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| Welcome New Trustees |
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| Last month, at our 19th annual meeting, Reaching Heights welcomed four new members of our Board of Trustees:
Maribeth Katt works and volunteers as an accompanist and teaches private piano lessons. Her son attends Ohio University and her daughter is at Heights High. Maribeth lives in Cleveland Heights with her children and husband Don.
Stephanie Myers is a Mathematics Instruction Coach, Math Lab teacher, and Mathematics Program Specialist at Gearity Professional Development School. Previously, she taught at Boulevard Elementary School. She won a Fulbright Fellowship to Japan in 2004, visited Hungary on a teacher exchange, and has traveled extensively.
Saroya Queen-Tabor is Director of Development for Senior Outreach Services in Cleveland, an organization that helps mature adults in their homes and in the community. She and husband David have two daughters, one at Boulevard and a preschooler. Saroya is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
Richard Waugh is a violist with the Cleveland Orchestra. He grew up in New Mexico and came to Cleveland in 1990 to attend the Cleveland Institute of Music. His daughter is in first grade at Fairfax, where Richard last year volunteered in kindergarten physical-education classes and tutored fifth graders in math. Richard is married to Rachael Bernstein and is an avid distance cyclist. |
| It's Always a Good Time to Thank-A-Teacher |
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At our annual meeting, we also recognized district teachers who were Thank-A-Teacher honorees. Three families spoke about teachers who made a difference in their lives and the honored teachers spoke about the power of teaching: From Oxford, parent Tamika Williams and 1st grade teacher Betty Miller; from Roxboro Middle School, parent Anne Wise and Champions Team representative Marcie Beggs; and from Heights High, student Kim Wilkins and art teacher Jerome White. Many parents gave Thank-A-Teacher recognitions to the teachers who have made a difference in the lives of their children. To download a form, go to www.reachingheights.org and click on the Get Involved tab. Here is some of what parents said to CH-UH teachers in December:
· "School was not our fourth grader's favorite subject but you make learning fun! Your neatness and artistic streak have matched up nicely with our son's interests. Throw in your humor and you have a recipe for a great fourth grade year."
· "Thank you for seeing the talent in our son despite his best efforts to hide it behind a façade of indifference."
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| Scholarship to Honor Deb Delisle |
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 The Cleveland Heights High School Alumni Foundation and Reaching Heights are working together to raise funds for the Deb Delisle Scholarship Fund. This scholarship honors Deb's achievements as Superintendant of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District, with gratitude for all she's meant for our community. The scholarship will be awarded to a graduating Heights High senior who is a first-generation college student, as Deb was. Donations, payable to CHHS Alumni Foundation, with DDSF on the memo line, can be sent to the CHHS Alumni Foundation, 2155 Miramar Blvd., University Hts., OH 44118 | |
Here's a story from the Oxford Outlook, one of seven Neighborhood Newsletters published by Reaching Heights.
Complaints and Compliments: The Class Meeting |
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by Tricia Springstubb
Reaching Heights volunteer
It's Monday morning in Joi Curry's 3rd grade Oxford classroom, and "Town Hall meeting is now in session."
Hands are up, and with Mrs. Curry as their guide, the children relate what's gone right or wrong in the classroom lately. She's using a research-based program called Second Step, whose purpose is to help children learn and practice crucial social skills like empathy, impulse control and problem solving. These life skills foster a cooperative classroom where academics can flourish.
One boy shyly identifies a member of his group who distracts others. Prompting him to use full sentences, Mrs. Curry helps him direct his complaint not to his sneakers but to the other boy. When other members of this group have weighed in with their opinions, the teacher intervenes. "Let's help him figure out what would be a better choice." Suggestions fly. Critical thinking at work!
Another complaint centers on bragging, a hot topic. What is bragging, anyway? And is it wrong to feel you're really, really good at something? The sophisticated discussion could go on a lot longer, but by now it's time for compliments. One proof of the success of the program, Mrs. Curry observed, is that by June the compliments will outnumber the complaints.
In the remaining minutes, the class brainstorms strategies for self control. "Taking care of yourself" is one of the program's primary tenets. A boy suggests deep breaths, and serenely demonstrates. Self-talk helps, too, Mrs. Curry says, and everyone's in stitches as she demonstrates: "Okay, Mrs. Curry, now just take it easy."
