Reading Week Coincides With Special Guests For WED

I had to do all of my paperwork late at night this week because it seems like every day, I had to attend one or more exciting events with special guests.  The following is a list of all of the events I attended:

1.  On Monday, I attended a special presentation by Thaddeus Rex at the Governor Aram J. Pothier Elementary School.

2.  On Tuesday, I attended a Perkins Grant Regional Meeting to discuss funding for career paths next year and the development of career paths in all of the sending communities to the WACTC.

3. On Wednesday, I attended the Rhode Island School Superintendents (RISSA) Paul Crowley Award Ceremony at the Rhode Island State House and the Rhode Island Public Charter School Consortium.

4. On Thursday, Commissioner Gist and I began our day as guest readers at Fifth Avenue school and she had an action packed day in Woonsocket.  Her activities included spending time in several classrooms with teachers at Bernon Elementary School as well as holding a Teacher Forum, a Board of Regents meeting, and a Community Forum at Woonsocket Middle School Hamlet.

5.  On Friday, I ended the week reading to a class of wonderful students at Leo A. Savoie Elementary School.

I cannot give all of these events justice in one article so I will do other articles on the development of Career Paths through the WACTC, The RISSA Paul Crowley Award, and the Rhode Island Public Charter School Consortium at a later date.  I will focus this article on Reading Week and the Commissioner's Visit.

Before we get to the main topics, I would like to tell a story about a dear friend and his son as a lead into the first topic and I will end this article with a relevant quote from my son this week.  One of my best friends is Bill Shurtleff and he is an avid reader.  He is a technology teacher in Lynn, Massachusetts and we met each other when we were both teaching at the Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Lynn.  Bill's son Kyle was always an excellent student and the fact that Kyle's mother was a reading teacher may also explain his quote.  One day when Kyle was in middle school, Bill asked "How do you do so well in school."  Kyle responded "It's easy dad. You just listen to the teacher in class and read the book, all the answers are there."  Now I believe that the culture of literacy that his parents provided, helped Kyle to understand at an early age that literacy is the foundation of all learning.  Hopefully the following examples of the work being done in the our schools will demonstrate our efforts at creating a culture of Literacy in Woonsocket.

Reading Week

Aram J. Pothier Elementary School

My first stop on Monday was Pothier Elementary School.  Principal Donna Coderre invited me into the gymnasium to see a special guest that they brought in to work with their students.  She explained to me that Governor Pothier School was fortunate to receive a $2,000 grant from the Target Community Relations Grant Fund, thanks to the help of 1st grade teacher Renee McCutcheon.  This grant paid for this special national presentation.

The special guest was Thaddeus Rex and I got to enjoy his motivational  program, "Read Like A Rock Star."  This unique program is performed by rock singer/songwriter Thaddeus Rex who is a PBS veteran. Thaddeus Rex's educational rock concerts show kids specific benefits of becoming a frequent reader. 

Additionally, Thaddeus conducted a writing workshop with our 2nd graders in which he teaches them important songwriter (and literacy) tools like metaphor, alliteration, rhyming, phrasing, brainstorming and more.  The second graders worked as a group to write a song with Thaddeus.  He then recorded their song and posted it on his website's blog (trex@thaddeusrex.com or www.thaddeusrex.com). 

This unique event is designed to increase the fundamental desire of a child to read and to show kids how much fun can come from reading.  Thaddeus makes it obvious he can only be a rock star because he reads all the time!  Thaddeus Rex appeals to children's desire for independence and self-reliance by showing them how reading develops their own imagination and creativity instead of relying on what others have programmed into their video games.  "Reading is the best thing you can do to get yourself ready for anything," stated Thaddeus. 

Thaddeus and I discussed the benefits of intrinsic rewards verses extrinsic rewards and that is exactly why Principal Coderre and her staff make learning fun, interesting and self rewarding for their students.   What a great way for me to start off Reading Week!

Fifth Avenue Elementary School

Fifth Avenue school celebrated Reading Week by inviting community leaders to spend some time reading to the children.  There were several important guest who shared their joy of reading to show the children that reading is fun.  The special guest readers included Mayor Fontaine,  School Committee Members Anita McGuire Forcier and Vimala Phongsavanh, Police Chief Thomas Carey, Director of Instruction and Administration Mark Garceau, Principal Ron Celio, Assistant Principal/Coach Henderson and four of his Woonsocket High School football players, as well as Valley Breeze Reporter Brenna McCabe.  A few parents also came in to help read with the children and write their names in their news books.  They include Cheryl Rodriques, Janice Sanchez and Abou Manneh.

On Thursday morning of last week, I got to read to Ms. Kathleen Mall's 3rd grade class at Fifth Avenue.  When I walked in the students were working at their desks on a geometry math lesson.  The book Ms. Mall asked me to read was "Goldilocks and the Three Squares."  The students absolutely loved the book and it was easy for me to help them make connections from the book we were reading to the work they were doing in class on Geometry.  The well decorated room had student exemplars hanging all around.  Also, there were bright geometric shapes named on the wall near the reading corner so that I could use them as a reference for some of the students who needed visual stimulation.  I actually brought a second book "Biscuit's Picnic" and just for fun I had a student, Aliesandra Paulino, sit next to me and help me read.  We did a great job reading every-other page and everyone had a great time. 

