Co-Teach

Last week in ATL. Presented with Tali from Common Sense about digital habits and how educators can be reflective and model good habits. Then after tending to themselves they
can teach families and students.

Such a pleasure to facilitate professional learning at my children's school.

As a partner in my children's education, I love that I can bring my skills to share with the community. One of my skills just happens to be facilitating professional learning 😉

We talked at length about how.effective and authentic family engagement is both a means to reaching goals as well a goal in itself.

It feels good sharing my gifts with the staff while equipping the staff to do even better work.

What skills are you sharing with your school community? What talents do you and your family have that could enhance relationships, teaching and learning?

I love school visits. I always learn something regardless of what I see.

This visit was a good one. I so enjoyed seeing this Pre-K space and educators who are intentional about honoring the learners that occupy the space.

Horray for this dramatic play area.

Families, if you have time, visit your child's learning space. Experience how the environment speaks and what it communicates about what your child's experience will be.

I got an award!
Thanks so much to SERC (the State Education Resource Center), for the 2023 Parental Involvement Recognition Award!

The award reads: In recognition of your engagement, dedication, and advocacy on behalf of our children to ensure equity in our schools and communities.

The caption pretty much sums up what I'm trying to do and what I'm helping other families to do, everyday.

One thing about us, we gonna be outside. It's not in addition to learning, it is learning.

In addition to the health and personal benefits of time outside, I just learned about how outdoor time improves executive function. (Skills that help us plan, prioritize, navigate challenges, etc.)

I love that I can put a name to the learning that was done as everyone tiptoed around, beside and "accidentally" into the lake to explore what they were seeing. But even more I love being reminded of the importance of unstructured learning and the important work that childen are constantly doing as they grow.

Before jumping into teaching, pause and figure out what and how your child is thinking.

In all truth my sweet girl wasn't too excited about doing a math pre-assessment. But she did this one, begrudgingly and in red ink 🤷🏿.

After she did it, we took a break, then reviewed her work. I didn't grade it or mark questions right or wrong, we just talked about what we noticed- her from taking it and me from looking at her work.

We both learned a lot about what she already knows and misunderstandings she has. And now I'm more equipped to help her take her next steps.

Word for today: Slow down to go fast by making time for assessment.

So great to talk to CT educators about family engagement and leadership.

We spent a considerable amount of time talking about setting agreements, and that being an easy to begin to build trust with families.

We learned a lot and I'm energized.

Today I got the chance to lead a professional learning session for teachers in which we explored and planned how to set the foundation for trusting partnership with all families.

Teachers shared reflections like:
- Making personal connections and building understanding is necessary for effective communication. I now know how to help more families feel more open and comfortable with us.
- I'm excited!
- My headline is being open and communicative with families and colleagues so that I can better educate and understand the scholars.
- It's the big things as well as the little, personal touches that mean so much. It's about connection.

Shout out to all the educators continually working on strengthening their relationships with families. Thanks for doing the big work (mindset and planning) as well as the small things like sending personalized messages with first day pictures.

Parents and educators working together as trusting teammates for and with our children is a worthy mission. I've got your back to everyone pursuing this goal.

And here's the sweet note I received from my child's teacher on her first day.

Lydia had a great first day!

It's back to school time! Here's advice for how use your child's school calendar to set a foundation for a great school year.

https://www.coteach.org/advice

It's back to school time! Here's advice for how use your child's school calendar to set a foundation for a great school year.

https://www.coteach.org/post/back-to-school-one-step-to-prep-for-a-better-school-year

Back to school: Two steps to prep your family for a better school year Learn how to make the most of your child's school calendar and set your child up for success.

Yay!!!! I am so excited about this :)

Educators - share this with your families.Teachers this is a great detail to include in your back to school/summer letters home.

Families- share with each other and take part where you can. Also chat with your school about promoting participation.

One way families and educators can work together is by supporting all that rich learning that takes place outside of school. And one step towards that is making sure people know about cool learning experiences.

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Connecticut children age 18 and under plus one accompanying Connecticut resident adult can visit participating museums free of charge through the Connecticut Summer at the Museum program.

Before you visit, check each participant’s website for specific program details and ticket availability.

Here's a website with a list of participating museums! mhttps://www.ctvisit.com/articles/connecticut-summer-museum-2022-free-admission-kids

Where are you going to go first?

The school year is over...let the summer planning begin.

So excited to be with and the lovely teachers at Monument Mountain High.

Lots of great conversation and planning for how to make instruction more engaging and equitable for students and more clear for families!

I was fortunate to observe and participate in an advisory session where students voiced their opinions and suggestions about proficiency based grading and how to make 9th grade better for the incoming class.

It was so refreshing to hear students share their ideas and concerns.And so encouraging to see teachers learning from them.

I'm excited to work with teachers this summer to address some of the things we heard from students.

Let the summer planning begin!

A little action team planning with teachers and the family engagement coordinator from ACES Wintergreen. Oh yeah, and Josh.

As we were planning for next year, a word that kept coming to mind was intentional.

How can we be more intentional about our events, activities and outreach? It came down to really knowing families and their needs and having a collective vision across staff. And both those things- understanding needs and setting intentions take time and need to be a part of planning.

Anyone else planning their family engagement for next year?

It's been so busy I've been forgetting to post, but the Mother's Day Breakfast at Rochdale Early Advantage Charter School is just the event to get me back into gear.

The mother's day breakfast was so lovely. I love how this school took care of its families. The short program was a time to honor and encourage moms, grandmas, aunts, sisters, cousins and other loved ones. And to remind them that the staff and educators see and value them, and are there to support them as we all work together to nurture our children.

It was a pleasure getting to share words of encouragement and am so glad to be able to be an extended part of the REACS family.

Such a great day working at Monument Mountain High School.

CT is currently running a library passport program. You get a stamp and a surprise when you visit a town's library. And we are having a good time participating.

I love reflecting on the learning that is happening when I'm just doing fun things and connecting with my kids.

We've done so much learning like:
- setting a goal for how many libraries we wanted to visit (15)
- all kinds of math ( How many libraries more to meet our goal? What time will it be when we get there, it's 12:43 and we're 10 minutes away?, if we only went to 2 a day, when would we meet our goal?)
- mapping/cardinal directions (we used google maps to plot our moves). Not to mention clarifying some city/town/state/country confusion.
- practicing social skills (interacting with the various librarians- expressing gratitude and asking for stamps.)
And the list goes on.

Our children are learning so much from and with us. Just take a second to consider all they learned in a show you've watched together, trip you've taken, or even an errand to the store you've taken.

Your conversations and these experiences all matter. Your support of them and their learning is everything. Keep up the good work.