Karla’s Korner

January 6, 2012

Dear Parents and Friends of St. James Academy,

Welcome back to school and all the joys of second semester!  Yes, I mean joys!  My first semester as principal at St. James Academy was filled with good news.  I have loved getting to know students, teachers, and parents.  Education is the best job in the world.  Teachers have a job to teach, and students have a job to learn.  With a new semester, each of us gets to start anew to be the best that we can be!  I know each semester of St. James will continue to be faith-filled and mission focused.  We are here to partner with you for your children!

Last semester it seemed that there were a few communications that would have been helpful tools for all.  So I would like to share a few education terms that may be of interest to you.   Doctors measure growth in children by weight and height.  Teachers measure growth by what students are able to demonstrate!!!  That is a GREAT challenge!  Wish I could invent some tube that we could just look in an ear and see what the brain has learned!  But teachers do use formative and summative assessments to try to measure student learning.  Formative assessments are those that inFORM the teacher for good instructional planning.  Homework, in-class participation, and other daily assessments are good tools that help teachers understand what a child knows and needs to learn.  Summative assessment such as end of unit tests, projects, and final exams “sum up” what the child has learned over time.

As your child begins a new semester, please remind him/her that nothing is learned without practice.  Our basketball coach, Mr. Huppe, could give me the best oral instructions in the world about how to make free throws.  He could even demonstrate what that looks like to me.  But without practice, I don’t think I would be very successful at the free throw line.  Similarly, our students watch teachers conjugate verbs, demonstrate dissection, and complete math problems.  But unless students actively practice, learning does not occur!  On top of that, practice should lead to a student’s ability to perform a task independently.  Thank you in advance for reminding your child to practice what the teacher asks them to practice. Our students will enjoy the rewards of their hard work when they see their summative assessment scores!

Excited for the new semester,