Tag Archives: school culture

Starting school (culture)

Posted on August 23, 2018 by Abner Oakes

Eight years ago, the very first post that I wrote for this blog was about the beginning of the school year, and with school starting all over the country during these next few weeks, I thought I’d revisit this topic, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classroom, School, Teachers | Tagged bobby thym, columbia state community college, dan ryder, first days of school, jessica north macie, mt. blue high school, national cathedral school, national seed project, school culture | Leave a comment

Developing good question-askers

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Abner Oakes

I’ve been mucking around with the Common Core State Standards and have fixated on this English/language arts standard, part of the speaking and listening standards for grades 9 and 10: SL.9-10.1c: Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that … Continue reading →

Posted in Classroom, Principal, School, Teachers, Teaching | Tagged bloom's taxonomy, common core, Common Core State Standards, joe manko, john t. spencer, liberty elementary school, Question Formulation Technique, school culture, teach paperless, the right question institute | 1 Comment

Oklahoma!

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Abner Oakes

Last week, my son’s fifth grade class put on the show Oklahoma. This show and those that had come before are part of an annual year-end ritual at our little elementary school, the fifth grade musical. The show was double … Continue reading →

Posted in School | Tagged oklahoma, school culture, westbrook elementary school, westland middle school | 4 Comments

Teaching character

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Abner Oakes

Back in this post, I wrote about school culture, its importance, and the hard work it takes to make it a genuine and on-going part of the school. Too many schools try to get it through shortcuts, as they “build … Continue reading →

Posted in Classroom, Parents, Principal, School, Teachers, Teaching | Tagged george saunders, kipp, kipp infinity charter school, moral character, new york times magazine, performance character, school connectedness, school culture | Leave a comment

End-of-school rituals, school reunions, and school culture

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Abner Oakes

Back in this post on school culture, I shared Craig Jerald’s five sets of behaviors that “send strong signals” about a school’s “vision and values” – about its culture – and rituals were his first set of behaviors: celebrations and … Continue reading →

Posted in School, School district | Tagged baker library, bridge of years, college reunion, craig jerald, dartmouth college, hamden high school, rituals, school culture | 1 Comment

“Look fors” in effective classrooms

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Abner Oakes

A friend (and parent) and I got talking about this the other evening: Imagine you’re moving to a new state, a new city, but before you decide on a neighborhood and therefore a school for your kids, you want some … Continue reading →

Posted in Classroom, Parents, School, Teachers, Teaching | Tagged classroom library, daily agenda, differentiated instruction, differentiation, effective questioning, flipped classroom, lesson plan, mimeograph machine, Northeast Regional Resource Center, principal, rubric, school culture, state standards, wested, word wall | Leave a comment