HCS Teacher Wins Award

In recognition of inspirational teaching, Hinesburg Community School’s Miranda Johnson has been named the
Vermont recipient of the Sanford Teacher Award for demonstrating commitment to creating an inspirational and harmonious classroom that supports student development and achievement! Miranda grew up in Williston, attending Williston Central School and CVU and is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire. She has worked as a Kindergarten teacher at Hinesburg Community School for 14 years and lives in Huntington with her husband and two children.

Miranda was selected by a committee of educators through an application process that included nominations and information provided by each teacher to assess how closely they represent characteristics of inspiring teaching, which included: Enthusiasm for teaching; empathy and warmth towards all students; fostering positive relationships with all students; creating a positive learning environment; and recognizing student strengths.

The $10,000 award is in the name of philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, which is committed to supporting inspiring teaching nationwide through PreK-12 programs that are being expanded nationally by the National University System. In addition to being the recipient of the Sanford Teachers Award for the State of Vermont, Miranda also qualifies for a chance to be recognized as the $50,000 national winner of the Sanford Teacher Award; to be named in early 2019.

Congratulations, Miranda!

Celebrate the Arts

Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg will be hosting its eleventh annual Celebrate The Arts Night on December 13th!

From 6:00-7:30 p.m. you can enjoy a visual arts show of over 450 pieces created by students currently enrolled in CVU arts courses and from around the district with work on display from Allen Brook, Williston Central, Shelburne Community, Hinesburg Community, and Charlotte Central Schools.

Every student from CVU’s Intro through Advanced Placement Studio Art will be showing a piece they feel best represents their work from the semester. Also on view will be practical art work made by Technology Education, and fashion by Basic Clothing Construction and Fashion Design students. Business students will be sharing information about their collaboration with the Vermont Haiti Project and their upcoming trip to Haiti. Additionally, you will be able to learn about and purchase advanced tickets for their annual Family Formal, benefiting Make-A-Wish Vermont.

Pop-up musical performances this year include shows by CVU’s Women’s Chorus in the science wing from 7-7:15 and a 6:30-7:00 show by CVU’s Jazz Ensemble in four corners. At 7:30, in the CVU Theater, notable main-stage performances will be given by music students including Symphonic Winds and Women’s chorus. Family and Consumer Science classes will provide free refreshments. There will be art activities for the whole family!

New this year! NEXUS students will be sharing their Nexhibitions in the Library from 5:30-7:00. See what these innovative independent learners have been up to. The night will also feature Sustainability student work in the café from 5:30-7:00.

Much learning, innovation and inspiration to be celebrated!

For more information contact abowker@cvsdvt.org


Artwork credit: Taylor Chatoff

Congratulations to CVSD Education Leaders

This past weekend marked the end of a journey for five education leaders in the Champlain Valley School District. For the past 17 months, they have engaged in learning with other Vermont educators in the Snelling Center for Government's Vermont School Leadership Project.

From their website: "Effective public school leadership requires more than professional knowledge. It demands passion, the ability to articulate a vision and engage others in that vision, and the ability to facilitate organizational change To strengthen these capabilities among Vermont educators, the Snelling Center developed the Vermont School Leadership Project (VSLP) in collaboration with prominent members of Vermont's business and education communities. VSLP was launched in 1995 and has graduated thirteen classes, creating a collegial leadership network of over 250 alumni."

Many other educators in CVSD have already participated in the Snelling VSLP. In addition, some of our early childhood educators have participated in the Snelling Center's Early Childhood Leadership Institute. And at least one of our School Board members has been a participant in the Snelling Center's Vermont Leadership Institute. We are fortunate in our district to have motivated leaders who strive to learn, enhance their skills, and challenge themselves in order to best support our students.

The 2018 cohort included 25 Vermont educators, five of whom are leaders in CVSD. We congratulate John Pontius, Suzan Locke, Meagan Roy, Anna Couperthwait, and Bonnie Birdsall on this achievement.

Professional Development on Tuesday Early Release Days

As most in the community know, our preK-8 schools release students an hour earlier on Tuesdays for professional development time with our educators. We want to share with you specifics about how that time is used across the district. Efforts like what's described below are happening in all of our preK-8 schools each Tuesday. We are appreciative of the time to grow, learn, collaborate, and engage on Tuesdays. Thank you to Jackie Parks, WCS Building Principal, for sharing this perspective.

Note: CVU uses the late start time on Mondays for similar engaging activities with professionals. We'll share more specifics about that work in a future blog post.

Professional Learning and Collaboration on Early Release Tuesdays

By Jacqueline Parks, WCS Building Principal

Do you ever wonder what our faculty and staff do on Tuesday afternoons after our students leave? What does that 2-hour time block look like for ABS and WCS? What impact does it have on student learning? Here is a glimpse into the work being done and the impact it is having on our system.

On Tuesday afternoon of this week there were five different meetings taking place for our faculty and staff. Para-educators met and learned about using visuals to support learners with Jenn Randall, a member of the CVSD Special Education staff . PK-2 faculty, led by Caitlin Bianchi (math coordinator) and Angela Filion (ABS principal) engaged in a math meeting where they focused on grade level specific planning by pulling additional resources into the Bridges math program. Third and fourth grade teachers, led by Jessica Eaton (Pk-4 literacy coordinator), dug into teaching reading with an emphasis on understanding texts and readers. Special educators, led by Sarah Crum (special education director) and Greg Marino (Lead principal), met as a PK-8 group and engaged in a futures protocol that was designed to move our special education program forward with new ideas. And finally, 5th-8th faculty, facilitated by Jackie Parks (WCS building principal) worked on nine different middle level specific topics including student leadership, school spirit, parent conferences, discipline response system and more. As you can see, this two hour block of time gives faculty the time to dig into topics deeply and collaboratively.

As a system, we are extremely grateful for the weekly time to engage in this collaborative work. Instead of holding topics and professional learning for a day scattered here or there in the school calendar, we can thoughtfully embed them in our weekly time. The impact of our Tuesday professional time is visible in both small and big ways in our educational system. Teachers improve their skills which results in stronger student outcomes, school procedures are tweaked in ways that improve school climate and safety, thoughtful programming is added, curriculum units are more seamlessly integrated and so much more.

In the not so recent past, teaching was a job done in isolation involving the teacher and students in the classroom. This model has fallen away in lieu of a highly collaborative model with aligned approaches that involves professionals working together on behalf of students. The result is a better quality program for all students and teachers utilizing each other to enhance their own professional repertoire of skills.

And there it is, a quick look into a Tuesday professional development afternoon! Thank you for helping to keep our profession moving forward in ways that support student outcomes.

Different Approaches to Study The Revolutionary War

Charlotte Central School's 5th graders have been immersed in a study of the Revolutionary War. Students gathered information and made presentations. But they went beyond that. A game of tug-of-war ensued, filled with metaphorical “rules” to teach how the Continental Army defeated the British during the Revolutionary War. 

There were 5 "rules" that were given during the game (in a very dramatic fashion). Each rule was an analogy to teach students how the Continental Army defeated the British. For example, there was the blue team (Continental Army), red team (British) and white team (Colonial allies). The white team was the group of students that ran in mid- game to help the blue team (to model the support that the American colonies received from their European allies). Half of the red team had to start down the hallway and run to join the rest of the red team (intended to model the challenge that Britain faced in supplying its troops from across the Atlantic Ocean). The blue team was given a prize if they won (to model colonists' greater motivation to win fighting for their freedom). All of these analogies were made clear through a reflection and class discussion afterwards.

One group made a Revolutionary War rap to demonstrate their learning. Students are engaged in different ways.