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.

Making drop-off and pick-up time count

By Charles Wohlforth

When I lead tours for prospective students, the one fact that always causes some of them to gape with amazement is the news that at Chugach we don’t give grades.

Why would children ever do their best unless trying to earn grades? How else can teachers communicate with parents? How can parents know what their children are accomplishing?

The Chugach Handbook, which is the best statement of our philosophy, states that we believe the best measure of a child’s work is the work itself. Instead of waiting for a teacher to give a grade a few times a year, Chugach parents need to be looking at what their children can do all the time.

The communication link from student to teacher to parent can be stronger and certainly richer at Chugach than at a school that relies on grades to report on children’s progress. But keeping that link healthy requires effort from parents.

The information paths are many. Conferences with students and teachers. Completed work that comes home and homework completed with parent supervision. Performances and presentations at school and work posted on the walls at school.

One of the best ways of assessing a Chugach kid is less formal than all of these: checking in when you drop off and pick up your child.

The minutes at the end of the school time when I come in to gather up my children can be the warmest and most social of my day, when I see many friends and lots of smiles and energy from happy kids. But it’s not fun only. I also use the time to touch base with teachers and find out how we’re doing. Often a few sentences can let me know where problems lie and get us motivated in the right direction.

Coming in 15 minutes early to pick up creates an opportunity to watch the classroom in action, and to see how your child fits in and works with the group.

The morning drop-off can be even better for that (in our family it’s usually not my job). Getting kids into the class, settled, and started with work can give a parent and excellent feel for how they handle the school environment and their abilities in concentrating and completing tasks, as well as particular academic strengths and problems.

What I like most is the human connection of these moments in the school. Chugach parents can know much more about their children’s progress, and know it much more deeply, by being part of the child’s world. That’s a wonderful opportunity to enjoy while it lasts, during these short years.

Starting to grow as a school family

By Alan Bailey

This is the first of a series of articles exploring how parents can help in their children’s family group. The type of help needed changes as the students move through the school – this article looks at how the Chugach Optional philosophy of parental involvement works in kindergarten.

There’s always some excitement in the air on the day towards the end of August when the year’s new intake of kindergarten students arrives at the school with their parents. Like explorers in a new land, both parents and children are often apprehensive as they walk down the corridor to the unknown territory of a kindergarten classroom, and so into to a new chapter of family life.

Children wonder what school will be like, while parents, having agreed to help at the school, may feel nervous about what they’ve committed to.

Sometimes parents – business people used to working in an office, for example – are unsure about what they should do when dropped in the middle of a group of energetic five- and six-year-olds, said Jean Ward, Chugach Optional’s long-time kindergarten teacher. But people talk to us and to each other, and soon get into the swing of things, said kindergarten teacher Caycee Rezola.

As the school year moves ahead parents really should come into the class at the start of school, rather than just dropping their kids off, said Jean. Better still, stay for at least a short while and work with the students as the first project of the day starts up, she added.

The morning sign-in and settling down period helps parents become acquainted with children besides their own in the family group, as well as enabling people to find out what will be happening in class.

“Sometimes there are some math-related sign-ins. Sometimes there’s the memory book or language arts,” Jean explained.

Besides the start of day, parents are welcome in the classroom at any time, perhaps to help with a lesson, or to help guide students through an activity.

“We hope that we share with the parents in our daily communications that they’re always welcome to come in at any time,” Caycee said.

And parents do not need to schedule their appearances in class ahead of time.

Sometimes people walk in saying “hey, I was on this side of town and I thought I would pop in,” Caycee said, adding that she and Jean always welcome that.

On the other hand, a pre-arranged visit enables Jean or Caycee to plan tasks and activities in advance, often enabling parents to make more efficient use of their time. The teacher may schedule an activity of particular interest to the parent helper, or arrange something that the parent is comfortable doing.

Preplanning can also be more productive for the classroom.

“If I know I’ll have three adults, I could play a new math game that I couldn’t introduce without their help,” Jean said.

Jean described how she will often put a parent in charge of a small group of students, with some general guidance of what is expected. However, it is important that parent helpers observe the teaching philosophy that Jean and Caycee follow, with parents modeling the way in which the teachers interact with the students, ensuring a consistent approach to encouraging the students through the kindergarten program.

Sometimes a parent will work on a home project, perhaps constructing some new structure for a science experiment or a study theme.

