Great Work All Around

I’ve been struck by all the great work I’m seeing all around the Springer campus as of late.  While the work for the Rock-a-Thon was begun months ago, Saturday’s walk-a-thon showed tremendous teamwork and creativity.   The decorations were awesome.  The organization was excellent.  The volunteer help was awe-inspiring.  Truly great work by the walk-a-thon committee led by Karen McKinley and Christy Gammons.  Thank you to all of you who took part.

This week I’ve been in classrooms quite a bit and have been treated to a number of different math lessons.   As you may know, we are transitioning to the Common Core math principles, which emphasize critical thinking, problem solving, and application.  A simple way to think of it is that math goes “deeper”.  Students work on fewer problem sets but dive deeper into those problems.  In one classroom, I watched the teacher skillfully ask her students questions about the math in front of the them.  By utilizing this inquiry-based approach, the teacher was able to get her students to think more critically about what they were actually doing while solving the equation.  In another classroom, the teacher was presenting math problems that were solved incorrectly.  Her students were asked to explain why the problem was solved incorrectly and then to set up the problem so it could be successfully worked out.  What is impressive to watch is the depth of thinking the students are using in math and the mathematical vocabulary they are using in their discussions.  Great stuff.

Lastly, I thoroughly enjoyed the Giants come-from-behind victory last night that propelled them into another World Series appearance.  I love the story of Travis Ishikawa, the player who hit the game winning homerun.   Apparently, he was so frustrated earlier in the season playing in the minor leagues, that he almost quit baseball entirely.  But, after a conversation with a friend, who told him to stick with it, Travis kept plugging and eventually made it onto the Giants roster late in the season.  Here he was last night, up at the plate, with the game on the line, and hitting the homerun that will forever make him a Giants legend.  As he rounded the bases, I couldn’t help but think that he must have applied a positive growth mindset to get to where he was at that moment.  What a great example of perseverance and grit!   Great stuff.

Go Giants!  Have a great weekend.