putting it together on the blog taught me how to embed pictures and videos and learn how to type better and edit my work. I am looking forward to being a blogger again.
Pretty amazing stuff, eh?
I encourage you not only to check out all the blogs on the OJCS Blogosphere, but I encourage you to offer a quality comment of your own. Getting feedback and commentary from the universe is highly motivating and will help this snowball grow as it hurtles down the hill of innovative learning.
For our next tour, I’m going to give you a taste of what the cohort of teachers working with Silvia Tolisano (our OJCS DocuMentors) have been working on. Stay tuned!
In our first faculty meeting this week, members of our NoTosh DesignTeam share our “Prototype Process” with the rest of the faculty.
This is not a flashback to a flashback! We are not reminding you of the $72,000 Innovation Grant we received from the Congregation Beth Shalom of Ottawa (CBSO) Legacy Fund to help fund some of the physical spaces we’ll need to continue to bring our innovative vision to life. We are also not reminding you of the $50,000 Innovation Grant we received around this time last year from an anonymous family which helped fund the transformational work we recently finished with NoTosh (which lives on this year in the many powerful prototypes presently being prepared for pitches to bring teaching and learning at OJCS into greater alignment with our “North Stars”), the opportunity to double our iPads available in the school, the exciting shift towards providing teachers with Chromebooks so they can collaborate more effectively and model what learning looks like, and beginning just this week, our work with this year’s consultant, who happens to be my friend and former colleague Silvia Tolisano, whose new book the cohort of teachers working with Silvia have begun to read.
Silvia Tolisano beginning her work with a new cohort of teachers – and the full faculty – as we examine what learning is, where to find it, how to document it and learning to learn.
[I will have a lot more to discuss about Silvia’s work next week as it ties into the launch of our OJCS Blogosphere…]
No, this post is yet another example of how the work we are doing at the Ottawa Jewish Community School is not only transforming teaching and learning in our classrooms, but transforming the role of the school in our larger Jewish and educational communities. The ripple effect of this work is not only inspiring current and prospective parents, but current and prospective donors. We noticed this back in June when we observed:
Success begets success. Numbers beget numbers. A school in motion will stay in motion. The narrative of decline is behind us; the narrative of rebirth, revitalization and rejuvenation has begun. You can measure it objectively through numbers – attrition down, enrollment up, survey data trends, fundraising dollars, etc. You can also measure it subjectively – feelings in the walls, word on the street, buzz in the community, etc. You can measure it however you like. The outcome is the same. The OJCS is laying the ground to become the innovative leader in education in our community.
And wow has that been true!
With over 170 students and our largest Kindergarten class (28) in years, and all the other optimistic indicators I wrote about at the very beginning of the year, we are off and running. So what is going to keep us running to meet and surpass all our ambitious goals?
A school is only as great as its teachers, and its teachers can only excel if they are given opportunities to engage in meaningful, sustained, personalized, professional growth. Twenty years of educational research shows that an investment in teachers is a (if not the) key lever in determining excellence and is among the few variables a school can completely control.
We know it is true
Part of our recent success can be attributed to how we have raised the bar of expectations for our teachers while providing them with coaching, resources and support they need to reach new heights. In the course of a single year, even our veteran teachers have found renewed commitment to lifelong learning and our new teachers are brimming with ideas. What unites them in bringing our mission to life is a comprehensive commitment to professional learning.
Customized professional development
At OJCS, we believe what is good for our students is also good for our teachers. In the same way we recognize that students are individuals with their own learning styles and motivations, we acknowledge that our teachers can also benefit from a similar action plan. There are no “one-size-fit-all” approaches for meaningful growth. That is why, though still in its nascent stages, our goal is that each teacher has a well-developed individual Professional Growth Plan, developed in partnership with the administration and consisting of clear deliverables for mutual success. These plans then allow the administration to understand common needs and determine what outside resources should be made available to our faculty.
Professional growth at OJCS is achieved through a blended and customized approach with various elements, from participation in conferences, to purchasing individual books and learning tools.
Importance of expert consultants
We have already discussed the impact of NoTosh and the beginnings of the work of Silvia. In addition to those large initiatives, we have also begun smaller initiatives :
Teachers visit other schools
Teachers are assisted in achieving new degrees
New books are being purchased for our faculty library
Webinar access is being purchased for teacher training
Building a brighter future
Thanks to the generosity of one amazing family and the ongoing participation of our partners at the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, this new gift of $165,000 over the next five years, the work will continue with customized development (e.g. webinars, conferences, site visits, etc.), and the best practices learned from the consultants will be implemented. These are likely to include curriculum mapping and enhanced mentoring/coaching. Examples include: providing opportunities for Jewish and French Teachers to further develop their skills as teachers of second (and third) languages; and connecting teachers of Jewish Text to coaches through Prizmah.
For a school of our current and future size, an enhanced and sustained focus on professional development is required as a primary lever for future success. This extraordinary gift will ensure that the OJCS Faculty has access to the latest research, current trends, coaching, conferences and materials necessary to provide the Jewish children of Ottawa with an innovative, world-class education and help secure the future of our Jewish community.
We can’t wait to share the results with you, after the polls close for the rest of the country, on Monday evening. We will be counting the votes on Wednesday so stay tuned!
