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Fellowship PaperTabulating Tabs: An Integration of Math, Community Service Learning, Language Arts, et un peu de francais
By Felice Kachinsky Marblehead Community Charter Public School
Massachusetts Charter School Association 2006
The School’s Background In 1995, Marblehead Community Charter Public School was the very first Charter School to open its doors in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Curiously, it’s probably the only school in the nation that opens with firearms, as the Glover Regiment, dressed in full regalia, ushers in each school year with drum roles and firings from their authentic Revolutionary War muskets. This is Marblehead, the land of the fishermen from Salem who could not tolerate the intolerance of the Puritans, and the land of the first American Navy, which became known as Glover’s Regiment when General Washington asked the fishermen to help him cross the Delaware. Marblehead has always been a place of individuality and innovation, and the Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS) follows in this noble tradition. “About MCCPS: A History of Achievement,” on the school’s Web site, outlines key elements of the school and its mission: “According to the MCCPS charter proposal, students would experience success in their education through a challenging program of core academic studies, the reinforcement of productive attitudes toward work, community, school, friends and self, a focus on the individual strengths and weaknesses of each student, an integrated program of community service learning, and a commitment to producing a replicable model of public education” (MCCPS n.d.). The school’s mission statement summarized what the school would offer its students:
As one of the founding teachers of MCCPS, I have worked for the past 11 years to help develop the school’s vision as well as its culture. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we have created a system of standards, benchmarks, assessments, and individual learning plans in order to set goals, evaluate progress, and reach success for both students and the institution. Together, we have worked to develop our triennial (corresponding with each trimester) public exhibitions of student work, turning process to product, instilling personal pride, and boosting academic achievement through authentic learning experiences. At the end of each trimester, students in all five grades (4-8) have the opportunity to exhibit what they have learned, while the entire community is present and engaged. The process of learning can be seen, heard, and experienced through the integrated works completed by the students, exhibits that range from a Shakespearean play to a poetry anthology, from an oration on a utopian society to a display of scientific experiments, from tessellations to, in the case of this paper, mathematical graphs. As a trained teacher of the gifted, I find the model of triennial exhibitions to be in line with the concepts developed over 40 years ago by Joseph Renzulli, one of the gurus of Gifted Education. MCCPS Exhibition projects are indeed “enriching, challenging differentiated enrichment opportunities for all students…The role of the student is transformed from that of a learner of prescribed lessons to one in which she or he uses the modus operandi of a firsthand inquirer” (Rensulli and Reis 1997). There is no end to the possibilities, and at MCCPS teachers continue to work together to improve projects or to imagine and create new ones for yet another exhibition. As one parent explained, “Trying to see a MCCPS Exhibition in one night is like trying to see Disney Land in a day” (Conversation with author, Exhibition Night, March 1997). Project Background The Tabulating Tabs Project began 11 years ago, when our Community Service Learning instructor, Anita Balliro, introduced the idea to the fifth grade class at MCCPS. She had met a gentleman from the Marblehead Fire Department, Charles Maurais, a Shriner and a committed advocate of Shriner’s hospitals. During their conversations, Ms. Balliro learned that pull tabs from soda cans, and the like, were being donated to the Shriners and sold to scrap metal recyclers, thus providing money which helped children receive free medical care at Shriners Hospitals. Through this connection, Ms. Balliro initiated the Tabulating Tabs project, which she called Kids Helping Kids. The recipient of our tabs, Shriners Hospitals, describes its work as follows:
Because of the nature of MCCPS, we found a way to develop this community service project into an authentic learning activity. During professional development time set aside for integration, Ms. Balliro initiated a conversation about Kids Helping Kids with my teaching partner, Nina Cullen-Hamzeh, and me. Here, we planted the seeds of a project that has grown long, inseverable roots during the past eleven years, and has come to be known school-wide as Tabulating Tabs, or more commonly, The 5th Grade Tabs Project. The Integrated Project Each year the project begins anew. During their 4th grade Moving Up Day, we ask the incoming 5th grade students to do a homework assignment over the summer--collect tabs from can lids. Within the first few weeks of school, Charles Maurais, or a representative from the