New Fairfield Public School District

        Ms.  Barbara E. Mechler

Assistant Superintendent’s Website Message, Fall, 2011

What’s In Your Toolbox?

Even though my middle son is a college senior, it remains on his bookshelf, a bit dusty and now filled with pens, pencils, movie stubs and gas receipts. The toolbox was a Fathers’ Day Cub Scout project to surprise Dad and earn the carpentry badge, and the boys worked diligently sanding and gluing the parts together. When presented to his delighted father, the toolbox held a variety of carpentry tools—screwdriver, hammer, and an assortment of nails, ruler, and sandpaper. While we most often think of the toolbox as a carpenter’s mainstay, each of us carries a metaphorical toolbox, at work and play. We adults boast of special hobbies and talents in our toolboxes: job expertise, parenting skills and collaborative strategies necessary for families to successfully function. Students, too, bring their “toolboxes” to school.

In September, students, even kindergartners, arrive at school with “toolboxes.” Depending on how students spent their time during summer vacation, some enter school with a toolbox fuller than it was in June, while others find their toolboxes a bit emptier. What makes the difference? Daily reading, frequent application of math skills and strategies, and authentic opportunities to write all contribute to a student’s toolbox. Research demonstrates that students who read for 20 minutes every day maintain the progress they made the previous year. Those who took a “vacation” from reading may actually lose ground. Teachers work diligently to quickly review and replenish all toolboxes in order to add to each student’s skill set necessary for him/her to make progress on the math, reading and writing standards for his/her grade level. Many of us think of our toolboxes as ability-based, something that is fixed and a gift from our parents. Social psychologist, Carol Dweck, found, not surprisingly, that students who believe that ability is a matter of hard work get higher grades than student who believe that ability is fixed from birth. In a November 2010 Educational Leadership article, “Think Big and Bigger”, Dweck and her colleagues taught a group of students that “learning forms neural connections and changes the brain and that students are in charge of this process. Dweck reports that some middle school boys were actually reduced to tears by the news that their intelligence was substantially under their own control.”

What types of things belong in a student’s toolbox?  Comprehension strategies, fluency, and decoding strategies to help when one encounters an unknown word are critical components of an elementary student’s toolbox, as are an ever-growing listening, reading, and speaking vocabulary, writing skills, math reasoning, knowledge of facts, and application strategies. Student toolboxes also need a strong measure of self-confidence, cooperation skills, and self-efficacy (the belief that one is capable of performing in a certain manner to attain certain goals). As students mature, their toolboxes become more sophisticated, as well, requiring time management and organizational skills, and the motivation to synthesize and apply their learning in innovative ways. Their toolboxes help them become adept at using technology to find answers to complex questions. New Fairfield High School graduates leave our district with a toolbox overflowing with intellectual curiosity, core skills in mathematics, reading, writing, problem solving and communication.  Their toolboxes help them contribute to society as responsible citizens, and to understand varying opinions, diverse beliefs and cultural differences. Finally, students should engage in behaviors that foster a commitment to a healthful lifestyle.

In order to successfully contribute to each student’s toolbox, New Fairfield teachers and administrators are continually working to hone their own toolboxes. This summer the administrative team and several teachers from all grade and department levels met to discuss strategies to improve teaching and learning. Working together, teachers and administrators will examine what tools work best in each school’s toolbox and those of each individual teacher.

Each of our schools have metaphorical toolboxes, as well, including various benchmark assessments, technology programs and equipment, instructional strategies, intervention programs, Data Teams, special programs to provide support and build on each student’s strengths, the Early Learning Center, AP courses, and more. Each school will display a toolbox in the main office, one much like that constructed by my son many years ago. The toolbox is designed to remind teachers, administrators, and parents that by focusing on our common mission of using data to drive and personalize instruction, we will use instructional tools and strategies to ensure continuous improvement for all students.

Please stop in to see our toolboxes—ask questions and be a partner in learning. Whether you are a parent, family member, or interested citizen, we all contribute to the toolboxes of tomorrow’s leaders.