THE FWSU STORY: BFA Fairfax Students Visit Summer Cultural Exchange Partners in China

Posted on October 31, 2018 by Franklin West SU

At this moment, eight BFA Fairfax students and two teachers, Sara Villeneuve and Emily Nieckarz are exploring China as part of a cultural exchange in cooperation with SPIRAL International.

BFA Fairfax students in China

BFA Fairfax has worked with SPIRAL for many years through our Summer Exchange Program.

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Typically, Chinese students spend two weeks in the summer living with Fairfax families and experiencing the culture of Vermont.

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Our students left Vermont on Friday morning and arrived in Shanghai for a brief stop en route to Chongqing. They visited schools and explored the city during their time in the city.

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Their next stop was Chengdu where they visited more schools and got to see pandas!

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Tonight, they are in their final stop, the city of Guangzhou. They are sharing pictures through social media throughout the trip.

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For this blog post, we are sticking to the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” and anticipating a future blog post from the students describing their trip in great details.

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Teacher Emily Nieckarz reported that “students are doing amazing, jumping in to participate and in total awe of the different culture, food, and traffic!”

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We can hardly wait to hear about their experience and are extremely proud of our BFA ambassadors!

Global Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals #teachSDGs

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John Tague is the Principal of BFA Fairfax Middle/High School and is a regular contributor to THE FWSU STORY. You can follow him @jtague252

THE #FWSU STORY: Fairfax-Lamoille Football Senior Night Pays It Forward for Make-A-Wish Vermont!

Posted on October 25, 2018 by Franklin West SU

Fun, food, friends and football were the themes of the evening last Saturday as the entire Fairfax community came together to celebrate our graduating football seniors, as well as raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Vermont foundation.

Fairfax Football raises funds for Make-A-Wish Vermont

Service is a regular component of our community-wide school events and is a priority to our student body and athletic department. Last Saturday’s Make-A-Wish fundraiser was the brainchild of BFA Fairfax Sophomores Natalie Bates and Kiana Labor, in coordination with Make-A-Wish participant, BFA first-grader Asher Lawrence.

Fairfax football players greet BFA Fairfax first grader Asher Lawrence

Through admission costs, a 50/50 raffle, and generous donations on behalf of Mt. Abraham Football and Boosters, the evening raised nearly $1400.00 for this important foundation!

Contributing to the excitement of the evening was the strength and skill demonstrated by our Fairfax/Lamoille Co-op football team in a 38-6 victory over Mt. Abraham.

BFA Fairfax Cheer Team

The win earned the Bullets a #3 ranking in Division 3 and secured a home playoff game against Springfield High School on Saturday, October 27 at 1pm.

BFA Fairfax Football Team

We need to extend a huge thank you to Brock’s Heating, Air Conditioning, and Gas Services, who generously donated the lights to make football Senior Night that much more special, as well as all the fans, students, and community members who contributed to making our entire weekend of games under the lights a resounding success.

Good Health and Well-Being

Geri Witalec

Geri Witalec-Krupa is an Athletic Director/Assistant Principal at BFA Fairfax is a regular contributor to THE FWSU STORY. You follow her @GLWit

THE #FWSU STORY: Magnificent Mondays at BFA Fairfax

Posted on October 23, 2018 by Franklin West SU

Every Monday for the past two years, students in first grade at BFA Fairfax have eagerly participated in Magnificent Monday.

Magnificent Monday at BFA Fairfax

It is an important example of how our school demonstrates a belief in the value of allowing students significant opportunities to create, collaborate, innovate, and play.

The future belongs to a different kind of person." Daniel Pink

It is an amazing time in public education. After a decade of focusing on preparing students to perform on standardized tests, a significant shift is taking place.

“The ability to innovate—to create something new and better—is a skill that organizations worldwide are looking for today.”-George Couros

This is not a new concept. Rather, it is a recognition that our students must learn and apply a comprehensive set of skills for success in an ever-changing world due to technology and an abundance of information.

“Creativity is as important now in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.”-Sir Ken Robinson

Magnificent Monday provides every student learning experiences that allow them to be designers, problem finders, engineers, and artists. It is sometimes messy, slightly chaotic, always full of positive energy, and the results speak for themselves.