Shriners, comes to MCCPS for a community assembly. First, the outgoing 5th grade class formally presents Mr. Maurais with the previous year’s tabs. Then Mr. Maurais presents a film to the new 5th grade about the work of Shriners Hospitals and how Kids Helping Kids can really make a difference. Tabs are a high-grade aluminum, and in quantity worth a substantial sum when recycled and sold to recycling facilities as scrap metal. As pulling the tab from a can does not minimize the value of the can itself when recycled, tabs are essentially found money. The money generated from the tabs purchases rehabilitation machinery, recreational equipment, learning toys and games, and other items for the children at Shriners Hospitals. Tabulating Tabs is a fully integrated project. As with other integrated projects, which are commonplace at MCCPS, teachers meet regularly to plan, implement, and review the project to ensure that the different components are working together well. Each of the integrating teachers takes responsibility for instructing, completing, and grading their component. In Tabulating Tabs, students:
To be successful with the Tabulating Tabs Project, some minimum materials are needed. Cups, buckets, tools such as compasses and calculators, graph paper, and instruction sheets are part of the mix (see Appendix A for a full listing). Start small, and build as you become more comfortable with the routine and the components. Once you have hooked students on this community service activity, a class list and one sealable container will get you started! Interdisciplinary in nature, the components of the Tabulating Tabs Project are carried out in a variety of classrooms, across the school, and in the community. Math Component: Students use the tabs in math class in order to learn about rounding numbers, statistical landmarks (mean, median, mode and range), keeping accurate records, graphing data in various ways (using bar, line, and circle graphs), and estimating a unit of measurement for large quantities. Students develop and reinforce many other math skills in the process of using this authentic data. The continually growing tab collection, with its yearly goal of one million tabs, provides a visual conceptualization of the magnitude of a million. First, we use the tabs brought in from other community sources after the final tabulation of tabs from the previous year’s fifth grade class has been calculated. (Mr. Maurais donates a large bag of tabs each year to start the process, and other community members send in tabs throughout the summer.) Each student, or each pair of students--depending on the available number of tabs--is given a plastic cup (same size for each) filled with tabs (I like to say, “Just to the top, so that the tabs tickle the palm of the hand”). These tabs are counted, and students write the totals on the board. Using the data on the board, we determine the unit of measurement of 1 cup of tabs by determining the average number of tabs (the mean), rounded to the nearest ten. This becomes our agreed-upon unit of measure for large quantities. Then the students count the rest of the stash of tabs. This is always a festive occasion, as students dump huge piles of tabs onto their desks, measure them in cups, and tally the number of cups (using tally marks on post-its); they dump tabs into the bins, use multiplication to calculate the number of tabs, check for accuracy with a calculator, report the number to the teacher, and finally write the numbers on the white board. Using calculators, students race to find the grand total. I introduce other statistical terms, such as median, mode, and range, and instruct students how to find each, as students will need to calculate these on their own. After this initial phase, students are asked to bring in their collections of tabs from home, which they have hopefully amassed over the summer. Students count tabs, one-by-one for small quantities, or by the determined cup-unit of measure, multiplied times the number of cups, for large quantities. I record the number of tabs for each student every Friday on a class list, while the student keeps an identical individual record on specific tab tallying sheets provided by the teacher (for example, see Appendix B: Tabulating Tabs Collection Tally, 3rd Term). Students use this data to create graphs for each trimester’s exhibition, using a detailed set of instructions and large graph paper. They learn that a particular style of graph may be more appropriate than another, given the anticipated outcome. All graphs at this level are completed by hand. I have found that using computer-generated graphs has not successfully taught the targeted skills and concepts; others, however may find that using computer-generated graphs works well and addresses necessary technology benchmarks. Each of the 3 graphs (one per trimester) has an associated rubric, which is utilized to assess all the benchmarks addressed by the project. Students must check for accuracy and completion using the rubric as the guide, and ensure that each final work is aesthetically pleasing and exhibition-ready. The graph work is as follows:
