Wow, what an amazing week we just completed. Hepburn School was buzzing from start to finish and there was a great “vibe” throughout. Track and field events provided bookends for the week as the elementary event went on a perfect Tuesday and the senior track team participated at Griffiths on a crazy Friday that featured sunny skies and rolling thunder. It was great to see everyone out there having fun and trying their best. In between we had a lot of great learning going on in the building as Joel Jeschke had the library rocking all day Thursday, thank you very much Kurt and Meredith on creating a great opportunity for all of our learners. Renaye had the grade 9 science fair which had kids young and old “ooohing and aaahing” at some of the cool creations, it was an electric atmosphere, that’s for sure!

This week the learning continues as you will see outlined in the final section. Our grade 12’s are going to be exploring Saskatchewan on their annual SaskTrip while the pre-K’s will be learning what is next on their learning journey as they have their graduation and K introduction. On Tuesday, Ron, Danielle Olson, and myself will be at our final ALT meeting for the year where the theme for the meeting is Learning from Failures.

During her last visit, Lori asked us about how we are going to gather and give feedback as the year winds up. She asked how we are going to reflect with Jamie and how Ron is going to offer me feedback as I prepare for the next step in my journey. This had me thinking about how we get feedback from our students as the year comes to a close. Learning Link 1 is an article from Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher)that invites us to think about different ways of gathering feedback from our students to help us improve for next year. What are some ways you are doing this? Here is a thought I had as I read this, what if this was a required process and the information that was shared had to be a key part of our transition meetings? Would that change our conversations? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

In Learning Link 2 I have included the instructions for creating an online survey (for free) by using SurveyMonkey. When you have a look at the instructions, think about the types of questions you’d like to ask and how you will use the feedback you may receive. Are you interested in how you did as you tried to actualize parts or all of My Prairie Spirit Classroom? What questions could you ask in a survey? Could they be as simple as:

• in our class the students do most of the talking
• in our class the teacher sits beside me as I learn
• in our class I get to choose how I show my understanding
• in our class our teacher has high expectations of our work
• in our class I get feedback on my work that helps me improve
• in our class the teacher lets us know what the main idea for the lesson will be
• in our class we have had other teachers come in to watch our teacher teach

How do you think your students would answer those questions?

Finally, here is a short video where a group of experts discusses the importance of education from there point of view, cool feedback for all of us.

Here’s what is going on this week:

Monday

• SaskTrip begins, Ryan, Renaye and the grade 12’s are on the road
• Bruce gone (am only)

Tuesday

• Pre K graduation in the gym, followed by K introduction
• Ron & Bruce gone all day (ALT meeting)

Wednesday

Thursday

• Bruce gone (am only, medical)

Friday

• SaskTrip concludes
• Tana Thiessen at Provincial Track & Field (High Jump)

As always, create a great week!