PRIDEN E W S L E T T E R C O M M U N I T Y

PRIDEVolume XXXVII, Issue II, 2013

DESTINATION IMAGINATION: ON TO STATES

The Orange City School District has worked diligently to provide all students with comprehensive systems of support that will help develop the skills they need to be life-long learners, critical thinkers, collaborators, innovators, technology integrators and communicators while also excelling in various state assessments. Over the years, we have had to adapt our curriculum so that we meet the ever changing requirements of the State while still focusing on learning that is engaging, relevant and authentic as we continue to expand our understanding of what our young people need in this 21st Century learning environment.

Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, the state is significantly changing its assessment measures that will focus on nationally aligned Common Core State Standards (CCSS). We are currently preparing our teachers and students for the District’s movement towards aligning curriculum to these more rigorous standards in English/Language Arts, Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies. These new standards and assessments will more directly reflect students’ transfer of knowledge from one content area to another and identify profound learning targets. The new assessments will continue to evaluate how well our students progress through the curriculum over time.

The Orange Schools’ challenge is to use our comprehensive systems of support to achieve alignment of our curriculum to the new national common core requirements. The comprehensive support framework we have in place includes Next Generation Learning (NxGL), personalized learning, mentoring, intersessions (see page 3), digital portfolios, facilities planning, flipped classrooms, performance based learning, imbedded intervention, learning environment and technology integration. NxGL shows what is possible in education when systems are designed to provide a learner-centered, innovative experience for all students.

We also are looking at individualized needs of students: differentiation, student choice, awareness of cultural differences, anytime-anywhere learning, authentic student voices and targeted assistance. Our success and our challenges will be determined through various data measures and assessments of academic progress.

We are committed to having every student in the District participate in intersessions, which are extended learning opportunities and experiences

beyond the traditional classroom. We are designing intersessions for students to solve real-world problems and challenges by applying academic content knowledge to engaging projects. Intersessions are often culminating activities that last a day or two and don’t follow the traditional bell schedules. The rationale of an intersession is to offer our students innovative instruction and deep learning in the areas of math, language arts, science, social studies, music, art, engineering and physical education. All intersession are aligned with the national common core state standards and 21st Century learning standards.

Staff development is focusing on cultural awareness, the achievement gap, designing engaging work, the 3rd Grade Reading Guarantee, standards, assessments, and accountability. We will be exploring four opportunity areas to determine how we might transform our current design in each area to make learning more effective. Those areas are time and place, human resources, assessments and technology.

We will be working during the next three years to develop transformative educational frameworks that will meet the requirements of the 21st Century so we can more appropriately prepare our students for a measurably different future.

The Moreland Hills School fourth grade “Hedgehog Factory” team qualified for the State Destination ImagiNation Competition! Seven fourth graders comprised “Hedgehog Factory” including Abby Thompson, Mason Lurie, Lyla Berns, Clara Briskin, Jaden Polster, Anna Klinginsmith, and Katie Kapp. They were one of four teams the Orange Schools sent to the regional competition. Destination ImagiNation is a national creative problem-solving, process-oriented program.

Orange High School’s Mock Trial “Team Shanghai” reached the State Finals held recently, earning accolades from all of the judging panelists for the group’s exceptional work! Also, senior Hannah Levine took home the title of “Best Witness” in the State Finals! Team Shanghai is comprised of OHS students Shivangi Bhatia, Evan Wahl, Camille Rekhson, Cameron Demsey, Kurren Bafna, Hannah Levine, Matt Fisher, and Jacob Kirsh.

The team began its quest at the District and Regional levels and was invited with two other Orange teams to compete at the State level. That is the most number of teams Orange has ever sent to states, and Orange is the only school that represented our region at the state competition.

Mock trial students study a case history throughout the year and then go to the District competition where the student attorneys argue their case against other schools. Teams generally consist of eight members including a plaintiff side and a defense side with two attorneys and two witnesses. OHS had more than 80 students in Mock Trial this year.

