Category: Pioneer Central School

Duncan Kirkwood Inspires Students and Staff at Pioneer Central School

5/1/2024

Students and staff at Pioneer Central School were recently treated to an inspiring talk by Duncan Kirkwood, renowned resilience coach and motivational speaker. Kirkwood's visit provided a powerful opportunity for the school community to delve into the crucial topic of resilience, a skillset essential for navigating life's challenges.

Drawing from his own life experiences, Kirkwood captivated his audience with personal anecdotes and insights, highlighting the importance of resilience in overcoming adversity. His journey from facing setbacks to achieving success served as a testament to the transformative power of resilience.

Throughout his presentation, Kirkwood emphasized practical strategies for building resilience, encouraging attendees to adopt a growth mindset and embrace failure as a steppingstone to growth. He stressed the significance of perseverance, adaptability, and self-belief in cultivating resilience, empowering students and staff to face challenges with confidence and resilience.

The interactive nature of Kirkwood's session fostered meaningful dialogue and reflection among attendees, sparking discussions on resilience-building techniques and sharing of personal experiences. Staff also had the optional opportunity to meet with Duncan during a Question-and-Answer session which allowed Duncan to personally respond to questions that teachers had. This Q&A session also allowed for staff to individually interact with Duncan and let him know just how inspiring his sessions were!

Kirkwood's visit left a lasting impact on the Pioneer Central School community, equipping students and staff with the tools and mindset necessary to navigate life's inevitable ups and downs with resilience and determination.

By: Jenna Tost, CA BOCES Professional Development

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Junie B’s Essential Survival Guide to School

5/31/2023

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Junie B’s Essential Survival Guide to School, https://twusa.org/shows-artists/on-tour-2/junie-b-sessential-survival-guide-to-school/, was this year’s final Theaterworks USA performance in the CABOCES region, hosted by Student Programs (CoSer 403, Arts in Education). Thanks to our partners at Delevan Elementary School, Scio Central School, and Salamanca Central School for welcoming approximately 3,000 local elementary students and teachers into their auditoriums this month. Teachers received study guides to use with their students before and after the show. These educational resources reinforced the NYS standards being taught in elementary classrooms. Over three days totaling six shows, Junie B. Jones and friends sang and danced their way from September to May, learning valuable lessons along the way. The inspirational show was a great way for the region’s students and teachers to celebrate the completion of NYS testing. CoSer 403, Arts In Education, helps schools enrich the lives of their students by providing opportunities to experience the performing arts. TheaterWorksUSA is a professional acting company based out of New York City. For more information about CoSer 403 Arts In Education, contact [email protected].

By: Jean Oliverio, CA BOCES Student Programs

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School Libraries: Improving student mental and emotional health one book at a time

11/29/2022

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School libraries, like public libraries, provide a collection of up-to-date resources that inform and entertain. Many school libraries are benefitting from renewed spaces that welcome students by providing seating that is relaxing and grouped for conversing, while offering individual spaces for pondering and completing homework.
The American Library Association (2022) defines libraries as a “venue for exploring questions that arise out of individual curiosity and personal interest”. Ask any reader why books are engaging and the answer will be related to that individual’s ability to find a connection with the characters or content (Allyn, 2015). I remember when a 10th grader, who didn’t read much, came to the library just to get out of study-hall. After talking about his interests, of which one was fishing, he happily left with a non-fiction book on trout fishing with high-quality photographs of tips and tricks. The library and its collection should be a place where all students, faculty and staff are welcomed and affirmed, thus supporting mental and emotional health.
In studying college students’ psychological distress, Levine et al. (2022) found that “recreational reading was associated with reduced psychological distress” and “seemed to buffer against the frustration of one’s basic psychological needs which led to improved mental health”. Another study found that recreational reading can “support readers to deal with the daily emotional challenges they experience affecting their psychological well-being” (Yulia et al., 2021). And it doesn’t take much time! Taking just 6 minutes a day to read can “reduce stress levels by up to 60% by reducing your heartbeat and muscle tension and changing your state of mind” and can be more effective than listening to music (“Making Reading”, 2022).
School recognizing the relationship between stress and mental health are making efforts to create stress-free and welcoming environments via the school library (“Relationship Between”, 2022). Below are some pictures of several districts who have changed up their libraries with color, comfortable seating, new flooring, and new shelving.

