Guys, Dudes and Hombres needed in the classroom

By Charles Wohlforth

Chugach Optional needs more men volunteering in the classroom and in all the aspects of our kids’ education.

Don’t get me wrong: I have nothing against women. No one likes them better than I do.

But our children do not see enough men during their school day. And it matters, especially to our boys.

This is not a guilt trip. The truth is, guys are missing out on some of the best fun they’ll ever have, spending time at school and getting to know their children’s friends. You kid’s childhood goes by incredibly fast, and it make no sense to miss the third of it that happens at school.

In earlier generations, dad’s never held a baby bottle or changed a diaper. In many families, fathers were distant disciplinarians and rule-givers. Ask your dad what his dad was like.

We’re not that way anymore, but school still remains a mostly female realm. I have theories for that. In part, culture teaches us what our roles are. But we’re also influenced by the social environment. Women tend to ask women to volunteer, and men feel funny entering an all-female workplace.

My message to guys: Man up! There is no feminine wall around our school!

When boys have men in the classroom, they often behave better. Their respect for the school and what they are working on can increase. Their sense of teamwork and mission can be activated in a way they may not feel with a female leader.

I first experienced this working in kindergarten. I worked with boys and girls on a project that involved drilling holes in a piece of wood. The boy’s clumsy little hands needed a lot of guidance, but they approached the task with total seriousness.

In the hallway the next day, one of these tiny dudes gives me a manly nod and fist-pump of greeting. We had bonded like war buddies. And now that he’s almost done with Chugach, he’s still a bud.

Volunteering is easy. There are many ways to do it. You don’t have anything going on in your day that is more important.

Why we have theme studies

By Susan Joling

Theme studies are an important part of the Chugach curriculum. This approach to learning addresses 21st century skills, interdisciplinary study and individual student interests. Projects and problem-based learning are keys to 21st century learning. Theme studies provide a venue for the “4 C

ʼs” of the 21st century learning and innovation skills of critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. Consider how the 4 Cʼ

s are woven into two theme-based projects in the intermediate grades.

At Chugach, third and fourth graders become castle engineers as they apply what they learned during their Medieval Studies to a historically accurate depiction of a community living space for those times. Those duct-taped, sometimes edible, sometimes astounding architectural feats tell a story of applied learning, problem solving, and planning a project from beginning to end. Never mind the thoughts of a few parents who stayed up late with their castle builders: Can I sell this to a primary parent in the name of recycling??

Another third/fourth theme, Alaska Studies, starts with an “essential question” connected to our state

ʼs history: How did Alaskansʼ

environment shape their customs, beliefs and traditions? To answer this question with deep understanding, students must study Alaska geography, Native ways of knowing, Alaska history, ethnobotany, and traditional Alaska art forms. They must read, write, speak, and listen to create scripts for their Native village performances. They must collaborate and think creatively to communicate their understanding through their presentation. Responding to the essential question requires “uncoverage” of a theme rather than coverage. Depth and complexity supersede coverage. Leading with a question encourages students to tailor their own interests within the theme by asking more questions.

Theme studies not only provide interesting contexts for learning but weave in many content areas. It isnʼt the nature of knowledge to be divided into little compartments called content areas. No subject is an island. By stressing connections across the curriculum and using themes, learning becomes more engaging and meaningful for students.

Reviewing progressing and celebrating achievement

By Alan Bailey

On the basis that nothing succeeds like success, a student led conference, a hallmark of education at Chugach Optional, celebrates student achievement rather than chastising student shortcomings. Like a proud gardener in the summer sunshine proudly showing people colorful flower beds and neatly trimmed lawns, the results of months of painstaking labor, a student at a conference presents attentive parents with a portfolio of recent work.

“It’s a celebration. That’s the bottom line,” said middle grade teacher Sharon Lee Jones.

A student led conference is very different from a traditional school conference, typically involving a review of a report card and an assessment against standard grades. Essentially, in the student-led approach the student works with the teacher to prepare a portfolio of work and then the student reviews the portfolio with his or her parents. And following the Chugach principle of building in-charge, independent learners, the students take primary responsibility for choosing and organizing the material that they want to present.

“It makes them responsible,” explained upper grade teacher Linda Biddle. “They’re not just sitting and listening to someone else’s expectations.”

In addition, conference preparation gives each student an opportunity to review work done in recent months, looking back through the results of projects, remembering science experiments and perhaps recalling math problems tackled and conquered.

But the process does vary a bit as the students grow older.

Below third grade, with the students finding the portfolio reviews quite intimidating, the teacher facilitates the meeting with the parents, steering the student through the portfolio material. From third grade onwards, however, each student meets for 30 minutes with just the parents, a situation that ensures that the student can take charge without the temptation to keep glancing at the teacher for help.

“We practice it beforehand,” Sharon Lee explained. “They go through the list of things they want to share. I think that the ownership that we see with them doing that is fabulous.”

After the portfolio review, the teacher comes into the conference to help review the student’s own assessment of progress and achievement.

And, whereas in third and fourth grades students tend to select work that they particularly want to share, fifth and sixth grade students share almost everything they have done, showing more of a complete collection of work rather than focusing on specific pieces, Linda said.

Maximum benefit from a conference arises from parents actively listening and asking well focused questions, a dynamic that requires the conference to take place at an appropriate time and in a suitable setting.

Although most families face conflicting demands on their time it's important that parents demonstrate their interest in their child's work, show that they value the work, by taking time out to participate in the conference at the school during the regularly scheduled conference periods. Trying to conduct the portfolio review at home, or in a rushed 15 minute period before school in the morning, doesn't allow for the quality of interaction between parent, child and teacher and doesn't resonate in the same way, commented middle grade teacher Cami Dalton.

With no grades and an emphasis on successes rather than problems, some anxious parents may worry about how the conferences help them assess their child’s progress. That’s where the Chugach philosophy of continuous parental involvement at the school comes into play, Linda explained. Long before a conference takes place, parents should have been engaged with their child’s school career, visiting with the teacher as necessary and generally keeping abreast of what is going on. A teacher will alert parents to any serious problems with their child’s progress, with this type of intervention being completely separate from and inappropriate to the child’s conference, Linda said.

But what about the lack of grades?

Evaluating work through standard grades is like telling the gardener exactly what to grow and then judging the results by evaluating how closely the flower beds match the standard, Linda said. Why not instead set some expectations for how the garden should look, provide guidance on how to proceed and then let the gardener use some self-directed independence, growing the required plants while also moving creatively beyond what has been asked, seeking new possibilities, perhaps adding an unexpected couple of rose bushes or finding a way to deal with an awkward patch of weeds?

The conference, the student’s garden show, can then become, not just a recognition of success in what the student is expected to do, but also a celebration of the student’s unique achievements. In fact, Cami said, a common problem with a grade-based evaluation system is that students can become so focused on achieving grades that they stop working and thinking for themselves.

In addition, different children develop at different rates, in different subject areas at different times, making a one-size-fits-all standard an ineffective way of assessing student progress. The beauty of the Chugach Optional approach to education is that students have space to develop in their own ways, with a conference providing a venue to dwell on achievements, some small, some large, that a student can feel proud of.

“They know that they have accomplished something that is of great value to themselves,” Linda said.