Josh Townsley, Amy Lodholz, Tim Wolmoth, Anita Jenks, and Dave Gray:
My name is Ross Nadal and I am a 4th grade teacher at Ellsworth Elementary School, located about 700 feet North of you. I am in the process of making major changes to how we learn in our classroom and I am writing to ask if you are interested in becoming a partner in these efforts.
I am presently starting plans to begin a carpentry program within my classroom in which the students learn math, engineering, and life skills such making peace with mistakes, persevering, and teamwork. We will build our own desks, design and critique garden bed and fence designs, compare the effectiveness and efficiency of various joints, and more. I am already working on raising funds for resources: an auto stop table saw, a miter saw, several cordless drills, a wide selection of fasteners, clamps, levels, tape measures, hammers, an extensive selection of lumber and modular metal pieces, and a way to store all of these materials.
What I am interested in from you is:
1. People. I have experience as a carpenter and I work as a public school teacher so I have the tools plan and start this endeavor. Yet as 1 person, I need effective volunteers who can help work with our students. While I will recruit parents and community members to become involved, your experience and ability in this regard seem invaluable.
2. Collaboration: Your advice and expertise in planning projects.
I would like to use our classroom to set a precedent: that learning in a school can be relevant, project based, and teach life skills. It will mean lots of planning, finding ways to obtain the resources listed above, and inviting other teachers to observe and participate so that they can see how authentic learning could work in their classrooms. The goal is to get our students the same kinds of life experiences where they learn to problem solve, work together, and work towards their own goals that students with more resources already have embedded in their lives.
Schools with demographics similar to ours are so often cutting back on science, hands on learning, and other authentic instruction and replacing it with more test driven instruction. Every year, these practices become more intensive, and every year results stay the same. After devoting a large amount of time to researching classrooms that are actually closing the achievement gap, a theme has emerged. In these places instruction is moving towards RELEVANT, CHALLENGING project based learning.
Here is an overview of the research and examples of programs that are effective in improving student’s lives long term (Go to wearetough.org/habitat for an electronic version of this letter so that the links are active.)
1.https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/23519639/BEAUREGARD-DISSERTATION-2015.pdf?sequence=1
1a. http://www.hightechhigh.org/
2. https://www.bie.org/objects/cat/research
3. http://www.edutopia.org/research-validates-project-based-learning
4.https://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_ritz_a_teacher_growing_green_in_the_south_bronx?language=en
These programs are often available only to middle and upper middle class schools while poor schools tend to be actually moving further from this type of project based learning, instead intensifying test driven instruction that disengages students, bring non-relevant skills to their future lives, and delivers at best flast results. I see a need for steps toward a more project based, relevant, challenging education that teaches long term skills. Thus my classroom has been building garden beds, planting a garden, and programming web sites toward this end. I want to move from doing these isolated projects to having a coherent program that centers my classroom in project based learning where our students learn to be accountable for their learning, learn academic content embedded in project based learning, and have the opportunity to build life skills. Carpentry, which is to say engineering and building, will be the centerpiece.
I know this is a long shot as I am asking for the things that you are most likely most short of: time and energy. If your are interested in partnering in this project, please contact me and I would love to set up a time to meet and plan. Either way, I am grateful for you taking the time to consider it.
Sincerely,
Ross Nadal
360-624-4643
ross.nadal@evergreenps.org
wearetough.org
4th Grade Teacher
Ellsworth Elementary School
My name is Ross Nadal and I am a 4th grade teacher at Ellsworth Elementary School, located about 700 feet North of you. I am in the process of making major changes to how we learn in our classroom and I am writing to ask if you are interested in becoming a partner in these efforts.
I am presently starting plans to begin a carpentry program within my classroom in which the students learn math, engineering, and life skills such making peace with mistakes, persevering, and teamwork. We will build our own desks, design and critique garden bed and fence designs, compare the effectiveness and efficiency of various joints, and more. I am already working on raising funds for resources: an auto stop table saw, a miter saw, several cordless drills, a wide selection of fasteners, clamps, levels, tape measures, hammers, an extensive selection of lumber and modular metal pieces, and a way to store all of these materials.
What I am interested in from you is:
1. People. I have experience as a carpenter and I work as a public school teacher so I have the tools plan and start this endeavor. Yet as 1 person, I need effective volunteers who can help work with our students. While I will recruit parents and community members to become involved, your experience and ability in this regard seem invaluable.
2. Collaboration: Your advice and expertise in planning projects.
I would like to use our classroom to set a precedent: that learning in a school can be relevant, project based, and teach life skills. It will mean lots of planning, finding ways to obtain the resources listed above, and inviting other teachers to observe and participate so that they can see how authentic learning could work in their classrooms. The goal is to get our students the same kinds of life experiences where they learn to problem solve, work together, and work towards their own goals that students with more resources already have embedded in their lives.
Schools with demographics similar to ours are so often cutting back on science, hands on learning, and other authentic instruction and replacing it with more test driven instruction. Every year, these practices become more intensive, and every year results stay the same. After devoting a large amount of time to researching classrooms that are actually closing the achievement gap, a theme has emerged. In these places instruction is moving towards RELEVANT, CHALLENGING project based learning.
Here is an overview of the research and examples of programs that are effective in improving student’s lives long term (Go to wearetough.org/habitat for an electronic version of this letter so that the links are active.)
1.https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/23519639/BEAUREGARD-DISSERTATION-2015.pdf?sequence=1
1a. http://www.hightechhigh.org/
2. https://www.bie.org/objects/cat/research
3. http://www.edutopia.org/research-validates-project-based-learning
4.https://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_ritz_a_teacher_growing_green_in_the_south_bronx?language=en
These programs are often available only to middle and upper middle class schools while poor schools tend to be actually moving further from this type of project based learning, instead intensifying test driven instruction that disengages students, bring non-relevant skills to their future lives, and delivers at best flast results. I see a need for steps toward a more project based, relevant, challenging education that teaches long term skills. Thus my classroom has been building garden beds, planting a garden, and programming web sites toward this end. I want to move from doing these isolated projects to having a coherent program that centers my classroom in project based learning where our students learn to be accountable for their learning, learn academic content embedded in project based learning, and have the opportunity to build life skills. Carpentry, which is to say engineering and building, will be the centerpiece.
I know this is a long shot as I am asking for the things that you are most likely most short of: time and energy. If your are interested in partnering in this project, please contact me and I would love to set up a time to meet and plan. Either way, I am grateful for you taking the time to consider it.
Sincerely,
Ross Nadal
360-624-4643
ross.nadal@evergreenps.org
wearetough.org
4th Grade Teacher
Ellsworth Elementary School