Town Hall meeting's over, but the children carry its lessons back to their desks, onto the playground, and out into their worlds. |
| Math - Making it Real at Heights High |
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 "Our students have a level of visual sophistication that challenges us to adapt our instruction," says Heights High Math Department liaison and teacher Joyce Bukovac. To make math concepts more visually interesting and interactive, Ms. Bukovac and four other math teachers use 3' x 5' Smartboard technology with Agile Mind software to produce high interest graphics and interactive lessons that include animations and touch-screen capabilities. Bukovac does not use the Agile Mind software every day. "Some concepts need more visual assistance to help kids internalize the concepts," she says. For example, determining the relationship between distance and time and calculating slope is easier for students to understand when they can see the relationship in real time. In the Algebra I class where she was teaching the concept of slope, Ms. Bukovac used the Agile Mind program to show a boy on a skateboard - the students and teacher could move the skateboarder at different speeds. The program created graphs based on the skateboard time and distance traveled. The web-based software allows students to take guided practice and self-tests online outside of class. Teachers can review the results and determine what skills have been learned and what concepts need to be re-taught. Freshmen Cory Maxwell and Tyree Gaiter agree that the digital presentation make it easier to pay attention and learn the material. "The screen grabs your attention," Cory says. "It is a lot more interesting to watch the Smartboard than the chalkboard," Tyree says. Other teachers using the Agile Minds software are Stephanie Edelstein, Jessica Kaltenbach, Ian Miller, and Cassandra Ritzmann. |
| Case Celebrates Dr. King |
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Case Western Reserve University will host a weeklong celebration in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., January 16-23,  2009. Schools, academic departments and student organizations have prepared programs and activities to commemorate the memory and spirit of Dr. King. Events include workshops, films, discussions and speakersthat are free and open to the public. See the Case website for more details: http://www.case.edu/events/mlk/history/ For more information, contact the Center for Community Partnerships at (216) 368-3909. |
| PLAN of Northeast Ohio Art Exhibit |
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Since 1989, PLAN of Northeast Ohio has provided help to those living with chronic mental illness, cognitive disabilities and mood disorders. PLAN's mission is to help the people challenged by mental illness progress in their recovery by providing innovative, family centered treatment. Their holistic approach provides the tools necessary to allow people living with mental illness to achieve enduring emotional and cognitive growth and recovery.
A traveling art exhibit "Art, Poetry and Mental Health Recovery Project," shares art created by PLAN members recovering from mental illness in workshops with local art therapists and artists.
The exhibit can be seen through January 31 at the Heights Arts Studio, 2340 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.
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| Chicago experience Informs Views of Education Secretary-Designate |
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 A look at Arne Duncan's record as head of the Chicago Public Schools may indicate the direction of federal school reform as Duncan heads to Washington to serve as Secretary of Education, writes The Washington Post. Many educators in Chicago say Duncan has successfully upended a counterproductive school culture in the high-poverty district, the third largest in the nation, and done so with little organized opposition beyond minor confrontations with the teacher union. Central to his reconfiguration of the Chicago schools have been his support for charter schools, an emphasis on teacher mentoring, performance-pay pilots in struggling schools, and his willingness to close and re-staff schools that have failed entirely.
The story is available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122902672.html?hpid=topnews
Catalyst Chicago, an independent newsmagazine created in 1990 to document, analyze and support school-improvement efforts in the Chicago Public Schools has written a three part series on the work of Arne Duncan in Chicago. The series is available at http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/index.php.
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| Look Worldwide to Set Standards |
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The National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and Achieve Inc. have released "Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education," which recommends that states adopt common academic expectations linked to the best international teaching practices in high-performing countries, and use these practices to improve textbooks, recruit better teachers, and increase school accountability. By way of example, the report cites the fact that the curriculum for a typical American eighth grader studies is two full years behind the curriculum for students in top-performing countries. The full report can be found at http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0812BENCHMARKING.PDF |
| Now He Tells Us |
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Michael J. Petrilli, former associate assistant deputy secretary in the Office of Innovation and Improvement in the Bush Department of Education and co-author of "No Child Left Behind: A Primer," writes in The National Review that he's "gradually and reluctantly come to the conclusion that NCLB as enacted is fundamentally flawed and probably beyond repair." A self-professed "True Believer" in the law during his years in the Bush administration, Petrilli now concedes problems that he had foreseen - that the "highly qualified teacher" mandate was a "huge overreach," and that requiring all states to reach proficiency by 2014 but allowing them to define proficiency would spur a "race to the bottom." Petrilli says he remains a supporter of the ideas underlying the law, which he enumerates, and says the way forward "starts with a more realistic assessment of what the federal government can reasonably hope to achieve in education."
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