When we first started this project 11 years ago, my partner and I were using Creative Publication’s Mathland: Journeys through Mathematics as a part of our math curriculum. One of the units, Millions: Explorations with Everyday Objects, Models, and Equations, paved the way to making 1,000,000 tabs our yearlong objective for the entire 5th grade. For the last 3 years, we have hovered around ½ million for the total number of tabs collected annually. This project has certainly furthered student understanding of the magnitude of 1,000,000! Today, we use Everyday Mathematics from the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, which instructs students in a variety of areas, among them the processes of creating different types of graphs, the organization of data, and the utilization of statistical landmarks. “Everyday Mathematics offers…students a broad and rich experience…[that] will help…students incorporate mathematics in…everyday work and play, gradually shaping students’ ways of thinking about mathematics and fostering the development of mathematical intuition and understanding” (Bell et al. 2004, xxv). Community Service Learning Component (CSL): Students participate in Community Service Learning activities, as part of the established MCCPS curriculum, which includes at least one class per week per grade; teachers collaborate to determine the projects best suited for each grade. For fifth grade, the Kids Helping Kids project with tabs is firmly in place. As parental support is vital to the success of this project, a handout for parents is sent home (see Appendix D: Tab Collection Project for the Shriners Hospitals for Children) along with brochures provided by Shriners. During the first trimester, students develop action plans in order to collect more tabs than are available merely through home use, and to set trimester and yearlong goals (determined by the teacher and student, and based on the student’s aspirations as well as what seems manageable!). This plan involves determining places from which tabs can be collected: commercial stores within the community, recycling centers, parents’ workplaces, neighbors, friends, and relatives. Students must check with their parents as to the feasibility of their plan, and then they venture into the community to ask permission to place posters and collection cans at the intended sites. Weekly, as part of their homework, students are expected to return to the sites to collect the tabs and compile the weekly data. Students review and revise their action plans throughout the year in order to maximize the number of tabs. They measure their progress toward their goals, evaluate the effectiveness of their action plans, and regularly write reflections on their work (see Appendix E: Action Plan: Questions to Answer). Language Arts Component: The Tabulating Tabs Project provides a perfect opportunity for students to further their skills in expository writing. In class, students write regular reflections on their action plans throughout the year. Each student, on his/her trimester’s graph, must write a brief reflection, which indicates how effective the action plan has been, as well as what steps he/she will take to improve it. During the second trimester, students write friendly letters to family and friends across the nation and the world, asking them to help by collecting and sending tabs. Students learn the proper format and tone of a friendly letter, and they learn how to address envelopes (see Appendix F: Tabs Request Letter). These letters are displayed during our second exhibition, and they are sent in the mail during the following days. Students also learn the proper format and tone of a thank you note, as they send these out when tabs come in, expressing gratitude to those who contributed. The language arts component is also assessed with an assessment rubric (see Appendix G: Grading Rubric: Tab Reflections and Letters Requesting Tabs). Visual Art Component: During the first trimester, students create colorful posters and collection cans to help solicit tabs. They work in art class to gain support and practice in graphic design. Students learn how to organize and design an effective poster and collection can. (see Appendix H: Tab Poster: 5th Grade Poster Guidelines). At least one poster and one collection can are placed strategically in the community according to the student’s action plan. The poster informs people about the project, while the collection can provides a convenient drop-off for tabs. Another poster and collection can are kept at school for display during our first Exhibition, and are assessed with an assessment rubric (see Appendix I: 5th Grade Poster Assessment Rubric). These are then placed strategically in the community during 2nd trimester when the action plan is revised. Environmental Science Component: In science class, students learn about reducing, reusing, and recycling, as well as the importance of minimizing the depletion of the earth’s resources. Students are encouraged to not waste paper unnecessarily, to protect lunch plates and silverware in order to avoid the use of Styrofoam and plastic, and to recycle white paper, plastic, glass, and cans. We also have a Cans for Crombie campaign to help support a local homeless shelter (Crombie’s). The tabs are pulled from the cans for Shriners, and the cans (still worth $.05) are donated to the shelter. Tabulating Tabs fits nicely with this emphasis on, and action to protect, the environment. At this