Short takes
Pint-sized Pulitzers
Three years ago, students at Guin Foss Elementary School in Tustin Unified School District were earning scores on the state’s writing assessment that were, in the words of Principal Nancy Jenkins, “dismal.” Only 41 percent of the school’s students were ranked proficient and a handful received excellent scores.
So Jenkins met with her teachers and school staff to discuss strategies for inspiring the school’s young writers and improving their scores on the state’s rigorous writing exam.
They came up with, forgive the pun, a novel plan that Jenkins says has done far more than improve students’ writing skills.
Once a month, Jenkins hosts a special “Authors’ Tea” to honor students chosen by their teachers as either earning the best or most improved scores on a timed-writing assignment that is based on state standards and includes components similar to the California State Writing Application Assessment.
“It’s all about celebrating the children and their writing,” Jenkins says. “All the students want to be invited. They are excited about their writing and about the chance to be recognized for their work.”
After enjoying punch and cookies served on dainty china, each student reads his or her winning essay aloud for classmates and poses for a photograph, which is posted on the school bulletin board along with the student’s writing. Every winner of the “Principal’s Pulitzer” also receives a certificate and a book with the month’s best essays.
With the help of parent volunteers, the school manages to make each month’s tea a very special occasion. Parents, school staff and local businesses donate the punch and cookies served and also contributed most of the cups and saucers. The rest of the china came from garage sales.
One student from each classroom is chosen for the honor each month, and two additional winners are honored: one from the English Language Learner program and one from the Resource Program for students who need additional assistance.
A year after the start of the program, the school’s scores on the state assessment, given to all fourth, seventh and 11th graders in the state, jumped by more than 10 points. Scores on district writing exams also improved dramatically.
Equally important, Jenkins says, is a change that can’t be quantified.
“The writing we are getting from our students is amazing,” says Jenkins. “It’s really a rather modest event, but this tea has become very special to our children. You can feel the excitement when we honor these writers. They want to write. They are so thrilled to be recognized; it’s so unbelievably awesome.”
Instituting the Authors’ Tea is just one component of a school-wide focus on writing that involves almost everyone on campus.
All Guinn Foss students, from kindergarteners to fifth-graders, do a timed writing assignment each month, focusing on the same topic or “prompt.”
One recent prompt, for example, focused on winter weather. Kindergartners described why they liked rain; fourth-graders were asked to read and respond to a piece of weather-related literature, and fifth-graders tackled a “persuasive” writing assignment that asked them to defend their position on the question of whether it’s more fun to spend a day at the beach or a day in the snow.
Students say they like both the refreshments and the chance to hear their classmates’ stories.
“I liked the Authors’ Tea because we got to hear other kids’ stories,” says Cassie Smith, a winning fourth-grade author.
“The cookies were very delicious and looked cute. One of my favorite things there was the tea cups and pots. It’s really fun to read your story because you are proud to get to go to the Authors’ Tea. I’m surprised I got picked because there are so many kids in my class that have written better writing than I do. I had a wonderful time at the Authors’ Tea.”
Where everyone’s a scientist
Art Freiler Elementary School in the Tracy Unified School District is doing everything it can to nurture children’s natural interest in science. (See related story on page 30.) The school’s community garden is used in projects that have students researching plants and diseases, observing and analyzing plant growth, and then writing descriptively about what they’ve found. A science magnet program at the school features space science. Daily standards-based instruction in science is designed to help students see how science relates to everyday life.
While the magnet school emphasizes space science, students are encouraged to base their inquiry projects on any phenomenon they are curious about. Many times, says lead science teacher Khushwinder Kaur, those questions arise from daily activities.
A fifth-grader noticed her diabetic grandmother would not eat donuts and asked her why. When the grandmother explained the effect they had on her blood sugar, the student decided to document everything her grandmother ate and charted her blood sugar level. For each project, the students did research, formed hypotheses, documented their findings and reported the results in a systematic way.
In order to support the teachers in providing 55 minutes of standards-based science instruction each day, teachers with single-subject credentials in science at the K-8 school act as mentors. The teachers also cover classes for one another so some can attend workshops and then share what they’ve learned during regular staff development days.
Teachers also work closely with scientists in the community and plan several family science nights each year that draw parents to the school to share in various earth science activities with their children.
All students, from kindergarten on, participate in the school’s own science fair. About 40 students go on to submit projects to the county science fair and usually place among the winners.
The Freiler team builds on the foundation they’ve laid by inviting high school students to share what they’re doing in the district’s Space and Engineering and Agricultural/ Scientific academies. The younger students are fascinated to learn how mechanical engineers design and build cars, or about the creative opportunities open to civil engineers. “It’s a different story when they hear it from another student,” says Kaur. “It makes more of an impression.”
A good foundation in science is valuable for everyone, regardless of their career aspirations, says Kaur. As her classes discussed the recent tsunamis in southeast Asia, they learned about the 10-year-old British visitor who saved about 100 lives by warning people to get off the beach when the ocean suddenly receded. The girl had just learned in school that the effect often preceded a tsunami.
“When they’re learning about plate tectonics they may think they’re not going to be a scientist,” says Kaur, “but you never know when you can use that information in life.”
Match making to support schools
Suppose you’re a second-grade teacher at an inner city school in San Jose. Although they live less than an hour’s drive from the coast, most of your students have never seen the ocean. Every year, you take your class to the Natural Bridges State Park in nearby Santa Cruz so they can see first hand the miracle of the annual Monarch butterfly migration; and walk among trees completely covered with swarms of brilliant black and orange butterflies.
The field trips are wonderful, but every year you’ve wanted to reinforce the science curriculum before the trip by providing supporting material like larvae hunting equipment, log books, larvae, books to build a classroom habitat for butterflies and moths. The cost of this kit is a prohibitive $421, so you and your students have done without.
Thanks to the recent expansion of DonorsChoose, a national program that matches education-minded citizen philanthropists with worthwhile classroom projects, these California students will be able to study the life cycles of butterflies and moths by watching them hatch and grow.
Having already raised $2 million to fund proposals filed by 2,000 teachers elsewhere in the country, DonorsChoose is now soliciting proposals from California teachers in nine Bay Area counties.
The DonorsChoose Web site, www.donorschoose.org, walks teachers through the proposal-writing process and helps prospective donors find projects to support. Bay Area proposals have ranged from $46 to several thousand dollars. Donors can contribute any amount they can afford. Donors get a detailed accounting from teachers and students about the program they’ve helped finance.
More than 500 teachers from Bay Area counties have submitted requests thus far, and more are filing proposals every week.
Supporters say the project is a win-win situation: giving potential donors plenty of chances to make a real difference for kids and teachers a way to solicit help for some very exciting projects.