Maple Green »

The students at Maple Green Elementary come from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities.  They are kind to each other and have worked hard to create a positive culture within the school.  They are inclusive of new students and there are 27 different languages spoken by students at Maple Green.  As a whole the students struggle with their learning as many of them are ELL learners or have limited access to prior knowledge due to their circumstances.  Currently, over 60% of our students speak a language other than English at home (266 / 411 have English as a second language).  Our community consists of multi-family housing – where many families live in very close quarters with each other.  Many are struggling financially. The school has worked on self regulation for the past three years, and the students are much more able to identify their learning needs and places/devices they can use to regulate their behaviour.  

On Sept 25, the staff meet and were posed the question “what do we know about our learners?”  

Their answers were as followed:

*lack of proper home support:

                   nutrition – in lunches – with missing breakfasts

                   routines – bedtimes too late, not ready to learn – computers,                                                  too much un supervised access – homework, not                                                    completed/not important

                   disconnect between home and school – parents not involved                                                 with academics, many raised by grandparents

*Limited background knowledge:

                   lack of extra-curricular outings, limited scope of experiences                                                which affects learning

*Extrinsically motivated:

                   crave adult attention – emotionally needy

*Many are ELL

*Overall academics are weak/low

*But…

        students enjoy coming to school

        they feel it is a safe place to be

        they like hands – on learning activities

        they are inclusive of everyone

        they are kind and appreciative

        they like to help out with jobs and in leadership roles

The transiency rates at Maple Green have increased in the last three years.  During the first six months of each school our transiency rates were: 2014/15  – 55 ins to 21 outs 2015/16 – 54 ins to 19 outs 2016/17 – 61 ins to 26 outs During conversations with students they readily tell you they are the best.  When questioning them about their work – it is the best, also.  Their self-assessment on learning rubrics is often not reflective of their true level.  The same applies to their written work.  When they are completing their rubrics, they are not accurately placing themselves into the different areas. This is a trend throughout the school with all teachers noticing the same thing within their classes.

On Sept 25 teachers were asked the question “How do we know?”  Their answers were as followed:

*Through direct observation

         during class time, work time, play time

         of classroom discussions and interactions between students

         of student participation overall

*Direct assessment

           student work output (or lack there of)

           homework completion (or lack there of)

           classwork assessment – and discussions with students

          SBT information

         PR files

*Correspondences

          with students in a variety of settings

          with parents (and grandparents/caregivers)

          with colleagues

          planners – use and non-use by parents and students

          many notices not being returned to school

*Learned helplessness

          many meltdowns over tasks/expectations

          general lack of problem solving skills

          lack of motivation

*Students are tired/lethargic

          not resilient or motivated

Staff conversations have led to two key questions:

• How can we improve our students ability to recognize their emotional states?

• How do students learn to be responsible for their actions?

Teachers need to deepen their knowledge of communication competencies and explore assessment strategies.   This will be done through professional development sessions at school and presentations by the district, committee work and collaboration time with grade group teachers. Teachers will also engage in collaborative time to learn from each other and develop consistent language to be used throughout the school.  

We will explore ‘Zones of Regulation’ as a tool school wide to deepen student understanding of their emotional states, therefore teachers will need professional development, support and time to explore this program.   Also the admin team will build in collaboration time to support teacher growth.

1.  Teachers will use the ‘Zones of Regulation’ program to help develop students awareness of emotional states.  Students will also develop a larger vocabulary base to explain how they are feeling.
2. Five questions were developed for students.  Each teacher will select three students from their classes who will be video taped giving answers to these questions.  They will be interviewed each term to note improvement over the course of the year.
3. Teachers will have a monthly reflection page on our focus questions.  These will be done at each monthly staff meeting.
4. School focus will be discussed at each staff meeting.  As well as touch back discussions as to how Zones program is going and any further supports teachers are needing.
5. Collaboration time will be organized for grade level teachers to meet to ensure focus consistency and to plan further activities.  (each grade level group brainstormed a list of activities they felt they would do in support of the school goal, so these sessions will allow them to reflect and plan).