By: Cece Fuoco, CA BOCES Learning Resources

Allyn, P. (2015, March-April). For the love of reading: five methods to instill a lifetime of good habits. Reading Today, 32(5), 26+
American Library Association. (2022, June 27). Definition of a library. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://libguides.ala.org/library-definition.
Make reading a habit for better mental & emotional health. (2022, October 6). Business World, NA
Relationship between stress and emotional self-efficacy. (2022, August 10). Business World, NA.
S. L. Levine, S. Cherrier, A. C. Holding & R. Koestner. (2022). For the love of reading: Recreational reading reduces psychological distress in college students and autonomous motivation is the key, Journal of American College Health, 70:1, 158-164.
Yulia, A., Joshi, R. M., & Husin, N. A. (2021). Assessing the effects of books on psychological wellbeing in Malaysia. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 19(1), 87+.

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The Civic - Minded Classroom and Power of Voice

4/22/2022

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Today’s changing society has promoted classrooms that have become faced with questions about COVID 19, current events, political viewpoints, and students wondering where they fit in within the new norms of society. As educators, we have a large responsibility to respond to the changes in society, along with differences in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and teach students not only to become college and career ready, but also civic ready.

You may be wondering, “what is civic ready?” Civic ready students are those who are alert, thoughtful, engaged, and inquisitive members of society. Developing classrooms that invite opportunities for change, and ways to create civic ready students, will assist in an overall investment to help better our society. As educators, we can assist in developing all students to learn how to become civic-minded students by teaching them to seek knowledge from multiple sources, reminding them to be alert to self-identity and bias, and teach them to be critical and engaged consumers and producers of media.

The Civically Engaged Classroom by Mary Ehrenworth, Pablo Wolfe, and Marc Todd, recently published in 2021, proposes vast, meaningful strategies for reading, writing, and speaking for change. This text will be of assistance in creating classrooms designed as spaces where truth is practiced, exposed, accepted, challenged, embraced, or even resisted.

Students already have a voice, and the work of The Civically Engaged Classroom, is to provide educators with new ways to work with teaching students to use their voices with confidence and power. The classroom can be a place for all students to experience what it means to live in community with others, while also challenging them to overcome differences.

At Pioneer Middle School, Art Teachers, Mr. Daggett and Mr. Necci are allowing students to use their voice in their Social Issue Poster Project. Displayed around the school are posters that encapsulate student emotion, passion, and engagement around a social issue. Students are encouraged to think about a social issue that is passionate to them, and the examples that are displayed around the school are powerful.

Think about the goal of creating civic ready students...

to create alert, thoughtful, engaged, inquisitive, and active citizens of society

Educators, this can be challenging. This is going to be an ongoing process for ourselves and for our students, however, this will allow for student awareness. Change will come if critical conversations are occurring in classrooms, and if we as educators are equipped to use critical lenses to sift through the abundant information and data that our students consume from their own devices. As we can see from these student posters, students powerfully “voiced” their opinions through these posters when given the opportunity to meaningfully and appropriately do so.

This book provides an ample number of resources for you to use in your classroom, and a vast array of eye-opening ways that we can ensure that all voices in our schools are heard.
Here are some examples of available resources within the text.
Resources to Empower Students Writing and Ensure that All Voices can be Heard:

- Allow for the use of speech-to-text software.
- Let students decide if they want to write on paper or with a device.
- Consider alternate expressions. Can a student create a podcast? A video? A poster to go
along with a public presentation?
- Involve family members. -
Resources for introducing current events in your classroom:
Above the Noise: PBS Series aimed at young people to explain current events

- https://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/above-the-noise-collection/
The New York Times Learning Network: lesson plans, activities, and suggestions for how to
bring current events into the classroom
- https://www.nytimes.com/section/learning

By: Jenna Fontaine, CA BOCES Professional Development

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Second Step Giving Second Chances

11/18/2021

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Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is certainly not new, but if it wasn’t already, it is certainly now a top priority since the beginning of the pandemic. Students’ overall well-being has suffered, giving schools an extra challenge to deal with as instruction has returned to five days a week this school year.

One way Pioneer Middle School has addressed this challenge is by incorporating a program called Second Step. Second Step describes itself as “a holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning.” Started successfully in the district’s elementary schools during the 2018-19 school year, the middle school has embraced the program by incorporating Second Step Wednesday’s, where homebases are extended twice a month to allow for a particular SEL lesson to take place.

