Our XQ Super School Project: Now in the Final Phase

On Friday, April 8th we received the FANTASTIC news that our proposal made it to the final phase of the XQ Super School Redesign Project. As an XQ Team we successfully created a concept and design for our new Fairfield High School Discovery Academy. The next phase is called "Develop" and is a series of exercises and questions designed to help push our imaginative skills and for us to show our capacity to actually implement our school design.

Through the XQ Directory we have reached out to experts in several fields. However, we can use your help too. We still need team members with expertise in the fields of finance and physical space. Spread the word and join our TEAM!! Help us in our DEVELOP phase so that we can make our Fairfield High School Discovery Academy a reality.

Fairfield High School Discovery Academy

Our Concept: A school designed around vibrant participation in a student interest themed environment. We will empower our students to access pathways through exploration of different fields. This access and exploration will allow our students to engage in learning that will prepare them for a life of learning and career opportunities.

School Mission and Culture: All students at Fairfield High School Discovery Academy pursue a rigorous curriculum that provides the foundation for entry and success at the University of California and elsewhere, as well as success in the world of work. Our school articulates common expectations for learning that value 21st century skills, the integration of hands and minds, and the merging of academic disciplines. Assessment is performance-based: all students develop projects, solve problems, and present findings to community panels. All students are required to complete an academic internship, a substantial senior project, and a personal digital portfolio. Teachers employ a variety of approaches to accommodate diverse learners, and recognize the value of having students from different backgrounds working together.

Teaching and Learning: 

LEARNING EXPERIENCE ONE: Project Based Learning 

United States History classes will skip the standard timeline of history approach and create online and physical exhibitions for the WWII Museum in New Orleans. Student teams work in tandem with local Veterans groups and complete interviews and public symposiums as data gathering. They then are encouraged to read and blog about their areas of interest as well as asking their peers what questions they have. After a design thinking webinar with the Stanford Design School, the students build their display prototypes, write scripts and edit footage for a culminating event featuring Veterans and students presenting their satellite Museum display for the public, press and remotely with the education team from the WWII Museum.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE TWO: Career Tracks/Pathways 
A partnership with our feeder Middle Schools will allow us to begin a conversation with students about their interests long before they arrive at FHS. The Fairfield High Discovery Academy will continue to provide awareness of college and career options during a student's freshman and sophomore years. The excitement builds as students join career-focused Pathway Academies for their final two years. Each mini-campus will house an integrated teaching cadre who mentor students through their Medical, Service & Industry, Performing Arts and Media & Technology Pathways. Subjects and projects are integrated and a focus on learning by creating is pervasive. Combinations of short and long term projects are collected in each students digital portfolio. A constant stream of visiting experts and practitioners in each field are a daily sight on campus and on the devices and flat-screen of all Pathway Academies.

Student Agency and Development: Our students awake to their school text wake-up service of choice. Their electronic assortment of assignments and announcements are organized with an elegant app. They arrive at the Cognitive Cafe and select their healthy smoothie and warm sandwich.

They reach their “Learners Choice” session just after the ambient music starts on the PA, no jarring bells of old. Subject Matter Experts (SME) from the community start their workday as guides in the multiple career and project-focused Choice sessions.

Jose heads for the Health & Wellness Wing after his surgical simulator session. He finds his integrated team of Language Arts and Science teachers are finalizing the setup for the UCLA Medical Center videoconferencing session with Residents regarding their lessons learned in their journey. He already checked his blog post on his expectations and planned questions for today. He had a few tips from his Integrated English teacher and his Science teacher suggested further inquiry and refinement of a question he posted.

The English teacher departs the Health Wing and strolls past the dirt and native plant exhibition of the Landscape Architecture class and drops in to see Jasmine in the Service & Industry Wing. Jasmine’s capstone project was both her Learners Choice project and a major part of her Integrated Design class. The entrepreneurship module of her class was 20% online with her nearby community college. Her required community service led her to the Rotary Club where she met her mentor who advised her on her capstone project. Her effort was a comprehensive website and promotional plan matching local volunteers with local events. Jasmine has to take care of her grandmother three times a week, so she has taken advantage of the evening classes her school now offers.