MOCK TRIAL: STATE FINALISTS USING COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT TO ENGAGE STUDENTS WHILE ADDRESSING COMMON CORE STANDARDS

Brady Middle School’s eighth grade Power of the Pen team earned First Place at the recent District competition. Brady students also won individual awards. Jake Van De Walle took home the First Place title and a Best of Round Award. Maddy Carek helped Orange sweep the awards, winning 2nd place and an Honorable Mention for a Best of Round. Isabel Sands won a Best of Round Award. Teammates Anita Krishnan, Tyler Stiggers and Margaret Lang helped Brady dominate the competition.

POWER OF THE PEN: FIRST AT DISTRICTS

CONGRATULATIONS MR. MARCELINO! CRYSTAL APPLE AWARD WINNER!RESHAPING PUBLIC EDUCATION FROM WITHINPRIDEby: Sam Steinhouse, Board President

TO LEARN. TO LEAD. TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

TRANSFORMING OUR SCHOOLS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF 21ST CENTURY CHILDRENby: Nancy Wingenbach, Ph.D., Superintendent

The Orange School District is taking action because we understand the need for transformation. What we hear in the voice of Deb Delisle, former Orange

teacher, State Superintendent and now Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Educat ion for the U.S. Department of Education, is reflected in the environment, the work, and the actions of staff, students and community.

Ass i s t an t Sec re t a ry Delisle speaks to the mission,

the strategy and the transformation of our schools: “Our uncompromising mission: To help schools and communities prepare the children of today for a world that has yet to be created, for jobs yet to be invented, and for technologies not yet dreamed.”

There is an urgency implied, yet clear, in the message that speaks to strategic action and transformative systems: Tomorrow is too late. The transformation of our educational system is very different from simple “reform” or improvement of what we currently do. As Delisle states: “Unless we unlearn some of our traditional practices, we will never get beyond an ‘improvement’ mindset.”

The Orange Schools community has, over the last decade, been aware of the need to change and to prepare our students for their future, not our present. We are being thoughtful, strategic and active so that we carefully transform our educational environment to meet the needs of today’s students who will encounter challenges, technologies and opportunities we can not imagine in their future.

For our District to “transform” we must examine the way students learn today and support that learning in new ways. The classroom must expand beyond four walls and become learning spaces that are no longer bound by brick and mortar and provide “anytime, anywhere learning”. We must look to the skills required in the 21st Century and create a learning system that enables students to face, address and act on

the complex challenges and opportunities of the future. Simply teaching what we know is not sufficient; we must teach how to know.

Three areas of focus are imbedded in our daily work: curriculum (what we want students to know and be able to do), culture (environment, facilities, commitments, expectations, connections) and technologies (tools, machines, systems that enhance and support learning).

More than 13 years ago, we joined with the Schlechty Center, an organization committed to partnering with schools across the nation to increase capacity for change to address the educational needs of students. Through this partnership, we focused on engaging students in learning. One of the Schlechty standards was creating a sense of urgency. Over the next 10 years, we analyzed our work, our campus and our connections with community. We took the lead in designing an educational experience that went deep and wide. We integrated content learning and authentic experiences that reached beyond the four walls and the daily schedule. We incorporated the principles of 21st Century/Next Generation Learning (NxGL) to create learning opportunities such as the intercessions and the other student work featured on the web site:

www.orangeschools.org/TheOrangeStory.For us, the preparation for and foundation of our

work today is open to learning inside and outside the classroom, during and beyond the daily schedule, specific to and across the content areas. Our focus is on academics, athletics and art as well as the social/emotional components. We accept diversity and design interventions to meet the individual student needs within our schools.

Another Schlechty insight into our transformation is customization in an era of standardization. With the mandates from the State to establish common core standards, we are working to align the curriculum with the standards, but we are also aware of the importance of the instruction. We are standardizing our curriculum and customizing our delivery as

teachers design engaging lessons that incorporate the standards yet personalize the instruction.

