An in-depth look  at the people and events that make Encinal excellent

Vol. 1, Issue 8 |   June 14,  2011

 Encinal Principals and Teachers Attend Harvard Conference

Conference Centers on Systemic Change for Student Success

By Lisa Cope, Encinal Parent

In late April, Principal Liner, Vice Principal von der Linden, and three Encinal teachers travelled to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend a three day learning conference called "Systemic Change for Student Success" at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.

The conference centered on the Change Leadership Group's "Learning Lab," designed to provide leaders of schools, districts, or networks with an "overview of a comprehensive approach to systemic school and district change to improve learning for all students."

The Learning Lab introduced a new conceptual framework for change, and invited participants to try out new tools and strategies to address a specific problem or issue from their school or district.

Ms. Liner brought members of her Leadership Team, teachers Lori Sullivan, Leah Leff, and Heidi Yamada, as they are an integral part of planning for staff development and setting the course for and implementing change efforts at school.

They went to the conference with a focus on next steps in Math. "Now that we are through the 'adoption' of Everyday Math, we are ready to look more broadly at the following question: how can we ensure that each student is challenged and supported to demonstrate the mathematical skills, knowledge, and habits of mind to achieve success in the 21^st century?" said Liner.

Armed with their specific problem in hand, the team from Encinal experienced interactive processes, daily team time and also worked with a variety of protocols with teams and individuals from other school teams.

"The conference exposed us to research on systemic change and 21st century learning environments, but also gave us an opportunity to apply this learning to our goals around Math and problem solving at Encinal.  We collaborated to clarify what steps we need to take to promote critically thinking problem solvers, but also recognized how far we have come in the last few years through our Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to empower teachers to continue to reflect upon and improve our teaching practices," said Leff.

Participants came from all over the world including Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Thailand. "It was interesting to see that despite the contexts of our schools varying greatly, the challenges were much the same," said Liner.

The participants also spent time learning the key adult learning/motivation challenges in the K-12 education change process; engaged in four arenas of change in the Change Leadership Group's framework: context, organizational culture, professional competencies, and work conditions, and learned about how to use new change diagnostics and methodologies to influence systemic change.

All of this was designed with the goal of helping teach participants interesting and systemic approaches to improving teaching.

"By the end of our session, our team was highly focused on how to expand our work with Lesson Study and Problem of the Month, among many other valuable and worthwhile lessons," said Liner.

 As Yamada said, "This was possibly one of the best professional developments I have ever been to. The excitement comes from walking away with something we can apply school wide.  I truly believe this will be something the whole school will benefit from. I look forward to a year of progress as we delve into sustainable change and develop best practices across the grade levels."

Third Graders Create Very Own "Living" Wax Museum 

Christian V. as Benjamin Franklin

By Kate Kennedy, Encinal Parent

Every spring, the hallways of Encinal school are taken over by presidents, prime ministers, explorers, athletes, astronauts, actors, scientists, authors, musicians, and royalty.

These noted personages, as depicted by their third grade counterparts, come alive during Wax Museum, the culmination of biography study and a highlight of the year for third graders.

In the weeks leading up to Wax Museum, students research and write a report on their person of study, then assemble props and create a costume to represent that person. As part of their preparation, they host a dress rehearsal, where older students and other third graders come to their classroom and listen to their speeches. Then, it's on to the main event!

Nathan P. as Chef Bobby Flay

On the night of Wax Museum, students take their places in the classroom, in costume and with their props in place, and prepare to deliver short speeches that they've written about their characters. The catch is that they can't speak until someone prompts them by pushing a "start" button, dropping a coin into a slot, writing on a piece of paper; whatever device the student has created to act as the mechanism that will turn them from a wax figure into a living, breathing human being. Once the switch is flipped, they deliver their speech, in character and utilizing their props, for everyone who has gathered around their desk to listen and learn.

The kids themselves describe the experience much better than I ever could. Says David Park (Barack Obama), "I learned a lot about my character and how he changed the world." Hailey Allen (Emma Watson) "felt really happy that so many people liked my costume." The classroom was so busy, reports Jonathan Vengosh (Benjamin Franklin) that "they had to open all the windows. Everyone was hot, and it was crowded and noisy." In fact, according to Max Stieglitz (Isaac Newton) "our class was doing so well that people from other classes started to come in." Alexa Griffin (Mia Hamm) "was nervous because it was so crowded and I couldn't really concentrate. But by the end I wasn't nervous any more." Megan Miller (Shirley Temple) "was really nervous at the beginning, then I got annoyed at having to say my speech so many times." Jessie Hazard (J.K. Rowling) said, "what I really liked about Wax Museum was that you got to learn all about your character, then put that information into a speech and perform it!"

Sam J. as John Lennon

As third grade teacher Cassandra Mar says, "Wax Museum allows everyone to shine in a safe, supportive environment. It's non-threatening to the kids because the spotlight isn't solely on them. Wax Museum is a memorable, unique experience for students and parents alike. Ask any third grader, and they'll probably tell you it was one of the most challenging - and most fun - things they did all year!"

 Read All About It!

Encinal Chronicle Delves Deep into Encinal News

By Lisa Cope, Encinal Parent

You probably didn't get it delivered to your front door, and you probably haven't seen it lying around the local coffee shop, but the fourth and fifth grade kids at Encinal have found their beat: investigative journalism.  Under the guidance of fifth grade teacher Janet Delgado, students who elected to be in the "writing" advisory chose to create their very own newspaper which they named the "Encinal Chronicle."

Since the goal of Advisories is to make Encinal a better place, the kids in the writing advisory thought a newspaper would enhance Encinal, and they were right.

The kids voted on the name, brainstormed ideas for the text including poems, games, features, sports scores, interviews with teachers, citizens, and business leaders, comics, and reviews, etc.  They even asked the Art Advisory to contribute some art to include as well, further enhancing their collaborative work.

Delgado encouraged the kids to go out into the community and write about the places they know and like and interview interesting people.

The Advisory published a total of three Encinal Chronicles, each one numbering 20 pages. No article was rejected.

Some sample stories included a movie review of "Gnomeo and Juliet," a book review of "The Looking Glass Wars," a "Guess the Staff Member Questionnaire," and a fictional short story called "327 Amwood Rood."

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