Student choice, relevance, community engagement and an empowered student body. Welcome to our Super School.

Networks and Partnerships: Partnerships with community members and business will be a core element of our redesigned Super School. Subject Matter Experts (SME) from the community will act as guides in the multiple career and project-focused choice sessions. These experts in their fields will help facilitate the hands on project based learning experiences. At the Fairfield High Discovery Academy we will use career pathways so students can explore their curiosities while engaging in research and teaching others the foundations of their chosen pathways. The hands on learning experiences allow students to synthesize information from their pathway from day one. Assessment is performance-based: all students will develop projects, solve problems, and present findings to community panels. All students will be required to complete an academic internship, a substantial senior project, and a personal digital portfolio. Teachers will employ a variety of approaches to accommodate diverse learners, and recognize the value of having students from different backgrounds working together. Student choice, relevant, community engagement and an empowered student body. Welcome to our Super School.

Flipagram photo stream: https://flipagram.com/f/kDa9FZ8jtK

Our next meeting will be Monday, April 18th at 12:14 in B21!!

Our ONE goal: To graduate every Fairfield High Student and to ensure that they leave FHS college and career ready!!! 

Inspire, Engage, Excite, Lead, Foster, Create, Empower!!

Many more great things are in store for Fairfield High!

Continue to be innovative, creative, and a model of excellence!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

Remember to BREATHE....

This time of year tends to be extremely busy. We are prepping for the final part of 2015-2016 while simultaneously planning and prepping for the 2016-2017 school year. At times we may feel like pressures are on us from many different angles. It is so important during this time and any stressful time to stop and breathe, literally and figuratively. We want to make sure we are still functioning at our most optimal level and not sacrificing our health or mental state.

I had someone very important to me today ask me this question, "What is one thing that went well so far today?" This caused me to stop and pause. Instead of continuing on in my mind of all the things I still needed to do or fix, I focused on what had gone well. This individual prompted me to also notice how beautiful the weather was. Appreciating the weather at that moment in time helped to relax and refocus me. When we focus on the positive we make that our reality. Of course we need to still recognize what needs to be improved or completed but we need to try and frame those tasks or areas of improvements in terms of positive change.

I am so proud of where Fairfield High has come in the last two years. We are working together to make positive change in the lives of all of our students. I spoke with a parent tonight that was so appreciative of attending PIQE last year and said she is trying to get her elementary child's principal to offer it for 8th grade parents. She is excited that her current 8th grader will become a Falcon next year.  Our culture is changing with positive momentum each and every day because we are working together as a cohesive staff sharing the same message to the students. We had 102 students with perfect attendance for the month of March!! Students are recognizing staff for the tenets of NEU!! We are making a DIFFERENCE!

Take a deep breath and then exhale....... 

We are going to end this year strong... as a FAMILY! 

Our ONE goal: To graduate every Fairfield High Student and to ensure that they leave FHS college and career ready!!! 

Inspire, Engage, Excite, Lead, Foster, Create, Empower!!

Many more great things are in store for Fairfield High!

Continue to be innovative, creative, and a model of excellence!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

The Home Stretch.....

We have only 44 school days remaining for the year. When you think about each class period, that means  you only have 44 hours left with each class period. Take out a few days for finals and testing and we have about 40 days or 40 hours left in the year with each class period. That is just one typical work week for us!!!

What are you going to do for those remaining days? What amazing work will our students produce? What community outreach will be made? What life changing moments will occur? Let's make the most out of every last minute we have with our students this year. No wasted time! No Excuses! Let's keep pushing our Falcons to SOAR!!

In the first two hours this morning we had some great moments.

One of our seniors, Curtis Allen, let us know this morning that he has been awarded the Making Waves CAP Bay Area scholarship. That is $20,000 for four years of college!! 

