from Melissa McWhinney (she is the “I” in the note below):

There will be a TEDx event in Somerville on March 4 at the Armory.  TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a concept designed to share “ideas worth spreading.”  http://www.ted.com   Basically, a selected group of speakers give brief talks about something in which they have expertise and knowledge to share.  The talks are videotaped and go out to the universe to be viewed by all and sundry.    Local versions of these events are called TEDx events.  (I attended a TEDx event in Cambridge last fall.  I will be out of town on the day of the Somerville event.)

The theme of the event in Somerville is “Creative Economy Sustainable Community” (imagine a comma in the middle.)    For more information, see the website, http://tedxsomerville.org

The TED brand requires that the audience is “curated” – in other words, selected by the organizers.  People must apply through the website and are or are not accepted to be part of the audience.  There’s more information about the application and acceptance process on the TEDx Somerville website, including information about the criteria.  They are looking for people who will participate, are connected to Somerville, and are inspirational.

Many of the people I have daily dealings with through my work and home life, both of which are Somerville-centric, are participatory, inspirational and very connected to Somerville.  However, I suspect that most do not yet know about the TEDx event.  Therefore,  I wanted to let folks know about this opportunity, in case they wanted to try to take advantage of it and indeed are permitted to take advantage.

I also wanted to give the TEDx folks the opportunity to experience the incredible depth and richness of humanity that lies within our fair city by broadening the outreach.     Please share this e-mail if you know of people who might be interested.

Hello dear friends and neighbors:

I just wanted to let you know that I will have an office hour at Brunello’s from 5:30 to 6:30 on Thursday, February 16, just after the parent-teacher conferences at both Winter Hill Community School and the Healey School. I will also stop by WHCS PTA at 2:45 and then attend conferences at the Healey.

Harvard Graduate School of Education is offering a course on “The Why, What, and How of School, Family, and Community Partnerships.” This is a topic frequently on my mind and I found that I have already read several of the required books. If you have also read some, please feel free to post your impressions in the comments. Here’s the list, some with brief annotations in brackets for clarity’s sake.

Community Organizing for Stronger Schools: Strategies & Successes by  Kavitha Mediratta, Seema Shah and Sara McAlister

Community Schools in Action: Lessons from a Decade of Practice edited by Joy G. Dryfoos, Jane Quinn, Carol Barkin

Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family/School Partnerships edited by Anne T. Henderson [I have borrowed this book from the Minuteman Library Network twice. It has a lot of worksheets/observation protocols and such to help you take stock of where your school fits on a spectrum from fortress to open and welcoming. Seems like it might be useful for a school administrator to own.]

The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn From Each Other by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot [I read this book maybe 8? years ago. Not earth-shattering, but then again I grew up here and even was a teacher. The essential conversation is the parent-teacher conference. As I recall, the author says that just showing up for these helps teachers see your child in a better light. Parents are really trying to hear that the teacher sees and understands their child/student as a unique individual. I would still like to know how teachers learn to write comments on report cards, but that could just be a personal difficulty I had--probably in both my roles... )

A Cord of Three Strands: A New Approach to Parent Engagement in Schools by Soo Hong [I am currently reading this about some new approaches in Chicago. I do tend to read several books at a time and sporadically so don't hold your breath for any future thoughts...]

Whatever it Takes by Paul Tough. [I read this book like a novel, not sporadically that is! I would wake up in the morning eager to find out more about what was going on with the middle school principal, or what new path-breaking question Canada was going to pose to himself.]

Match on Dry Grass by Mark R. Warren and Karen L. Mapp

Young, Gifted and Black by Theresa Perry, Claude Steele and Asa Hilliard III

Thursday, February 9 at 7pm at East Somerville Community School @ Cummings (42 Prescott Street)

All community members are invited to an initial planning meeting to create an El Sistema program in Somerville!

An exciting and successful series of informal musical exchanges between the SPS Music Department, ESCS and Brighton’s Conservatory Lab Charter School (an El Sistema school) has created a great deal of buzz in the City and a belief that Somerville, with its rich history of arts and culture,  is the perfect location for a new El Sistema program.

The successful implementation of El Sistema will require broad community participation and significant fund-raising to support a highly qualified staff, and instruments for the students. Join us for a conversation on how to create a groundbreaking music program for Somerville youth!