time, MCCPS 5th grade science benchmarks do not include ecology and protecting the earth’s resources. But the concepts are included in the CSL instruction, and are part of the daily culture of our school. Global Studies Component (GSC): As part of the GSC, 3rd trimester (though the work is often completed in CSL or Advisory), a world map is hung and a pin is placed for every location from which tabs are collected. Students also research the flag of the country or state where the tabs came from, and they create a small rendition of it on a note card. The flags are hung around the world map and are connected by strings to the corresponding location. In 2006, the map was placed on the wall at the entryway to the fifth grade wing, clearly visible to all. This certainly helps students grasp geography, as they locate places of personal interest. un peu de francais: In French class, students label their bar and line graphs in French; they write the number of tabs for each week’s collection and the months of the collection period. As students in the fifth grade are learning numbers and names of the months in French, this is a perfect opportunity for them to use what they are learning. Of course, labeling of graphs can take place in any language that students are studying. The MCCPS Community at Large: The unexpected beauty of this project comes in the form of tens of thousands of tabs brought in each year by the students and families of previous 5th graders. This ongoing contribution, beyond a course requirement, contributes to the sense of community and of “kids helping kids.” Truly a community endeavor, the project provides help to children in need, brings people together with a common task, and establishes a lifelong habit of community and environmental involvement. Challenges As with any project, there are challenges. There is the occasional lack of support from home, as parents, despite the efforts made, cannot see the value of collecting tabs. In response, I first make every effort to try to convince them otherwise, while simultaneously finding ways to support the student’s action plan. This year, for the first time, I encountered parents who were unwilling to support the project on the basis of the Shriners’ affiliations and traditions. I agreed to have these parents select a charitable organization of their choice and help their child collect pennies for this charity. The pennies were recorded and used in lieu of tabs, and the parents took responsibility to get the money to their chosen charity. In this one case, the student supported the Tsunami Safe House Project, and completed the purchase of one house from the collection of pennies, contributions from his own bank account, and help from his parents. More often, students find challenges implementing successful action plans, that is, collecting sufficient quantities of tabs (not recording “0” or “2,” for example, week after week). In these cases, I provide the student with donated tabs from other community members. Recently I was impressed when an upperclassman showed me a package of tabs, which he was turning over to a 5th grade student who was having difficulty collecting tabs. The upperclassman explained that each year he has chosen a student to whom he gives his tabs, thus becoming a part of that student’s action plan, and thus becoming yet another member of the larger community to find an innovative way to support the continuation and expansion of this important project. In future years, I will try to encourage other upperclassmen to do the same. An additional challenge surfaces when a student records zero tabs week after week: discouragement and inability to participate fully in the mathematical component of the project (as completing the graphs and the statistical landmarks requires students to have sufficient data to calculate interesting results). It is important for the teacher to provide opportunities for students, who are not successfully collecting tabs, to amass them--offering suggestions, for example, such as getting a previously successful upperclassman to sponsor them; asking family and friends and neighbors; setting up posters and collection cans in stores, by soda machines, by recycling machines, in offices; collecting from airplanes when they go on trips, etc. Students may give credit to their contributors in the context of their reflections at the end of each trimester, or by writing thank you cards. Finally, one challenge involves the problem of how to store a vast quantity of tabs. My classroom is very small. We store the dumping buckets under the computer table, and filled buckets on the outside porch. I learned one year that plastic garbage bags filled with tabs break, and that lost tabs are quite difficult to recover when they fall through the boards on the porch. I learned too that it is best to store tabs in plastic bins with tight lids that keep out the wet and avoid resulting rust. I also learned that bins must be small enough that they can be carried easily by two students, even when full of tabs! Replicability This year, one of my students, Scott, brought in 75,000 tabs during the last week of June. A middle school in upper state New York donated these tabs to Scott via his aunt. With this quantity of tabs, that school could have easily begun its own project. This type