Veterans from the Armed Forces came to share their stories and words of wisdom with our AFJROTC cadets. 

KUIC 95.3 came to provide coffee and donuts for the staff. Thanks to Derrick Davis for submitting and winning the Coffee Break contest!

Our ONE goal: To graduate every Fairfield High Student and to ensure that they leave FHS college and career ready!!! 

Inspire, Engage, Excite, Lead, Foster, Create, Empower!!

Many more great things are in store for Fairfield High!

Continue to be innovative, creative, and a model of excellence!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

Rigor and Relevance.... Right?

By this point it should be very clear that having rigorous and relevant instruction is EXTREMELY important to student success. The reality is that rigorous and relevant instruction cannot happen by chance, it takes thoughtful planning. The truth is that designing a strategic lesson can at times be challenging and maybe even a little intimidating. It is important to know that you ARE NOT alone. Your fellow colleagues are eager to share and help design lessons. All it takes is venturing out of your comfort zone and visiting a colleague in the Pineapple Room. There is collaboration occurring not only during Wednesday collaborative time, but during prep period planning cohorts. Below is a snapshot of some planning that took place, where it was planned and documented via Padlet.

I wanted to find some practical ways to explain what rigor and relevance look like in the classroom. I found some great rigor/relevance frameworks that I think succinctly show what you want to be attaining in your classroom instruction.  If you want to read and learn more here is a link to the presentation: Rigor and Relevance Powerpoint

If you haven't joined the Pineapple Room Google Classroom, please do. The class code is hlkmc1. Venture out and share, ask questions, be adventurous and try new things. As I continue to say, push yourself to new heights and you will see your students do the same.

Our ONE goal: To graduate every Fairfield High Student and to ensure that they leave FHS college and career ready!!! 

Inspire, Engage, Excite, Lead, Foster, Create, Empower!!

Many more great things are in store for Fairfield High!

Continue to be innovative, creative, and a model of excellence!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

Accepting a Challenge...

Superintendent Kris Corey challenged me in a blog post of hers two weeks ago. I have accepted the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Connected Educator Challenge. Thank you for the challenge, Kris. I have also challenged FIVE more educators at the end of this post.

1. What has been your ONE biggest struggle during this school year?

My one biggest struggle this school year has been the large number of students in crisis. We recognize that we have many students struggling with social/emotional issues and we are limited in our responses. It is crystal clear that before students can access the curriculum they must feel safe and secure. We must provide for their basic needs. At this point I can say that there are some students whose needs are very intense and the current system does not provide the needed immediate supports. Our admin team and PBIS team are working together to develop proposals and next steps so that we can work at addressing the needs of the students.  This is not an overnight fix but it is extremely important and urgent.

2. Share TWO accomplishments you are proud of from this school year.

There are many accomplishments at Fairfield High that I am proud of. However, I must choose just two to highlight.

First, I am extremely proud of the shared leadership that has taken place on our site this year. This was actually a topic of a previous blog post of mine this year. Students are continuing to forge new ground as leaders in SSA (Safe School Ambassadors), AFJROTC, AVID, and Leadership.  The First Annual Special Olympics event was a prime example of students taking on leadership roles to ensure an amazing event took place. Staff this year have stepped up in new and different capacities. Department chairs now play a very integral role as instructional leaders on campus and are helping to guide their departments in developing rigorous learning environments.  Our PBIS Team is unwavering in their approach to guide us to a continued positive cultural change.

Second, I am extremely proud of the active integration of educational technology.  We have sent over 50% of our teaching staff to attend the GAFE Summit. But, it absolutely does not stop there. The strategies learned have then become part of the regular practice in the classroom. Staff that are unsure of potential implementation ideas reach out to our Ed Tech Specialist or a fellow colleague and are continually pushing each other to try more. People are becoming more and more out of the box thinkers and that makes me ecstatic.