As we face the future of learning, we are also carefully examining the environment and the expectations we are setting. Our commitment is to make decisions and set expectations based on the educational and environmental needs of our students. We are addressing a variety of needs that cross from the emotional and physical to the artistic and academic. We have reached out to the community and involved them in supporting students at risk because of financial circumstances. We know that to educate the whole student, we must know who and where they are and support them in multiple ways so they can concentrate on learning.

The Orange Schools Board of Education has recognized the need for facility planning to provide the most efficient educational environment within the financial constraints through immediate, short term and long term planning and goal setting. We must prepare our campus for the technology required for all students to complete state-mandated assessments online and make sure we have the tools for each student. We must address the maintenance and renovation of the buildings so the current students have a warm, safe and secure setting while still looking toward the facilities needed in the future. The whole campus has been analyzed to prioritize work to be done ranging from athletic fields to building roofs and finally to major modifications. This facility planning is progressing as we work to design a campus for the 21st Century.

The Orange School District is fortunate to have the vision to lead us into the 21st Century, the understanding of the need to transform, the culture that embraces strategic action on behalf of students, the staff that has the capacity to do the work, the community that believes in and supports the work and the resources to allocate to this work. Today, the Orange students are being prepared for the work of the future and the challenges it holds. These students will “learn, lead and make a difference” in this 21st Century.

Our plate is full! 21st century skills, Next Generation Learning, the National Common Core,

Ohio’s Third Grade reading guarantee and a constant barrage of technological change demanding new skills of our students.

How do we sort it all out, adapt what and how we teach and ultimately deliver well prepared graduates?

In her column below, Superintendent Nancy Wingenbach does a wonderful job of connecting these challenges with the resources and methods that the District’s staff, administration and School Board use to effect the desired educational outcomes for our students. Read it more than once. It is a road map for reshaping public education from within.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has selected Brady Middle School teacher John Marcelino as the Middle School Crystal Apple Award winner, following a nomination sent in by former student Megan Jarrett ‘08. Mr. Marcelino, who has taught at the Orange Schools for more than 35 years, said he was surprised and honored to receive this award in front of the entire seventh grade student body and staff.

AN INTERSESSION TALE: LEARNING OUTSIDE THE TYPICAL CLASSROOM SETTING

TO LEARN. TO LEAD. TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

In the course of one week, Orange Schools’ students from kindergarten through high school journeyed through their own time and space; they travelled to Egypt and beyond; they explored everything from probability to physics, from finances to leadership. What they thought of as “fun”, in reality, was the very definition of Next Generation Learning.

“These qualities of engaging in something ‘outside’ of the normal routine and having the opportunity to choose your own learning experiences are the two hallmarks of the intersession experience for our Orange students,” noted kindergarten teacher Anne Ferlito.

The intersession programs are designed to promote innovative learning outside the traditional classroom setting in order to provide opportunities that will enhance student engagement and 21st Century learning skills while, at the same time, promoting the mastery of rigorous content knowledge.

Even the kindergarteners’ journey into the world of 21st Century Learning could hardly be considered baby steps. These young students participated in their second intersession in this school year’s seasonal themes, this time creating the concept of “winter”. Students could be seen actively engaged in dice snowmen games, snowflake art and snowman creations, igloo building using recyclables, and activities involving the story “The Mitten”. Students learned about weather and seasonal changes while connecting to standards in math, social studies, and language arts.

“We did so many great things,” said kindergartener Raphael Costa. “You get to choose the things you want. I can’t wait to do another one!”

“It’s just a really good way for the concepts that the students are learning to come to life,” said Gifted interventionist Maggie Gobetz.

At the other end of the school, the fifth grade students were equally engaged in their own intersession. Their hallway was decorated as a “Probability Carnival”, with students creating games of chance for their classmates. The mandate was that the games had to be fair for all, so that chance, rather than skill, came into play. Students would assess theoretical versus experimental probability, keeping track of the data, to see if their theories were accurate.