With vertically aligned and scripted lessons for teachers that are research-based and aligned to SEL standards, the program has thus far been a success. In addition, all teachers and students in the school are involved in the program allowing for common themes in each lesson to continually be supported and intertwined into instruction regardless of the class subject area.

But what exactly is Second Step? (https://www.secondstep.org)

Universal (i.e., Tier I) social-emotional learning program for the classroom
Web-based elementary (K-5) and middle school (6-8) program with 4 units
- Mindset and Goals
- Recognizing Bullying and Harassment
- Thoughts, Emotions, and Decisions
- Managing Relationships and Social Conflict
“Designed to help increase students school success and help decrease problem behaviors by promoting social-emotional competence.”
Research-based, per a 2011 meta-analysis
- Gains in social-emotional skills, attitudes/behaviors and academic achievement
- https://cfccdn.blob.core.windows.net/static/pdf/middle-school/second-step-ms-review-of-research.pdf

Ultimately, the school will measure the success of the program by using the administration of a SEL screener, last given in April 2021, in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. The screener analyzes student responses to a number of questions to determine if the student is at normal, elevated, or extremely elevated risk. By utilizing the screener, those students who are identified as elevated or extremely elevated risk are given a second chance to get the support they need to succeed, support they may have previously not received had it not been for the Second Step program.

By: Justin Shumaker, CA BOCES Professional Development

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Collaborative Problem-Solving Model

3/13/2020

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Middle school math teachers at Pioneer Central School recently tried a new problem-solving model with educational consultant, Susan Rothwell. The teachers were looking for additional instructional practices that allowed students to collectively tap their knowledge in order to solve a challenging, multi-step problem in mathematics. Over the past few years, being able to successfully collaborate with others has consistently been identified as one of the most important skills employers are looking for. This model allows students to improve upon these skills as well as develop a deeper and more meaningful understanding of what they are learning. The problem-solving technique that was introduced to the teachers and students included the following materials and steps.

Materials:

Large chart paper
Markers
Colored pencils
Pencil
Set of sorting sticks or cards
Problem-solving model worksheet

Problem-Solving Model Steps: (total time is 31-47 minutes)

Students will be provided with the materials that they need. (listed above)
Students are introduced to the steps of the problem-solving model they will be using. (3-5 min.)
Students are given time to work on the problem individually in pencil. (3-5 min.)
Students are sorted into groups of 2-4 (depending on class size) using the sorting sticks or cards. (30 sec.)
Students work collectively in their new groups to further dive into the problem. Students write their work in colored pencil on their problem-solving worksheet to denote the new work they do. Each student will use a different colored pencil in each grouping. This allows the teacher to easily track their progress from group to group. (3-5 min.)
Repeat steps 4 and 5 two more times so that students have worked in 3 randomly selected groups total. (6-10 min.)
Students are placed in home base groups that the teacher pre-selects. (30 sec.)
Students are given time to finalize their answers and transcribe them onto the given chart paper. (5-7 min.)
Each home base group presents their solution and explains the thinking that led to their final solution. (5-7 min.)
Students have the opportunity for cross conversations if groups have different answers. Teacher then leads a debriefing discussion that includes discussion of what the correct solution is and why. (5-7 min.)

Rules for the Teacher (Facilitator)

Don’t rush the process! Students should be given ample time to work collaboratively with their peers to solve a challenging problem.
Play dumb! You are facilitating the process only. You should not give the students help or answer their questions about the problem itself. Students should be asking their collaborative group members these questions.
Answering clarifying questions about the process itself is ok. You want to make sure that students understand what they are doing and why.
Have fun and behold the power of collaborative work!

For more information or resources on this model, feel free to reach out to Justin Shumaker at [email protected].
By: Justin Shumaker, CA BOCES Professional Development

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Innovative Teaching

Duncan Kirkwood Inspires Students and Staff at Pioneer Central School

Junie B’s Essential Survival Guide to School

School Libraries: Improving student mental and emotional health one book at a time

The Civic - Minded Classroom and Power of Voice

Second Step Giving Second Chances

Collaborative Problem-Solving Model

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Innovative Teaching

Duncan Kirkwood Inspires Students and Staff at Pioneer Central School

​Junie B’s Essential Survival Guide to School

School Libraries: Improving student mental and emotional health one book at a time

The Civic - Minded Classroom and Power of Voice

Second Step Giving Second Chances

Collaborative Problem-Solving Model

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Categories

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Junie B’s Essential Survival Guide to School

Follow us on
social media