3. What are THREE things you wish to accomplish before the end of the school year?

We are so close to this school year coming to an end.  There is so little time and so much to still do. When I look at the remaining time for this school year I know that I do not want to add any random new processes or ideas. I do however want to ensure that we end strong with our current projects and focus areas.

One: I want to ensure our PBIS Team meets their desired outcomes for Year One and are able to develop a plan for Year Two implementation.  That way we can start off running with our next phase in August.

Two: I want to ensure that our plans for approaching our master schedule for the 2016-2017 year come to fruition. The admin team in partnership with the Department Chairs and Leadership Team have come up with some out of the box ideas to support struggling students and increase the academic expectations of all students. I want to make that a reality for the 2016-2017 school year.

Three: Currently we are trending with a significant decrease in the number of suspensions year to date in comparison to last school year. I want to end the year maintaining that positive trend. This has been a direct result of our PBIS implementation and commitment to consistent expectations site-wide. The culture is continuing to change for the positive at FHS and I want to end the year with continued positive results.


4. Give FOUR reasons why you remain in education in today's rough culture.

There are many reasons that I got into education and many of those are the same reasons I remain in education.

1) To make things better for our world.....
2) To support students to find their inner genius....
3) To help build capacity...
4) To be a part of the most fundamental element to our society's success....

Without education we can not have our innovators, our designers, our doctors, our lawyers, our presidents, our FUTURE.

5. Which FIVE people do you hope will take the challenge of answering these questions?

Josh Harris: Ed Tech Specialist and a great friend. Josh Harris is an unbelievably talented individual. In the classroom Josh was able to spark student interest and engagement through his varied instructional strategies. As an Ed Tech Specialist Josh is now able to impact hundreds more students through his Ninja Like skills and mentorship. Josh is my "Master Shifu!!" I challenge you Josh as you have pushed me in my endeavors, enlightened me on many fronts,  and have helped teach me some of your "Tech Kung Fu."

David Avery: Lieutenant Colonel Avery is the spark that created the FHS Pineapple Room!! Lt. Colonel Avery is all about the students and trying new things. As a key member of our XQ Redesign project Lt. Colonel Avery kept pushing students and staff to think out of the box. I admire Lt. Avery for all of his growth mindset thinking and unwavering energy to try new things.  Lt. Colonel is "Mantis," a warrior from an early age with a fast paced attitude. I challenge you Lt. Colonel as I know you will accept this challenge with enthusiasm and ensure others carry out the challenge. 

Angie Avlonitis: Calm, cool, and collected. Angie Avlonitis has a very pressing position as the Director of Student Services. However, Angie is always able to maintain composure and provide guidance that is timely, meaningful, and STUDENT centered. She is someone that I truly admire. Her courage and tenacity are unmatched by others. Angie is "Tigress" brave, fearless, and heroic. I challenge you Angie as you have always been there for me and provided me with honest and sincere wisdom. 

Justin Salazar-Stewart: A brand new teacher and yet has the charisma and soul of someone who has done this for years. Justin is an inspiration to me. He uses his artistry and passion to guide all that he does with his students. He is much more to our students than just an English teacher. He is the equilibrium for many of us. I challenge you Justin because I know you will take it on and find a way to ignite the challenge into something even more. Justin is "Monkey," playful, enthusiastic and has an easy going attitude. 

Shannon Balthazor: The one that seems to do it all. Shannon came to a new school and stepped up to take on the role of department chair mid year. She is passionate about student success and improving school culture. Her leadership roles on SSA and PBIS are inspirational. Shannon is "Viper," embodying a cool head and a warm heart. Her power lies in her strength and precision. I challenge you Shannon as I know you take on every challenge and endeavor with gusto and the desire to succeed. 

Our ONE goal: To graduate every Fairfield High Student and to ensure that they leave FHS college and career ready!!! 

Inspire, Engage, Excite, Lead, Foster, Create, Empower!!

Many more great things are in store for Fairfield High!

