Advisory at KRMS

Before I jump right into information about our new advisory program, I want to take the opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Andrea Costanzo and I am the new assistant principal here at KRMS. I am so excited to be here this year and am grateful for the warm reception I have received from the KRMS community. I'm looking forward to a great school year!

A little bit about me: I attended the University of New Hampshire for my undergraduate studies and then moved home to Braintree, Massachusetts when I graduated. I worked as a Behavior Therapist for a company that provided primarily early intervention services for children on the Autism Spectrum. While I enjoyed working with children and their families, I knew that I really wanted to be in the school setting and have a classroom of my own, so I began an M.Ed. program at UMass, Boston. After completing that program, I moved back to NH to join my fiance (now husband) and took a position covering two maternity leaves in the English Department at Merrimack Valley High School. The following school year, I began teaching English at Franklin High School where I have been for the past five years. I am currently a student in the Ed.D. program at New England College and my research focus is competency-based education.

This month, I want to focus my post on our new advisory program. All students and staff are taking part in our new advisory program this year. Students are in small, grade-level groups and will stay in the same advisory with the same advisory teacher for their time at KRMS. The focus of advisory this year is building relationships to ensure that KRMS is a welcoming community where each student feels a sense of belonging. You can find a little more information in the KRMS Parent Advisory Handout.

For the first couple of days of school, advisories spent time engaging in welcoming activities and getting to know one another. Advisory teachers selected a variety of ice breaker activities such as name games, silent birthday lineups, and creating time capsules. Moving forward, each day of the week has a different theme in advisory as follows below:

Mojo Monday On Mondays, we come together to share about our weekends and any highlights or experiences we had. This is our time to reconnect as a group and set the stage for the week.

Take Charge Tuesday On Tuesdays we focus on planning and organization. To do so, we look at the school calendar on the website, discuss class projects and deadlines, and get in the habit of using agenda books. We also discuss time management and how to balance all of our school obligations and extracurricular activities.

Wonder Wednesday On Wednesdays we pose thoughtful questions as a way to get to know each other, spark conversations, and share laughs. We have asked questions such as “I wonder what you want me to know about you?” and “What would make today the best day ever?”

Thoughtful Thursday Each Thursday our advisory conversation centers around a common prompt that we discuss as a group. Some of the prompts this year have included “Who do you think has had the largest influence on who you are today?” and “What is your favorite quality about a friend?”

Forge Ahead Friday Fridays are our day to reflect on our week at school and use those reflections to plan for the week to come. Questions are posed such as “Thinking about things that went well last week, what are you most proud of?” Students are also asked to reflect about something they would like to go better next week and what supports they will need to be successful.

The daily themes are a great starting point to engage your student in conversation about advisory and their day at school!

There is a steering committee of teachers actively working to continue to build our advisory program and we are always open to feedback. Personally, I am thoroughly enjoying my seventh grade advisory and look forward to our activities each day!

1:Go Computer Pilot at KRMS

Welcome back to the Symbiosis blog.  We took a break for the summer, but we are back up and running.  Our goal is to post four times per month with one post coming from the technology integrator, Laurie Prewandowski, one post coming for our new assistant principal, Andrea Costanzo, one post coming from a guidance counselor, Kara Byrne, and one post coming from our school nurse, Amy Holobowicz.  The idea is to share information from our respective domain and begin a conversation with our KRMS parents.  Be sure to sign up to have the blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.

From the Technology Integrator

During the 2018-2019 school year, we began a computer pilot program that we are calling 1:Go.  This is a bit different from the common name of "1:1 Program" because in our program students are not taking the device home.  Students are basically picking up a Chromebook from their cluster area each morning and taking it to go with them to each class throughout the day.  They are to return the device to their cluster at the end of the day.  There are areas in the cafeteria for kids to place the computer as we don't want students using technology at the lunch table.

There are a few reasons why we wanted to begin this pilot program.  The first reason was that despite having about 100 more laptops than kids in the building, we still had teachers who were not able to access technology on a consistent basis with students.  These teachers were generally our specialists for Unified Arts such Art, Band, Chorus, General Music, FACS (Family and Consumer Science), TechEd (Industrial Arts), Physical Education, Health and World Languages.  It was not logistically possible to move carts around during various class periods.  With our new plan, the student brings the device to each class so all teachers have equal access to technology resources to offer deeper learning in every content area.

Another reason why we wanted to try this program is that some of the computers were being damaged.  This damage was a range of things such as picking off keys, breaking the webcam and bending the charger port so the device would no longer charge.  It was challenging to know who was doing this and at least 15 brand new devices were damaged in several of our new carts in the first year of their use.  Now, each student is responsible for one device.  The device is labeled with a student name.  The students are required to use their designated device only.  They are not to use another student's device.  Students are being instructed in the responsible use of these devices on a daily basis.

The final reason why we wanted to try this program is that we want to be responsible users of district assets.  Instead of purchasing more carts and more devices so each teacher had a cart, we decided that it was more fiscally responsible to ask each student to carry a device from class to class.

We are just beginning this process, but we have already seen some positive results.  Several teachers have been thrilled to have access to technology to support the learning in their classrooms.  Students are learning to be responsible for a piece of hardware that must travel from room to room.  Most of the students are taking this very seriously.  Also, students are taking ownership of a device when it has issues.  Now, when a screen isn't working or a key falls off, instead of just putting the device back in the cart and taking a different one, the student is bringing the device to the tech office for repair.  This allows us to maximize our warranty programs.  Students are immediately given a spare device to use to minimize the loss of classroom instruction time.


We welcome any comments you have about this program.  Please use the comment feature available on this blog.