Featured news and information by and for the Campbell School of Innovation community.
Join Us for our Virtual Open House!
January 28, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm Register Here
or
February 9, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm Register Here
Learn about Campbell School of Innovation from key members of our community. Ask questions about our curriculum, culture, and the CSI experience.
Open enrollment begins on January 19, 2021 and ends on February 12, 2021.
I was recently listening to a short video about school and the changes that we are all experiencing. One of the questions that was asked was, "What is this moment telling us about the future?" That was a sticky question that caused me to pause. Here are some thoughts that ran through my head.
So while we sit in discomfort, let's be mindful of who we want to be when we emerge. Yes, the road is not clear and timelines are fuzzy, but when the skies clear and we see the next stop on the road, I hope we are butterflies.
One of the most common questions we are hearing at the moment is "How can we support our student(s) at home?" Many parents are currently juggling many challenges and the addition of now supporting their child or children with learning is an added anxiety. Students are also feeling that anxiety and are hearing and seeing many world events that may be adding to that worried feeling, not to mention the new routines and learning habits that they are trying to master through a constrained digital format. It's a lot.
So one of the most important places to start is finding some ways of reducing that anxiety as much as possible. Focus on creating a learning space that is consistent, offers some degree of quiet, and has all of their learning tools near at hand. We also want to slowly grow a student's independence, so while it's great for you to be nearby (think fly on the wall), allow your student to learn through their mistakes and also learn to listen to their teacher's instruction. We are slowly increasing our learning times as we build stamina for longer sessions, especially with our youngest learners.
When students transistion to independent learning, practice letting them take lead on what work they should be starting with. Continue to guide them through questions. "What was your teachers instruction?" "What are you supposed to start with?" "What work needs finishing first?" "Where can you find out the answer to that question?" The more we let students solve their problems, the more self-directed they become. If you are having trouble getting your student to take ownership of their learning, it may be time to connect with their teacher to arrange for a conference with you, the student, and the teacher and create a plan that outlines some consistent practices and expectations. Taking on "the teacher" role for your own child is hard and sometimes your support may need to look different.
Finally, while we want to lower anxiety, it's OK to ask our kids to step up. The expectation is that they attend school and this is currently what school looks like. Kids wouldn't show up for school in their pajamas with a blanket over their head. (I'm guessing most of you don't go to work that way either, even on Zoom.) Sometimes the world hands us things that are hard. This is one of them. But we don't give up, we don't turn away from the challenge, we walk forward and give it our best. We build resilience for things to come and we look for opportunities to find joy and improve our current circumstance.
We look forward to the day we can bring students back on campus and discover new things together. That day is sometime is in our future and we will forge ahead, most times with a smile, until we get there.
We are up and running, and while we had somewhat of a rocky start due to some technology issues, all of our learning designers were smiling and excited to start meeting their students. Your most important back-to-school supplies? Patience, Flexibility, and Kindness! 2020 continues to offer the most interesting challenges and we will continue to design around and within them.
Please bookmark our CSI distance learning site for the most current announcements as well as links to grade level pages.
https://sites.google.com/campbellusd.org/csi-distance-learning/home
Congratulations to our awesome basketball medalists. They showed both their athletic ability and their great sportsmanship! Way to go Wolves!
Thank you to our partners at Stanford d.School Laura, Maureen, and Milan for an amazing day of learning!
"Writing will help me be more creative in whatever job I have," says Yehyun. She earned CSI's First Place Accomplished Writer award last spring for her story From a Dog Punching Bag to a Star. That award qualified her for the District's Rising Young Author recognition program.
In addition to earning accolades for her book, she won a drawing at the event for a Nook e-reader device. She's pictured here with event co-sponsor Jill Douglas of School Innovations & Achievement.
Yehyun's parents say that she loves reading and writing. "Sometimes she struggles," they say. "But she never gives up."
As kindergarteners soon discovered, our Planet Earth could use some help with ensuring that we have clean water, provide healthy environments for our animal population, and maintain clean air.
We are getting closer to bringing our students back to campus! January 4th is still our projected date to start returning students to campus in our hybrid model. Cohort information will go out on Friday, November 20th, along with report cards. Look for an invitation to a Wolfpack Chat in December where we will go over all of the schedules and safety procedures in place for January. There will also be a Parent Handbook and videos available as well that outline all of our safety processes.