A Bit of Information About Our Classroom

The information below touches on the topics discussed during our parent meeting last Thursday evening. Please excuse any formatting issues. I tried to cut and paste some information from a Word document and Blogger did not like it (evidently)!


About Me

            My name is Chris Hass. This is my thirteenth year of teaching. I taught in St. Louis for four years then spent time as a stay-at-home dad before moving to Columbia nine years ago. Since moving here I’ve taught at Satchel Ford as well as Bookman Road Elementary.  I came to the Center six years ago. My wife, Tricia, is a teacher as well. She teaches first grade at Langford Road Elementary. We have four children who will be in grades 5, 7, 8, and 9 this year.

            I absolutely love teaching. Nothing energizes me more than laughing and learning alongside the kids in the classroom, on the playground, at the lunch table, and at carpool. Everything I do in my teaching is built upon the relationship I am able to develop with each and every one of the kids in the classroom. We talk and joke and play and sing when we’re not learning – but we often do these same things while we are learning as well. The classroom is a great place to be.

When I’m not teaching I love to travel, read, and play guitar. I also love the outdoors. Our family spends a lot of time in nature kayaking, swimming, hiking, biking, whitewater rafting, camping, and backpacking. My sons and I have spent the past five or six years backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. This is a foot trail that follows the Appalachian Mountains from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine. We have completed 702 miles of it so far. That leaves only about 1,500 miles left to go!

When you visit our classroom you will see my love of nature reflected in the grounds outside our classroom window. We have a pond, lots of plants, birdfeeders, a few trees, vines, a bench, and two octagonal picnic tables. This outdoor space is an extension of our classroom where the kids can crawl out the window with a book or their writing journal and enjoy the being outside while they read and write.

            I have a master’s degree in Language and Literacy from USC and this year I am completing my final year of coursework for my PhD. I will be conducting research for my dissertation this year and next in the classroom and two years from now I’ll begin writing it all up. My goal is to graduate in December 2018. That may seem really far off to other people but after working on this for the past five or six years 2018 feels pretty close to me.

My Beliefs

I believe it is essential for teachers and parents to...

…help kids understand the world and our role within it as our work together helps them grow in complicated and critical ways.

…scaffold kids into becoming increasingly comfortable engaging others in discussion as well as taking action on their beliefs.

…understand that we construct meaning through the context of our own experiences.

…make certain skills are learned within the context of authentic engagements that require meaning to be negotiated, expressed, and developed in the company of others.

…allow curriculum to be co-constructed alongside our kids as we also access resources such as  state standards.

…make certain approximation is an important and valued part of learning.

…recognize that collaboration is essential in most everything we do. Kids must learn to work successfully with others. That said, our role as teachers must be to help them develop these skills rather than throw them into groupings and expect them to sink or swim. Social skills are most easily learned when there is clear and supportive instruction.

…keep in mind that for kids to grow into confident and assertive adults they must be empowered and responsible for themselves as well as to the group.

…support our kids to learn to be accountable for their own learning - to take ownership rather than be reactionary to the demands of a teacher or parent.

Expectations

KIDS

Offer respect and care for others

Be actively engaged in thinking, listening, speaking, and doing

Grow increasingly responsible for individual behavior, materials, and work

            *     Home folder goes back and forth each day

            *     Homework is completed on time

            *     Morning procedures are followed to prepare for the day

            *     Missed work or documents due to an absence are obtained

            *     Accessing the blog as needed for information

            *     Morning Meeting requirements are completed

PARENTS

Check in on the kids’ homework and offer support as needed

Access the blog to find out what’s happening in the classroom

Provide a consistent time and place to complete homework

Support positive behaviors and attitudes more than the completion of tasks

Follow-up at home when I contact you about something (whether it’s a celebration or concern)

Respect our schedule/school hours

Respect district rules about sugary treats at school

Be my partner (open dialogue; mutual respect and appreciation, developing friendship)

Homework

Homework comes home each Monday or Tuesday and is generally due the following Monday or Tuesday. I believe in quality of homework but not great quantities of homework. Your kids work hard here at school so let’s make sure they have plenty of time to relax, talk, and play with family and friends.

Read for at least 20 minutes each night in a space that      is free of distraction. There is sometimes a log in place and other      times there is not. The log is never meant to be a burden on the reading or to make this a miserable experience. If it becomes one, let me know!

There will be a weekly written conversation between child and parent that builds on discussions, skills, or other content that has taken place in the classroom. These are sometimes reported back out to the class to support our discussions and understandings.

There are also a few other assignments to offer practice with a new skill or to gather some sort of information to share back to the class. This is only assigned as needed.

Schedule

Our special area times float around just a bit this year - meaning we actually have three different schedules. Below you will find each one. Please remember our schedule is always subject to change due to specific needs or conditions that arise. That said, we will follow the posted schedules the majority of the time.

Monday, Tuesday, Friday

8:00     Explorations

8:30     Morning Meeting

8:55     Literacy Workshop

10:50   Lunch

11:30   Special Area

12:30   Recess

1:00     Math Workshop

1:55     Science/Social Studies

2:30     Read Aloud

2:45     Wrap Up

Wednesday

8:00     Explorations
8:30     Special Area (Music)
9:20     Morning Meeting
9:50     Science/Social Studies
10:50   Lunch
11:25   Literacy Workshop
1:15     Recess
1:45     Math Workshop
2:30     Read Aloud
2:45     Wrap Up

Thursday
8:00     Explorations
8:30     Morning Meeting
8:55     Writing Workshop
10:00   Special Area (PE)
10:50   Lunch
11:25   Reading Workshop
12:30   Recess
1:00     Math Workshop
1:50    Science/Social Studies
2:20     Gathering
2:45     Wrap Up

Assessments
In second grade our kids take the MAP test in the fall and spring semesters. It is administered on the Chrome books and is designed to demonstrate the kids’ understanding and skills as related to our state standards. In all honesty, it does an okay job of revealing some data about the kids as readers and mathematicians but conceals or misrepresents lots of other data. I would suggest, as parents, you not become overly concerned about the results of these sorts of tests. Rather, you might consider them to be just one small component of a much larger body of assessment I will conduct to better know your child as a learner. The assessments I conduct take place each and every day as I sit beside the kids and work with them. Some of the forms of assessment I access in the classroom are:  kidwatching notes, conferences, formative assessments, summative assessments, task-based assessments with rubrics, paper and pencil assessments, projects, and reflections. What I come to know about your child will be communicated through two narrative progress reports and two standards-based rubric reports. These will be a great resource for you.