The games were as original as the students’ imaginations and included “Football Fishing”, “Wheel of Tickets”, “Race to the Finish”, “Car Chase”, “Ribbon Pull”, “Pick a Pop”, and the ever-popular cup games. Each game came with a set of rules created by the students to ensure the equity of each trial.

“You get to learn what probability is and see different kinds of probability in action,” said fifth grader Blessing Nwaozuzu.

“They are obviously engaged and having fun but it’s just a different way to learn about probability,” said teacher Sarah Lauer. “They love it. I love it. We all love it. They’re engaged, and they’re learning a lot as a result.”

That engagement was also seen at Brady Middle School. Sixth graders were divided in half; one team explored Egypt and Egyptian mythology, while the other team focused on Animal Heroes.

“We just did a whole unit of study on Egypt, and this was a good culminating activity,” said social studies teacher Ann Tatman. “They could take the knowledge they learned and put it into artistic things as well as some creative writing and technology games. It gets them more engaged with what they’re learning; they’re working together, and it takes them away from the routine while making it a little more exciting to come to school that day.”

Excitement abounded as the students created canopic jars, like the ones used by Ancient Egyptians during the mummification process to preserve body organs for the afterlife. In this case, the traditional limestone jars were made from foam cups and clay. Students loved the “hands-on” experience.

The creation of the mummy masks was particularly exciting for students. They took turns “mummifying” each other, creating molds of each other’s faces and then painting them in unique ways.

“I’m a big fan of Egypt mythology so this was a really great project,” said sixth grader Ryan Vincent. “I gained more knowledge about the actual history of Egypt. The intersessions give people a way to have fun and learn at the same time without being stuck at a desk in a classroom. It opens up the world to us.”

Literally. While half the students were ‘in Egypt’,

the other half were learning how animals were saving lives all around the world.

“The intersession on animal heroes was outstanding,” reflected math teacher Michael Potiker. “The kids participated in an interdisciplinary way, with each teacher focusing on a lesson in their own discipline…in math, for example, we made dog bandanas that will be traded or bartered in exchange for food and supplies needed by animal shelters. We used different math concepts like rate to find out the cost per square foot of the bandanas. We also use perimeter and area.”

In different rooms, students were taught about service and sight dogs and their significance in our society. They learned about “Two Bobbies”, a true story about the friendship of a dog and cat that only had each other to survive after Hurricane Katrina. And they learned about the assistance dolphins give to the military, specifically the Navy SEALs, to rescue lost naval swimmers or locate underwater mines.

Sixth grader Samantha Richards, already an avid cat lover, stated, “This gave me a new appreciation for dogs by learning how they can help people like finding those that were still alive in the rubble in 911,” she said.

While the sixth graders were learning to appreciate animals, seventh graders were learning to appreciate their parents and guardians. For the second year, seventh graders got to experience “Real Money; Real World”…and gained a new understanding of what it takes to survive in the world. These lessons were a part of a simulation brought to BMS through The Ohio State University Extension program.

Through the simulation, students drew occupations, the number of children they were responsible for and their ages, along with their income, education and marital status. They were then sent off with a checkbook register page to experience “life” and set up a financial accounting for their needs and wants.

CONTINUED ON BACK PAGE

LEARNING TO TAKE A CHANCE

AT BRADY: STUDENTS LEARN TO LEAD

APPRECIATION TAKES ON NEW MEANING

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE THREE

Board of Education:Sam Steinhouse, President • Angela Wilkes, V.P.Tom Bonda • Jennifer Cohen • Dagmar FellowesSuperintendent: Nancy Wingenbach, Ph.D.Production: Lou DeVincentis • Staci Vincent

TO LEARN. TO LEAD. TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

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The Orange Pride is a publication sent to residents in the Orange City School District.

