What's right at Providence Hall?

When looking back on Providence Hall’s first year...

...in operation there have been many things that have been successful.  One of the greatest parts of Providence Hall was how it was designed in the first place.  Knowing that we wanted to become an IB school, the people Mark hired knew that goal was in mind.  Teachers were informed that teaching with IB practices would be required of them as well as staff members and instructors.  The plans for curriculum, schedules, policies and procedures followed the design of IB.  All of this led to a successful application A and visit from our IB consultant.  As the year continues we could be authorized as of January/February of 2011.  All of this is due to dedicated teachers and administration.

Besides the framework...

...of the school reflecting IB principles it also has the underpinnings in the teaching and instruction.  The teachers are framing their lessons around having the students foster their own learning from experiences presented by the teachers.  Students in Kindergarten learn nursery rhymes and interpret them through interactive play.  Students in first grade create their own nutritional plans based on the food guide pyramid created as a class.  Students in second grade learn about the writing process by delving in as a class and creating a group book.  Students in third grade created their own classroom rubric about government projects, researched the projects, put those projects in actions and had the mayor visit the school to answer questions.  Fourth grade inquired about the parts of air.  They were given objects to explore air and give vague guidelines to discover the properties of air.  They were able to take their experiences and come up with properties of air all on their own.  Fifth grade had colonial days last week.  Sixth grade is learning about the Greek Empire through exploration of the Olympics.

Within grade level teams,

the teachers are helping to build each other’s confidence and create lessons that are beneficial to the students.  They are working on creating curriculum that is data/assessment driven.  They are working on creating and building lessons that are solid.  They are based on prior knowledge of the students and pre-assessment.

The school is also...

...working with the students to build vocabulary within the IB learner profiles.  Teachers, instructors and students are constantly thinking about how they are communicators, inquiries, risk-takers, open-minded, well-balanced, etc.  Parents are volunteering to work in the classroom each month presenting lessons on the IB learner profiles. 

Another interesting thing...

...is that students are taking action for what they are learning.  They are more aware of things in their world and are trying to apply that knowledge to their world.  They talk about being a thinker at home or having empathy for each other.  We are slowly creating and IB friendly climate that Judson Rhoads immediately commented upon.

Other things in the school going well are the Bully Busters program and Ken Garff Reading Program.  Both are run by Kelly Mattingly.  The students are engaged and encouraged to read more at home we are in the tens of thousands towards our reading goals.  We are also seeing more students being aware on the playground about students bullying other students.  This is part of the action piece.

The instructors are working hard as well. 

Students in PE are working on their fitness goals and finished last week running the ½ mile, 2/3 mile or full mile depending on the grade levels.  The fastest girl and boy from each grade level plus the fastest class were recognized.  Music has been learning the school song, the National Anthem and about rhythm and meter.  The Librarians have been teaching the kids about IB topics.  They are researching on the computer and in books about the different leaner profiles.  Students are learning free expression in art in conjunction with the masters.  It is always an achievement to see what they are displaying in the Hallways. 

Special Ed is servicing about 60 students. 

The students are enjoying school.  We have students that were struggling in their home school now being successful within Kathy Watson’s classroom because of the hard work she and her staff have been implementing.

Jessica Collett’s...

...class entered a poetry contest last year.  She had 15 of her students published in the anthology.  The students and the teacher received a copy.  From this she received a $250 language arts grant that she will be using to help her students publish their writing this year.

Overall of the teachers, staff members and administration are working very hard to make a place of sound learning for the students.  I have enjoyed working at Providence Hall.  I have enjoyed learning and growing from each member of the team here.  We are going to continue to make Providence  Hall a place where students and faculty learn together.