of example makes me confident that the tabs project can be replicated in other schools. I would suggest that a school begin first with the marriage of community service and math, and grow from there. I am also aware that tabs are collected for other charitable purposes, like the Ronald McDonald House Charities. The following information appears on their Web site: The “Ronald McDonald House program began in 1974 based on a simple idea: Provide a ‘home away from home’ for families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals. Since that time, more than 10 million families around the world have benefited from the comfort provided by a Ronald McDonald House” (Ronald McDonald n.d.). I was personally affected by this particular charitable organization when, in 1993, my daughter was hospitalized in Cleveland, Ohio, for an acute, rare disease. I was able to stay for free at a local Ronald McDonald house, located right by the Cleveland Clinic, so I could easily and affordably visit her daily until her recovery. The beauty of the tab collection is that it is found money; it does not take money from anyone, and the money gained can be donated to any charity. The recycling company that the Shriners use helps out the project by giving a particularly good return on the tabs, but as noted earlier, pennies can also be used and donated to a charity of choice and still used as math data. Project Success John Dewey warns, “There is the standing danger that the material of formal instruction will be merely the subject matter of the schools isolated from the subject matter of life-experience. The permanent social interests are likely to be lost from view” (Dewey 1916). In the Tabulating Tabs Project we avoid that danger; subject matter is not isolated from life experience, nor is it disconnected from the society in which we live. Success is measured in a variety of ways: from school rubrics that address benchmarks in various disciplines, to the occasional MCAS question; from skills across the curriculum, to the essential habits of a well-adjusted individual; from intrinsic self worth to social responsibility. Addressing the Subject Matter of Schools: The Tabulating Tabs Project addresses benchmarks in the core subjects of mathematics and English language arts, as well as in the disciplines of geography, science and technology, foreign language, and community service learning. Student progress toward benchmarks provides evidence of project success. The staff at MCCPS has developed school-wide benchmarks based on the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks; these exist for each course of studies and are differentiated for each grade. What’s more, this year we’ve fully implemented our new student performance reporting system CUE (Communication Understanding through Evidence), which “tracks and reports student progress in all subject areas on (these) internally created ‘benchmarks of student achievement’ based on learning standards included in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks” (Commeret 2006). It is the goal of our school to have each student become proficient on all benchmarks. Teachers provide learning opportunities and graded work, so students can develop and demonstrate proficiency on the benchmarks, and Tabulating Tabs is part of that work. See Appendix J for specific 5th grade MCCPS benchmarks that this project addresses. As students are given clear instructions and continuous assistance along the way, the opportunity for academic success is built in to the Tabulating Tabs Project. The classroom collection of tabs, the record keeping of tabs, and the attention to the Action Plan are addressed weekly. Rubrics provide the most obvious evidence of academic success. I have designed rubrics for each related subject area, which specifically correspond to the benchmarks that we want students to achieve. By aligning directions and assessments, students understand what is expected of them and how they will be assessed. An example of this alignment is apparent if one compares the directions sheet and assessment rubric for the 3rd trimester graph (again, see Appendix C: Tallying Tabs Circle Graph and Appendix K, Grading Rubric: Tabulating Tabs Circle Graph). MCAS and other state testing appear that they are here to stay; as a result, we cannot minimize the continuous and important role these tests play in the academic lives of students. As the math skills taught in this project are aligned with the Massachusetts Mathematics Frameworks, students benefit from the deep understanding that this authentic learning experience fosters. One of my students reported (following the MCAS math exam on May 16, 2006) that while taking the math MCAS exam, she came across a bar graph, which she found quite easy to understand, after having made one in class for the tabs project. She was delighted and confident that she must have done well on the exercise. Expanding Life Experience: One’s life experience is improved by high self-esteem, and the Tabulating Tabs Project helps boost just that. Pride is evident when a student has a particularly successful action plan and plenty of tabs to show for it. Pride is also apparent when students continue to collect tabs and present them to me throughout the years, with eyes aglow, knowing that they are continuing