Thursday Thriller
December 12, 2019
Yet another AMAZING concert last night! Roger and Caleb do a great job of teaching and spot lighting students in their programs. If you have not gone to one of their concerts, it is something worth going to. Roger and Caleb keep to one hour, it's lively, and the music is GREAT!!
Carina and I enjoy receiving emails from you sharing the growth of students on their iReady tests! What are ways you are celebrating students in your classes? Acknowledging growth and effort builds strong self-efficacy.
This morning, Garrison was featured on the KUJ radio show for Sources of Strength. Angie did a fabulous job explaining the importance and history of the program. Ken and Dane (other sources of strength students were invited to come but couldn't) shared their experience as involved students. It was a great way to spotlight Garrison!
NUTS-n-BOLTS
1. As Sherry noted in her email, a notification to parents will be going out to remind them to check grades in Skyward. It is critical your grade book is up to date. In addition, as a gentle yet consistent reminder students need to be able to retake assessments or questions on assessments that are the ESSENTIAL STANDARDS. If we are saying District wide, ""We will ensure our students know these promise/essential standards." Then we need to stand behind this. Ask your colleagues how they are doing this. The science department is using LFM (Learning From Mistakes) protocol, others rewrite or even give the same question. This is the beauty of working in a PLC; sharing ideas and materials.
2.
Students who are failing:
1 F = Teacher calling, emailing, weekly progress report via auto email, etc to communicate with/to parents
2 Fs = Terri and Alex meeting with students. Terri will follow 7th grade A-L and 8th graders. Alex will take 6th grade and 7th grade M-Z
3+Fs = Angie and Steve will meet with students until the end of semester. These students will also be in at lunch and after school until we can get the grades up. Beyond this, we are trying to think about a 'school w/in a school.' Just thinking about logistics and how we can pull this off so our high flyers can succeed!
For discipline and grades (
there is overlap for sure) Carina, Angie and Terri cover 7th grade A-L (last name) and 8th Graders. Kim, Steve and Alex cover 6th grade and 7th grade M-Z
3. There will be an
ACTIVITY DAY on Friday, January 31st from 1:00-3:00. This is an 'end-of-semester' activity day that will be inclusive for all. Our parent group is coordinating this event! :D Our job as staff is to participate. More to come. Just wanted this on your calendar/radar. I don't know which color schedule we will use, yet.
4. Sickness is going around. After your last class of the day, you might consider having students wipe down their desks/tables. I will continue to urge students to wash their hands on GNN.
5. ASB is planning on a spirit week next week concluding with a pep assembly. We will
TENTATIVELY use the yellow schedule.
6. Sub Plans~ please make sure you have back up emergency sub plans. Sometimes there is an emergency, a family member is sick, you're super sick and you can not make plans. It's paramount to have emergency plans that someone from the office or a teaching partner can grab and set up for you. In addition, if your plans happen to include technology might want to have a back up for those, as well. When you set your sub up for success, the day has the potential to go a lot smoother.
7.
DECEMBER 18th - 2:45 Let's celebrate!! This is for both certs and classified.
When: Wednesday, December 18th
Where: Library
Who - All staff
Why: Because we have only 'two more get-ups' before break AND let's enjoy some holiday cheer!
What: A holiday celebrations bring food to share AND if you would like to participate in the White Elephant gift exchange, please keep it $10 and under.
8. Lately, there have been several
student schedule changes. In addition, multiple new students have enrolled. Please know that the office staff works to make the best possible decisions and to give classroom teachers at least 24 hour notice prior to student start date. Sometimes we are not able to do this. Sometimes a student who is F.I.T needs to start immediately or there was conflict among students that had to be resolved ASAP. Your patience and understanding with the student is expected. If you don't understand why a student was placed with you, come ask. I guarantee you there was a reason behind the decision. Ask questions in person. Thanks
SOMETHING to PONDER
This is the time of year it seems that more students are 'opting out' of learning. iReady is done, Winter break is around the corner and in all honesty it's sometimes hard to keep our adult energy up, focused and engaged.
As you may have figured out, I am a fan of the Teach Like a Champion strategies because of the system of which they are built and taught, the video clips and the readings. I have also seen them work first hand.
Here is a clip on
No Opt Out. What do you notice? Who is doing the heavy lifting? This is a 44 sec clip.
Something Funny
