Banter from Brooks

Final Post

A year ago I began my journey into the world of blogging as a part of the Principal Blogging Project. Scott McLeod, then of the University of Minnesota and currently at Iowa State University, initiated an effort to create 100 school principal blogs. This effort was successful and led to other adventures into the world of blogging for those of us who were new to the art.

As my blogging anniversary approaches, I am writing my last post for Banter from Brooks. I've truly enjoyed this experience and have decided to end it by sharing with you what I've learned over the past 12 months as a blogger. So, here goes. These are in no particular order...

1. Blogging is fun. I enjoyed it because I'm able to find a "voice" that I can't use in emails. I am not exactly able to tell you why that is, but it has been easy for me to try to be candid, honest, and a bit self-deprecating on the blog. (My critics would say boastful as well, but who are you if you don't have critics, right?) See, that last statement wouldn't fit well in an email...

2. The internet is a huge place. The fact that someone looks at a site you produce in and of itself is cool. As I've looked through comments and had someone share that they live in another state or were referred to the blog by someone else, I am blown away by the interconnectedness of the online world. If you check out blogs regularly, you'll notice that the good ones keep their information current and borrow from others while usually giving full credit to the source. Good blogs link to other good blogs - and you can easily amass a day's worth of reading by perusing one site and checking out its links.

3. There are some mean, nasty people out there. There are those who choose to use public blogs as a means to promote their own agenda or pick a fight. Those of you who have followed this blog have seen it here. I knew going into this experience that by allowing people to comment that I would be opening myself up to critique. I can live with that. I just didn't anticipate the venom that some people would utilize and the energy they'd expend being critical of things in a forum that I have provided and have complete control over. The funniest thing about this is, had I ever shut the comments down on the negative people, I'd be accused of censoring their opinions. On a forum that I control that never existed before I created it! With some people, you just can't win. Just try not to stand in the way of their agenda or else.

But, at least some folks with agendas have the guts to share their real names with their negative comments. Even more appalling are those who provide fake names and email addresses to accompany their blasting of your work. One "gentleman" claimed to be a retired principal as he was critical of my wearing of a baseball jersey to school. When I tried to have an email dialogue with him about his concerns, I found that his information was all bogus. What I attempted to say to him was that I wear jerseys to school when I can because it helps me connect with my students. They love it. It makes me a real person in their eyes. Unfortunately, Mr. Retired Principal didn't have the nerve to share his name with his critique. Classic. Definitely not the only time I encountered that issue, either.

4. There are some great people out there, too. It's too bad that we spend so much of our energy on the negative ones.

5. The internet is a scary place. Beth and I have agreed from day one that our kids will not have internet access in their bedrooms. Online access needs to occur in a public place - and my boys should not be on sites that they couldn't be on unless I was standing next to them. As I've perused the web looking for ideas or links I am blown away by the garbage that exists online. As a former social studies teacher I worry that our schools need to do a better job of teaching students how to determine the validity of online sources. Everybody's got an opinion - how do you figure out whose is correct?

If you are still interested in learning about Brooks Elementary and the things we do, please sign up for our email news-list. Go to the Brooks Home Page (link on the bottom left of this page) and click on the appropriate tab on the right side of our home page. Just follow the directions from there. It takes 20 seconds - but be sure to sign up for the school list and not just the district list. You can also just send an email directly to:

[email protected]

Banter from Brooks has now concluded. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks - DY

Tiger Tales Electronic!

It has taken some time, but we now have our first electronic issue of "Tiger Tales" available. "Tiger Tales" is the monthly Brooks PTA Newsletter. Click here to access: Download 09.07Tiger Tales.doc

Taylor St. Pizza

I'd like to extend special thanks to the folks at Taylor Street Pizza, located on North Aurora Rd. by the Rt. 59 train station. They provided our entire staff (80 people) with free lunch last week during our Building Articulation Day. We enjoyed great pizza, pasta and salad!

The staff at Brooks loves to order from these guys, and I'd encourage you to check them out. You won't be disappointed - and no, this is not a paid advertisement...

Specials Days

I hope this post creates some clarity for you as a Brooks parent...

We made some scheduling changes this year that were entirely about the students, but there was one unintended consequence of those changes that I did not predict. You see, I am the father of two boys. My wife Beth is stuck living with three males in the house (as well as a fish and two hermit crabs who were automatically given male names without much thought. I'll show you pictures some other time of "Lucky Number One", "Mr. Crabby", and "Crabby Crab").