to do a good deed and are, of course, reconnecting with fifth grade memories. Project success can also be seen beyond the daily school experience, as participation in the Tabulating Tabs Project helps students develop skills, which easily transfer to other situations. Setting goals, effectuating action plans, and keeping accurate records are necessary life skills. Other skills addressed in the project have lifelong value as well: communicating effectively, locating places around the country and the globe, knowing words in a foreign language, using precise measurements and statistics, writing for a purpose, and developing a recycling plan. Besides the acquisition of skills, life requires that we learn how to behave in the world. Recognizing that, MCCPS has identified specific behaviors as having intrinsic value; we refer to these as the MCCPS Essential Habits, and on the CUE report for each trimester, teachers document each student’s demonstration of these: organized and attentive to detail, persistent and self directed, reflective and inquisitive, respectful and honest, responsible and reliable, and works collaboratively (MCCPS 2006, Essential Habits). The Tabulating Tabs Project touches each one of these habits, and provides evidence of the degree to which these are demonstrated. Building Social Responsibility: Certainly the number of tabs in this project adds up to a great number. But far greater than the number itself are the important lessons participating students learn about society. Not only do students learn that they can provide hope and help to children receiving necessary medical care at Shriners’ Hospitals, but they also learn what can be done in the world, one “tab” at a time. Students learn that caring, planning, collaboration, commitment, and consistency have long reaching effects, and they learn that by organizing a collective effort toward a common goal, they can effectuate positive change in the world. The rewards of altruism are set into dynamic motion, thus making the result far greater than the sum of its parts. Howard Zinn once wrote, “People must organize themselves to change their own lives.” (1974, 274). The Tabulating Tabs Project provides this opportunity for students to experience empowering change; they provide a service that helps others; act with respect toward this planet we call home; work together to make a bigger difference than a single person can; and they don’t back down when it gets hard, but stay focused on plans until the goal is met (and beyond). Concluding Comments I have worked with this project for eleven years and have seen it grow in magnitude and success every year. Moreover, my experience with the project has enabled me to make improvements each year. For example, over time I have perfected the tab tally recording sheets and the precise directions for each graph. I’ve also worked at consistency, which is essential for this project: weekly counting and recording of tabs, which are due every Friday as a homework assignment; gentle reminders that we are doing this as a community service; and sharing excitement at each exhibition with the display of well-crafted graphs and our growing collection of tabs. I’ve also found ways to increase the visibility of Shriners Hospital and the work of collecting tabs. At each exhibition, for example, along with the graphs and tabs, I make available brochures and literature about Shriners Hospitals, and I put out a collection can. The growth of this project has been amazing. As noted earlier, we have managed to collect a half million tabs for the last three years in a row. It is clear that by combining an important community service and an authentic learning situation, everyone wins. The deep level of understanding achieved across the disciplines, and the responsibility learned by each student is extraordinary. It is in their perseverance that students really learn responsibility: the weekly trip to the collection cans, finding more places to find tabs, remembering to bring tabs in on Friday, counting and counting tabs. From one small pull top tab to a whopping half a million takes effort, responsibility, commitment, and perseverance. This is life-long learning at its best. Students become upperclassmen, alumni, adults, and parents who are always collecting tabs. I personally cannot stand to see a can thrown away with the tab attached, and always pull the tab and pocket it. There are currently collection cans in many homes and businesses in Marblehead, the tabs of which will find their way into my 5th grade classroom to do some good in the world. The project is entirely transferable to other schools, with merely the commitment of a single staff person. Of course, with support from additional staff, the project has a greater chance for full integration in the curriculum. As teachers, we create change daily, by definition of the profession. Our visions are indelibly imparted to the children, who are in every society the hope for the future. It is essential that children learn that they can make a difference in the world, and that small steps eventually lead to a destination. I am confident that the Tabulating Tabs Project helps students along this path. The impact of Kids Helping Kids is far reaching, and sets the stage for a lifelong commitment of community service.