AN INTERSESSION TALE: LEARNING OUTSIDE THE TYPICAL CLASSROOM SETTING

View Board meeting agendas and review minutes of past meetings online.

At the very least, it was a financial wake-up call. “I learned not to ask my parents to buy me so much stuff!” said seventh grader Revelation Sanders who ended up more than $500 in debt in the simulation.

Students had to visit each “station”, manned by parent volunteers, to determine how much they would need to spend on such items as childcare, clothing, entertainment, food, housing, insurance, transportation and utilities, just to name a few.

“I have got two children and only $250 left. That’s it. I’m going broke,” lamented Amir Statham. “I bought them Ramen noodles. That’s all I can afford for a while.”

“This is a great opportunity for the students because not only do they start to understand finances like what interest, net income and gross income are, but this gives them a concept of what money is and all the things we have to pay for and take into account,” said teacher Carol Kapostasy. “This gives them a whole different perspective.”

For eighth graders, their intersession was all about perspective…from a mountaintop, that is. Students were invited to participate in a day of tobogganing at

the Cleveland Metroparks in Strongsville as part of the effort to engage students in learning that is not only educational but memorable.

“It was awesome,” said Brady Middle School eighth grade science teacher David Miller. “The kids got to take what they learned in the classroom about physics, momentum, energy, kinetic energy, acceleration and put it into use in the real world on the slopes.”

Students were given the opportunity to behave like scientists by using the scientific method to determine how variables (ie, number of riders, weight, aerodynamic position on the toboggan, etc.) could change their velocities at the bottom of the chute. After analyzing their data, the students were then given the opportunity to choose how they wanted to share and display their results. Students worked in teams to determine the relationship between variables and identify flaws in their hypotheses and the investigation itself.

At the high school, where students are learning to achieve the final part of our motto, “To Learn. To Lead. To Make a Difference”, they are taking things a step further. During a two-day intersession, nearly 50 OHS students learned how to create a more compassionate,

interdependent, and empathetic culture within their communities through a program called “Actively Caring for People (AC4P).” The program began at Virginia Tech following the 2007 shooting tragedy there. The movement inspires individuals to perform intentional acts of kindness as part of their daily routine.

“I think the experience was awesome,” said junior Shamable Crawford. “A lot of us got to step out of our comfort zone and really express ourselves and share how we felt.”

“AC4P means to truly care for people and not to judge them,” added ninth grader Celine Cameron. “It’s like saying ‘hello’ to someone even when you don’t know them.”

OHS students were led by students from Virginia Tech and joined for part of the time by Brady’s WEB (Where Everybody Belongs) leaders in activities and discussions focused on leadership, respect, and building self-esteem and confidence. Green bracelets were passed on from person to person to recognize and encourage supportive behaviors. The bracelets, which have travelled around the world, can be tracked on the AC4P website.

“The bracelet allows students to recognize and share ‘actively caring’ so that they can increase ‘actively caring’ around us. Actively caring is what you do when no one is watching,” said intersession coordinator Casey Durkin. “AC4P requires courage; courage to step outside our comfort zones…this intersession allowed students to retreat from the daily routines of school with the purpose of advancing OHS into a stronger, more resilient, and more caring community.”

This is the second year that the AC4P intersession was offered here. Other intersessions throughout the campus including a third grade program entitled “Kids Caring for Communities” and the recent fifth grade “Road Trip” have been added to annual programs like “Generations Day”, “Community Day”, the “Outdoor Environment Experience”, and “Challenge Day.”

Students and teachers alike want to see the intersessions continue for a long time to come. “At my other schools we never did an intersession like this,” said sixth grader Ojone Jackson who moved to the Orange School District this year. “It is amazing.”

Throughout the campus, the feeling is mutual. “My experience the past two days was much different than I thought it would be,” said sophomore Gina Endreola. “It really motivates me to want to make a difference in the world.”

HANDS-ON PHYSICS

TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE