THE HIGHLANDS WAY

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THE HIGHLANDS WAY
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Highlands Elementary School

• Edina Public Schools
• K-5
• 550 students
• Founded 1956
• Reinvented 1990
• Site based management and hiring

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Three Programs One School

• KINDERGARTEN
• DISCOVERY Looping Model
• CONTINUOUS PROGRESS Multi-age Classes
• We all use The Highlands Way
• We stay with our core and always look for new
  ideas
• Tight/Loose Philosophy
• Relationships are important
• Caring climate

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Core Programs at Highlands

• Restitution Self-Discipline (Behavior)
• Integrated Thematic Instruction (Academic)
• Cooperative Learning/Conflict Resolution (Social)
• These ideas and skills are valuable throughout
  your life
• Continuous improvment

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Cooperative Learning

• David and Roger Johnson
• Structured Approach Academic goals, Social
  goals, Roles and Processing
• Development of Group Skills/Social Skills
• Kagan Structures

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Cooperative Learning

• Cooperative Context for students base groups,
  class meetings and class goals
• Cooperative Context for staff teams, programs
  and staff development
• Cooperative Context for parents

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The Value of Cooperative Learning

• Greater Efforts to Achieve higher achievement
  and greater productivity, long-term retention,
  intrinsic motivation, higher level reasoning and
  critical thinking
• More Positive Relationships Among Students
  esprit-de-corps, caring and committed
  relationships, personal and academic social
  support, valuing of diversity
• Greater Psychological Health general
  psychological adjustment, social development,
  social competencies, self esteem, ability to cope
  with adversity and stress

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Thomas FriedmanThe World is Flat

• Although having good people skills has been an
  asset in the working world, it will be even more
  so in a flat world. That said, I am not sure how
  you teach that as part of a classroom curriculum,
  but someone had better figure it out.

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Thomas Friedman The World is Flat

• there are going to be a whole slew of new middle
  jobs that involve personalized, high-touch
  interactions with other human beings because it
  is precisely those personalized high-touch
  interactions that can never be outsourced or
  automated and they are almost always necessary at
  some point in the value chain.

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Time Magazine

• Developing good people skills. EQ, or emotional
  intelligence, is as important as IQ for success
  in today's workplace. "Most innovations today
  involve large teams of people," says former
  Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine. "We have to
  emphasize communication skills, the ability to
  work in teams and with people from different
  cultures."

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Daniel Goleman

• IQ accounts for what portion of career success?

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• Between 4 and 10 percent

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Conflict Resolution

• Students learn to mediate and negotiate in grades
  k-5
• David and Roger Johnson
• Fits with and strengthens the cooperative
  learning and the cooperative context

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Restitution Self-Discipline

• Provides shared language and ideas 30 second
  interventions, my job/your job, classroom belief
  statements Development of Self Control
• Development of Personal Responsibility
• Development of Internal Controls
• Diane Gossen
• Alfie Kohn

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Restitution Self-Discipline

• Impact on student attitude and behavior
• Impact on staff development
• Impact on parents

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Alfie Kohn

• Researcher and Author
• Internal vs External Control
• Coercion vs Understanding
• Punished By Rewards The Trouble with Gold Stars,
  Incentive Plans, As, Praise, and Other Bribes
•  Unconditional Parenting Moving from Rewards and
  Punishments to Love and Reason

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Five Reasons Not to Say Good Job

• 1. Manipulating Children Saying Good Job!
  can be a way to control children.
• 2. Creating Praise Junkies Praise may
  increase childrens dependence on us and may
  cause children to look to us to tell them if what
  they did was good.
• 3. Stealing a Childs Pleasure Children have a
  natural joy when the do something well and we do
  not want to dilute this by what we say.
• 4. Losing Interest There is a great deal of
  research that shows the more we reward people for
  doing something the more they tend to lose
  interest in whatever they had to do to get the
  reward.
• 5. Reducing Achievement Research has shown that
  praise can undermine independence, pleasure and
  interest, and actually reduce achievement.

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Alternative Strategies

• Our children need unconditional support but
  saying Good Job! is conditional. Alfie Kohn
  describes three options to consider.
• 1. Say Nothing Consider that the child may
  know they did and that no praise is necessary.
• 2. Say What You Saw Offer a simple, evaluation
  free statement that tells your child that you
  noticed. Providing feedback and not judgment can
  allow your child to take pride in what they did.
  
• 3. Talk Less and Ask More Questions are the
  best option. Ask the child about what they have
  done. This focuses attention and can help the
  child reflect.
• We need to encourage and support our children,
  but we can do so without evaluating them.
  Thinking about the long-term goals we have for
  our children and the impact of the words we use
  will benefit our children.

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Integrated Thematic Instruction

• Biology of Learning/Brain Research
• Conceptual Curriculum
• Instructional Strategies
• Thematic Learning
• Lifeskills and Lifelong guidelines
• Susan Kovalik
• Eric Jensen

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Relationships

• Staff, Students and Parents work together
• Cooperative Context
• Looping Multi-age Long Term Relationships

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The Highlands Way

• Students, Staff and Parents value
• Relationships
• Partnerships
• Open Communication
• Transparent Systems
• Working together to address issues
• Thoughtful Problem Solving

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The Highlands Way (Continued)

• Education that addresses academic, social and
  emotional growth
• Lifeskills, Lifelong Guidelines and Ethical
  Values
• Parent involvement

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The Highlands Way according to Highlands
StaffRelationships

• The Highlands Way means that relationships are
  paramount. This includes relationships on all
  levels teacher/student teacher/family
  teacher/teacher etc.
• We spend a significant amount of time spent on
  explicitly doing relationship building work in
  classrooms and beyond.
• The relationships we build with kids that are so
  real and so strong that we can journey together
  to be the people we want to be - today - and that
  we know how to think about that for our whole
  lives and in all aspects of our lives.
• Collaboration At Highlands you are not alone.
  You have support from teaching partners, your
  program and the entire staff and from parents.
  We work together to grow.

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The Highlands Way according to Highlands
StaffCommunity

• Building community is an essential element to how
  we do things here at Highlands.  I feel we really
  understand the importance of establishing a safe,
  comfortable, and supportive learning environment
  in our classrooms, hallways and playground.  The
  best learning happens in the best environment. 
• For me, the one thing that is essential to The
  Highlands Way, is students, teachers, staff and
  parents working together, in partnership, to help
  kids grow academically, socially and emotionally.
• It is about fostering a sense of community,
  social responsibility, and sensitivity to others
  feelings. Teachers here seem to be always
  thinking, always searching to and working to get
  better and to give students more.

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The Highlands Way according to the Highlands
Staff

• Highlands is Child-centered. We see, children
  holistically and respond to those holistic needs
• We help kids develop an EQ as well as learning
  academics. 
• We do things with kids, not to them.
• I love the fact that we nurture intrinsic
  motivation.
• Lifelong Guidelines and Lifeskills, conflict
  resolution, multiple intelligences are integrated
  into our curriculum not added on.
• The amazing hospitality!  I have never felt more
  welcomed.

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Your thoughts and questions