As the father of two boys, I don't often think about things like dresses and gym shoes. Here's what I mean:

We found that because of the school year schedule and days off from school falling when they do that our students that had specials classes (Art, Music, PE) on Monday or Friday tended to miss a significant number of their specials opportunities. In an effort to address that, we created a five-day rotating schedule that does not align with days of the week. This allows us to make sure that specials classes are not missed. The timing of the classes within the day remains the same. Each day needed a name so that we could keep them straight - I toyed with Red, Blue, Orange, etc., but decided that it would be more fun to use our local sports teams instead. We now have Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, and White Sox days in that order (which is also alphabetical).

What I didn't anticipate is the challenge that the inconsistency of days of the week would present to our families with girls. In the event that a "girly" outfit is worn to school, not everyone wants to wear gym shoes JUST IN CASE they happen to have PE that day. I understand that completely, but just didn't predict it. I'm a grown-up boy and am not wired to think that way...

I am attaching a link to a document Download specials_calendar_0708.xls that I hope will clear things up a bit for our families. This file lays out which calendar dates coincide with the specific specials dates. All you need to do is check with your child to see what days they have PE (ask them, they'll know).

This calendar will change if we have a snow day - I will shift everything back one day each time that occurs, but I'll also communicate that info. to you when it happens. This calendar only addresses our days prior to winter break. I'll have a 2008 calendar ready as we get closer to January.

I hope this helps a bit - thanks for reading.

Party Survey Results

During the first week of school we sent a letter home with each of our 685 students. The letter was in accordance with new Board policy, which requires that our schools communicate the game plan for room celebrations for the upcoming school year, give parents the opportunity to state whether or not they support the joint PTA Board/Principal planning decisions, and communicate the results publicly. This blog post serves as the public communication of our results, which I have been compiling throughout the week.

To refresh the contents of the letter for you, the following celebrations were proposed:

Thursday, October 25, 6-8 pm      Fall Costume Party (held @ Granger MS)

Friday, December 21, 2-3 pm       Winter Room Celebrations

Thursday, February 14, 2-3 pm     Valentine's Day Room Celebrations

Friday, April 18, 2-3 pm                Earth Day Room Celebrations

A total of 311 sheets were returned. The feedback statement on the sheet was:

"I am in support of the proposed PTA Celebration Plan     YES      NO"

Totals:

YES   300

NO     11

Thank you for your support.

Welcome Back!

Well, the first day of school is finally here! We have lots of students and staff who are excited to reunite with each other and continue our quest for learning. It is always a pleasure to see our students walk into the building each day, and I missed our students greatly during the summer (although it was very quiet here at Brooks).

This morning, we lined up the students on our back blacktop and some of our parents had the opportunity to watch the kids enter the school with their classmates. The looks on our parents' faces are interesting after all of the students have entered the building. It's a sort of "What do we do now?" look.

My first grade son was off for his first day today as well. My wife tells me that he was excited to hop on the bus with his friends. I know that she was dealing with the anguish of a mom seeing her oldest child head off for his first full day of school. And then there's the three-year old brother who sobbed as his idol and best friend rode off on a big yellow bus. It's sad, but that's how life progresses, isn't it?

I'm really excited about this school year. We have had many staffing changes that are going to continue the positive momentum that Brooks teachers and staff have worked to develop. There are many district programs that are continuing and are ready to begin paying off in terms of increased achievement for our students. We are considered a high-achieving school because we score well on tests. But, we still need to do better. By focusing our efforts on creating excellent learning opportunities for all of our students and working to deliver the best instruction we possibly can, we'll continue to improve as a school.

I feel extremely fortunate that our school has been determined a school deserving of Title I funding support for this school year. This determination provides us with several significant staffing increases and opportunities to further assist our academically at-risk students. I believe that a school should be judged by how it works to help those students who need it most, and I am thrilled to have some of the extra support that comes with being a Title I school. I think you'll see the benefit reflected in our student achievement levels as well.

Finally, I want you to know what I'll be saying to our students each and every day when I make the morning announcements. I will be encouraging our kids to "Be good to each other and always do your best". It is my belief that if you treat people well in life and give your best effort to whatever you are doing that you will be successful in your endeavors. I'd ask you to reinforce that at home with your children when you have the chance.

That's all for now - Happy First Day of School!

Remember that our Ice Cream Social is this Thursday 8/30. Curriculum Night is next Thursday 9/6.