Students on the cardboard bus

“65 percent of students we’re currently training will have jobs that don’t exist yet.” -Alexis Ringwald

For example, last week was Cardboard Day where students were allowed to design anything using cardboard. A small group of students wanted to create a vehicle. One member of the group uses a wheelchair, so the group designed the bus to accommodate all group members. The final product was less important than the learning, collaboration, and empathy in which students engaged.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try.” –Dr. Seuss

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Another activity required students to apply their knowledge to create an insect. There were no constraints, just four criteria. The results were amazing and no single insect was the same. Most importantly, it was clear that students understood the objectives of the unit and could apply the content.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination circles the world.”- Albert Einstein

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Sometimes we only focus on what we see to measure success. Magnificent Monday’s success is apparent from what you do not see. There is rarely a behavior issue and students do not require frequent prompts and reminders to be engaged or follow expectations. They are happy, highly motivated, focused, and excited about learning.

A huge thank you to the First Grade team for inspiring our students to be creative, empathetic, collaborative people. You all rock!

UN SDG Global Goal 4: Quality Education

Thomas Walsh is currently Principal of BFA Fairfax Elementary School and is a regular contributor to THE FWSU STORY. You can follow him on Twitter @educatamount

THE FWSU STORY: Learner Traits and the Path to Proficiency at BFA Fairfax

Posted on October 17, 2018 by Franklin West SU

As BFA Fairfax moves toward Proficiency Based Graduation Requirements with the Class of 2020, we have had to answer the following question:

If students are working toward proficiency and have the possibility to continually provide evidence of growth and learning, how will we determine if a student is eligible to participate in co-curricular activities?

In the past, our policy was based on a bottom line course grade. If a student was failing a class, they were not eligible to participate. Since growth is always possible in a proficiency-based system, it does not seem reasonable to withhold access to co-curricular activities based on initial difficulties with content. On the other hand, there needs to be evidence that the student is engaged in learning and that academic difficulties are not based on a lack of student effort.

BFA Fairfax students develop learner traits

At BFA Fairfax, we have developed a set of “Learner Traits” that we will use to determine our students’ eligibility for co-curricular activities. The Learner Traits are a subset of Vermont’s Transferable Skills, an important component of Act 77 and the shift to Proficiency Based Graduation.

Specifically, we look at:

Clear and Effective Communication: Can the student collaborate effectively and respectfully?

Self Direction: Does the student demonstrate initiative and responsibility for learning?

Creative and Practical Problem Solving: Does the student persist in solving challenging problems and learn from failure?

Responsible and Involved Citizenship: Does the student take responsibility for personal decisions and actions?

Informed and Integrative Thinking: Does the student use technology to support and enhance their learning?

We identified these areas because, in addition to being valuable assets for every student in every class, they also reflect qualities we hope to see in all of our players on all of our teams and activities.

High school students present their progress toward proficiency to peers and school leaders

Teachers gather regularly evidence for each of these areas and record progress in our gradebook, PowerTeacher Pro. Some areas are observed through day-to-day activities and others are assessed collaboratively by the student and teacher on a regular basis. Student work in a group in class provides evidence of their collaboration. Completion of daily assignments is an indicator of initiative and responsibility. A student’s work in completing a long-term project or assignment might be a measure of their persistence and/or personal responsibility. Finally, their daily appropriate use of technology would provide evidence for the last category.

A student’s level of proficiency in each of these areas will be viewable on our grading platform. Students and parents will be able to see their progress and work on areas that need improvement.

Two students collaborate on programming and coding in the classroom

Our goal as an educational system is to provide students with the skills they need to be successful in life. The Learner Traits provide data for important skills that are worthwhile in classes, on sports teams and in the workforce. The development of these Learner Traits is an important step on our path to proficiency.

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John Tague is the Principal of BFA Fairfax Middle/High School and is a regular contributor to THE FWSU STORY. You can follow him @jtague252

THE FWSU STORY: Fairfax Relays Celebrate Over a Decade of Tradition, Spirit, and Community

Posted on October 12, 2018 by Franklin West SU

This past Tuesday, October 9, the annual Fairfax Relays cross country event was held on the BFA Fairfax campus.