Continue to be innovative, creative, and a model of excellence!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

Designing Learning Experiences That Work!!

I had the opportunity to work closely with our Visual Performing Arts Department last week during our Plan, Observe, Debrief sessions. This was the first time that the VPA was part of POD. It was a great experience. I was able to see that even though each teacher within VPA teaches something different there were many similarities across the classes. Ultimately, each class is working towards an end culminating product such as a piece of artwork, an original webpage, a musical performance, a theatre performance, or a coordinated marching event.  The content standards are very specific yet allow for creativity and expression.  Students are working as a larger team in each class. Therefore, instruction is delivered to better not only the individual but the group as a whole. Students see a greater value in investing time and energy in their piece because the whole is only as strong as the weakest link.

This keeps bringing me back to our XQ Super School redesign proposal. Students want their instruction to have purpose and want to be part of something more than just a classroom in isolation. My challenge to you this week is to reach out to colleagues in other discipline fields and see what content is being delivered. How could you partner together to bridge the two content areas and create a learning experience for the students that could be even more meaningful and richer than if you just planned in isolation?

In planning for each day ask yourself this question: What do I want my students to learn today? Then from there the sky is the limit with how you approach the instruction that fosters the learning. The more relevant and meaningful the instruction, the more your students will be engaged and walk away knowing more than when they walked through your classroom door. 

Take advantage of the Pineapple Room and share your ideas! 

Our ONE goal: To graduate every Fairfield High Student and to ensure that they leave FHS college and career ready!!! 

Inspire, Engage, Excite, Lead, Foster, Create, Empower!!

Many more great things are in store for Fairfield High!

Continue to be innovative, creative, and a model of excellence!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

Finding Your Center.....

I encourage you to Find Your Center......

Let's first think about our literal "core." When you engage in almost any sport or physical activity you will hear your trainer or coach remind you to "focus on your core." There is good reason that people are encouraged to focus on their core when engaging in physical activity.  Your core is a complex series of muscles extending far beyond your abs, is incorporated in almost every movement of the human body, and acts as a stabilizer. When you increase your core strength you in turn can: alleviate back pain,  improve posture, increase athletic performance, improve balance, and have safer everyday movements. So, it is clear that focusing on your core is a great step in the right direction for physical well being.

Now, let's take a look at your "center." Figuratively speaking your "center" is where you are able to clear your mind of all the competing energies and achieve clarity, calmness, and control. In our hectic world of today with to do lists, lack of time, and pressures to achieve we can easily lose sight of our "center." We then can engage in behaviors or responses that may not truly represent who we are.  We may then exhibit behaviors that are impaired by our lack of clarity. Being able to step back and "find your center," will allow you to refocus your perspectives, your approaches, and ultimately your responses and interactions with others.

While on Twitter yesterday I saw a post about a Kindergarten class in our district that is incorporating meditation in their daily routines. They are seeing a major positive impact on the students and their ability to focus as a result of the meditation.

I "Googled" finding your center to broaden my own insights and I was struck by many posts on the topic. One in particular really resonated with me. The post written by Dawn Kaiser of the Village Business Institute is titled, "What's your genius? What's your center?" Right off she references the movie, The Rise of the Guardians. She asks the reader to remember the scene where Santa Claus asks Jack Frost, "What's your center?" Santa explains to him that the center is just like the Russian Dolls that have little wooden dolls hidden within, each of us has a center or purpose inside of us. Your center is the reason that you are here, why you exist.

I encourage you to find your center. I encourage you to clear your mind and focus on what is important to you. I encourage you to then refocus on your job and your interactions with students, parents, and colleagues. Use your "center" to be mindful of others and send the message of your "genius."

Our ONE goal: To graduate every Fairfield High Student and to ensure that they leave FHS college and career ready!!! 

Inspire, Engage, Excite, Lead, Foster, Create, Empower!!

Many more great things are in store for Fairfield High!

Continue to be innovative, creative, and a model of excellence!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!