El Sistema began in Venezuela more than 30 years ago. Information on the US program can be found at http://elsistemausa.org/.  Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50DswOWpkPw&feature=related for information on the “El Sistema in the Ville,” featuring staff from the Conservatory School.  Concert footage is also available on a number of YouTube postings and on the Curriculum and Instruction page of the SPS website.

 

Congratulations to Nicole Genard ’12 – Nicole broke the Massachusetts State record in the 55m hurdle in 8 seconds flat. This makes Nicole the 3^rd fastest female in the 55m hurdles in the NATION!

Check out http://ma.milesplit.com/ for the video-  click on record breaking spree at mass invite- on the left is 55m hurdle final video

 Check out the Boston Hearld article! 

Many of us have seen last year’s small pilot crop of about a dozen e-portfolios. This program has scaled up rapidly, though, to include about 50% of Somerville High School students who have at least started an e-portfolio. E-Portfolios began as a Oneville project. Teachers Michelle Li and Chris Glynn have been scaling the project up, with support from physics teacher Mike Maloney and Science Department Head Sibby LaGambina. You can see slides from their recent presentation to the School Committee, complete with links to student portfolios for examples (consent forms on file with Oneville).

Ms. Li and Mr. Glynn helped make a YouTube video about Somerville’s e-portfolios and gave a presentation about the project at Harvard. Somerville High is one of the few high schools to have e-portfolios now, though lots of colleges are using them. As a result, they have been invited to write a chapter about this project for an upcoming book. Mr. Maloney made it very easy for students to begin their e-portfolios by building templates that students can use as is or change the look and feel as they wish. Mr. LaGambina has asked every science teacher to have each of their students start an eportfolio and that is why the second year of the project already involves half of all the students. Mr. Maloney has also posted how-to videos; when a student asks him how to do something, for example maybe how to put certain kinds of media files into their e-portfolio, he makes a video about it because other students will likely have the same question.

The e-portfolios feature a brief profile of the student, including their interests and aspirations, selections of their best works, and reflections on how their work illustrates learning in several areas, based on Massachusetts Workforce Readiness Skills. The student has a chance to say what the skill or goal means to them and how the piece of work they are putting up demonstrates it. The e-portfolios we saw included photographs of artwork, interviews with teachers, and videos of the student playing sports. The student can post work over time and this will not only show growth in understanding and accomplishment, but also help them become reflective learners. Teachers can find it helpful to review students’ e-portfolios when writing recommendations for them. Also Mr. Maloney and the students both felt that if all other things were equal, these e-portfolios could give students an extra edge for getting into college.

An 11th-grader and a 9th-grader were present and graciously showed us their e-portfolios. When Mr. Bockelman asked about the possibility of misuse, the 9th grader explained that students know actions have consequences and most would not want to make themselves look bad. Mr. Maloney added that these e-portfolios are ultimately controlled by the school and they could take down anything inappropriate and coach a student to use the portfolio properly. In a worst-case scenario he posited that if a student repeated inappropriate use, that student might lose the privilege of adding work to their site and only a teacher could post for them. But he said there haven’t been any problems yet.

This is a great innovation, sparked by Oneville, but really owned and grown by our dedicated, creative teachers with the impressive thought, time, and effort they have poured into it!

Learn about Somerville Public Schools/ Conheça as Escolas Públicas de Somerville/ Aprenda Acerca de las Escuelas Publicas de Somerville/ Aprann Sou Lekòl Piblik Somerville yo

Open House at Elementary Schools

All schools are open for visits on January 18, 19 & 20 • 8:30am-1:30pm

Parent Information Center Coffee Hours:

For parents/guardians who want to meet each otherbefore visiting the schools. 9-10am on days of Elementary Schools’ Open Houses.

Kindergarten Registration

Begins Saturday, 1/21 • 10am-2pm

For more information call: Parent Information Center, Cummings School: 617-625-6600 x6961

Visitas na Escolas de Ensino Fundamental 

Todas as escolas estarão abertas para visitas nos dia 18, 19 e 20de janeiro, das 8:30 às 13:30 hrs.

Hora do Café no Centro de Informação aos Pais 

Aos pais/responsável que queiram um ponto de encontro antes de visitar as escolas.

9:00-10:00hrs. durante os dias de Visitas nas Escolas.

Matrícula de Kindergarten

Começa no sábado, 21 de janeiro, 10:00 às 14:00hrs.