In the afternoon, I came back to Fifth Avenue with the Commissioner of Education, Deborah Gist.  She made Fifth Avenue School her first stop in Woonsocket to be a guest reader.  In all of her other community visits she has only visited one school, but the commissioner has always been kind to Woonsocket.  When she read to her class, they had so much fun that one exuberant child actually asked if he could hug her.

The students at Fifth Avenue also completed reading activities each night and received two prizes on Friday for their efforts.  Each student also chose a free book through the Reading is Fundamental (RIF) program which has provided each student with 3 to 4 free books every year for the past twelve years.  We even had a special visit from Dr. Seuss provided by Estelle Bubble.  Ms. Carol Power-Tilton, our reading specialist, is doing a great job of motivating students to read and these events that she coordinated are demonstrating to kids that reading can be fun.

Leo A. Savoie Elementary School 

Not only did the students look forward to having special guests read, but every day last week the students at Savoie Elementary School started the school day with DEAR (Drop Everything And Read.)  Each student then chose a word that they read and wrote it on a label to wear as their "Word of the Day."  When I got to read in Mr. Mitchell Cohn and Ms. Mellissa Pierce's class,  I asked one of the students why they had that word on their shirt and they explained it to me.  Some of the other special guest readers included: Mayor Fontaine, School Committee members, State Senators and Representatives, and the local Fire Chief, just to name a few. 

Also, there were many other literacy activities during reading week.  The PTO funded a professional storyteller, Katie Latimer, to perform two shows for their students on Wednesday.  Generous families donated new and gently used books to allow the students at Savoie Elementary School to participate in a book swap.  Every child received a book to take home and the books left over were donated to a local shelter.  Each classroom chose a grade appropriate book and decorated their door according to the book's theme.  On Thursday they had "dress as your favorite book character," with many teachers and over 50% of the students participating.  Even our reading specialist, Lisa Laneau, dressed as Fancy Nancy. 

To end the week, the students had been reading extra time each night to earn a free ticket to Six Flags New England.  All those extra hours ended on March 4th and over 200 students earned a free ticket to Six Flags, just for READING!!! 

In this article I only highlighted the efforts of two of our outstanding reading specialists.  However, I do want to congratulate all of our reading specialist for the incredible work they do with individual students as well as the work they are doing to create a culture of literacy in all of our schools! 

The Commissioner's Visit

The Commissioner's Visit went very well from all accounts.  Commissioner Gist is a high energy person and she had an aggressive agenda to see as much of Woonsocket as possible.  She arrived at Fifth Avenue first, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., where she read to a kindergarten class.   She went to her second school visit from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m. at Bernon Heights Elementary School, where she sat in with teachers from several classes.  She then went to Woonsocket Middle School Hamlet to meet with teachers from  2:40 to 3:40 p.m. in an effort to provide a forum for teachers to hear the RIDE vision and ask any questions they might have on any educational topics.  The Commissioner participated in a Board of Regents Meeting from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Hamlet Cafetorium and finished the evening with a Community Forum from 6:30 to 8 p.m., which provided the community with the same opportunities as the teachers to hear the RIDE vision and ask any educational questions they had.

During the Community Forum, one of the parents suggested that the commissioner create a parent advisory committee to disseminate information.  The commissioner identified that there are 39 communities and over 50 districts which would make it difficult to work on a committee with such a large group.  She did identify that her method of communication with constituents through these forums are reaching many parents and gaining great dialog.  She did not rule out the idea of having a statewide parent organization in the future. 

Another parent asked the Commissioner how important she felt all day Kindergarten was and if the implementation of the K-12 Instructional leaders was worth it at the expense of All-day Kindergarten.  I was pleased that the Commissioner's answer was that these decisions are all about priorities around the most efficient way to improve education.  She stated that while All-day Kindergarten was near and dear to her heart as an early childhood educator herself, the research does not show All-Day Kindergarten to be as powerful an achievement enhancer as improving educator quality is.  The Commissioner was acknowledging that the K-12 Instructional Leaders are a priority because they have started the Race to the Top work on curriculum a year early, this year, thanks to another RIDE grant and will be supporting the Race to the Top work on curriculum and the new evaluation system during the next school year and beyond. 

Finally, I was intrigued by a comment that was asked of the commissioner about scheduling at the high school.  The person asking the question suggested that teachers would not have the tools to improve academic achievement if the school committee follows through with the performance audit's recommendation to change from the block schedule to a seven period day.  The Commissioner's response was that there is no research that shows that scheduling in a block or a traditional six period day makes any difference in academic achievement.  This was interesting because too often we look at the merits of how something like a schedule benefits the adults and not at the bottom line which should be student achievement.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Gerardi, Jr., Ph.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Woonsocket Education Department

"Reading is Learning"

Robert J. Gerardi, III