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Monthly Archives: November 2013

Thank you.

29 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by Meghan Frick in Life

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For my tiny apartment, and its muddy-brown carpet and thrifted paintings and infernally noisy neighbors, and the refuge of living alone.

For repeated words and weekly/monthly visits and love when I deserve it least, and for friends, not in quantity, but of the absolute highest quality.

For family, for rambling phone calls and forgiveness and meet-halfways and a soft place to land.

For this county and all its little towns, and for the struggle to navigate its politics and all the ways that’s made me better, and for all the good people I’ve met and the stories I’ve gotten to tell. For grocery store run-ins and familiarity and the strange joy of feeling lonely, but not alone.

For books, for the feeling of cooking or writing or creating something, for simplicity, for skill, for moving forward without knowing what comes next.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

*Note: Okay, I said I was going to blog every day for a month and immediately failed. I’m trying again.

[Clip] In classroom, Common Core means more thinking, less memorizing

08 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by Meghan Frick in Clips

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This article was published in the Lenoir News-Topic.

North Carolina, which adopted the Common Core in 2010, has had standardized curriculum guidelines since 1898. But the Common Core is different, both because of its national ambitions – proponents hope it will eventually be adopted in all 50 states – and its emphasis on in-depth work and project-based learning.

“The Common Core focuses more on why we’re doing what we’re doing,” said Katrina McEllen, high school director for the Caldwell County Schools. “You’re going to see the teacher as more of a facilitator than as the traditional figure up in the front of the room.”

As the Common Core is implemented, students are doing more group work, and teachers are asking more questions, trying to guide pupils toward the answer instead of showing a specific example and having the copy it. Continue reading →

[Clip] Drop in test scores won’t be full story on Caldwell County Schools

08 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by Meghan Frick in Clips

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This article was published in the Lenoir News-Topic.

After a year of implementing the new Common Core state standards, Caldwell County teachers and administrators are awaiting a verdict on just how well they did.

That verdict is likely to come in the form of a large drop in standardized test scores, but a drop doesn’t mean the verdict will be bad.

The standards, which outline what students should know after completing each grade, have been adopted in 45 states and the District of Columbia. In North Carolina, the standards were implemented during the 2012-13 school year.

Administrators in Caldwell County said they feel the first year of implementation went well, but they won’t know for sure until the results from statewide standardized tests come in this November. Continue reading →

[Clip] In swirls of sidewalk chalk, second-graders draw happiness

08 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by Meghan Frick in Clips

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This article was published in the Lenoir News-Topic.

Before the next time it rains, go out and look at the sidewalks surrounding the square in downtown Lenoir.

There you’ll be able to see, in sprawling pastel color, the things that make second-graders happy.

Kids from each second-grade class at Davenport A+ School marched to the center of downtown Monday, armed with buckets of sidewalk chalk. They were there for an integrated-learning project based on a book they had been read in the classroom – Nancy Poydar’s “Cool Ali.”

As the cluster of kids arranged themselves, legs criss-crossed, in the square, local artist Charlie Frye treated them to one last reading of the book. It focuses on Ali, a little girl in a big city who, on a sweltering day, relies on chalk drawings of all things cool to bring the temperature down. Her illustrations of north winds, beach umbrellas, polar bears and dots of snow come to life, cooling down both Ali and her neighbors. Continue reading →

[Clip] New West Lenoir principal Kristy Hollar emphasizes teamwork

08 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by Meghan Frick in Clips

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This article was published in the Lenoir News-Topic.

A few months into her tenure as principal at West Lenoir Elementary School, Kristy Hollar is trying to build community.

She has worked to make sure parents know what’s going on at West Lenoir each day, she said, and was heartened by high attendance at the school’s Friends and Family Day, at a recent family movie night and at the first PTA meeting of the year.

Hollar, a Caldwell County native and former assistant principal at West Caldwell High School, said it’s important to her that school employees work as a team with parents of the 176 students at West Lenoir. Continue reading →

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