Para maior informação ligue para o Centro de Informação aos Pais, Escola Cummings: 617-625-6600 ramal 6962

Puerta Abierta en las Escuelas Elementales

Todas las escuelas están abiertas para visitas el 18, 19 y 20 de Enero desde las 8:30am-1:30pm

Centro de Información para Padres (Hora del Café)

Para padres/tutores quienes se quieren reunir con otros padres. Antes de visitar las escuelas.

9:00-10:00am en días que hay Puertas Abiertas en las Escuelas Elementales.

Registración para Kindergarten

Comienzan el Sábado 21 de Enero desde las 10:00am-2:00pm

Para más información, llame al Centro de Información para Padres, Escuela Cummings: 617-625-6600 x6962

Open House nan Lekòl Primè yo

Tout lekòl yo ap ouvri pou vinn vizite 18, 19 ak 20 Janvye 8:30am-1:30pm

Orè Cafe nan Sant Enfòmasyon Paran an 

Pou paran/gadyen ki vle rankontre ansanm ak lòt paran anvan yo ale vizite lekòl yo.

9:00-10:00am nan jou Lekòl Primè yo ouvri pou Open Houses.

Enskripsyon Jadendanfan

ap kòmanse Samdi, Janvye 21, 10:00am-2:00pm

Rele Sant Enfòmasyon Paran an, Cummings School, pou plis enfòmasyon: 617-625-6600 x6962

Present were Mark Niedergang, Paul Bockelman, Teresa Cardoso, myself, Vince McKay, Tony Pierantozzi, and presenters from the Healey School Principal Purnima Vadhera, teacher Josh Wairi, parent Maria Gemma Cruz, Consultant Dan French and also head of the foreign language department Jane Cummings. In the audience was a representative from the Somerville Teachers’ Association.

We met at 42 Cross St. The meeting started at 7:05 and adjourned at 9:00

The first agenda item was an update on the Healey School Unification.

The unification appears to be rolling out pretty much as planned. The principal Ms. Vadhera emphasized that each component of the Unification plan is focused on improving instruction. She said this is very challenging as it is the most diverse school she has ever worked in. One focus of the professional development is on embedding differeintiated, standards based instruction into project-based and service learning units.

The math and ELA coaches are also invaluable aids to improving instruction; they have a great relationship with the teachers and function as part of the Instructional Leadership Team. They are using data to drive improvements in teaching and learning.

Many structural changes have been put in place. The changes include:

Recess now happens before lunch. The principal says lunchroom behavior problems are markedly down this year.

New loops started for grades 1-8, and also—for social studies and science– mixing grades 3 with4 and 5 with 6.

To strengthen the middle grades program, teachers in grades 5-8 have several common planning periods per week. There is also an additional math block for grades 7 & 8. One block provides the basic lesson; the additional block is for enrichment or exploration or remediation depending on what each student needs. The goal is that every student knows how to do their homework each day.

School wide paraprofessionals have been deployed from the office into classrooms as needed so that teachers in all grade levels have common planning time at least once a week.

There is a protocol for what teachers do during common planning time, including looking at student work. The goal is that once common planning time is well-established, it won’t make much difference what teacher a student gets.

Grade level teams are planning their first Project Based Learning projects for this spring.

Service learning technology projects have started in grades 7 & 8.

Parent Engagement has increased.

The Parent Resource Room—referred to as the Welcome Center in the Unification plan—opened in January.

The Parent Connectors continue to refine their work having bilingual parents help English-learning parents be involved.

Now 93-94% of families have shared their emails.

The integration of students from the two programs has been rather seamless. The principal did say the teachers seemed to be more “segregated” in their views of teaching and she has launched a Peer Observation program. 28 of the 47 teachers have signed up to watch one another teach and to be watched as well. They have a protocol for doing the observations and for talking to each other about them afterwards. Peer Observations were not anticipated in the Unification Plan, but the principal noticed a need for them and took this initiative.

In terms of experiential learning, 87% of 3^rd-6^th graders participated in Nature’s Classroom. This required huge fundraising efforts. For the future the thinking about this is that students will go to Nature’s Classroom only once during their stay at the Healey, at one grade level, but that each grade level will have its own off-site special learning experience. For example, the principal mentioned possibly collecting maple syrup for one of the younger grades.

Many items from the unification plan are still ahead, as the implementation plan did lay out. For example, the Healey will continue to implement common planning time for all grade level teams; embed service learning and Integrate the arts into the curriculum, better integrate the work of the Community Council and the PTA; Implement the All-school Meeting model, perhaps have an international week; plan a Healey Gala to raise money for arts integration and continue supporting the vibrant after-school program there.

