Kiker's Strength-Based Learning Cohort

This week our focus has challenged us to "be the world to one," rather than just "one in the world." Discussions have run deep with how our actions and words truly have an impact on everyone around us. We also talked about how all of us: humanity and nature make the music of this world, and without our unique voice, that music is missing something. Discover what you want to add to the music. Speak up. Say something. We wrestled with big history this week. We celebrated  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and The Little Rock 5, Ruby Bridges, and the thousands of others who took a stand during the Civil Rights Era. To understand this better, we looked at primary source pictures -- these leaders, their actions, their speeches, their marches -- which brought them to life. We examined timelines and asked powerful questions. Again, another opportunity to look at the world -- right now -- and ask, "How can I be the world to one? What do I want to say that makes...

One of the goals in building confident and competent learners is that they own their learning. What does this mean? It means a few things. We want kids to set goals about what they want and need to learn. Once they do that, learners are monitoring their understanding against those goals, asking for what they need, and practicing until they reach a deep level of understanding. It was an opportunity this week to take several Benchmarks. We got some practice, but we also were able to pause as we were working to think about areas we feel confident and areas we want to be stronger. Rather than waiting for others to tell them what to work on, they already have goals in  mind. It's empowering! This week, writers have been penning their vignette narrative poems. They are in all stages of revising, and editing, using helpful feedback. They are learning a lot of Texas history through the eyes of another -- in this case a tree. We read Love That Dog  by Sharon Creech. Jack found hi...

This week we have been examining how the brain truly LOVES challenge, and challenge, in turn, brings struggle and failure. Which is NORMAL, natural, and actually GOOD. We do, however, need to have a mindset that we are resilient -- we can "bounce back" -- from what we are currently seeing as setbacks. We talked about mindful strategies which keep us present in the moment. Resilience takes positive self talk too, and our morning meetings had us sharing phrases we can tell ourselves to keep us moving forward. Mrs. Bankston visited this week, and her lesson had us discovering our "spirit animal" when it comes to tough situations. Ask your child what they identified with and why! We also had time to listen to some amazing jazz on Friday morning in person with the Austin Jazz Ensemble. We have been challenged and resilient as we are putting together our Point of View Historical Fiction Vignettes. We are putting ourselves in one of Texas' famous oak trees and tell...

So many choices in one short week! Our morning meetings have focused on ways we can lean into good at every opportunity. We can choose to lean into good and connect with our learning community, lifting up the others around us with words and actions. We can feel gratitude for the fabulous struggles that come with deep, meaningful learning. We can choose to cultivate a sense of inner peace with mindfulness strategies and we can use the transformative power of a mindful breath. In math, we're building our understanding of fractions and started by constructing a fraction kit. This is a concrete tool that allows each of us to build benchmark fractions like one whole, halves, and fourths. We compared the number of halves to fourths and are starting to build an understanding of how a fraction is a relationship between a part and a whole. Our number talk today challenged us to brainstorm fractions that are equivalent to 1/2. We explored using numbers and pictures why 4/8 and 2/4 are bo...