Acknowledgements It is a privilege to be involved in MCCPS, and to have had the opportunity to build the Tabulating Tabs Project. I owe a great deal to the vision of Anita Balliro, the efforts of Charles Maurais and the Shriners, and the collegiality of my original partner Nina Cullen-Hamzeh. This project is possible because of the integration of Community Service Learning teachers, including Deborah Galiel and Michael Ruth; collaboration with teachers of Visual Arts, Language Arts, Science, French, and Global Studies; the support of the Recycling Program at MCCPS (under the supervision of Deborah Galiel); the spirit of educational innovation under the vision and direction of Head-of-School Thomas Commeret; and the cooperation of the entire community of MCCPS. They have continued to value and contribute to this worthwhile endeavor to help children in need and to provide an authentic learning experience to those in our classrooms and communities.
About the Author I am a Boston native, and proud graduate of Girls’ Latin School. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and World Religions from Boston University and a Masters in Education: Education of the Gifted, from West Virginia University. I first taught in 1972, when I founded the Albion Community Center School, in Albion, California, an alternative school with an open classroom concept. Thus began my over 20-year career in teaching students, from all walks of life, with various abilities and challenges, and in a multitude of settings: from Teacher of the Gifted in West Virginia to mainstreaming learning disabled students in New Hampshire; from creating, managing, and instructing many children's multi-media art programs to teaching at Cohen-Hillel Academy, a Jewish day school in Marblehead. In 1995, I applied to teach at the proposed and controversial Marblehead Community Charter Public School, Marblehead. As one of the founding teachers, I have worked during the last 11 years with colleagues on the cutting edge of educational reform. I continue to instruct 5th grade Language Arts, Global Studies, and Math, as well as an enrichment class I call the Live Poets' Society. Some of my other personal and professional accomplishments include: recipient of MCCPS Founding Faculty Award, 2001; board member of MCCPS Foundation; board member of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (seARTS), Gloucester; member of MCCPS Professional Development Committee; published poet; and mother of 3 college educated children.
Contact Information: Felice Kachinsky Koslen: fkachinsky@marbleheadcharter.com
Appendix A
Necessary Materials
Appendix B Tabulating Tabs Collection Tally, 3rd Term
3rd Term Goal _____ YEARLONG GOAL ________
Appendix C: Tallying Tabs Circle Graph (an example)
Appendix D TAB COLLECTION PROJECT FOR THE SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN
Phase I: Choosing a Location: Choose a location to collect tabs. Your location should provide you with enough tabs to bring in on a weekly basis. You can call upon:
Phase II: The Action Plan: Think about how you can collect tabs: Create an action plan to achieve your goal. Use the following guidelines and record in detail your plan.
Parent Signature: _________________________________
Appendix E: Action Plan Questions to Answer
Please Answer the Following Questions
After you have answered these questions, write down the changes you need to make to improve your action plan.
Appendix F TABS REQUEST LETTER
Sentences are organized and coherent.
Conventions are applied correctly.
Ideas are supported with details.