DY

New Tigers

OK, so I fibbed. I said I wouldn't share this information with you until next week. But, we get an overwhelming number of calls after teacher assignments go out with questions about names. "I've never heard of this person, are they any good, are they new?" seems to be the general theme.

I'm thrilled with our new staff members this year. Each new opening is for a different reason: some because of retirement vacancies, others due to teachers who decided to stay home with little children, others because teachers have had to move or have taken positions with other districts (congratulations, Assistant Principal Rowe!), etc. My job is to fill those vacancies with the best I can find - which is what I spend my summer doing. Here's a VERY brief bio on each of our outstanding new staff members:

Christine Leek - new Reading Improvement Teacher - comes to us from a teaching position in Franklin Park, IL

Kim Driessens - new Speech Pathologist - spent last year working as a SLP in District 204 and served in the same role in Schaumburg, IL prior to that

Kim Jordan - new part-time Support Teacher - comes to us with career experience in college-level administration

Danielle Kabel - long-term substitute for Mrs. Howard (ELL Teacher). Served in this role in District 204 last year

Jennifer Reidy - Kindergarten - coming to us from Kindergarten at Steck Elementary (204)

Cindy Porter - 2nd grade teacher - has served as a long-term sub here at Brooks for the past two years

Moniko Harris - 3rd Grade teacher - comes to us from previous teaching position in Berkeley, IL

Suzanne Zettle - 3rd Grade teacher - comes to us from previous teaching position in Plainfield, IL and teacher assistant experience here at Brooks last year

Kimberly Liu - 4th Grade teacher - comes to us from previous teaching position in Oswego, IL and teacher assistant experience at Kendall Elementary (204)

Kelly Kessling - 4th Grade teacher - comes to us from 4th Grade at Welch Elementary (204)

Maggie Hickey - new Music teacher - recent graduate of Millikin University

Pete Gatz - new Student Services Coordinator - comes to us from 5th Grade at Owen Elementary (204)

If you are working with any of these staff members this year, you'll have a great opportunity to hear more about them at our Curriculum Night, scheduled for 9/6/07. See you next week!

They're in the Mail

Our summer letters went out in the mail yesterday (Wednesday) and include teacher assignments. Please be looking for your letter from Brooks. If you haven't completed registration, you will not be receiving a teacher assignment. If you do not receive your letter by next Monday (8/20), please give us a call. Prior to then, we will not release any teacher information by phone.

We are blessed to have a considerable number of new staff joining us at Brooks this year in a variety of different positions. I am excited about the caliber, qualifications and experience of our new staff members. Many of these additions come to us with experience in school districts outside of Indian Prairie - which means that although they are new to us at Brooks, they are by no means new to the profession. For that, we are fortunate. I'll introduce all of our new Tigers to you on the blog next week after our Meet & Greet.

I am considering changing our teacher assignment notification system for next year and am thinking of posting class lists in the front doorway of the school on a specific date. I welcome any comments you may have about whether our families prefer the mailed indicator of teacher assignment or the posting of a list. Please feel free to comment here on the blog.

Remember:

8/22  2:00-3:00 Meet & Greet

8/27  First Day of School (1st-5th) & Orientation (Kdg)

8/28  First Day of School (Kdg)

8/30  PTA Ice Cream Social (evening)

See you soon!

Tick, Tick, Tick

Can you hear that? It's the clock ticking as summer slips away....school is about to begin!

We will be sending out teacher assignments and informational letters about the start of school early next week. If you have not received yours by Friday, 8/17, please call the Brooks main office at 630-375-3200.

Reminder: Our Meet & Greet is scheduled for 8/22 from 2:00-3:00pm. PTA Ice Cream Social is scheduled for the evening of 8/30, and Curriculum Night is the evening of 9/6.

I'll be introducing our new staff members to you shortly. We've got a great group joining us at Brooks this year, and I'm looking forward to a fantastic year for all of the students, staff and parents at Brooks.

See you soon!

DY

Summer Reading - Lite

I have not had the opportunity to read as much as I would like to this summer - for some reason I've been a bit busier than expected. However, I need to plug the book that I just picked up...

One of my teachers came to me the other day with a copy of Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions, but John Kotter. It was one of those "Dave, you have to read this, you'll love it!" conversations and it was coming from one of my strong future leaders, so I listened.

I finally picked it up today. I'm 50 pages in and will probably be done within the hour, as it's one of those short, fable-style leadership books that sell so well. Quick read, simple concepts, and it nails the details of the different personality types that every leader deals with on a daily basis. Set aside an hour to check this one out.