Parents also help out by taking on tasks from the kindergarten “task basket.” In fact, the way in which tasks magically disappear from that basket, as willing volunteers line up to see what’s needed, is a hallmark of the spirit of “pulling together” at Chugach, Jean commented.

“You work together, and you grow together, and you’re that family,” said Caycee.

Jean said that some parents worry that they don’t do enough.

“I would share with them that just their presence here and their interactions with the children are so important,” Jean said.

By being in the classroom, parents send a message about how much they value formal education, she said. It’s important to everyone in the school. But, most of all, it’s important to the child.

What I tell prospective parents

By Susan Joling

Last week I watched "Waiting for Superman," a documentary about public schools. The title refers to a Harlem educator’s childhood belief that a superhero would fix the problems of the ghetto. One painful scene was of families crowded into inner-city gyms waiting to see if their lottery number came up for a charter school with an excellent reputation and high academic standards. There were ten slots and hundreds of applicants. When all the spots were filled, the "losers" shuffled back to their neighborhood schools, billed as drop-out factories.

In Anchorage, we are fortunate to have lots of good schools. Besides some excellent neighborhood schools, we have charter and optional schools, each with a particular philosophy. Some parents shop for any school with high achievement scores when they should be looking for a philosophy they can embrace.

The lottery season is under way, which means there will soon be tours of Chugach Optional with anxious and curious parents trying to navigate through a sea of school choice. I've led school tours and you never know what questions will come up. Once, after I mentioned the required 36 hours of parent volunteer hours, a parent asked if there was a book in the office where parent volunteer hours were recorded. I said I didn't think so. He looked relieved, but I haven't seen him around since.

Inevitably, touring parents want you to compare Chugach to other schools; in essence they're asking for help in making a decision by comparing Chugach to other schools that you know nothing about. This is always dicey and it seems better to talk about what you know. Often parents will talk about how they've put in lottery applications to Chugach, Northern Lights ABC, Winterberry, etc. This is when I take my opportunity to talk about what I know.

I tell parents about the first time I entered Chugach with Jan Bronson. My children were still in pre-school. Within five minutes, I knew I wanted my sons to attend. I saw that it was a child-focused place where students were given choices. I heard respectful interactions between adults and students. Worthy, high quality, student work was displayed on every inch of the hallways. Interdisciplinary projects were in progress. The library was the heartbeat of the school, and though it was ten minutes before school would be out, every single student was engaged in a learning activity.

I tell parents that I want my children to have the benefit of being in a multi-age classroom because there aren't the limitations of a single-grade curriculum. Skill and concept development are more likely to happen at a child's own pace. Classrooms can focus on learning from day one and not on classroom logistics and routines. Half the class already knows how the classroom works and the older students quickly and efficiently pass this information on to the grateful other half. I'm glad my older son has the experience of being a younger student in a class. I'm grateful my younger son has the opportunity for leadership as an older student every other year.

I tell parents that Chugach teaches responsibility by giving students responsibility. Students are encouraged to be in-charge learners who direct their own learning. I wasn't sure the "in-charge" part was ever going to happen with one of my kids, but by fifth grade he was the master of his learning.

I tell parents to think about what they want for their own children. What I know is that Chugach teachers teach students to take charge and lead their own learning in elementary school and beyond.

From manipulatives to abstraction: learning math at Chugach

I sat down with Linda Biddle, my son Joey’s teacher, to ask how she teaches math in a classroom of students in charge of their own learning. Here is what she told me.
–Charles Wohlforth

Most Chugach Optional students learn math differently than their parents did. A Chugach parent may wonder when his or her child will adopt certain familiar algorithms, or procedures, for doing arithmetic, or even become nervous if it doesn’t happen ‘soon enough.’

At Chugach, ‘soon enough’ is different for each child. Our students are introduced to math through visual representations and manipulatives. Each child transitions to abstract computation methods when ready as an individual. As long as he or she understands and can accurately complete mathematical problems, that’s success.

Math concepts begin with manipulatives, such as interlocking blocks, strips, or grids written on paper that represent units and groups of units. Being able to see the units helps children understand the concepts behind operations and develop number sense and mathematical intuition.

Most adults initially learned pencil-and-paper processes and memorization. These techniques are abstract representations of underlying mathematical concepts. It’s possible to be a whiz at computation without really understanding what the numbers mean. That’s what we don¹t want.

Students with a deeper understanding of mathematics often grow more easily into the advanced math concepts they will encounter in algebra, geometry and calculus. They also are more likely to recognize calculation errors or improbable results, because they have a feel for numbers.

The switch from concrete manipulation to the use of abstract computation could come at any age. We introduce a variety of abstract methods and let the children decide which strategies to use and when. Sometimes they make the connection and adopt the shortcuts right away, sometimes they wait, and sometimes they invent their own algorithms that work better in their own
minds.

Linda’s son made it in high school mathematics while still using visual methods of strips and mats, arranging them in his mind’s eye rather than with physical materials. A high school teacher thought he was cheating because she couldn’t see how he got his results. He proved in a parent-teacher conference that he was solving the problems, but doing it in his own way.

My older son and daughter also have excelled at math in high school and college. Their computation seemed slow and painful at times in elementary school, but they emerged with a strong understanding of math concepts that have made higher level work a breeze.

Parent should have confidence even if the switch to traditional computation methods takes time. Chugach works!

Building for success in an optional school

By Alan Bailey

Every other year in Chugach Optional there’s a buzz of excitement as third and fourth grade students place handmade models of medieval castles on tables along the sides of the central school corridor. Miniature knights peer down from cardboard battlements. Colorful flags wave in imaginary winds at the top of crenellated towers. And pieces of drinking straw simulate the posts of a stockade around a fortified hill.

Children dash from one elaborate creation to another, admiring each other’s handiwork and imagination, while proud parents visit with each other, comparing notes on the weeks of effort that have finally come to fruition.

The castles are a product of a Middle-Ages theme that spawns a series of projects and investigations, typical of the project-based approach to learning that is a hallmark of optional education. Students plan, carry out and present the results of their work to classmates and teachers. Parents help through encouragement, perhaps through some assistance in planning or construction, and perhaps through sharing some of the stresses of the creative process.

The idea behind project-led education is that, rather than placing each element of the curriculum – say writing, geography or history – into its own separate box, the students carry out projects that involve multiple disciplines and self-directed research, reflecting the fact that knowledge rarely fits into neat, self-contained categories.

The castle project, for example, requires group study in the classroom, library searches and maybe the use of the Internet, to research the history of castles, find a castle design to model, learn about castle construction and also learn something about how people lived during the Middle Ages. Discovering where castles are located involves geography. Designing the model involves elements of math to calculate the scaled-down sizes of walls and towers. Drawing out a plan involves geometry. And model construction involves decisions about what materials to use, estimating material quantities and figuring out how to resolve the inevitable construction challenges that arise.

While not necessarily perfection, the models are always interesting and always represent the culmination of a great deal of work. And by going through the planning, design and construction process, each student will have learned more about the world we live in and, along the way, will have honed up a few skills across a variety of disciplines.

OPTIONAL CHUCACH OPPORTUNITIES – COME ON IN!

By Brad Harris

Each person encounters different opportunities in their lifetime. The same is true for students at Chugach, which is partly because of the skills and interests that each of us, as parents, brings into the school and shares with the kids.

We are all aware of the requirement for parents to volunteer for various tasks or activities when our child is attending Chugach. How we each choose to use our volunteer time is up to each of us. However, we should consider that the opportunities we give to the students through our volunteer time are greatly dependent on how we choose to use our volunteer time.

Classroom projects and activities led by parents always receive glowing reviews by the kids when they come home from school. Whether a parent-led classroom activity is a one-time short presentation, or multiple work sessions for a larger project, sharing of parent’s skills and interest with Chugach students is always very inspiring to them. Break off a bite sized piece of your interest, share the idea with your child’s teacher, and work together to build an activity that gives the students something to chew on!

Leading a project or activity for a whole class can be a harrowing experience for some of us (How do our teachers do it all day, every day?). Consider breaking down the class into smaller groups to work on the activity with you. Consider asking for assistance from other parents, professionals in the community, or other friends from outside the school. Consider breaking off a smaller, more focused bite of your interest that won’t overwhelm you when you work on it with a group of students. Consider sharing your interest in a “Mini-Course” where you can specify the number of kids in your group (Note: Mini-Course planning is in progress and instructors are needed).

Each classroom at Chugach is exposed to different but equally interesting opportunities because each of us has differently interesting things to share with the students. Whatever your interests or skills are, please share them. It is a two-way street. You will be amazed at what you learn from the kids.