Appendix G Grading Rubric: Tab Reflections and Letters Requesting Tabs
Student Name: ______________________________________ Date:_______________
Students will edit for correct punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. ______________ Students will use correct spelling. ____________________________________________ Students will revise their writing by adding details. ______________________________ Students will revise their writing by improving word choice. _______________ Students will write in a genre/format appropriate for their audience and purpose. _______ For Reflections: I have fully explained how successful my Action Plan has been ______ I have accurately calculated and stated the number of tabs I have collected so far ______________ I have fully explained how I intend to improve my Action Plan __________ I have updated my goal to _____________ tabs weekly For Letters: I have used the correct format for a friendly letter with all 5 parts. ___________ I have addressed the envelope appropriately, and included my return address. _______ I have included sufficient information to make my request for tabs clear. __________ I have written with a tone appropriate for the person to whom I am writing. ____
Appendix H Tabs Poster: 5th Grade Poster Guidelines
Criteria for the poster and collection can Beginning in class on ______ Draft Due: ______ 1st Final Due _______; 2nd Final Draft Due _____
Guidelines:
Tabs Poster 5th Grade Poster Guidelines, page 2
Planning a Poster
Design Notes
Math Cumulative Grade ______
Appendix I 5th Grade Poster Assessment Rubric
Student Name__________________________ _______Creative Expression
_______Working Independently
(4) Demonstrates with Distinction (3) Demonstrates (2) Incomplete or Inconsistent Demonstration (1) Does not Demonstrate
Final Grade ___________
Appendix J MCCPS 5th-Grade Benchmarks Addressed by the Tabulating Tabs Project
Language Arts Cumulative Grade: _______
Appendix K: Grading Rubric: Tabulating Tabs Circle Graph
References Bell, Max, Jean Bell, John Bretzlsuf, Amy Dillard, Robert Hartfield, Andy Isaacs, James McBride, Kathleen Pitvorec, Peter Saecker. 2004. Everyday Mathematics. Chicago: SRA/McGraw-Hill, Chicago. Berger, Ron. 2003. An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Charles, Linda, Micaelia Randolph Brummett, Heather McDonald, and Joan Westley. Mathland: Journeys Through Mathematics. Creative Publications, Mountain View, California: 1995. “Millions: Explorations with Everyday Objects, Models, and Equations.” Commeret, Thomas. 2006. Executive Summary in Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS) 2005/2006 Annual Report. Dewey, John. Democracy and Education, 1916. Quoted in Martin Bickman, Minding American Education (New York, NY: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 2003), 100. Executive Summary. 1994. Marblehead Community Charter School Charter. Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS) n.d. History of Achievement (in About the School). Retrieved 13 July 2006 from the Marblehead Community Charter School Charter School Web site: http://www.marbleheadcharter.com/page8/page8.html Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS). n.d. About MCCPS: A History of the School. Retrieved 13 July 2006 from the MCCPS Web site: www.marbleheadcharter.com/page8/page8.html. Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS). 2006. Standards and Benchmarks: 2006. Retrieved 13 July 2006 from the 2005-2006 MCCPS Teachers Corner (the internal site of MCCPS): http://mccps.textdriven.com:8074/units/7 from Teachers’ Corner, Unit Planning, Benchmarks. Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS). 2006. Essential Habits: 2006. Retrieved 8 October 2006 from the 2005-2006 MCCPS Teachers Corner (the internal site of MCCPS): http://64.115.16.26/teacherscorner/gradebook. Rensulli, Joseph S. and Sally M. Reis. 1997. Executive Summary to the Schoolwide Enrichment Model Articles (SEM) by the University of Connecticut Research and Development Corporation, Renzulli Learning. Retrieved 19 July 2006 from the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, NEAG , Schoolwide Enrichment Model Articles (SEM) section of the University of Connecticut Web site: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/sem/semexec.html. Ronald McDonald House Charities N.d. About Us. Retrieved 13 July 2006 from the Ronald McDonald House Charities Web site: http://www.rmhc.org/rmhc/index/about.html Shriners Hospitals for Children. N.d. History. Retrieved 13 July from the Shriners Hospitals for Children Web site: http://www.shrinershq.org/Hospitals/_Hospitals_for_Children/history/ Zinn, Howard. 1974. Justice? Eyewitness Accounts. Boston: Beacon Press.
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