All in all, the core values of Excellence, Openness, Joy, and Creativity are coming to life at the Healey and the presenters said that people are happy to come to the Healey and teachers want to go to work there. Consultant Dan French said that last year’s My Voice survey revealed a very weak collaborative culture among faculty. All the most successful schools are marked by a unified vision among the faculty.  He expects that next year’s MyVoice data will be much better in this regard.

When Mr. Bockelman asked the principal to characterize the educational philosophy of the Healey School, she called it “innovative and rigorous.” The consultant said it is still evolving, teachers are developing a common language and operationalizing the core values, but all the teachers have embraced project based learning and more engaged learning opportunities that will lead to meeting standards.

Mr. Niedergang asked how the journey might take and what resources might be needed. The principal said they absolutely need common planning time and experts in various topics to professional development but expects that they themselves will be experts in 3 years. She would like another year with the consultant. Also experiential learning takes money.

At 8:30 we started talking about the foreign language survey results. All middle grades parents were surveyed about their preferences for which foreign language should be taught in the middle grades beginning next year. Spanish came in a strong first place with 77% of the vote. The assumption is that only about half of our middle grade students will be academically in a position that makes studying another language possible, so we could hire three teachers to cover the six schools where we have 7^th and 8^th graders. We are still discussing whether to offer one language across the city, which feels right now like it might be both simpler and fairer.

But we do bring to the whole SC a motion to re-introduce foreign language study for grades 7 and 8 district-wide pending funding, and we ask the superintendent to develop an implementation plan.

We also bring a motion to approve a professional development course in Balanced Literacy Curriculum.

We adjourned at 9pm.

Respectfully submitted, Christine T. Rafal

December 15, 2011

Board of Education

350 Main St.

Malden, MA

Dear Mr. Secretary and esteemed Board Members,

Thank you for your recent visit to Somerville. I send you this letter because I did not get a

chance to speak at the hearing re: the application for a “Somerville Progressive Charter

School,” which is just as well since it was more important to have heard from the public.

I represent Ward 4 on the School Committee. I have a daughter at the high school and one at

Somerville’s own progressive school, the Healey. My background includes degrees in

linguistics, in teaching English, and in Teaching, Curriculum and Learning Environments. My

experience includes, in part: work as a teacher, classroom researcher, and a curriculum

developer.

I realize that at the public hearing you heard from the honorables Senator Pat Jehlen,

Representative Carl Sciortino, and Alderman Bill White that the Somerville Progressive Charter

School application does not fulfill the legislative intent regarding proven provider status. They

believe the proposal is illegal and therefore your decision should be easy, a no-brainer one

might say. I wish I could leave it at that. But I realize questionable charter schools have been

approved before.

So just in case you consider this application somehow within the letter of the law on that point,

even if not the spirit, I want to highlight a few of the very serious questions and concerns the

DESEʼs own reviewers had raised about this proposed charter school in September, that I

find still apply even in the November application.

The most important point is that “The proposers do not make the case that the autonomy of a

Charter School is necessary to achieve [their] goals.”

The proposers are resting a great deal of the case they try to make on an argument that

Somerville does not serve English Language Learners well, but Somerville’s freshest MEPA

data looks great–our district overall is outperforming the state in this area and in some schools

by as much as 30 points! Of course we still have more work to do, but scores like these do not

happen overnight.

Think about this next to the fact that DESE reviewers also noticed that “There are critical

problems” in the proposed charter school’s plans for learning in two languages.* More details

are in that review. While the proposers stopped calling it two-way bilingual immersion

education, serious problems persist in the hodgepodge of “options” (though foreign language

study is shown on a sample schedule, it is referred to as “optional” for English speakers at

least twice in the narrative) and a focus on pedagogical methods that are primarily oral/aural

and designed for foreign language instruction. Thus many of the reviewers’ questions still

apply.

Furthermore these proposers don’t seem to meet the criterion of BEING proven providers, they

only HAVE proven providers, in a very minimal way.

So…I don’t feel confident they could improve ELLs experience beyond how well Somerville’s

program works. If they would indeed teach the neediest ELLs. The Immigrant Parent Group at

the Mystic Housing Project released a statement saying they are only just hearing of this

proposal and need more time to think about it. It seems the proposers have reached out to only

a handful of low-income immigrants. Indeed provisions in the plan seem unwelcoming to lowincome

parents whose work schedules typically are not as flexible as those of professionals,

making it either difficult to provide 4 hours of volunteer work a month in order to be able to vote

for Board members, or necessary to swallow one’s pride and go through some process of

obtaining a “hardship exemption.” I am sad to hear some immigrants do not have perfect

experiences in Somerville public schools. I know we can and will work on that. No system is

perfect, but our system strives for excellence and will keep striving. I hear these accounts as

feedback for areas to improve.

Reviewers of the initial charter application also noted that the plan stops short of saying they

would operate a resource room, that the ostensible STEM focus is not integrated in a coherent

way,* and that this proposed school’s strongest ideas are for optional after-school programs.

These all strike me as both serious and still true in November. I would be happy to invite the

proposing group to become a vendor to Somerville’s current and vibrant after-school program.

If I were on the Board of Education, I would wonder how applicants could go through the

supportive process the DESE provides for writing charter applications and still not adequately

address so many red flags in the feedback. As the proposers themselves have pointed out,

stakes are very high for each year of a child’s education. So if I were on the Board of

Education, I would think about other times questionable charters have been approved, such as

one on the North Shore, and seriously ask myself: “Is it worth the risk?”

Please vote no on this application. Thank you so much.

Sincerely,

Christine T. Rafal

*I sat for two and a half hours at an informational meeting at the home of two of the founders

on December 1, and though I was listening for it, I heard not one mention of anything to do with

STEM. Nor could the proposers who were presenting answer a Unidos parent’s questions

about language outcomes. And as one of the later speakers at the hearing pointed out, while

the proposers are claiming poor outcomes in Somerville, no one is saying they know the

proposed plan can work.

Dear Friends & Neighbors,

I hope this note finds you well. I would like to thank you for re-electing me to a second term. Congratulations to Tony Lafuente. Thanks also to Christine Barber for all the attention they brought to our neighborhood’s needs and concerns.

Just wanted to mention a few quick things: 1. Friends of the Library; 3. Boston Mob Guide event; 4. Deck the House contest; 5. Charter School Public Hearing; 6. Inauguration. 7. Have a safe and happy holiday.

1. The Friends of the Library needs more members and volunteers. The organization’s president, Jaques Street resident Dvora Jonas, seeks more help this year in order to run the book sale.  It raises a lot of money for the library and is a great opportunity for the community to exchange books. Please consider getting involved. Contact friendssomervillepubliclibrary@gmail.com.

2. Hmm…I can’t find the facebook post…It seems like a Marshall St resident had posted about an essay contest for girls; I wanted to share it with you all. If he can send me the info, I will post it on rafalforward4.info…. {posted: this is the Boston Glow Ignite Change essay contest}

3. Speaking of Marshall St, and the library…: The main branch of the library will host a meet-the-authors, book-signing, book-release event for _Boston Mob Guide_ about historical, notorious gangsters, and some FBI agents, who were once upon a time based in Winter HIll, Charlestown, the North End etcetera at 7 pm Wednesday December 14. Conveniently located adjacent to the site of the public hearing on the proposed charter school, which will be held from 4 to 6 pm at Somerville High School that very same day.

4. Speaking of contests (see #2), if your house is one of the destinations of the Illuminations Tour trolleys (or even if it isn’t, but is still twinkling), you might want to enter the Patch “Deck the House” contest. One winner from all the communities served by Patch could garner $100,000 for their local schools, and 24 winners will have their December electric bill paid. It seems to me Somerville residents could stand a good chance! For more details check out http://deckthehouse.patch.com/contest/somerville/about# . Find out more about the Illuminations Tour at somervilleartscouncil.org.

5. Speaking of the proposed charter school (see #3), please attend the public hearing Wednesday December 14 between 4 and 6 pm. Anyone who signs up by 5:50 pm will be allowed to speak. {Note: that was the latest information I had at the time. The protocol seems to be in flux and now the word is the Board of Ed members will decide when they want to leave}. Whether you want to speak or not, please submit written comments to charterschools@doe.mass.edu. The public comment period is through Jan 3.

6. On January 2, the inauguration of local elected officials is scheduled for 6pm at the high school auditorium. Organizational meetings take place in City Hall at 5pm. It is free and open to the public.

7. Have a safe and happy holiday season! All my best wishes to you and yours for joy, peace, and health throughout 2012.

As always feel free to contact me with ideas for making our schools even more amazing.